Britainia

by TVfan

Macbeth, Arthur and the London Clan return home following the Second Unseelie War (seen the Gargoyles title) and find that the future might simply be their biggest challenge. (Transferred from the Gargoyles Fan Website where my pen-name is SN and where I've forgotten my password)

39. Once and Future King: Resupply

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. Characters and concepts from Star Trek are property of Paramount and created by Gene Roddenberry. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All real persons belong to themselves, and no offense is intended. All original characters are the property of SN/TVfan.

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. Also, I am altering large sections of the Star Trek storyline, especially concerning events like WWIII and the Eugenics Wars, which without the Cold War as a backdrop probably wouldn't happen the way Roddenberry wrote them, if at all. This story takes place two weeks after "Once and Future King: Raids and Running ".

Once and Future King: Resupply

By SN/TVfan

Email: Sam_Nary

Portsmouth, UK

"I wish they'd catch him and get this whole mess over with," a lone man grumbled as he operated a crane and was unloading supplies for the Illuminati forces that had been fighting in the UK now for far longer than they intended to.

The war was supposed to be long since won, yet the British people seemed to rally well to their causes and perceptions of freedom. Pendragon was still out there and fighting and now rumors had begun to circulate that he'd begun raising an army of guerillas that were striking at Illuminati garrison forces in towns and villages throughout southern England. On top of it, Macbeth was still causing trouble in London, though to a much lesser scale, and the reports of a lone man ambushing and defeating contingents of their armies in Northern Ireland had now spread to northern England. If thing continued like this, it wouldn't be long before the Anti-Illuminati forces recaptured the entire country.

"Be grateful that OUR job in all of this is simply to unload supplies," the man's assistant answered, "I'd rather be here than up at the front lines. Bad enough I had to lie to my wife about this entire stuff… I don't want to get my butt blown up here."

The first gave a sigh and nodded. The Illuminati's forces were generally drawn from the world's military forces, and usually had no worries about other than the standard risks of military service. But THAT had been under standard duty conditions. The rebellion against the Illuminati by Khan in China and the fight to crush Arthur Pendragon in Britain had changed that. Duty conditions had changed, the Illuminati was having to come up with accidents to be the cause of death for every Illuminati member killed, which grew more and more difficult the longer the fighting went on. The man running the crane knew this and it was this reason that had him the most concerned over things. The reverses, the mild but open victories, and the fact that much of this was seeming to drag on and on meant there were greater chances of the Illuminati as a whole being either exposed or destroyed.

"It may come down to that eventually," the first man commented, "If we can catch and kill Pendragon… we can leave and no one will be the wiser that the real victory was won by us. That is why we were all sent here, wasn't it?"

"Yup," the other gave a shrug, "but right now the front is much closer to Scotland than here."

The first man only sighed and went about his work. He paid little attention to the figure up in the shadows of the upper most part of crane. After a few moments later, the figure left and glided away on rather eagle-like wings. The figure was Griff, one of Arthur Pendragon's knights and the normal protector of London. But as might have been the case had the Battle of Britain in 1940 gone a different way, Griff had found himself fighting in places beyond London, because the situation demanded it. Griff believed heavily in what was right and in freedom. He picked up in protecting that after Goliath brought him forward through time and that lead him into Arthur's service.

"Strange they don't seem to be guarding the city," Griff commented as he glided towards the outskirts of the city, "Or maybe rumors have gotten their guys jumping at shadows…"

London

Meanwhile, the man who was now directing the war for the Illuminati was pacing the main headquarters in London. He wanted to deal with Arthur personally, and he didn't like the reports he had received over the past two weeks, but he had other responsibilities to rectify a situation that Two had created by insisting on the maximum attention be paid to Arthur despite the fact that the Illuminati Council had brought itself into the open in the UK and thus started a very different war. If they could kill Arthur Pendragon, that was good, but if they kept channeling resources after him, the British army might be able to overwhelm them on the main battlefront. And that was the chief threat that he now faced. Pendragon and his London ally, Macbeth, were unimportant.

"And we stabilized the lines?" General Crawly questioned.

"In the north? For the moment, yes," the colonel answered, "But they've made it as far south as Ashington and Morpeth."

General Crawly gave a sigh, as that represented a major advance, but at least with the lines stabilizing that represented some progress.

"Do we have the strength to begin pushing them back?" General Crawly answered.

"Maybe," the colonel answered, "it'll depend on whatever trouble we've been having behind the lines in the north."

"Damn it," General Crawly cursed with a great deal of venom in his voice, "Damn Pendragon for gathering men to his cause. Damn the British for refusing to help us. Damn Two for failing to understand the importance of the methods needed to win and obsessing over someone who has done little. And damn this newcomer for interfering in the north."

The colonel was slow to speak as he didn't expect the general to actually curse members of the Illuminati Council, especially those who had died the organization's service.

"We might need to focus on Arthur and his guerillas, sir," the colonel suggested, "it may not be the most prudent thing to do militarily… but…"

General Crawly gave a heavy sigh and drug his hand down his face. The entire situation he found himself in was taxing and would be beyond most other military commanders. Normally, he would have chided such remarks, but Pendragon was proving harder and harder to pin down. With Merlin and the fey helping him, he was able to hide and strike small targets at will. The division hunting him was losing more of its men to filling garrison ranks in the towns that were supposed to be under Illuminati control than from anything Pendragon or his followers had done to them directly.

"This is going to crush us," General Crawly sighed, "The fight in China has priority with most of our combat forces and we haven't been doing well there…"

"Sir?"

"Keep our front line forces strong, but begin to remove garrison forces in central England and Wales and prepare to send them after Pendragon," General Crawly said slowly, "it's the only thing we can do for the moment. It'll be the only thing giving us a shot at winning this campaign in the long run."

Portsmouth

Griff glided quietly over Portsmouth's cityscape until he came to a series of older homes and apartments, all with orange tiled roofs and stone chimneys rising from them. The group had not gone too terribly far, at least when compared to the gains the Illuminati had made in their initial attack, but they were successful in gathering additional recruits and raiding Illuminati garrisons along the way. The previous night they had managed to slip into the city of Portsmouth and found several parts of the city had been abandoned when people fled in panic at the initial invasion. Now, Arthur had them grouped in a series of abandoned apartments near the base of a nearby hill.

They had gained some strength with more recruits, which Reginald was doing his best to train in basic maneuvers. From what Griff heard when he and the others awoke for the night that Reginald was making progress, but nowhere near what he wanted. Their real value though was still the help that Merlin, Coyote, and even Beth could provide with regard to magic. It was something that the Illuminati troops seemed to have trouble countering since Two's death. Griff didn't know why given everything that they knew about the Illuminati. However, he wasn't about to question it.

He simply landed near the back door to the building and approached it. He opened it to find two of the recruits standing nervously in the entryway. Thankfully, Griff and the other gargoyles had been thoroughly introduced to every new recruit that had joined Arthur's service and while many found it weird or were in awe of meeting the hero from the Battle of Britain, they did recover.

"Hello, sir," one of them said to Griff as he walked by.

"Just Griff, no need for the 'sir' stuff," Griff answered. Arthur may have knighted him, but he wasn't going to end up obsessed over it.

The two recruits that were on guard nodded and let Griff make his way into a moderate length and rather narrow hallway that separated the apartments on that floor. He made it halfway down the hallway and made a right through a door into the apartment behind it. He continued until he came into a front living room where Arthur, Merlin, and Reginald were looking over a tourist map of the city for reference. Griff gave a soft cough as he approached to let them know that he had returned.

"Ah… you're back," Arthur said slowly, "Did you find anything?"

"Reginald was right, they are moving a lot of supplies here," Griff reported, "I spotted a row of large container ships dropping off supplies while I was scouting."

Arthur and Reginald both nodded, though it was the modern soldier who ultimately spoke.

"They've launched a massive invasion of the British Isles," Reginald answered, "they need to get their supplies to keep their armies going."

"They can't all be going through Portsmouth, can they?" Arthur asked curiously.

"If they are… the forces they have don't need much in the way of armor. Most of what I saw looked like crates of rifles, rifle ammunition, some light field guns, and maybe some hand fired rocket weapons… that sort of thing."

"They'll have multiple supply ports," Reginald commented, "having just one supply route would hurt them too much and it'd be safer to be able to draw supplies from multiple areas… and given our present force size and training available… figuring out how to pilot tanks isn't needed. Though… getting some of their rockets wouldn't a bad idea."

"So, we're to continue with the hit and run attacks?" Merlin asked.

"It's about all we can do," Arthur sighed, "Thankfully the division that's been after us has been a couple days behind us thinking we're lying in ambushes Coyote's created…"

"Which is lucky… but it won't allow us to get away with too much for long," Merlin warned, "Particularly while you have others out scouting… and while the injured we do have are being looked after."

0-0-0

"There, that doesn't look too bad," Beth commented as she stitched up a bad cut on the arm of the newer volunteers for force to take down the Illuminati that Arthur had been raising since Farnham. They were eager and dedicated to freeing their country, but even Beth could see that patriotism didn't mean much against trained troops. About a week ago, as they came into another town at night, they ran into company from the division that was chasing them conferring with the local garrison. Thankfully Merlin and Coyote were able to not only cover their retreat but take out some of their pursuers. That said, though, they didn't escape without casualties as several volunteers took some glancing shots when the Illuminati fired blindly into the fog that Merlin had raised.

