All characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyrighted to Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. I've taken the idea for the Unseelie Court from the TGS. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of SN.
Note: I'm disregarding the events of the "Goliath Chronicles", with the exception of "The Journey" because I do not wish to use the rest of the "Goliath Chronicles" as canon to my story. This story takes place one day after "Bigfoot".
In Need of Help
By SN/TVfan
Email: Sam_Nary
London
The clang of swords echoed through the exercise room as Macbeth and Arthur sparred against one another. Both matched each other blow for blow for several minutes at an impasse, before Macbeth lunged forward and Arthur stepped aside to avoid the blow and whacked Macbeth's hand with the flat side of the sword. The immortal Scotsman soon dropped his sword.
"Well done," Macbeth breathed as he paused to catch his breath, "It has been a long time since I have had the opportunity to practice with a true swordsman."
Arthur nodded, "Surely you can't be serious that no one else can wield a sword?"
"I taught fencing as well as history at Columbia in New York," Macbeth answered, "the students learn, but they do not master swordplay."
"What about the modern armies?" Arthur asked, "When Griff told me his stories of fighting the Nazis, I assumed that use of swords had been abandoned in favor of the new technology, but I've since seen that some soldiers still carry a sword."
"They're only for ornamentation now," Macbeth answered, "Modern warfare takes place at too long range for swords to be truly effective."
"What of Goliath and his clan, while the two of you were 'enemies'?" Arthur asked.
"Every gargoyle I've known is a true warrior," Macbeth answered, "but they generally use their natural strengths to their advantage. Their wings and physical strength for example. Sparring with them would not train me in the art of swordplay, and unless the sparring match was held in an enclosed space, I would not be of much challenge to a gargoyle. Plus the fact, that while I was a foe of Goliath's clan, they would not have allowed a sparring mach to occur. They would have assumed that I was out for a full fledged battle."
"Well, they wouldn't now," Arthur commented, "and probably good for all of us. You are quite skilled. You get rather aggressive at times, but still quite skilled."
Macbeth nodded, "I know that. I've been rather aggressive for years in the way I've fought. Unless I'm fighting Demona, I can not die, and for many years, it was Demona I was either fighting or hunting. It took me a long time to find something that could make me think that I shouldn't be trying to die."
Arthur only nodded, "I will say, this sparring session has kept my mind off of other matters."
"Troubling case?" Macbeth asked.
"No," Arthur sighed, "It's the fact that the Illuminati have no made any recent attempt to capture me. Lucius has vanished into the sewers with his followers. And on top of that, we can't provide any aide to Merlin and Rachel because they are off on their quest."
"I'm quite confident that they will be successful one way or another," Macbeth commented, "And if it is more excitement you are looking for, you can aide the clan in their patrols."
"Perhaps, it would give me something to do," Arthur answered.
Elsewhere
"We're here," a moderately sized male cheetah-like mutate commented as he looked around the rooftops of London."
"We should have been here earlier," a bulldog mutate grumbled in an aggravated voice, "If that rich man's airplane hadn't flown to the wrong English city."
"At least he got us to England without attracting attention to us," another mutate spoke, "I'm sure the press wouldn't hesitate to either call us monsters or call for doctors to experiment on us."
"Does anyone remember the address that Mr. Hawkins gave us?" a fourth asked.
"You mean Merlin," a fifth mutate corrected.
"Does it matter?" the fourth asked back, "They're one and the same."
"The books say his name his only Merlin," the fifth answered.
"He said he has a last name," the fourth argued, "I'm just being polite and respectful."
"Polite and respectful?" the bulldog mutate questioned, "We're the ones who have lost something. We're the ones they should be polite to!"
"We shouldn't be trying to make others treat us special because we're 'victims'," the fourth countered, "because we'd eventually get accused of whining."
"But…" the bulldog mutate began to growl.
"ENOUGH!" the cheetah mutate screamed, and addressed the two arguing mutates, "We need Pendragon and Macbeth's help. Arguing about who is to be 'polite' will get us no where and will likely drive a wedge between us and them."
"But…" the bulldog mutate began to argue.
"I will also remind you that the one got us transformed into these creatures is also in this city and Pendragon knows he his here," the cheetah mutate cut him off, "You go in there ranting about 'oh I'm a victim', and they'll think we're in league with the evil one. Now to answer John's question, yes I remember the address. Although it will be safer for us to go there at night."
