We Live Again: Episode 2

TRUST

By Inspiration

Disclaimer: The Gargoyles animated television show is originally the property of the Walt Disney Company and Buena Visa Television Animation; originally created by Greg Weisman (Thank you so much); Tamora, Darius, Sara Jasper, and Andrea Calhoun were originally created by the Gargoyles Saga staff; all original characters that appear in this "gargverse" are the property of the author Inspiration.

Previously on Gargoyles:

"I've stayed alive because I don't trust anyone!" Demona to Goliath.

(Canon) Ep. *Awakening Part IV*

"You've been one of them all along!?" Matt Bluestone to Martin Hacker.

(Canon) Ep. *Revelations*

"We will never trust humans again," said Goliath.

"I can see that this relationship is something we'll all have to work at," said Xanatos.

(Canon) Ep. *Awakening Part II*

Scene of Goliath and Xanatos clasping forearms in TGS Ep. *Odd Couples*

"What do you know? You lied to all of us. You lied to me!" Lexington to Brooklyn

(TGS) Ep. *Of Things to Come*

"Ally with a human? Never again." Demona

(Canon) Ep. *City of Stone Part III*

"…I have my orders." Hacker

"From which side of the fence?" Matt Bluestone

(TGS) Ep. *Things Fall Apart Part II*

Scene of Darius escaping in TGS Ep. *The Council Part III*

It seemed as though the past several night of patrol were really slow and quiet, that is if you call muggings, attempted robberies, and other usually minor big city street crime quiet. All of which seemed too good to be true for both the clan and their police allies.

They all knew it was too good to last, but for Elisa, she was willing to take whatever 'normalcy' she could get in her usually chaotic life. It was something she had not had in a long time; then again, before she had met her new 'husband' her life was hardly what most people defined as 'normal.' However just having the chance to 'get-back-to-basics' in police work had become a rare and refreshing feeling.

Of course, for Matt it grew old really fast. A few days of patrol on the street with no sign of anything weirder that a drug addict too high on coke and claiming to have had coffee with Elvis and the Grays from Mars, Matt actually beginning to expect to see an ogre stomping down the street around every corner.. At first, Elisa teased him about it, warning him to be careful what he wished for, but that too got old real fast.

Tonight however his wish just might be coming true.

They stood outside of the all too familiar neighborhood general store run by Mr. Ian Jaffe, Matt Bluestone's old friend and godfather. One again the poor shopkeeper had had his store robbed, but this time the thief was rather unusual; Jaffe claims that a gargoyle had robbed him.

Mr. Jaffe's story was that he had just closed for the night and was on his way home when he realized he had forgotten something at the store. He went back to take care of it when he saw the window had been broken in and was ready to confront the hooligans when what appeared to be a monster like a giant bat loomed out at him. He got scared when it snarled at him, making him react in fright as he tripped and fell onto his tush, but it did not actually physically attack him. It then leaped out of the store to another nearby building, climbed it, and disappeared with an arm full of food.

The old shopkeeper was lucky enough to have gotten a brief but detailed description of it. It was obviously male, wore some sort of wrapped clothing around his body, had yellow skin coloring, and wings like a giant bat. After the 'attack' and robbery, he called Matt and the GTF because he knew his godson to be this group's leader and this was right up their alley.

However, Matt was now no longer the GTF's leader because of internal politics in the force.

Elisa and Matt had arrived within minutes, followed by the Gargoyles Task Force.

It did not take long to get Mr. Jaffe's statement for GTF police work, but more importantly for Matt to make sure that the old shopkeeper was doing okay.

"Yeah, I'll be okay, Matthew," Mr. Jaffe assured the detective, "I'm going to clean the shop and board up the window before I take some inventory to find out what was taken."

"Why not leave the inventory for tomorrow, Mr. Jaffe?" Matt asked.

"You know that this shop is my life, Matthew," Mr. Jaffe said determined, "People here count on me for what they need and can afford, but if I don't have it, where else are they going to find it."

Matt gave a small smile to his old friend. Despite all of the hardships the storekeeper has had to endure throughout the years, Matt had always admired his resilience.

"Okay, Mr. Jaffe," Matt began to say, "We'll help you in any way we can."

"No, I wouldn't want to inconvenience your team, Matthew, I'm sure you have more important things to do."

"I insist, it's the least was can do."

Mr. Jaffe decided not to argue anymore with his godson as they both began to board up the broken window with a large window sized piece of wood that he always kept in the back of his shop for just an emergency.

A short time later, while the GTF were still looking for clues about then alleged new gargoyles, Matt leaned against Elisa's red Ford Fairlane with his arms crossed as he watched his partner talk with Mr. Jaffe more. He barely noticed when one of the uniformed officers walked up to him.