"Thanks, luv," the man gave an answer, "sorry to bungle everything up on you only just after volunteering..."

"I'm no veteran soldier," Beth gave a chuckle as she tied off the last not, "I studied medicine… but I'm no official combat medic."

"You know what you're doing," the man countered.

"This was a minor wound and in the arm," Beth told with a weak smile, "don't be too thankful… things can and likely will get worse."

And Beth was nervous about a lot of this. She had studied medicine and could deal with emergencies, and on some level that is what she had originally set out to do. Though, the injuries she expected to treat would be from accidents or falling down outside and various every day events. She didn't expect she'd have to treat gunshot wounds of any kind, and neither did she originally expect to be part of anyone's fight. Her father, brother, and sister were the 'warriors' in the Maza family. Beth had only found herself dragged into the fight.

She did the best she could with what she had and what she could find, but she really didn't know how well it would fully work. The man's wound wasn't truly serious and while the wound was large, keeping pressure on it had stopped the bleeding held it close enough together that he wasn't risking further injury. But, that had used up material from his shirt, which certainly wasn't clean, and when she could finally put in the stitches, she had to borrow the thread and needle from the abandoned apartment's inhabitant's sewing center. Beth looked over at it and could see quite clearly that the material had been saved for a rather exquisite looking quilt, which now wouldn't be finished in the near future. All of this left Beth not feeling well enough to think herself worthy of being thanked by the people she was treating.

"Yeah… but from what the others have said… you and your boyfriend don't have to be here," the man commented, "and yet you are here. For that, you have my thanks."

Beth gave a weak smile and hoped Coyote was alright.

Elsewhere in Portsmouth

"Figures they'd put their main garrison here," Rachael commented as she and Coyote looked out from roof of a building across the street from several of the old fortifications that had once served as the city's defense against attack by sea. They were presently near what was known as Square Tower. She then sighed and looked up at the full moon above her. She only sighed again and pressed her body against the roof, feeling the old tile clink and crack under both the weight of her wolf form and the force of her claws digging into the material.

"You don't need to worry about being seen," Coyote said to her, "I've got enough illusion spell going that no one will notice or pay attention to you… just as the sound muffling spell ensures that the gargoyles can wake up at dusk, and you could transform without waking up anyone that didn't flee or couldn't flee… or alert any Illuminati groups."

Racheal slowly nodded her muzzle. Dealing with people knowing of her lycanthropy proved to be a bigger problem for the volunteers than meeting Griff and the gargoyles, meeting Coyote and Merlin and learning that magic and sorcery was real. Many stories with magic had seemed to treat them as being rather nice, and Griff was a hero from World War II. Meanwhile, werewolves didn't get the same praise. Some of their volunteers had seen the movie 'American Werewolf in London' and seemed to be terrified of her. At times when she took wolf form through her own choice was one thing, but when the moon rose tonight and she had to change regardless of her choice was something else. Coyote had helped to make sure no one heard her howl at the end of her transformation, but that didn't stop them from being afraid of her.

"I'm not too terribly worried about the Illuminati soldiers," Rachael answered, "We'll find a way to beat them…"

"It is old myths that trouble you," Coyote commented.

Rachael nodded and said at a whisper, "I'm sure Arthur or Merlin told you about the difficulty I had coming to grips with being a werewolf and controlling my transformations… that it took me a lot accept what I am and realize that I'm not some monster…"

She watched as Coyote responded with a nod of his own.

"And many of them look at me like I'm some mindless monster and that I'm going to eat them," Rachael finished, "It's not that they fear the myths… that's understandable… but… it's like seeing me again after I was first bitten and after my first transformation and seeing that refusal to accept that I'm not no matter what I do…"

Coyote carefully moved down the roof to her and patted her shoulder. Rachael did not immediately respond.

"Don't worry," Coyote answered, "With all that's going on… and the battles we'll likely have to save your country… I'm sure you'll get the chance to show you're just as big a hero as Griff or Arthur."

Rachael looked out at the fort and gave a grunt, "Or find an Illuminati soldier prepared for me and armed with silver."

Coyote didn't immediately answer and looked to the old forts that were now historically to Portsmouth rather than militarily important. They served as the main Illuminati garrison's headquarters in the city, but it was likely the garrison here was larger and spread out over a larger portion of the city than they were in some of the smaller villages they had gone through. Eventually he did find his voice again, but it was more to assess their mission.

"This is likely their command and control area… so as to stay out of the way," Coyote commented, "It wouldn't surprise me if their barracks and weapons were closer to the harbor and the docks… so they can be closer to where their supplies are coming in."

The two then watched as an officer came out of the Square Tower holding what looked like an envelope.

"Then back to Arthur, I suppose," Rachael commented, "Let him know what we've found…"

Eastleigh, UK

Meanwhile the division that was supposed to be pursuing Arthur was conducting an area search over the last area that the Illuminati had felt that Arthur Pendragon had been in. They had already done a hose to house search and found nothing and had begun to fan out around the outside of the city hoping to find some sign of them, such as these impenetrable rose hedges that seemed to form a shield around the areas that Pendragon seemed to rest in for the day, likely to keep the gargoyles with him.

"I found something, sir!" a voice called out, alerting the nearby officer in charge.

The officer paused his own search and came running over. He approached the soldier who pointed to a section of grass that looked like it had been trampled down. The officer also though he saw what looked like a three toed footprint in the grass with the collection of the more human like prints.

"Good work, Wilkins," the officer praised the man, "this will help… it'd look like he's headed back north… toward Wales, I think…"

"Toward Wales, sir?" the other man, Wilkins, asked.

"Well… what else is out there in that direction?" the officer answered, "We got enough troops searching this area to the point where he couldn't sneeze here without us knowing."

"Of course," Wilkins acknowledged.

London

General Crawly now found himself tracking the reports that came in on Pendragon's movements. While he didn't think chasing after one man made the best military sense, but his rebellion was beginning have negative effects on the battles elsewhere. Some of it came from the fact that Two had made the decision earlier and the anti-Illuminati forces had capitalized on it, and pushed to the brink, Pendragon and his allies made their own efforts to save their country from the Illuminati. General Crawly knew he had to break Pendragon's force and put an end to the fighting if he was to get any shot at defeating the rest of the anti-Illuminati forces.

"Heading northwest toward Wales?" General Crawly questioned.

"That's what they reported," a major who was reporting to him answered.

"It can't be Wales! A different unit found what appeared to be a feather from one of the Roman gargoyles' wings!" a different major spoke up, "they were headed southeast! Toward Southampton."

"We don't have anything major in Southampton!" the first major countered.

"Other than potential recruits for his cause, you mean," the second major snorted back.

"He could get them in Wales just as easily and be closer to the anti-Illuminati forces," the first major argued.

"Both are to be considered possible," General Crawly sighed, "I want scouting units to further check both directions and alert garrison units in all the possible cities in either direction that Pendragon MIGHT be in their area. Once we know for sure… we can move in in force… though I don't want a blind attack. His magicians seem to see that sort of thing coming…"

"Yes, sir," both majors saluted.

General Crawly only sighed and hoped their fortunes would change.

Portsmouth

The conference Arthur found himself heading was an odd one. They were in a different abandoned apartment which Reginald had set up to operate as a conference room, though it meant moving a lot of the furniture, with would surely create trouble for the owner when they returned… if they were even still alive. That was one of the biggest issues that Arthur didn't like about much of the movement. He either had to hope someone would hid them when they were in a town, or find some structure that were either abandoned or were like a barn where people didn't normally live. This commonly put innocent people at risk, though some of the people who had given his group space to say ultimately joined their party and were among the new volunteers. The issue that hit him with regard to abandoned homes struck him as trespassing, which was in itself a crime. Reginald excused it as part of the war against the Illuminati, but that didn't mean that Arthur found it easy to accept.

Arthur then sighed heavily and looked about the room at those who were gathered there. Several of the volunteers that had joined them were there. Most of them were from Farnham, as they had received the most of Reginald's training. Rachael was there, standing close to Merlin and Coyote. Griff and the other gargoyles were there, with their wings cloaked to allow them to stand in the room without taking up too much space. Reginald was there as well.

"I believe we are ready, sir," Reginald spoke clearly and then moved to allow Arthur to state what the night's mission was.

Arthur gave a soft cough to clear his throat and then spoke, "I will say that you are all doing quite well and are progressing in the lessons needed to fight…"

He paused as a soft cheer rose up from those that were gathered.

"But there is much that we must attain to succeed against the foe we face," Arthur continued, "that will include gaining the weapons necessary to deal with any armored or helicopter units that the Illuminati will surely use. We will also need to reduce the ability of the Illuminati to supply their armies in the north."

Arthur then sighed and looked around the room. He then turned a nearby wall where Reginald had tacked up the map of Portsmouth that they had been looking at earlier. The collection of family photos had been removed and placed in a safe place with the other furniture that had been removed. Once there he continued his explanation.

"This will mean striking the dockyards here at Portsmouth," Arthur spoke, "and sadly we will have to destroy them and whatever supplies we cannot take with us. The gargoyles have scouted out the harbor area and know where the main depot is."

"Is it heavily guarded?" one of the volunteers asked curiously.

