AN: I apologize that it's been a while. Life got in my way the past three weeks! Don't forget that I really enjoy reviews, even critical ones!
Angelo, Gianni, and Andre headed back to the storage building where they had been led to find the tranquilizers.
"Let's see what else they got in here," Angelo muttered in a grim voice as he began to rummage.
"What happened to Ragazzi?" Gianni asked.
"Forget that asshole," Angelo exclaimed, "There's got to be something useful in here!"
"Like what? A bazooka?" Andre demanded.
"Xanatos ain't gonna pay for dead ones, Dre," Angelo pointed out with a nearly manic laugh as he lifted a massive net that appeared to be made of steel cable, "This might come in handy!"
Gianni gave his superior a reluctant look.
"You know, my friend, I was thinking. Maybe this is bigger than what we are equipped for?" he suggested, "I mean, maybe we should talk with some people. Get together and figure out how…
"Nino, you work my nerves," Angelo barked, "Shut up and find some kind of light."
"Hey. Don't get me wrong, brother," Gianni continued with his most persuasive casual chuckle, "It's good to see you getting passionate about something! Lately it seems like you've been phoning it in half the time. Get it done so you can go out, get drunk, and get laid. But we don't know a thing about these creatures and we just went from two gargoyles to maybe ten! I don't wanna get my ass handed to me! I'm just saying, maybe it would be prudent to exercise a bit of caution here."
Angelo turned and looked at his comrade with a sort of wildness in his eyes.
"Oh, really?" he asked in a low, warning tone, "Is that what you think?"
Gianni almost seemed to cringe at this reaction, but he doubled down.
"Yeah," he replied, "That's what I think."
"Didn't you hear a word of what Ragazzi said?" Angelo accused and Gianni rolled his eyes.
"Who cares what that reject says?"
"We do, because it's true!" Angelo shouted, "Our cousins in New York lost damn near everything the family ever fought for, trying to fight off these freaks! I didn't believe it at first, but now I've seen them with my own eyes! If we don't stop them now, what's going to stop them from doing the same here?"
For a moment Gianni looked conflicted.
"This is ours," Angelo continued, "We've got to protect it. I say we send Xanatos a message and shut his Second City Roadshow down before he shuts us down for good!"
Gianni nodded, still reluctant, but finally convinced.
"Whatever you say, Boss," he replied, pulling out his weapon, "But I'm gonna use the real gun this time!"
The newly outfitted mobsters emerged from the storeroom, peering anxiously across the lake at the wooded area where Ragazzi and Andre had met their humiliating defeat.
"We gotta lure em out of there," Angelo declared, "What do little monsters like?"
Andre and Gianni shared an exasperated look.
"I dunno," Gianni replied, "Dippin Dots?"
Angelo rolled his eyes at their lack of knowledge on the subject, despite the fact that he was equally uninspired as far as what they could use as bait, unless it was one of the miserable tweens shivering in the back of the jeep. As it turned out, Angelo didn't have to entertain that thought for long, before the monsters brought the battle to them.
"Hey, Uncle Gianni!" cried a gleeful voice from the roof of an old-fashioned animal house. The men looked up to see Lyra and Bonnie above them, peering out from behind a stone elephant head. Each of them were holding a large opaque barrel, that appeared to be filled with some sort of substance that sloshed around as she shook them.
"Catch!" Lyra cried and they flung the barrels straight at the men, who dodged just in time for the barrels to hit the concrete instead of them. The two hatchlings had hurled them with such force that the plastic burst open like two disastrous pinatas, spraying them all with a thick, rancid filth.
"What the hell?!" Andre sputtered and spat as he gagged from the stench.
"It's poop!" Bonnie informed them jubilantly, and as the enraged men pulled their weapons, the two young hatchlings scampered back over the roof of the stone building.
"Get em!" Angelo snarled, though the directive was unnecessary as the two feces-laden goons were already heading toward the iron support of a blue and white striped awning. Andre drew his weapon and ran around the side of the building, hoping to get a good shot at the two girl hatchlings from the other side, but, as he hurried, he was brought to a sudden halt by a dark form that loomed threateningly above him, rage seething from its glowing white eyes.