"So what do we do now?" the fourth mutate, John, asked.
"For now we should lay low and stay out of sight," the cheetah mutate answered, "Dusk isn't too far away."
Office, Elsewhere in London
"Have you found any sign of this 'Lucius' mutate, Mr. Irons?" Agent Anglo asked.
"We are finding signs that he exists," Jeremy Irons answered, "But no concrete sign that will help us find him."
"What?" Anglo asked.
"I've had robotic drones comb the area where Lucius had previously based himself," Jeremy answered, "There were a few scattered hair samples around various locations, but nothing that would indicate as to where they went."
"Those mutates could be anywhere in London," Anglo commented, "Don't be so foolish as to think he'd stay in the same area."
"The problem is, I haven't," Jeremy sighed, "Once it was clear that they had left the area, I sent the drones to begin searching all available warehouses that are either large enough that they can hide in or abandoned, and therefore safe."
"Did you find anything?" Anglo asked.
"We only found enough to prove they were there," Jeremy answered, "Pieces of fur and so on. Right now, I have the drones checking the sewers and the subway system. The results should be ready by this time tomorrow."
"Good," Anglo answered, "The council wants this Lucius found. You will find him."
"Yes, sir," Jeremy answered.
"What is the current situation with Pendragon?" Anglo questioned.
"Easy to say that he is board," Jeremy replied, "His Private Investigation service is currently in a lull with little or no cases to report, and with our hunt for 'Lucius' and his followers, he has had nothing else to do."
"Keep as close an eye on him as you can," Anglo instructed, "As well as on Macbeth and the gargoyle clan that helps him. Their activities could lead to some discovery of our plans that we can not allow Pendragon to know of."
"Yes, sir," Jeremy answered.
Mansion
The London Clan found Macbeth and Arthur both eating as they came down for what was their breakfast.
"Good evening, all," Griff spoke first as they entered, "How is everything?"
"Nothing is bad," Arthur answered, "A little slow right now, but nothing is bad."
"No cases, eh?" Griff asked as he sat down next to the man who had made him his first modern knight.
"Not only that, but I feel that I am helpless to provide any sort of help to Merlin in learning about this prophesy," Arthur answered.
"We have done all we can to help with that," Una spoke up, "Merlin has found out who has the knowledge of what will happen. All he needs to do is find out when it will happen."
"And since Merlin looked through all of his books on the subject, as well as ours, there is nothing more that we specifically can do," Leo added, "We are sorry that we can't help him either, but there's nothing more we can do."
"Couldn't you just go to the library or something?" Chloe asked, "They have enough books that surely one would help."
"The chances of finding a book that seriously deals with the issue we are trying to solve at a public library is very slim," Una answered, "You'd need to go through a section devoted to 'Myths and Folklore' just to find the King Arthur stories today."
"And most of them seem to be the stories of my reign in the early Middle Ages," Arthur answered, "And the few that are references, only talk about what modern man has learned about Medieval man's superstitions and 'beliefs'."
"I'm sorry," Chloe spoke.
"It's not entirely a poor suggestion," Macbeth commented, "If you're wanting to really do some research."
"Hm?" Una asked.
Arthur also looked interested by Macbeth's comment.
"It isn't as 'simple' as going to the library, but it might be helpful in gaining some extra information," Macbeth answered, "the university is sponsoring a sort of 'Arthur Pendragon' festival this week."
"Sounds interesting," Lancelot commented, "What is going on there?"
"Various activities," Macbeth answered, "Supposed reenactments, replica artifacts, and various books on or about 'King Arthur'."
"Wouldn't most of these books be merely copies of the stories as well?" Arthur asked.
"Many of them probably are," Macbeth replied, "But there are likely to be many reference books there that might provide some theories as to when 'Britain's Greatest Hour of Need' will arrive."
"When does this 'festival' start?" Arthur asked.
"I believe the 'library' section opens tomorrow and is open to the public," Macbeth answered.
"I will say, that even if this isn't entirely helpful," Arthur began, "It is rather curious. I might even go just to see what they're doing. See how accurate it is."
"I doubt there will be anything accurate other then in the reference books," Macbeth grumbled, "This 'festival' is not being put on by the history department. Most of it is actually coming from British Culture classes, which focus a lot of time on reading classic works of literature."
"They might be consulting the history department," Una spoke up, "Students can not get these things as wrong as you say."