"No more heavily guarded than any other spot the Illuminati's had out here," Griff answered, "at least around the harbor itself…"

"Which will mean if we can move quickly, we should be able to deal with those in the harbor and get away before anything bigger arrives," Arthur answered, "Though… Coyote, Rachael, and three of our volunteers will be making sure that any other Illuminati force that decides to come to the aide of those in the harbor."

The gathered volunteers glanced over to the transformed werewolf who only sighed and gave Arthur a slightly defeated look. Arthur did notice and patted her shoulder and said softly to Rachael, "Give them time. Many of these people have not met or seen a werewolf before and only know of the movies and myths… once they know the REAL you, they'll come around."

Rachael only nodded, though; she honestly preferred to go with the team with Arthur. She didn't like the fear many of the new volunteers showed of her, but in a way, Arthur made dealing with them easier. It was an odd sort of attraction and she knew it, but that didn't change things. He had tried to find and stop the werewolf that bit her before she even knew what had bit her. He provided support and help while she was adjusting to being a werewolf, and putting up with the various instances of her bemoaning the loss of her own humanity. It was a lot and Rachael felt more than just respect for him for that reason.

"So… how will we get all the guns and ammo out?" one of the volunteers, a younger man asked, actually sounding impatient.

"We'll need to recover a couple of moving trucks that Octavia and Julia have found," Arthur answered, "and they will take one volunteer to where they found the trucks we will need."

"One is a moving van and the other is a bread truck," Julia spoke up.

"Whoever wishes to drive it will need to come now as we'll need to be there to meet the others so we can get away with the supplies," Octavia added, "So any volunteers?"

They ended up getting more volunteers than they needed. The two Roman gargoyles glanced to Arthur who nodded. They then pointed to one individual and said "you're with us" and then began to head out. The handpicked volunteers were quick to follow. As they left, the rest turned Arthur who was now joined by Merlin and Reginald.

"So, how will we take the docks?" the one who had spoken up earlier asked again, still sounding eager and impatient.

Arthur sighed and shook his head. He understood the feeling. He'd seen it in nearly all of his knights before. At times he could even see it in Griff with regard to doing the right thing. On some level, Arthur even remembered feeling the same way when he was younger and only just became King of Britain. The only thing that he didn't like about this with the present group of knights is that none of them were really trained. They had the heart and the desire of any knight or warrior he had known, but they had no training and on some level they were forced into it. He didn't think many of these people would have wanted to fight for Britain if the Illuminati hadn't forced the issue and would have wanted to lead peaceful lives. In that sense, Arthur looked at them and saw his own failure to protect them from this, and thus tried his best to think over how to reduce the risks.

"With as much surprise as we can muster," Arthur answered, "Merlin… old friend… if you could disrupt their communications with their headquarters that would be helpful… meanwhile, Griff and Reginald will take the opening shots and strikes at any sentries and men who are ready for a fight. The rest of us will then follow along behind and move for the warehouses to secure the weapons we'll need."

The others nodded, as if they accepted the idea though one, a woman who looked like she was in her late twenties to mid-thirties then came up with a different question.

"What about those that don't go? She asked carefully, "what about Lancelot and Gawain?"

Arthur then sighed and nodded to acknowledge the question, "They will stay her with Beth Maza. Both to protect our present base, but to protect those that were wounded on our way here in previous engagements with the Illuminati soldiers."

0-0-0

Octavia and Julia made their way up to the roof with the volunteers nervously gripping their arms around their necks. The two Roman gargoyles had to keep their neck muscles flexed as their passengers were rather nervous and were gripping them tightly.

"Are you sure this is safe?" one volunteer asked as they made it onto the roof. He nervously gulped as he looked over edge. He very nearly fell but was saved by a strong hand catching him by the back of his shirt.

"So long as you're careful," Octavia chided and pulled him back.

"Okay…" the man responded and then gasped as he was taken often off his feet and lifted up into the air. The two Roman gargoyles gave a "hold on" and then took off into the night.

They glided quietly until they came up on an old bakery. Julia and Octavia, however, moved past it and only began to descend over an alley. They came down to land behind a modest sized transport truck. It sat there quietly with only a wooden fence keeping the alley separate from the main street that went by the bakery.

"So what do we do now?" one of the volunteers asked, "We steal the truck?"

Octavia was about to answer when a new voice spoke up.

"No, you get help from its owner," came the voice of older woman.

They all turned in surprise to find a lone woman standing by a backdoor looking directly at them. She wasn't all that tall, carried a rather round figure, with obvious wrinkles on her face, and had graying hair. It wasn't a figure Octavia or Julia would ever consider for a warrior, but the woman looked surprisingly determined. In fact the woman didn't seem startled by the fact that she had two gargoyles in the alley behind her bakery.

"Who are you?" one of the volunteers demanded, "you serve the Illuminati?"

"You think I'd be talking to you if I were?" the woman asked back, sounding sarcastic.

"Who are you?" Octavia asked as Julia came forward behind her Clan sister.

"You can call me 'Midge' and I've run this bakery for nearly thirty years," she answered, "this truck is what we use to distribute what we cook to the local shops her and in small towns nearby."

"And you'd wish to help us?" Julia asked carefully, as her personal judgment was that the woman wasn't fit to engage in what they would be doing.

"Not me," she answered, "old woman like me wouldn't do anything… but my son can help you."

The group watched as a younger man in a white shirt and black came out the same door as the older woman motioned for him.

"My son can help you," the woman, Midge, repeated.

"Hello," he said a fairly friendly voice.

The two human volunteers traded odd glances, though it was ultimately Octavia who spoke.

"How did you know we needed the truck?" Octavia asked.

"The Illuminati took over the BBC and all that… or at least the running of the channel… they've got your leader… Arthur Penny…"

"Pendragon, the legendary king," Octavia corrected.

"On the teley with updates on where he's 'terrorized' and urgings to turn him into Illuminati authorities," Midge answered, "and they've said that he's traveled with gargoyles and the like… so…"

"I saw you gliding over our bakery earlier tonight and figured you were looking for something," her son finished, "best bet would be either the bread or the truck."

"Getting the bread might not be a bad idea," one of the volunteers commented.

"This will be dangerous if you commit to helping us," Julia warned.

"The Illuminati ain't that popular round here," Midge grumbled, "they came in… shoot up the place… and took over everything. They had no reason worthy of that."

The small group couldn't really argue with that, as they had agreed to that much earlier. So it wasn't like the baker and her son were telling them something they didn't already know or at least suspect. Octavia and Julia both nodded.

"Any bread you can spare us would be helpful, but we need to get going if we're to get the supplies needed to take on the Illuminati," Julia said quickly.

The son nodded and dashed into the bakery to get whatever they had on hand. Midge, meanwhile, gave a confident smile.

"I wouldn't worry too much about missin' them supplies," Midge answered, "we've been hopin' you'd come our way and are ready with quite a few surprises of our own. You'll have trucks to move around and even a special cocktail or two should these 'illuminated' ones try anything funny."

Julia and Octavia only blinked.

Portsmouth Docks

A lone man made his way toward the docks where supplies were to be collected for the Illuminati armies, and specifically for the frontline units in southern Scotland around Dalbeattie, Dumfries, and Lockerbie. He was one of General Crawly's quartermasters and was in charge of keeping those units on the west coast side of the British Isles supplies. He came across the dock workers as they were lowering the last crate onto a long line of crates and containers on the landing platform of the dock. Out in the water, he could see the ship beginning to make its way back out to see.

"You men are the dockyard workers?" the quartermaster shouted up the men in the crane, "the ones doing the work to supply our army?"

A head peaked out of one of the windows and looked down at him with some almost suspicious eyes.

"You the quartermaster?" the crane worker asked, "We expected you an hour ago when the ship arrived… though I still don't fully understand why we have to do all of this at night…"

"You wouldn't believe the roadblocks I had to get through just to get here," the quartermaster gave a frustrated groan, "all the hunting for Pendragon has forced even fellow Illuminatus are forced into delays."

"But why at night?" the crane operator asked.

"To hopefully keep any outside watchers from identifying the ships bringing supplies into our forces and identify it to companies in other countries," the quartermaster explained

"And your trucks are being slowed for fear they're with Pendragon?" the crane operator asked.

"They're being delayed by fear that they're in league with Arthur even more than I am," the quartermaster answered, "Don't worry. They'll be here. I was simply ahead of them."

On the Streets

Arthur and Reginald lead a small team of men through the streets and alleys where they could find them. Griff glided above them to provide air cover, but since their march was forced to try and cling to shadows and stay out of sight forced the gargoyle to glide in brief circles to stay over them. The oddest thing was that the city seemed dead quiet. In many of the small towns and villages that Arthur had gone through, he had noticed that normal 'night life' wasn't really stopped by the Illuminati invasion. People tended to try and avoid the Illuminati, but they did go about their lives. Reginald had theorized that the Illuminati did that to a degree to try and get people to support them, though with largely limited success.

"I don't like this quiet," Arthur commented as he looked out around a corner and onto a street to find things being quiet again.

"You fear a trap?" Reginald asked.

"Not quite that… but something odd," Arthur commented, "Shouldn't we have seen someone moving about? Someone who works on a night shift or is a sort of night owl?"

"Maybe the Illuminati actually put a curfew in place here," Merlin commented, "We know they'd done that in London before we left."

Arthur sighed and looked up to see Griff still quietly circling above them. He then glanced back to see the rest of the volunteers that were with him catching up with them. They arrived and pressed themselves up against the wall of the building they were presently at, but the weapons they had were held at the ready.