Angelo gasped and pointed his gun at the Orion with trembling hands, but before he could fire, he felt himself enveloped in a gust of air, and a second dark shape came at him from the side. It knocked him to the ground with such force, he felt the wind socked out of his lungs and he gasped again, painfully.
Sister snarled at him as she pressed her large, taloned foot against his already heaving chest. In a panic, Angelo fired the gun recklessly into the air, and Sister lunged for control of his arm, losing her footing in doing so. Sensing his only chance at escape, he dropped his weapon, rolling out from under Sister and fleeing into the darkness of the zoo.
Sister gave a frustrated growl as she broke the gun into pieces.
"He's mine!" Orion assured her in a cold tone, "Go help Lyra and Bonnie!"
Angelo raced down a brick side path that seemed more secluded and sheltered from the rest of the open promenade. He heart raced as he tried to convince himself that these monsters were just kids, after all, and he had the situation under control. A loud shrieking call burst from the darkness of an enclosure behind him and he whipped around in a panic, seeing nothing and hearing only a slight rustle from whatever creature was hidden among the trees. With a somewhat indignant grunt, he made his way further down the path, past a group of metal picnic tables and a photobooth.
He needed another gun. There had left several more behind in the jeep, but he had to get to it first. He cursed to himself as he aggressively shook a clanging iron turnstile that blocked an arched opening in the high brick wall. Confirming that it was, indeed, locked and chained so no one could enter or exit, he gave it a churlish kick and continued on his way toward the staff entrance where the jeep was parked. Suddenly he stopped.
There was a stone building with a large, arched doorway on the front. Mature pin oak trees stood vigil by either side of the door, their leafless branches reaching toward the cold night sky. Angelo examined the reticulated pattern of light and dark bark on the trees and considered their possibilities, glancing over his shoulder for any sign of the monster children. With a sneer, he turned back to one of the tree trunks and hoisted himself awkwardly onto the lowest branches. The less-than-fit, middle-aged man made his way shaking and ungracefully up the tree and onto the roof of the building. Enjoying a brief moment of triumph, he waddled across the tiles, only slipping once as he reached the peak of the roof.
He grinned as he looked down the slope at two rows of skylights that ran along the middle of the building. The tiled roof created a long rectangular shape around them, and the rear face of the building seemed to be only a few feet from the brick wall that surrounded the zoo.
Hastily, Angelo descended the sloping roof and made his way past the skylights to the other side, where he hoped to leap to the wall and jump down to the outside. But just as he reached the opposite edge of the roof, he sensed a shadow passing over him and something sharp clenched his shoulders and dragged him across the tile.
Angelo reached for whatever was gripping his shoulders and his gloved hands found Orion's wrists. Angelo clenched them tightly until the weight of the grown man forced Orion to drop him and land on his own shoulder on the rooftop, sending several shattered tiles flying in various directions.
Having no gun, Angelo did the only thing he knew to do when backed into a corner. He attacked, tackling the still-stunned Orion and trying to wrestle the young gargoyle to the ground. Orion snarled furiously and Angelo let out an arrogant laugh. Thinking he had succeeded in pinning the smaller warrior to the rooftop, he reached into his pocket and withdrew one of the tranquilizer darts, raising it to strike. But Orion would not be hindered by a human, even a much larger human, and easily jumped to his hind legs, tossing the gangster over his shoulder. Angelo planted with a loud slap on the rooftop, then he cried out in dismay as he slid uncontrollably on his back, down the incline, until he smashed into the glass skylight, sending shards flying as the glass pane shattered.
Angelo endured a painful flash of light as he fell through the window and landed on something hard and unstable. Wearily, he blinked as he tried to regain his sight and balance. He hadn't felt any blow to his head, but nevertheless, the room seemed to be moving. No, not the room, but himself! Whatever he had landed on was neither flat nor still! He reached down with his hand and felt a rough texture through his glove. Slowly his eyes adjusted to the bright, overhead light and he realized that what he was laying on was the trunk of a large, broad tree. Quite confused to find a tree not only indoors, but inexplicably swaying in what seemed to be a silent, invisible breeze, he glanced around to discover that he had landed in some sort of animal enclosure. The tree on which he was perched was not swaying in the breeze, but suspended from cables, presumably for some captive animal to perch on.
