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Warrior of Change: Chapter 3

Liz lay on her cot, staring up at the ceiling. Everyone else around her was sleeping. The few empty cots belonged to the people on guard duty. She threw off the blankets and grabbed her boots, making it look like she was going to use the bathroom. Instead, she went to one of the entrances and found the person supposed to be keeping watch asleep. She slipped out of the settlement and went topside.

The stuck door to a loft was forced open and Liz stumbled inside. She pocketed her lockpicks and looked around. The skylight windows were either smashed or cracked. The floor and the walls all had moisture damage. The furniture left behind was all broken. Some vegetation was growing wherever seeds of weeds had landed over time and managed to sprout. There were also laser burns here and there as well.

"That crazy gargoyle broad was really mad that she wasn't the one to bump off your aunt."

Liz jumped about a foot in the air. Standing just inside was a winged cougar mutate with his hands on his hips. He was surveying the apartment.

"She really did a number in here."

"Jeez! Fang!" hissed Liz. "What are you doing here?"

"I can ask the same thing," said Fang. "It's funny, really. I thought I heard you weren't allowed out of the settlement without somebody with you."

"I have somebody with me: you," Liz smirked.

Fang barked a laugh and came into the room. "So, what are you doing up here, Liz?"

"I don't know," said Liz, looking around the loft. "Just trying to figure things out, I guess."

"Don't know how much you'll be able to figure out in this dump," Fang said, giving some debris a kick.

"Yeah," Liz agreed quietly, gazing around.

"What's on your mind, kid? You can tell Uncle Fang."

"Grandma told me what happened to Mom," said Liz. "And Goliath."

"Oh. Yeah, I can see how that would make you upset," said Fang.

Liz looked at him. "Did you know?"

"Eventually."

"Fang!"

"Wasn't my secret to tell!" defended Fang. "To be fair, I thought they should have told you long already."

"You still could have told me!" argued Liz.

"Your grandma made me swear not to!" he snapped back.

"Seems there's been a lot of that over the years," Liz said angrily. "Brooklyn to Goliath, you to Grandma. Anything else that you've been hiding that you want to share with me now? Because tonight's just been full of revelations!"

"Nothing I can think of off the top of my head," Fang snarked.

"Fang!"

"Easy, kid. I'm not your enemy here," said Fang. "Ask me anything you want. Within reason! I really don't want to be giving a birds and the bees talk."

"I had that years ago, thanks to you," said Liz.

Fang laughed nervously.

Liz sighed. "I guess what's bothering me is how much I don't know about everything, that I'm kept in the dark."

"Pretty sure they wanted you to have a normal childhood," said Fang.

"But that's just it, I had a normal childhood, normal for me. I was two when Demona cast the spell. I don't know not living in the settlements. People going missing or being taken by Demona's goons is just a part of life for me. The others have told me stories over the years of how things were, but they're always brief and of good things. They're fairytales to me. I guess what bothers me is I know things are bad, but I don't understand how bad they are or how they got that bad because nobody explains it to me!"

Fang sighed. "I'm not even going to pretend to understand the hocus pocus behind it all."

Liz frowned.

"What? I'm telling you what I know. You know I wasn't always Mr. Nice Guy, right? I was locked up in the Labyrinth when everything started going down the tubes. What I do know is that the gargoyles brought your grandparents down here with you along with Owen and Alex. Demona had attacked the castle with her gargoyle lackies and your mother and the Xanatoses didn't make it out. Then she started on that veil shield thingy. We didn't know what it was at first. It started small, only a few blocks and people could get out, but couldn't get back in. And then the memory loss started. We sent people out to get help, but they never came back. The news stations completely passed over whole parts of the city like they didn't exist. She made the world forget about everybody and everything under the veil. It took her awhile, but she covered the whole island, controlling who came in and who left. Made it easy for her when she started rounding up the remaining humans to be her slaves."

"I'd ask why the clan didn't get out while they could, but I know the answer," said Liz. "Gargoyles protect. But why didn't we fight back before it got so strong?"

"What do you think happened to Talon and Maggie?" asked Fang. "There was a plan; strike during the day while her gargoyles were asleep. None of them came back. Had to abandon that hideout. The settlement system was already created, one of first things done when this started happening. Demona knew where the Labyrinth was. She was in the cell next to mine for a time, you know."

"I'm surprised she didn't try to take you out as soon as she could," said Liz. "You must have driven her nuts."

"She was already a few fries short of a combo meal," said Fang. "Anyway, Talon and Maggie never came back from that mission, your grandfather filled Talon's place as leader until he died, and then we put a thirteen-year-old boy in charge of everything. And you say Demona's crazy."

"Alex was hardly an ordinary thirteen-year-old," said Liz.

"You're telling me. Could you imagine what he would be if he followed in his dad's footsteps? Yikes. So, that answer a few things for you? Not that it's much."

Liz nodded. "Nice to hear it from another's perspective."

"Perspective, right." He cuffed her gently around the head. "Look at you, all grown up and using big words."

Liz smiled. It dropped a moment later. "Do you know what happened to Elisa?"

"Dunno much about that other than she was sick," Fang admitted. "But I'm pretty sure if she wasn't gone, Goliath wouldn't be gone and Demona never would have taken over."

"Do you remember what they were like, Elisa and Goliath?"

"I don't know much about them," said Fang. "I remember Elisa was stubborn. Should have seen her when Talon was mutated. She had a vendetta against Xanatos for that. Don't think she ever forgave him for hiring Sevarius. And Goliath hated seeing her unhappy. He kidnapped Sevarius to force him to change us back. Not that he did. Tried to poison Talon instead. Not sure what happened to him after the clones were made. He's probably out there somewhere."

"That does not sound good," said Liz.

"Meh. Don't matter to me," said Fang. "Come on, kid. Let's get back down to the settlement before someone comes looking for us."

"Yeah," Liz agreed. She let out a sigh. "It's really bad, isn't it, Fang? What Demona's has made?"

"Yeah, it's bad."

"Maybe I should apologize to Brooklyn," said Liz.

"Up to you," Fang told her. "He was a bit of a jerk to you if you ask me. I wouldn't."

"Yeah, but I should be the bigger person."

Fang snorted.

The duo slipped back into the settlement.

"Ahem."

Liz and Fang whirled around to the sound of someone clearing their throat.

"Would you care to explain why you were outside of the settlement?" Owen asked, stepping out of the shadows.

"I didn't go out alone," Liz quickly said.

"It was implied when Brooklyn said you weren't to leave by yourself that someone responsible would accompany you." Owen glanced at Fang. "Fang is not the model of responsibility."

Fang flashed a quick nervous smile.

"Ah! But it was implied, not specifically stated," Liz countered.

"True," Owen said. "But let's refrain from any more jaunts aboveground for now. Especially with what we learned."

"What we learned?" repeated Liz.

"There will be a full council meeting after sunset," said Owen. "Messengers were already sent to all settlements to gather the leaders." Owen walked away.

Liz and Fang looked at each other.

"Full council meeting," said Fang. "Not good."

"Guess interrogation went well," said Liz uneasily.

"Yeah."

They both were apprehensive of what was now coming tonight.

Fang was always a bully, but I feel like sometime between when Demona came to power and now, he would have straightened out a bit.