"Okay…" Arthur spoke quietly, "we'll head up the street in two teams… one on the far side of the street the other on this side of the street."

The others nodded, and they soon rushed out. Arthur ran hard to cross the street, holding Excalibur in one hand and the electric blaster that Macbeth had given him in the other. Merlin and three volunteers were quick to follow him. They paused once they got to the doorway of the building across the street from where they'd been while Reginald and the rest of the volunteers slowly made their way up on the other side, using the doorways for cover as well. Arthur again scanned the buildings in the idea of seeing if they might have attracted attention. Again there was no sign of attention being paid to them. However, they made it only a little way up the street toward the next intersection when Griff came in for a rather hurried landing.

"Your majesty… we have something going on," Griff reported, "Something really strange."

"What is it?" Merlin asked curiously.

"Looks like a line of military trucks," Griff answered, "moving slowly and they'll come across our path at the next intersection…"

"What kind of trucks are they?" came Reginald's voice as he crossed the street to find out what the report was.

"They look like they'd be transport trucks," Griff answered, "A square cab with bars around the outside of the cab… a flat nose… and a heavy tarp covering the truck's bed."

"A transport truck," Reginald commented, "Either they're carrying men to chase us or are to pick up supplies for their field army…"

"Did you see any soldiers?" Arthur asked to Griff.

"Not many," Griff answered, "and their presence isn't the oddest thing about all of this."

This only raised puzzled eyebrows and the griffon-like gargoyle was quick to explain further the oddness of the situation that he had noticed.

"The whole caravan seems to be stalled by a car out in the middle street, just left there," Griff continued, "and it looks like there are a couple of lights on the buildings lining the streets."

That made Arthur's eyes widen. He had been concerned on how quiet things had been, as though people were trying to stay out of the way of everything. The building and area that he had set up in had been abandoned in, which could be understandable, but the quietness still made him uneasy as he expected running into someone, as had been the case in the other villages he had gone through up until this point.

"What can you say they're up to? Do they need our help?" Arthur asked.

"I really can't tell what they're up to, but it's odd to have trucks going through at night and random lights on only on those that the trucks are passing," Griff answered, "and… while it could be coincidence, the car left out in the street is rather odd…"

Arthur holstered the electric blaster for a moment and began to rub his beard with his thumb and pointer finger.

"We'll move to take a look," Arthur commented, "If they attack the Illuminati… we'll see if we can take their trucks… if not, we'll stay quiet and try to stay out of sight. Can you get airborne again, Griff?"

"Right-o your majesty," Griff answered.

As the cracking of stone was heard as Griff began to scale the building they were near, Arthur's team re-crossed the street and began to rush toward where the next intersection was.

0-0-0

Meanwhile the Illuminati supply men were dealing with a lone car that was left in the middle of the road. None could really know how the car got there, but they knew they had to get the car at least to the side of the road. Once the road was cleared, they intended to move on. They'd give a report to the city garrison when they left on the abandoned car and go from there. For the moment they were stopped, and the passengers of the first and second trucks made their way on foot to the abandoned vehicle.

"Do you see the keys in it?" one said to the other as they got closer to the car and began to look in through the windows, which weren't tinted in any way.

The leader of the two men came up alongside the driver's side of the car and did his best to look into inside of the vehicle. The inside was dark, but the material of the seats looked shiny and was reflecting light back away from the surface. From what he could see from the outside, he couldn't see the keys, though he also knew they'd need to get into the car to make sure.

"I don't see it on the seats or the floor…" the man said with a sigh, "can you see it in the ignition?"

The other man shakes his head in the negative and the two reach for the door handle of the car that was closest to them. They were both relieved to find the door unlocked, but had little luck from there. They could not find the keys anywhere in the vehicle. Not under seats, or between them. They couldn't find it under the floor mats or in any of the compartments on the dash, and once they were certain that they couldn't find the keys, the two sighed and backed out of the vehicle.

"Nothing?" one said to the other.

"Nothing," the first agreed, "Perhaps we can push it."

The two moved toward the back of the car and were about to see if they could push it when a voice called out to them.

"Lost, boys?"

They turned to see a man standing at the window of a second floor apartment. The buildings all looked old and rustic, as many older cities tended to do, and the man in distinctively more modern attire stood out in comparison to the old architecture. But, he probably lived there and might even own the car that was blocking their path.

"Not lost, sir," the first Illuminati soldier answered, "merely trying to remove something that shouldn't be in the road. Is it yours? Does it work?"

"It's not mine," the man at the window answered, "but then… England isn't yours and yet you're here."

"Whatever you see… we aren't here to do you harm," the second Illuminati soldier answered, "If you'd just hand Arthur Pendragon over to us and help us kill his supporters we'll to putting everything right."

"With no choice over who rules us… an Illuminati man or an Illuminati man," the man at the window shot back, "what the point of helping you when we want to be free and our OWN choices."

"You make bad choices," the first Illuminati soldier said in a frustrated growl, "and if you're going to have THAT sort of attitude… you'll come down and push this car to the docks."

"Why don't you go home?" the man at the window answered, "We won't attack you in Illuminati land."

Both Illuminati soldiers prepared to advance and suddenly a 'chorus' of 'why don't you go home' came down on them from both sides of the street. The soldiers turned to see that more lights were on and more people were at the windows, all looking irritated. While they were armed, the soldiers were transport drivers and they lacked the firepower to be a significant threat to anyone. Both soldiers standing in the street only gulped as they looked up at the row of apartments with second story lights on and men in the windows. By now the drivers of the trucks were beginning to become impatient.

"Hey! Forget actin' like tough guys and get this street cleared!" the first driver shouted, "We're to get our supplies to the north, not deal with local riff raff. If they become a problem the city garrison can deal with them! Now move that car!"

The two were quick to move to the back of the car and to try and push it. Just as they reached it, however, a beer bottle hit the second soldier in the face on the side of his eye socket that was closest to his right ear. The glass shattered on impact and knocked his head to a side, and the glass fragments then cut him and fell into his clothing.

"Gah!" the wounded Illuminati soldier cringed and dropped to a knee and brought one hand up to his face, trying to feel the wound. It wasn't necessarily the smartest thing to do, but it was still the man's first instinct. As he did so, however, he noticed the first man who had challenged him holding up what looked like a soccer ball. He then yelled, "Look out, Fred!"

The other soldier dodged and the ball missed him, bouncing of the trunk of the car and then off the side one of the apartments He was grateful for the help, but what was supposed to be a simply supply run was rapidly escalating into some sort of ambush.

"Get back to the truck!" the first driver shouted, "we'll just push it ourselves!"

Bottles, balls, and even a brick or two were thrown, but did no damage to the trucks as heavy iron bars protected the side windows and none of these rioters had a good angel to throw at the front windshield of the trucks with any degree of force. The two men that had been on foot hobbled back to the first truck where the wounded man was helped in first and the second crammed in after him. Once the door shut, the driver put the truck in gear and they began to roll forward.

0-0-0

Above everything, Griff observed things as they happened. He had noticed a lot of the quietness in the city just as easily as Arthur had, and that puzzled him as well. Granted Portsmouth wasn't London, that didn't mean things would be as quiet as they had been. So, with the decision to observe what this truck convoy was up to, Griff was quick to not only get back in the air, but to get to a point where he could observe what happened. Would the people merely watch or would they get involved, and if so… how would they get involved? Would they support the Illuminati or be antagonistic to them? Those were the questions that went through Griff's mind as he moved back. He had to stay high enough that Arthur and the others could see him from the ground, and thus he couldn't really hear what was going on below him, but he could still see, and what he saw gave an indicator that these people weren't great supporters of the Illuminati.

He watched all matter of things be hurled at the trucks, though with little effect, other than likely getting the truck drivers to radio to the main garrison area that they were under attack. The convoy began to slowly roll forward under the barrage of random objects and continued until the first truck slowly touched the abandoned car and began to push it forward. Griff watched quietly as the car began to roll forward slightly, but after a few feet the front end of the car seemed to violently explode violently with a great 'thump,' like an over filled balloon popping.

"What the…!?" Griff gasped and flared his wings back to just barely miss the engine from the car flying straight up into the air.

He looked down to see that the move had certainly startled the driver of the first truck who then swerved, only to end up with his truck sitting across the street and blocking it for the following trucks. Their speed wasn't great, but that didn't prevent the resulting collisions as the trucks slammed into one another. The last began to back up and Griff decided now was the time to go in, and fold his wings and dove for the last truck. He went in like a missile and focused solely on that last truck. He only flared his wings as he got close enough that he could grab the metal bars on the side of the truck's cab doors.

"Hello there, sure you wouldn't rather stay?" Griff spoke as he announced himself and pulled the bars away leaving that cab door window unprotected.

"It's Pendragon's gargoyle! He's here!" the driver screamed but seemed too in shock to do much more, and Griff was easily able to grab the man and literally pull him out of the vehicle.

Griff then threw the driver out onto the street, and judging by the smack that was made when he hit the ground that the driver wouldn't be moving for a while. He then turned his attention to opening the door of the truck and dealing with the truck's passenger who was now fumbling with a holstered pistol and looking scared out of his wits. He'd begun to draw his gun when Griff got the door open, but by this time the truck in front of them, which had also been backing up hit the front of the truck that Griff had boarded and rocked both Griff and the Illuminati soldier still in the truck. The impact sent the man's arm up and when he fired his gun, it fired a round straight into the roof of the cab.