"You haven't been me and read papers on 'Macbeth' that included the phrase, 'like Shakespeare's character'," Macbeth answered, "Half of the papers that I've read on myself, the students entire research was based on the play 'Macbeth'. The other half simply say they didn't know Macbeth was real."
"You're experiences with American students can not be THAT bad," Leo argued.
"I beg to differ," Macbeth sighed, "I graded their papers. The only positive thing is that they did learn when they were properly taught."
"That doesn't change the fact that I'm curious," Arthur answered, "I think I will take a look at this festival. Even if it is inaccurate."
Arthur then turned the subject of his conversation to a different topic.
"What are your plans for find Lucius, tonight?" Arthur asked.
"We are mostly patrolling to make sure he doesn't cause any trouble," Griff answered, "We don't have the room to hold him and all his followers prisoner."
Arthur nodded, "Knowing where he is would probably still be a good idea."
Griff nodded in agreement.
"You wouldn't mind my company tonight, would you?" Arthur asked.
"You should never need to ask, your Majesty," Griff answered, "Maybe we'll be able to find Lucius's hideout tonight."
Under London
Lucius sighed heavily as he lead his group of followers along an abandoned subway tunnel, trying to find some new place that they could operate out of. Finding a new base had been difficult for the mutate who wished to imitate the Ancient Roman Emperors. His current form made it impossible for him to simply buy a home, and nearly every warehouse that he had attempted to take residence in was either in full use or too small to efficiently house him and his followers. That left him with tramping through the sewers. He sulked as he went.
"I hate having to crawl through these blasted sewers," one his followers complained.
"We have no choice," Lucius answered, "The one that Arthur's friends found us in appeared to be the only warehouse that was abandoned. The only option that leaves us is to find a section of the sewers that we can use effectively."
Lucius was quiet for a moment and then growled further, "And if you whine again, you will be punished."
The follower that had spoken up gulped nervously.
"Sorry, sir," the lone follower answered.
It was then that a new voice cut them off before anyone could say anything else.
"Why should you be sorry?" the voice asked, "There is always a better option."
"Who said that?" Lucius demanded, bringing a full charge to his fists.
"Calmness, calmness," the voice answered as a small robotic bee floated down from the ceiling of the tunnel they were in.
Lucius looked up at the device with a look of suspicion. The voice seemed to be coming from the device.
"What are you?" Lucius asked the device.
"The device you're talking to is a special reconnaissance drone," the voice answered, "I, the one controlling the drone, am Jeremy Irons. It has taken me quite a lot of effort to find you Lucius Sevran, It would honor me if you gave me a few moments of your time."
Lucius gave no response. Irons took that as a sign that he could continue.
"Now, I am to understand that you are currently in opposition with Arthur Pendragon?" Jeremy asked.
"Yes," Lucius answered.
"You've failed in your previous attempts to stop him, haven't you?" Jeremy questioned.
"What do you care?" Lucius demanded.
"Let's say that I represent a group of people, who would very much like to see Arthur Pendragon die," Jeremy answered, "We could provide you and your group with adequate training to fight against him and his gargoyle allies."
"You're not some Unseelie are you?" Lucius questioned, "Because I've had enough of them."
Jeremy chuckled, "No, I am not a fey, nor do I represent the surviving members of the Unseelie Court. I represent a very human organization."
"What kind of organization?" Lucius asked.
"Please follow the drone, and everything will be explained to you," Jeremy answered.
Over London
Griff's patrol team made a slow loop around the center of London before heading toward the docks to make sweep to look for Lucius and his followers. Arthur followed behind him on a hoversled with Octavia and Guinevere following close behind and above. So far, there hadn't been any sign of any major criminal activity or of Lucius.
"There seems to be very little going on tonight," Guinevere commented as she moved up beside Arthur to get a better look at the ground below.
"A sign that were either succeeding quite well," Arthur answered, "Or that our foes are planning something big."
"As much as I'd like to hope it is the former," Griff spoke up, "I believe we may be ready to see what they were planning!"
The others then looked to where Griff was pointing and saw many mutates gliding slowly, and in a manner that indicated that they didn't want to be seen by anyone on the ground. Their maneuvers were not what gave them reason to be startled, but it was their numbers.
"There are far too many of them to be Lucius and his followers," Octavia pointed out, "Unless he's found some way to make more."
"Can you see an African Wild Dog among them?" Arthur questioned.
"I can't tell the difference between many of them," Griff answered.