Angelo glanced up at the broken window pane on the ceiling. He was relieved not to see the menacing red eyes of the gargoyle boy glaring down at him. But his comfort was short-lived, for the quiet of the evening was suddenly broken by a blood-curdling growl. Terrified, Angelo looked around for the gargoyle, but it was not Orion's glowing eyes that met his, but that of a massive tiger who was crouched, still as a statue, at the bottom of the tree trunk, looking at him with a combination of curiosity and hunger.
"No you don't, kitty!" the man growled angrily, waving his arms frantically, as if to scare the menace away. But the natural predator was not the least bit deterred and continued to slink closer, approaching the strange man with fascination. Angelo retreated backward up the suspended log, issuing a growl that sounded a bit like a squawk.
"Get back!" he threatened in vain, for the great cat continued to stalk him, opening his maw with a snarl. Angelo kicked awkwardly and desperately in the creature's direction, but it was to no avail. To Angelo's horror the beast pounced, claws extended. The gangster closed his eyes instinctively, waiting to feel its claws slicing through his flesh, but instead, he felt a violent tug at his throat. To his surprise, he felt himself dragged by his coat up the log and then dangled in midair. He gulped and opened his eyes to look down and see his own legs flailing helplessly in midair, and the tiger looked up at him intently, pawing at the air with his massive claw as if he were playing with an overgrown cat toy. But Angelo was held aloft, far beyond even the tiger's powerful leap.
Angelo squawked and gasped, clasping at his neck as he looked up at his captor, who despite his small stature, held him in a confidently secure grip.
"Let me go!" Angelo gasped and Orion rolled his eyes as he adjusted his position on the edge of the shattered skylight and gave his captive a dramatic shake.
"Really?" he asked, "Maybe I should!"
"Please, kid!" Angelo begged, "Let me back on the roof! I promise I-
"What good are your promises?" Orion spat, "You're the lowest kind of criminal!"
"No, no, kid!" the pitiful man cried as he felt the seams of his coat straining with his weight, "I'm good for my word! Ask anyone in this city! When a Draconi says they got your back, you can depend on-
"I know what you are!" Orion thundered furiously, "You gangsters steal whatever you want. You bully all your people into silence and submission. If you can't control them, you destroy them. Your community lives in terror of you because you have no respect for the law!"
"Respect for the law?!" Angelo protested. forgetting his precarious situation for a moment of arrogant outrage, "Kid, this community would be a complete warzone without us! Besides, we don't do nothing the law itself doesn't do! Or wouldn't do to us, at least, if we didn't get them first!"
Orion shook his head in disgust.
"You have enough power that you could do practically anything you want! You could make a real difference! Instead, you use it to cheat and intimidate people. You line your own pockets and trample your victims, leaving them broken and terrified behind you. If I fed you to the tiger, it would probably be the first time in your life you ever did anyone any good!"
"No, kid!" the man pleaded as the tiger paced impatiently below them, "It's not like that! I swear!"
"Save it for "Stripes" down there!" Orion snarled.
"No! Listen!" he tried again, clutching his neck where the collar of his coat was choking him, "I'm not a bad guy! Maybe you're right and I've lost track of…what's Pop call it?...my sense of vision? But I can turn it around! I will turn it around! Just…give me another chance, okay kid?"
For a moment, Orion fell silent, glaring at the desperate man. The only sounds were the rustle of the tiger's paws below them and Angelo's uneasy gasps for breath.
Finally, Orion said, "My arm's getting tired."
Angelo screamed pathetically as Orion swung him to the side, then slammed him against the frame of the skylight. Frantically, Angelo grabbed ahold of the metal frame, his hands slipping every time he tried to grip the glass. Orion watched for some time as the newly repentant gangster struggled to drag himself over the sill to the safety of the roof. The tiger watched as well, whining softly to himself.