Griff caught the man's hand before he could re-aim his weapon and easily managed to wrestle the gun out of his hands. Disarmed, the man fainted.

0-0-0

Arthur practically jumped when the front portion of the car exploded. Their main group was far enough away that they weren't in the blast area, but it was still enough to startle them. The only thing that puzzled them was the lack of fire in the explosion. From what Arthur had seen on television and in some of the battles they'd fought with the Illuminati since their invasion that when such events happened, fire was involved somehow.

"What the devil…" Arthur began, "How did…?"

"They likely overfilled the front tires over the tire's capacity to hold and had something set either in the wheel or on the ground so that it would then pop the tires," Reginald theorized, "the resulting release of air pressure then blew everything apart… like an explosion."

Arthur looked up to see Griff begin to dive down and then peered out again to see the trucks continue to be pelted by various objects, now likely things that had been brought from other sites to this street. Those objects wouldn't stop the trucks, however, if the drivers decided to go all out.

"Regardless… let's go, we get the trucks we'll have enough to carry what we need and move about quickly," Arthur urged and rushed around the corner.

"Provided Coyote or I can properly hide them from detection," Merlin sighed and followed.

Reginald watched an only sighed and turned to the others, "Remember to hug the sides of the streets. If they try to shoot… shoot into the truck and get behind cover."

"Yes, sir!" came the answer.

"Let's go!" Reginald answered and followed Arthur and Merlin.

They moved in a rush as Griff's attack on the rear of the convoy ended up stalling the other trucks. To their great fortune, the entire Illuminati convoy was stalled, and in a panic, some of the men in the trucks began to file out and took cover by the vehicles while looking for some way to escape. One looked toward the members of the 'resistance' moving toward him and pointed with wide and fearful eyes.

"Pendragon!" the man yelled before catching a blast from Arthur's electric blaster and being flung back against the truck that had been in the convoy and knocked out.

What followed was chaos. Arthur reached the area where the first truck was with the abandoned car still next to it. One man was seated in the truck, nursing what looked like a head wound while another was half in and half out of the vehicle. Both of them surrendered immediately, not even bothering to use the weapons they had. The driver however ducked out his door and rushed around with his pistol drawn, dodging bricks and other items thrown from the building. Arthur only waited on his side of the truck while Reginald and some of his volunteers pulled the two that had surrendered out of the truck. The driver came around the corner of the truck in a hurry with his gun outstretched.

"RRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" the man hollered as he charged.

Arthur only answered with an upward swing of Excalibur, catching the man's arm at the wrist before he could properly aim the gun. The man screamed in pain as the enchanted sword easily cut through flesh and bone and was soon left holding the bloody stump where his hand had been.

"Alright… I give…" the man whimpered in pain.

Arthur nodded, "Merlin, can you see to him?"

"Of course," Merlin answered as Arthur motioned the wounded man around to sit beside the two comrades that had already surrendered.

The rest of the fight there was actually an anti-climax. The Illuminati men didn't like the people not unquestioningly supporting them, but they were supply men and weren't in it to fight. It left them with a lot of prisoners and a different scenario as the volunteers took the weapons and ammunition from the Illuminati soldiers they had captured.

"I don't know what we'll do these prisoners," Reginald commented softly, "we have no facilities and it's doubtful that we could safely keep them in any jail…"

"For the moment, our alliance with Coyote will help in that regard," Arthur answered back, "he can take them to Avalon and Titania can hold them… but that's assuming he and she agree to such a system."

"And if not?" Reginald asked.

"Then I will cast a spell that will make them forget everything they've seen or heard tonight and we leave them in a field to wander into Illuminati control without giving them any information about us," came Merlin's voice as the fey halfling came closer.

Arthur turned to watch his old teacher approach him and gave a nod. The only other thing that could be done with these Illuminati soldiers, but that would never be considered, let alone done. To kill in the heat of battle was one thing. To execute prisoners was quite another. His thought on honorable behavior soon had to take a backseat when he noticed the mixed look of concern and puzzlement on Merlin's face as he approached.

"What is it?" Arthur asked.

"Nothing necessarily wrong… but I think we're about to get more volunteers," Merlin commented as he pointed forward.

Arthur raised an eyebrow and turned to look beyond Reginald to see the people who had been throwing things at the Illuminati trucks had come down. The lights from the open windows were still on, but they were now coming down and coming out. Arthur noticed some looks of obvious recognition on the faces of the people that were coming out. Normally when they'd met those who were anti-Illuminati and willing to join them, they'd been fairly ignorant of whom Arthur was and it took some introductions. These people, however, acted as if they knew him, that they recognized him.

"You are King Arthur…" one man spoke, sounding slightly awestruck.

"I am," Arthur said slowly, "did you… plan this?"

"The ambush? Well… not me personally, but everybody had a hand in putting it together," the man commented, "though we hadn't expected we'd run into you."

"You're not keen on the Illuminati, then," Reginald commented, "what would you have done if we weren't here?"

"Probably torched the trucks once they were stalled out or forced to detour," the man shrugged, "I don't know really…"

"How did you figure that they'd come down this street?" Arthur wondered.

"This street has been the route they've used to bring their supplies in since the beginning of their invasion," the man answered, "we finally just got everything ready for tonight."

"I see," Arthur answered, "you know the Illuminati is likely to come back here in force… either with the combat units that have been chasing us or with the local garrison."

"We'd actually hoped we could join you," came the voice of another, this one a bit older, but still fairly strong, "one of our members spotted your gargoyles on patrol here and figured you'd come to shut down their supply runs."

"You spotted me?" Griff asked as he came up, unable to hide his curiosity.

"Not me, 'ee's the baker's son," the first man answered, looking to the gargoyle, again looking awestruck. "Saw a gargoyle… like you but with brown feathers…"

"Julia or Octavia," Griff commented.

The man continued without missing a beat, "… and they called us to say you were here. So we were left to hope we could run into you… help you save England."

"You'll have to be fit," Arthur warned, "and I'm not exactly strong enough to hold down territory against a dedicated attack."

"We're all pretty fit… and those that aren't will be okay," the second man answered, "we've kept them in posts that won't attract too much attention to them."

"I see," Arthur glanced to Merlin who looked on, "Well… I suppose we can always make due with more allies."

"Shall we toast the trucks then?" the first man asked.

"Actually," Arthur said with a smile, "I have a different plan for the trucks…"

Near Square Tower, Portsmouth

"So all we're to do is jump whoever comes out to help Arthur at the docks?" a volunteer asked as Rachael and Coyote's group neared the old fortress, though being as careful as possible to stay out of sight.

"Yes," Rachael answered, "we didn't find anything in the way of heavy equipment… so it's likely to be infantry. With luck we can jump them."

There was no chance to answer as Rachael's ears perked up suddenly at a sound she heard in the distance. The others heard it too, but it sounded fainter to them.

"What was that? The docks?" a volunteer asked.

"No," Rachael spoke, "that sounded like it came from… further inland…"

"You don't think Arthur ran into any trouble, did you?" Coyote asked slowly, "Should I…?"

"Keep this area in a fog and then go check," Rachael instructed, "The Illuminati may still sally out… and the more advantages we give our side, the better."

Coyote nodded, and gave a wave of one hand and all most instantly the thickest fog began to descend on the area. It was so thick that even Rachael's golden eyes couldn't fully see through it, but were good enough to give them an edge over any Illuminati troops. As the fog descended, Coyote dashed off at high speed in the general direction of the explosion that they had heard.

"How long will he be gone?" another volunteer asked nervously.

"Hopefully not too long," Rachael answered, "but with this fog, you have an advantage."

"But we can barely see, how is that an advantage?" the first volunteer asked.

"You have me," Rachael answered, "I can see a bit better in this and my sense of smell and hearing should be more than enough to hear any approach. You'll know they're coming and can fire on them before they can…"

"You aren't going to… make them suffer by turning them into werewolves, are you?" the second volunteer asked nervously.

That question made Rachael sigh. It was the fear of her that made her sigh heavily. Transformation was painful, but that was because her bones, muscles, and organs were changing, and that couldn't be avoided. She wished it could be painless, but she couldn't get away from that. And if what they meant by 'suffer' was to make them inhuman, then Rachael was even more depressed by that. She had gotten over that.

"I don't really see being a werewolf as something to suffer through," Rachael answered, "It may not be my favorite thing… but I… I can't really hate it now." Rachael then thought to herself, "If the freshly bitten me could hear me say THAT!" She then sighed again and looked to the volunteers, "but no, I'm not going to bite or claw them… or anything that would give them lycanthropy… though the one who bit me was an Illuminati agent, so they could already have werewolves in their service."

The volunteers all gulped nervously.

"And if they do, I won't let them bite or scratch you either," Rachael assured them, "I promise."

That raised some relief, but it didn't look like much to Rachael. She wanted to say more when she heard doors open and boots hit the sidewalk. The volunteers were quick to cling to the side of the building they were near, to hide from whatever was coming as Rachael moved forward to peak around a corner. She managed to make out what looked like standard infantryman coming out of the old fort in a hurry, and none of them looked like they were ready for the fog that Coyote had raised.

"Geez… it was supposed to be a CLEAR night tonight," one commented.

"I told ya this has Pendragon all over it, who else has been running around England causing trouble?" another answered.