"Avalon had books on the creatures that live on foreign lands, but I never read any of them," Guinevere added.
"I also do not recognize many of the animal species, but judging by their flight pattern, they either have no clue that we are here, or that they are not in Lucius's service," Octavia finished.
"Then who could it be?" Guinevere asked.
"If it's not Lucius, then it could be the other former Unseelie slaves," Arthur replied.
"What would they be doing here?" Griff asked in a slightly confused voice.
"Merlin said that most of the ones from London were wanting to return," Arthur answered, "But none of them showed up on the day that Merlin said they would, so I assumed that it was impossible to try and get them here."
"That assumption was apparently wrong," Octavia commented.
"So what do we do?" Guinevere asked.
"I suppose we should make contact with them," Arthur sighed, "But, I urge all of you to use extreme caution. We don't know how to react."
The group then watched as the mutates began landing on the roof of a building nearby. Once they had all gathered, Arthur slowly began to pilot his hoversled toward the same rooftop. The three gargoyles with him did the same. After both groups had successfully landed and gathered on the roof top, they both eyed the other, waiting for someone to say something.
"Are you Arthur Pendragon?" a cheetah mutate asked finally, while stepping forward.
"Yes," Arthur answered slowly, "May I ask who you are?"
"You can call me, Chester," the cheetah mutate answered, "Although some of the former Unseelie slaves of American descent took to calling me 'spots'."
"Wouldn't be a bad nickname," a bulldog mutate teased from behind him, "Especially since some of them Manhattan mutates have names like 'Talon' and 'Claw'."
"I refuse to let anyone call me, 'Spots'!" Chester yelled back.
"No one will call you what you do not wish to be called," Arthur said quickly trying to calm him down, "Now, I'm afraid there are too many of you to through all your names at this time. For now, could I ask why you have come searching for me, and to ask if you would mind moving this meeting elsewhere?"
"We're mostly here because we need your help," Chester answered, "and we can move to some other place. That would probably be the safest decision, since we are not very inconspicuous."
"You'd be surprised how inconspicuous you can be," Griff commented.
It took the group roughly fifteen minutes to leave the rooftop and return to the Mansion. They found that Macbeth was still up and that Chloe and Julia's patrol team had finished their route and had returned. Leo and Una were still working at their shop.
"These are the Unseelie slaves that didn't join Lucius?" Macbeth asked when he saw Chester and the other mutates.
Arthur nodded, "They say they need our help."
"Yes," Chester spoke up, "We need your help."
"I'm afraid that neither Arthur, nor myself are skilled geneticists," Macbeth answered.
"We've agreed to let Xanatos's geneticists figure that all out," Chester answered, as he had taken the role of a spokes person for the former slaves, "What we need is a place to live where we will not be caught and experimented on further and where we can be close to our families."
"We were wondering, could we stay here with you?" a female Siamese Cat mutate questioned.
Arthur and Macbeth exchanged glances. The gargoyle clan, while they did not require an extreme amount of food, at a fair sum of food, and Rachel for three nights would be ravenous. They simply didn't have the ability to feed and house so many mutates at once.
"Well," Arthur began, "I assure you that we will do the best that we can, but I'm afraid that Macbeth and I do not have the funds to adequately feed you all."
"And this mansion is not large enough to house all of you for very long," Macbeth added.
Most, if not all, of the gathered mutates began to look very depressed.
"There's got to be something you can do," the bulldog mutate said in a demanding voice.
"I do not have the money to pay for food for all of you," Arthur answered, "I've largely been living off the money I earn as a Private Investigator. With taxes, food for myself, the London Clan, and Merlin and Rachel Winters, I simply do not have the money to afford to feed you for long."
"What about you, Macbeth?" Chester asked, "If you're really an immortal king, shouldn't you have enough?"
"At present, I do," Macbeth answered, "But I do not live on a king's salary. The fortune I have has come from saving every bit that I could for hundreds of years. There will come a time when my fortune no longer exists."
"Do you have to be so cheap that you won't help us!" the bulldog mutate roared, bringing an electrical charge to his fists.
Octavia and Julia tensed for an attack, while the new Avalon gargoyles took a step back. Griff and Chloe meanwhile looked on in surprise. One or two other mutates moved to calm the large bulldog mutate.
"They never said they wouldn't help you," Griff answered.
"We need money and a place to stay," the bulldog mutate growled, "And your friends just said they wouldn't give us either!"