Finally, gasping, coughing, and dripping with blood from the shards of broken glass, Angelo flipped himself gracelessly over the sill and landed on his back on the roof, staring up at the frigid night sky.
"Holy shit, kid!" Angelo let out between panting and struggling to get to his feet, "You know, you'd really make it in business. You're about the most persuasive monster I ever met!"
"Well, I can't say the same for you, Draconi" Orion informed him bitterly, "How do I know you'll keep your word?"
"Hey! Hey!" Angelo replied, raising his hands with feigned indignation, "Like I told you! I'm good for my word!"
"You'd better be!" Orion growled, "Or maybe my clan will need to start a new colony here in Chicago!"
"No, no! That won't be necessary," Angelo assured him uneasily, "I'm gonna be the most virtuous of businessmen from now on, right? So, we're good? Have we got a deal?"
"Not exactly," Orion replied, and with a sudden swish of wings and a well-thrown punch that would have made Brooklyn proud, he knocked the gangster unconscious.
When Angelo came to, he found himself hanging by his legs in another strange room, his head throbbing.
"Hey! What's going on here?" he demanded wearily.
"Hi, Uncle Angelo," greeted Bonnie, who was perched on a nearby rope, cuddling with a fuzzy young squirrel monkey.
"This is my new friend," she informed him, "But Sister says I can't keep him."
"It's too cold, Bonnie!" came a voice from above them and Angelo looked up to see a young female with a flash of wild red hair attaching his two unconscious associates upside down to nearby suspended rope, "Monkeys are from the jungle and have to be warm!"
"Sorry, Nanners!" Bonnie wailed, looking forlornly at her tiny, hyperactive associate, "I tried!"
"Hey, what is this?" Angelo demanded, though every syllable was a new flash of pain in his head.
"This is you staying out of our way for the rest of the night," Orion explained, "We have some serious business to attend to and we can't have you chasing us like animals. But don't you forget your promise!"
"Listen here, you little-," Angelo began angrily, but he was interrupted by Bonnie, who scampered over to his side.
"What do you want?" he demanded and Bonnie smiled sweetly.
"It's past your bedtime, Uncle Angelo," she informed him and withdrew a thin tube from the pocket of her dress. Anxiously, Angelo recognized the tube as one of the tranquilizer darts that his men had fired at the gargoyles. Before he could protest, she had stuck it into his thigh.
"Sleep tight!" she cooed as the humiliated gangster faded into unconsciousness.
"He looks like a big bat!" Bonnie laughed.
"Come on," Orion coaxed his sisters as they left Angelo Draconi and his two goons passed out amid a crowd of curious old world primates, "Let's go find Alex!"
They hurried out of the primate house and made their way toward the entrance where they had left the jeep. They raced around a stone wall to a brick path that descended to the staff entrance. They had almost passed the store house that Angelo and the gangsters had robbed earlier, when they were accosted by a menacing figure.
Ragazzi stepped from the darkness, facing the group with a tremendously intimidating semiautomatic rifle.
"I've got you now!" Ragazzi snarled, brandishing the gun at them. The children froze in horror.
"I was hoping for a chance to take out at least a couple of you!" he informed them gleefully, "Maybe, I'm sacrificing a heavy chunk of Xanatos' reward money to do it, but I think it'll be worth it in the end!"
But just as he was about to pull the trigger, the children saw another man emerge from the storeroom, holding a heavy shovel. He approached Ragazzi from behind, raising the shovel over his shoulder, and clobbered the euphoric gangster in the head.
Ragazzi fell instantly to the ground and the children gasped. His assailant stared at them in the darkness, the shovel still raised aggressively. It was the security guard who had sold them out to the Draconis, who the gangsters had tried to murder, and who the children had pulled from the lake, still alive. His eyes were full of both fear and vindication as they stared at each other in silence. None of them knew what to say. Finally, the man lowered his shovel and turned and left.
Sister and Orion shared a confused glance and Orion shrugged his shoulders.