"Can't see our hummer!" a third lamented.

"Go on foot! Go! Go!" the first ordered, "the report said they had a whole convoy gridlocked. This is to slow us down!"

The group then began to cross the street and Rachael made out that there was about eight of them in the group and that they were headed right for them. If she had time, she'd thought finding a way up to the roof so as to jump and land behind the soldiers would be a good idea, but right now they didn't have time.

"They're about twenty yards away," Rachael whispered to the closest volunteer, "I'm going to go and see if I can get them 'spooked.' Once they're busy shooting at me… take the rest and move in. Got that?"

"Yeah," the volunteer said back nervously.

With that, Rachael nodded and dashed off into the fog. She could hear the footsteps of the soldiers' boots as they moved, and faintly could follow their maneuvers with her eyes. Though the fog was thick enough that she could only just do that and she couldn't truly see how many there were and in how wide a formation they were in. The best she could do was to move quickly and hope that the volunteers she was to be helping didn't take her out by mistake. Though, it wasn't as though things would be entirely easy for her from the beginning.

"Someone's coming!" one Illuminati soldier gasped, hearing her footsteps.

"Where? Who?" a second Illuminati soldier spoke, "all I see in this is two glowing…"

Rachael gave a low growl, just with the intention of scaring them. It was astonishingly successful as the Illuminati troops did exactly what she hoped they would do when they discovered her.

"It is Pendragon's werewolf!" one shouted and drew a pistol and fired in Rachael' direction

The shots went wide, though Rachael was forced to duck and dodge them to avoid being an easy target. In doing so, she ran into one of the Illuminati soldiers and tackled the man as he tried to aim his own gun.

"Dirty thug," Rachael growled and landed a strong punch right onto the man's nose. The Illuminati soldier gave a grunt of pain and fell unconscious.

The other soldiers only answered with a series of wild shots in her direction, likely hoping to hit her in the fog. Few of them could even see her in it, and they likely only saw a blurry outline of her. Not that that fully helped her that much as there were enough shots fired in her general direction that she was forced to back off of the man she'd knocked out.

"Come on guys," Rachael thought to herself as rolled back, "You were all wanting something like this."

It was then that another series of shots rang out as the volunteers that had come with Rachael came charging out, firing as they went. They also gave a battle cry that sounded like a great 'huzzah!' as they ran. Surprise was the best thing they had as it did break the Illuminati position, but only one of the Illuminati soldiers was hit and was likely only wounded based on the screams. The rest began to pull back toward Square Tower, which would surrender the ground to them.

"Damn!" one shouted, "She's launched an ambush!"

"Pull back! Pull back!"

Rachael could make out their movements, though only barely, and they were pulling back, and quickly. She dashed forward quickly and grabbed on Illuminati soldier by the back of his jacket and pulled him off of his feet and threw him down at her feet. The man fired two wild shots into the air. One missed Rachael by a mile, but the second grazed her thigh. It stung and she gave a roar of pain at the wound before delivering a strong kick that sent the soldier flying, and likely knocked him unconscious when she heard the clang of a large object striking metal. She guessed she had sent him flying into a car parked outside Square Tower. With that she moved toward the volunteers who were continuing to shoot and cheer at their success.

"Okay guys, she urged, that's enough, back to the street corner," she told them.

"But… but we're driving them back!" a volunteer answered her, sounding very perplexed at what he was told to do.

"They're pulling back into a fortress," Rachael answered, "We're not here to destroy them. Just to make sure they can't sortie from here and interfere with whatever Arthur is doing."

The volunteer gave a heavy sigh and accepted the instruction. The others soon agreed and they pulled back.

"What if they come out again?" another asked.

"Then we'll move to stop them again," Rachael answered, "but for the moment we can keep fire on them from the street corner…"

"Right," came the response.

With the Convoy

"And you're going to steal from them?" one of the new volunteers asked to Arthur as they watched Reginald and several of the others get their captured supply trucks moving again, "all while disguised as their own soldiers?"

"Pretty much," Arthur commented, "and if they expect us, we'll be able to get in without any trouble… and once in, we can more easily overpower their defenses because we'll have surprise on our side."

"But we've got to get going," Reginald spoke up, "One of the drivers had to make a report on the disturbance. Rachael's team should be more than good enough to handle whatever they send… but others will surely be on the way."

Arthur nodded and instructed to the volunteers, "If you have a uniform to put on… best to do so as the faster that is done… the faster we'll be on our way. If not, climb into the back of the trucks and stay silent."

"What about the prisoners?" another of the new volunteers questioned.

"If we can we'll have them incarcerated where the Illuminati cannot reach… if not… we'll make sure they won't remember you," Arthur answered.

"Okay," the new volunteers said slowly, shrugged and then moved to where they needed to be.

Most of them climbed into the beds of the trucks and sitting there to get ready for the signal to jump the Illuminati men running the docks. As Arthur climbed into the passenger seat of the lead truck, he heard a couple of the volunteers asking questions of Griff in the bed of the truck. I appeared to be more curiosity about gargoyles than anything else as he was answering a question about whether or not turning to stone hurt him.

"Well," Reginald commented as he climbed into the driver's seat, I don't think we could have done this better, even if we'd planned it…"

"Do you think they can manage these trucks?" Arthur asked.

"They say they can… and they've also said that they've gone to great lengths to keep the streets quiet, so, so long as we go slow and steady, we should be able to get to where we're going without too much difficulty."

Arthur nodded and leaned Excalibur against the side of the door of the truck he was in. For the moment he couldn't have it in the open. Reginald got them rolling forward, but the journey was only a short one as the appearance of Coyote in the road in front of them made him slam on the brakes, making Arthur have to catch himself on the part of the dashboard in front of him. He heard some loud protests from inside the bed of the truck as well. Before Arthur could even register his own protest, Coyote was the side of the passenger door to the truck.

"So this is what you were up to… but wasn't this Octavia and Julia's part of the plan?" Coyote asked.

"It was, but it would appear that resistance to Illuminati occupation is stronger and that those that remained here had plans to counter their occupiers," Arthur said to him, "They jumped the convoy and we came in to help."

"I see… so now you're infiltrating the harbor?" Coyote answered.

"To get in, but that won't change your part in the mission," Arthur said to the southwestern fey, who only nodded.

"I see… I'd best get back to them," Coyote responded, "Rachael heard all your commotion here and wondered what was going on."

Arthur only nodded in response and spoke, "Tell her we're fine and moving onto the docks in a better position than originally expected."

"Right," Coyote answered and hopped off the truck and took off at a run. He was out of sight quickly, and Reginald only put the truck in gear again. It wasn't long before they were all rolling again.

Portsmouth, Docks

"They're late," one of the two dock workers spoke from his position on the crane, "the trucks were supposed to be here by now."

His partner in the crane looked at a watch and noticed that the time was approaching 1:30 AM, making the convoy at least thirty minutes overdue. Both were fairly certain that something had happened given the sound of gun fire and the explosion, but neither could they say for sure what it was or what was going on.

"Did the dock manager say anything about what that 'boom' was?" the first man asked his partner.

"No, but he did say that a squad was dispatched from HQ to go see what it was," the second man answered, "they've probably arrived… if they haven't gotten lost in this fog."

The first man looked out. The fog was an issue, as it had seemed to drift in out of nowhere. It looked thicker toward Square Tower, but it did gradually spread to other areas as well. It was not something that the first man liked. Far too many reports through the Illuminati's system had given an indication that Arthur and his band of rebels tended to have their wizards cast spells that created fog, sand storms, or anything that would obscure their sight. The fact that sudden fog had dropped in, followed by gunfire, and an explosion off in the distance, gave the first man the impression that Arthur and his rebels were in Portsmouth.

"Did you tell him about Pendragon likely being here?" the first man asked.

"I told him about your theory, yes," the second man replied with a sigh.

"And?" the first turned around, looking hopeful that someone had some brains and would have a trap that Arthur Pendragon couldn't fight his way out of or that his wizards couldn't cast their way out of.

"He was doubtful of that, but said that even if they are here, we are perfectly safe and have no need to worry about attack," the second man answered, "and all we need to do is wait for the supply trucks."

0-0-0

Not too far away, Octavia and Julia looked toward the docks from the roof on a building near the waterfront. They were far enough away that no security would easily notice them, and if they did, they could make a getaway quickly, but they were also close enough that they could move in whenever Arthur's group arrived.

"We out to go in," came the voice of son of the anti-Illuminati resident. Julia and Octavia had learned that his name was Samson, and found him be eager and truly fed up with the Illuminati occupation.

"The Illuminati still occupies the docks," Octavia answered, "If what you say is true and your group does plan to jump this supply run, they will be on alert."

"Especially since we could hear the explosion from your mother's backery," Julia answered, "We will wait until Arthur is able to take down defense that the harbor has presently erected."

"But a lot of that isn't necessary," Samson answered, "Our bakery has commonly had to supply them WITH bread. I could always sell our arrival as a delivery."

"And what happens when they realize you are lingering around their commissary?"

Samson paused to think for a moment. "But aren't we fighting them already?"

"We are fighting them, yes," Octavia answered, "but there is fighting them, and there is presenting ourselves as targets."

Samson was quiet for a moment, looked down and then kicked a couple pebbles along the ground. After a few moments he looked up again and asked a new question.

"What are they up to right now?" Samson asked.