"They said that they couldn't let you live here or pay for your own meals," Julia countered, "That you would stretch their own funds beyond the breaking point, and then all of us would in need of a place to stay."
"We are quite willing to let you stay for a short while, while we look for a more suitable home for all of you," Arthur added.
"I'm not living in a sewer," the bulldog mutate grumbled.
"That may not be possible," Griff answered, "Living in a sewer. London doesn't have any sort of underground structures like 'the Labyrinth' that is in New York."
"There are subways," Chester spoke up.
"They are busy and you would be spotted," Griff pointed out, "Remember that the 'Labyrinth' was an abandoned research facility."
"So where can we go?" a female basset hound mutate whimpered.
Macbeth meanwhile had been scratching his beard, and had come up with an idea.
"If I may, there may be a rather simple solution to your problem," Macbeth spoke up.
"We'll take any help we can get," Chester answered.
"It could be possible for me to purchase a warehouse for you all to operate a homeless shelter from," Macbeth answered, "I will have to fund you for a while, but in time, the government will provide you with the financial aid that you will need."
"What about the food?" Chester asked.
"Count yourselves among those that you are feeding," Macbeth answered, "Once the government deems that you qualify for aid, they will provide you with most of what you need."
"What about making sure that the government doesn't find us?" the bulldog mutate growled, "Or have you even thought that far?"
"I'll need to prove that I own the building, and be present for their inspections," Macbeth answered, "Much the same way Owen Burnett currently does for Mr. Xanatos at the Labyrinth."
"You could do that?" Chester asked.
"It would be the least we could do," Arthur answered.
Elsewhere
Agent Anglo sat quietly with Jeremy Irons standing behind him as Lucius and his followers slowly followed the reconnaissance drone into the office.
"Welcome, Lucius," Agent Anglo spoke in a calm voice.
Lucius looked at the man with a slightly surprised look on his face.
"You may call me Agent Anglo," Anglo spoke, "I suppose you would like to know why I've had you brought here."
"A Jeremy Irons was the one who spoke through the robot," Lucius answered, his followers silent.
"Mr. Irons is one of the men in my employ," Agent Anglo replied, "I told him to contact you."
Lucius nodded.
"Anyway, I am to understand that you and your group are involved in a little 'duel' with Arthur Pendragon?" Agent Anglo questioned, "Alias, Arthur Dragon."
"How do you know?" Lucius demanded.
"I am an agent of a powerful global organization," Agent Anglo answered, "Mr. Pendragon currently is a key figure to several prophecies concerning the future of this island. Prophecies that conflict with those of our Master."
'And who is your 'Master' and what is this organization?" Lucius demanded.
"My 'Master' is to remain anonymous, but I can tell you the name of the organization," Agent Anglo answered, "The Illuminati."
"You make light bulbs?" Lucius asked.
"We rule the world," Agent Anglo commented.
"What?!" Lucius gasped.
"Oh, not in the way you're thinking," Agent Anglo replied, "We're not dictators. We are merely advisors to those who are 'officially' in power."
"Oh," Lucius answered.
"Pendragon's presence on this island threatens to undo a prophecy made by our Master concerning its future," Anglo explained, "A great crisis is coming. Our Master has said that WE would be the ones to stop it. Various sorcerers over the years, however, have predicted that Pendragon will save Britain."
"Pendragon is more of a danger to Britain then he is a help," Lucius grumbled, mostly to himself.
"I'm glad you feel that way," Anglo answered, "We also wish Pendragon dead. We could capture him yes, but why leave anything to chance? No Pendragon, and our Master's prophecy is fulfilled."
"Are you asking me for help?" Lucius questioned.
"We find it would be for everyone's best interest that we aided one another," Anglo answered, "You oppose Pendragon, we oppose Pendragon. You have the muscle, we have the funding."
Lucius stood patiently.
"We will provide you with whatever you need to rid the world of Arthur Pendragon," Anglo spoke, "And we will all get what we want."
"And what will you do to help me?" Lucius asked, "Because if all you're offering is Pendragon's death, then you'll be disappointed, because I would have done that on my own."
"And what do you want?" Anglo asked with a sigh.
"Power," Lucius said with a touch of desire in his voice, "I want the world!"
"Help us kill Pendragon," Anglo spoke, betraying no emotion, "And we'll see what we can do to help you with that."
"Deal," Lucius answered and shook Agent Anglo's hand.
The End…