"It looks as though they have the supplies they intend to deliver on the ground," Julia reported, "The ship they took it from looks like it has already left…"

"Any sign of Arthur?" Samson asked as he began to hear the sound of an engine in the distance.

"Nothing…" Octavia began and then stopped as a military transport truck suddenly came out from a street and stopped at the entrance area to the dock facilities, "wait… I think he just arrived at the checkpoint."

0-0-0

"You're all late," the man at the gate said to Reginald as he handed the clipboard that had the trucks' written orders on it.

"It isn't our fault you're agitating the locals!" Reginald answered, playing the part of a Illuminati soldier, "you're lucky we spotted the bomb on the booby-trapped car they left…"

"Booby-trapped…" the man said slowly.

"Yeah… had a big bomb in the back seat," Reginald answered, "We shot at it with pistols till the bomb went off. Then continued on."

"Who owned the car?" the man at the gate answered, "that'd indicate action against the Illuminati, which we have been allowed to punish."

"Don't know… don't think it even had a license plate," Reginald answered, "might have been left behind by some dissident in the Illuminati, because no one was around to gloat and those who did come out were terrified…"

"I doubt that… thanks to all that Pendragon's done, these rebels are getting devious… everywhere," the man grumbled, "anyway, you're clear to bring the convoy up to the supply crates over there… you should be able to see them."

Glancing over to see a long row of crates sitting in a line underneath and between two large mechanical cranes, Reginald nodded as that was the supply shipment that the convoy was originally out to get. He took the clipboard back, nodded to man and then began to slowly pull towards the supply crates. The trucks behind him slowly followed, and Reginald carefully watched the rearview mirror. The man at the gate didn't stop them. He also ignored Arthur as he leaned back to talk toward the cargo area of the truck, hoping Merlin could hear.

"Merlin, can you hear me?" Arthur asked.

"Barely," came a muffled reply.

"They don't have many guards, but we'll need something that will effectively blind the guards they do have," Arthur said to him slowly, so to give Merlin the ability to understand what he was saying, "there are two men in each crane, one guard post at the gate and two corner entrance posts."

"Things have also looked a bit foggy as far as I can see," Merlin commented a few moments later.

"Likely Coyote's work," Reginald cut in, "they responded to the ambush on this convoy and Coyote's team moved to block the response."

"Can we add to their confusion then?" Arthur asked.

"A blinding flash of light should do it," Merlin responded, "Though it'll have to wait until we have all stopped."

"We're not too far from that," Reginald spoke, "I'm nearly near the last crates."

Arthur then looked forward to see the truck pull up next to the crates, which were illuminated by floodlights positioned halfway up the towers that supported the mechanical cranes. There were more lights on adjacent warehouses and offices. The area did have some light already, but not enough to fully pierce the fog that had drifted from where the Illuminati headquarters was in Portsmouth. He steadily felt the truck and slow and reached out to grip Excalibur in his hand by its handle, as he didn't want to be without the symbol to rally the men that had volunteered. Finally Reginald brought the truck to a full stop and he noted the other trucks stopping as well.

"Now," Arthur said carefully.

0-0-0

The two men in the first crane curiously looked down as the trucks came in and slowly came to a stop near the crates. They were late in arriving and both of them knew it, though they figured it was a result of whatever Arthur Pendragon had done elsewhere in the city. However, as they came to a stop, no one got out, at least not at first. Then a couple of the back flaps were thrown open and armed men jumped out. They wore Illuminati uniforms, but many were armed with weapons heavier than what they expected from the convoy's crew, and the fact that they got out from the back of the truck only made them more suspicious.

"They're Pendragon's rebels! He hija-," the first of the two men began but was unable to finish as a great flash of light interrupted him, and it was of such intensity that he was blinded by it. The next thing that the man felt was wind hitting his face, hands, and clothing. In this, he realized that he had fallen out of the crane when he reacted to the flash of light and screamed in terror as he fell with his eyes still squeezed shut.

0-0-0

Julia and Octavia were also blinded by the flash of light that Merlin had generated and ended up falling backward off of the roof they had climbed up onto. Their two volunteers and Samson saw what looked like a flash, but since the direct effect of it was blocked by the building they weren't blinded by it. With that, they tried to catch and break the fall of the two gargoyles. They were successful, though that didn't mean that the landing wasn't rough, as they all ended up in a pile on the ground with a heavy 'ouf' being grunted by all of them.

"What was that?" one volunteer asked as he managed to push up on the back of Julia's wings.

The Roman female managed to roll of the man and began to rub her eyes with her hands. For the moment her vision was nothing but blurry shapes that were vaguely the shape of people

"Hey, are you two okay?" the first volunteer asked again, as he noticed that Octavia didn't look any different from Julia. Their pupils shrunk as much as possible so to try and counter the brilliant flash of light.

"That light…" Julia said slowly, "I think that was the first move in the raid… Merlin's distraction…"

"So we can join in now?" Samson asked eagerly.

"Let us get our vision back first," Octavia urged, "We were blinded by it just as much the Illuminati grunts were."

0-0-0

The flash hurt Arthur's volunteers as much as it hurt the Illuminati. Several of them got out before Merlin had cast the spell and were blinded by it As Arthur got out, he saw several of his volunteers rubbing their eyes along with the Illuminati guards that he could see. Merlin and Griff both got out of the back of the truck Arthur had been in and were looking at how effective Merlin's flash of light was.

"Griff… if you can get up crane and get airborne… we'll need you to take out the men at the gates while they're trying to get their vision back," Arthur instructed and looked around to see if anyone was coming from the nearby buildings. For the moment no one was.

"Right-o," Griff nodded and rushed off.

Griff moved off as a couple of gunshots rang out. Arthur turned to it to see a man fall from the other crane and figured that Reginald was taking on the crane operators that hadn't been taken out by the flash of light.

"Sorry about the poor coordination, Arthur," Merlin said to him apologetically as they then watched Griff leap from one of the closest crane's supports and glide off to get to the men manning the gates before they recovered their eyesight.

"Nothing that can be done now," Arthur sighed, "and besides it isn't like you could easily have told everyone what your plan was… All that can be done now is deal with the men that are on duty now."

"Where to first?" one of the volunteers who hadn't been blinded by the flash asked.

Arthur pointed with Excalibur to the buildings nearby, "We need to clear those buildings… make sure no one is in them to fire on us when we take the supplies."

"What about the guys out here… the guys that are blinded?" that volunteer asked.

"I can coordinate things in the field," Reginald called and laid down suppressing fire on two dock workers come out in the open from somewhere else among the buildings. "Go. The sooner we're done here… the sooner we can move on."

Arthur nodded moved forward toward the office building that was closest to them. The others followed behind, with Merlin staying close. A few shots came out from the windows and aimed toward them but luck seemed to be on their side. Once he made it to the door, Arthur pressed himself against the wall and waited to try and kick the door open. The volunteers fired a few covering shots into the building, sending the sounds of shattering glass into the night and made it in with relative comfort as well.

"Ready?" Arthur asked them.

"Ready," the volunteers answered.

Merlin caught Arthur by an arm and spoke, "allow me…"

They paused to watch as a great flash of light erupted from inside the building, raising all sorts of cries of 'hey' and 'ahh' as the men inside struggled with another blinding burst of light. Immediately after, Arthur did kick in the door and lead the charge. He caught one man with shot from his electric blaster which sent the man flying against a wall and knocked him out. There were two others there who surrendered to Arthur's volunteers before anything more could be done.

"Quick!" Arthur urged, "Secure the building!"

The volunteers with him rushed forward and spread into the two narrow hallways that were available to them as they came in. Arthur and Merlin brought of the rear going into the hallway on the left side of the room. He entered to watch a man with broom come stumbling out of an office room and manage to knock a rifle out of the hands of one of the volunteers. He moved to take another swing Arthur cut through the broom handle with Excalibur.

"Surrender!" Arthur urged as the other volunteers gathered around the other volunteers gathered around the now disarmed man.

Outside, Griff was quickly into the air after leaping up and onto part of the crane's supports and then into the air. From what he could see, things were doing reasonably well in that they'd had surprise on their side. The only big negative was the accidental blinding of some of the volunteers, though by now that wasn't as much of an issue as both they and the Illuminati troops there were regaining their vision. That of course meant that he'd have work to do and he glided in a low loop toward one of the guard posts which the Illuminati men had had to partially abandon to fire back into the dockyard areas that Arthur's raid had secured.

He backed and then swooped in low and managed to grab the one at one corner and managed to throw him into the air as he began firing on the resistance volunteers. The result was the man giving a startled scream and firing several random shots that did more to scatter the men on his own side than anything else. The move, however, took Griff out of the good winds that had been holding him aloft and he was forced to land. He'd have to move back on foot, which would mean he'd have to be careful. He took a couple of steps when a few words to him interrupted his thoughts.

"Need any help?" came Julia's voice as she and her sister came in to land beside him.

As they landed he watched what looked like a bread truck drive by at high speed, and with a mouth gaping wide in surprise he watched the truck slam into the Illuminati soldier who had been at the main gate while a man began firing on the last perimeter guard post from the passenger side of the truck's cab.

"We found that the people here are not particularly fond of the Illuminati and were actually looking to give them trouble," Octavia commented as the last perimeter guard was gunned down.

"Yes… we'd found that out already… stumbled into the group that hijacked the Illuminati supply convoy," Griff answered, "I take it your volunteers have been rather eager…"

"Eager," Julia gave a laugh, "the son of the truck's owner wanted to strike in before your group arrived…"

Griff gave a chuckle and three of them began to walk forward and get ready to join the battle again if needed.

"Well…" Griff mused, "I suppose we can't say these blokes lack confidence, can we?"

"I wouldn't think so," Octavia replied as her sister nodded agreement as they walked along, "Hopefully it is not a false confidence."

Griff nodded and looked off into the distance. It was an area where dense fog still covered the ground and only a few scattered lights could be seen through it.

Near Square Tower, Portsmouth

"So Arthur and the locals have hijacked a supply train," Rachael said slowly to Coyote, summarizing the report that the southwestern Fey had given.

"And that's what the men at the headquarters here tried to reply to," Coyote nodded, "How many did you take out?"

"Not many," Rachael admitted, "Once they realized that I wasn't attacking them alone they retreated back into the tower… they may not have too many…"

Coyote nodded and looked out toward where the tower was. The fog had lessened since he had left them and he could see the tower entrances fairly easily, and there seemed to be no action from there. The doors were all shut and no one was outside, though he soon had to pull back when a shot rang out and he narrowly avoided being shot by a man firing from one of the windows.

"They are still active, I see," Coyote commented as a great burst of light went off above them.

The burst only raised the reminder that they were a part of a larger battle for the moment and that the move they expected to block had begun. Sounds of gunfire soon echoed up to them from the harbor. The sounds of it got Rachael's ears up and alert and she turned to look in the general direction of the harbor.

"He'll be fine," Coyote assured her, "This is the move we've been waiting for."

Rachael then slowly nodded. They'd managed to push them back once, but the fog was thicker and the area of trouble was farther away from such a key area. Now, though, things were different. If Arthur's team had begun the attack on the docks, the Illuminati would have to respond to protect both their main supplies and the area in which their supplies came in. Things were quiet for a while before the door opened again and a barrage of fire came at them. Only the fact that they were near the edge of a building allowed them to avoid taking hits and the shots went off into the wall of a building opposite them.

"Here comes their second attempt," Rachael sighed.

"But this time I'm here," Coyote smiled and gave a snap of his fingers.

Shortly after everyone heard what sounded like stone cracking and breaking, as if something was breaking the stones under its weight. What followed were several shouts of surprise and the sound of people tripping over things. Two appeared out in the open as they were trying to run toward the docks.

"How'd that happen?" a voice shouted.

"Rocks just rose up and tripped us…" another spoke from out of sight.

"Fire on them!" Rachael yelled to the volunteers, "Fire while they're distracted by Coyote's trick!"

The volunteers were quick to do so and managed to spread out enough to give a wide barrage and Coyote watched the first Illuminati soldier that had tripped into view go down, while another was forced back.

"Get to our transport! We'll drive there!" a voice shouted, "Pendragon's rebels aren't in front of us and the docks must be relieved!"

They heard a door open and shut followed by a vehicle engine turning over as a few covering shots were fired into the street they were in, though panicked and too high to hit anyone. Coyote listened to this and only smiled and snapped his fingers again. This time he raised the stones under the vehicle they had for transport to the point that all four tiers were lifted off the ground. He almost laughed as he heard the engine be revved higher and higher as if more engine power would make wheels not touching the ground move the vehicle.

"They'll have to go on foot soon," Coyote said to Rachael, "have they got anything more than rifles and small arms?"

"They haven't used anything more," Rachael answered, "Doesn't mean they don't have anything bigger inside Square Tower…"

Voices from the Illuminati men put an end to those fears.

"Back into the fort!" a voice shouted, "we won't get anywhere!"

"But… but the docks!?" another shouted back.

"They're on their own!" was the reply from the first.

The Docks

Securing the docks went quickly and relatively easily. Reginald managed to pull down men that were outside when the attack began and Arthur's team went through the various buildings with ease, and did well with Merlin's help. As they all began to gather around the trucks, Arthur took stock of those that they had captured out of the dock workers that the Illuminati had.

"Is this all that was here…?" Arthur asked to Reginald.

"All that we took alive," Reginald answered, "I figure we'd put them all in one truck and load the supplies we can use in the other… and then use the supplies we can't carry with us to blow up the dock facilities."

Arthur slowly nodded, "Do you know what we will need to use…"

"From what I can see, the crates hold a mix of rifles, rifle rounds, anti-vehicle missile launchers and their ammunition, grenades and a few low caliber cannon rounds…" Reginald explained.

"Low caliber cannon rounds?" Arthur asked raising an eyebrow.

"Ammunition for smaller field weapons… usually an anti-vehicle weapon or very local artillery support… usually towed by a small vehicle or carried in it and deployed by a small team," Reginald explained, "many times these teams would be attached to infantry units and not part of a separate artillery unit…"

"Well… we don't have any cannon," Arthur commented, "Of any size… so if they have enough to do the damage needed… use them."

Reginald only nodded as the last of the Illuminati men were loaded into one of the trucks. All of them had a strong restraint, thanks to Merlin, to keep them from causing trouble for them later. He was soon urging volunteers to move specific crates into the backs of different trucks. Arthur let him and went more towards the entrance gate to the dock facility that they had used. He found Griff there with Julia and Octavia standing guard.

"No one seems to be coming our way," Griff reported as Arthur arrived, "I don't hear anyone coming."

"A good thing," Arthur commented, "Our volunteers are enthusiastic, so I don't think we have to worry about them quitting on us… but they have a long way to go before real skill is there…"

"They are getting better though," Griff commented, "Granted we could have made the timing of the main flash of light better… but they are getting better."

Arthur nodded. The volunteers that had flocked to join him were getting better for a group of what would essentially be guerilla partisans as far as the Illuminati was concerned. And completing a raid on city like Portsmouth, taking out a critical facility and stealing the supplies would probably hurt the Illuminati as they expended supplies to chase him. However, it is then that Arthur's concerns for those who had come to help him.

They weren't warriors by profession. Many of them were farmers, librarians, bakers, workers, and from other non-combat related careers. It was partially why he was depending so heavily on the abilities of the gargoyles in terms of strength and being able to silently attack from the air, Merlin and Coyote's magic, and Reginald's professionalism to help them. They had joined him because they didn't like what the Illuminati were doing, but fighting wasn't their choice. He had to keep them alive… or at least as many as he could, so that they could go back to their jobs and homes and families. And they were extraordinarily lucky that the spell Merlin used didn't cause more problems.

"We should have stopped to coordinate things better," Arthur admitted, referring to the flash of light that Merlin generated that ended up blinding several of his volunteers as well as the Illuminati, "made sure they knew when to get out of the truck in relation to Merlin's spell…"

"Maybe… but then it worked quite well with what it was supposed to do as well," Julia commented, "and the Illuminati weren't able to really respond to it as well."

"We were lucky in that regard," Arthur countered.

"There's a lot of that in war," Griff commented, "shoot… I can't tell you how many lucky scrapes and chances I got in the Battle of Britain… German bombers and fighters could EASILY have run me and gunned me down at a distance… but so many of them purposely chose to deliberately stall and glide to keep up with me… and their stopping and starting of their engines allowed me to catch up with them more than once… and I nearly paid for going after them countless times…"

"It's likely that they couldn't see you so well," Octavia commented, "You ambushed one plane and they figured it was an air to air attack and responded… but since you weren't lit up, they couldn't afford to zoom off and fire at a distance…"

"Which lead to good luck, I suppose," Griff only shrugged, "which is my point, Sire. There is a lot of luck in this sort of business… Wish we didn't have to have it here, but we can't change what the Illuminati have done…"

Arthur sighed and nodded again. He then looked over his shoulder to see Reginald standing among the trucks and motioning to all four of them.

"We'd best be going," Arthur commented, "It would look as though Reginald has everything ready."

"Where will we go after here?" Octavia wondered, "Another supply port?"

"I don't know for sure," Arthur commented, "We will have to go east a bit, since the army that's been chasing us is to the northwest of where we are now."

Near Square Tower, Portsmouth

Rachael, Coyote, and their group stood or crouched in the open of the street near Square Tower where they were holding the units at the Illuminati headquarters and preventing them from rescuing the harbor. By now, things had quieted down with only a sporadic shot fired from either side that did little. The Illuminati men didn't have the angles to really fire down the street and their volunteers didn't have the marksmanship to fire into the windows that the Illuminati men were firing from. Rachael had also told Coyote to not do anything that would damage the building as it was historic. So, they were waiting for what would be the signal that the raid on the docks was completed, which would be the signal to return to what had been their temporary base of operations and prepare to leave.

"What do you think they'll say after we've done all this?" one volunteer asked to Coyote.

"I suppose…" Coyote began to answer when a great explosion erupted from where the docks where. There was a great 'boom' along with the clanging and twisting sounds of metal being torn apart by explosive forces. Rachael turned her head to notice that smoke was in fact already rising from where the docks were.

"Looks like that's the signal," She commented, "Time to head back."

A few more shots were fired, as if to give a last 'hurrah' and they began to walk back the route they'd came. This time they were a little looser in how they moved and weren't trying to hug any shadows. The Illuminati were all behind them and would have to charge out again to get at them, which they could deal with. As they walked Coyote answered the question he'd been asked.

"I suppose when their commanders know what has happened they will be extremely angry," Coyote said simply and they walked on, mission completed.

To Be Continued…