"Hey, Bluestone," the officer said, "Some guy told me to give you this."

He had a very confused look on his face as he handed the detective a simple white envelope. Matt took it and looked it over. It was a simple plain white envelope with only his name type in New Roman Times format and no return address.

A chill went down his spine.

"What did he look like? The guy who gave this to you?" Matt inquired.

"I dunno," the officer shrugged, "Some guy, kinda creepy though. Wore an ol' black suit and a fedora type hat that covered his face, looked like someone from an ol' gangster type movie o' the '40s. Didn' even look me in the eye."

Matt's spine chill dropped a few more degrees.

"He also told me to tell ya to wait until you were alone to open it," the officer said.

"Thanks," Matt said dryly as the officer walked away.

Matt glanced over to Elisa and Mr. Jaffe as they finished talking and hastily put the envelope into his coat pocket.

The two police detectives were about to get in to the red Fairlane when Mr. Jaffe began to say,

"I just don't get it."

"What?" asked Elisa.

"I've always tried to stay out of all the ridiculous debates about gargoyles, even if you two say they don't want to hurt us. And if they are intelligent and can talk like you say, why didn't he just ask for some food instead of stealing it. Then again, I don't understand regular hooligans. Well, you two take care now."

He waved them good night as they got in to the car and drove away, heading back for the station.

Up on a nearby rooftop, across the street from the general store, two gargoyles had watched the scene below take place between the humans.

"Sounds like we have a new kid in town," said Brooklyn.

"Yeah," was Lexington's only response.

"Sound like anyone we know?"

"Yeah, and if it's who I think it is, we're in for some real trouble," Lex said with distain in his voice.

"You okay, Lex?" Brooklyn became concerned for his brother..

"Fine," Lex said a bit sharply, "Let's get back to the castle."

Without even looking back at Brooklyn, Lex quickly jumped off of the rooftop and glided swiftly away, while the armored gargoyle only stared after him momentarily before finally following the smaller gargoyle.

Watching from another rooftop, but too far away to have heard an exchange of words, or even notice the two Manhattan gargoyles, another gargoyles figure watched with distaste as well as curiosity. The human inhabitants of this congested city of filth were holding up all too well to the ancient legends. How could such behavior be tolerated?

For now such thoughts mattered not, the more he was able to avoid the humans the better. The finding of his wayward clan mate is all that matters now.

*Elisa's car, on the way back to the 23rd Precinct*

The two partners had been unusually quiet so far on the way back to the 23rd Precinct. Matt rested his head on his right fist as he watched the scenery of the city go by, but he did not pay any heed to it for his thoughts were far away.

Or rather in his coat pocket.

"You okay, Matt?" Elisa asked gently.

"Yeah," he mumbled.

"Anything you want to talk about?"

"No." Again he mumbled, not wanting Elisa to hear the worry in his voice. The truth was that he really did want to talk, but he knew that there were some things that were far too dangerous to discuss with his partner about.

As for Elisa, she trusted her partner, even with her life. Of course, he was still a guy and in some ways he still had a small problem with sharing his thoughts sometimes. If he wanted to talk to her about something, he would in his own time.

"When Mr. Jaffe mentioned he'd been robbed by a gargoyle at first I thought that it was Demona back in town, but that isn't her style. The when he mentioned it was webbed winged I thought that it couldn't be Lex, this one sounds too tall and isn't yellow he's green."

Matt looked over at Elisa and cocked an eyebrow as he said, "I thought he was khaki."

"Hudson's more khaki colored, Lex is more a brownish green, maybe olive green."

"I thought you were olive, Olive Oil that is," Matt teased.

Elisa gave her partner a slightly dirty look as she saw him trying to suppress a laugh. Then they both burst out laughing, Elisa mock punching her partner in the shoulder.

"Could I tell you something, Elisa?" Matt asked a little timidly a minute after they had finished laughing.

"Sure." Although she was now all ears she kept her eyes on the road as she drove.

"I've never had the best luck with women."

This was the last thing she expected to hear from him, it made her eyebrows rise a bit as she said, "Really? A handsome guy like you?"

Snorting down another laugh he continued to say, "I'm serious, Elisa. Ever since high school I've always been a conspiracy buff, it's why I joined the FBI. I dated, of course, but any romance that could've happened never did. I guess they could only take so much of my…over enthusiasm."

"Your old partner told me you were obsessive."

"Matt scowled a little but continued, "Yeah. Anyway, I've been at it so long I guess it became almost a pick up line, like when we first met. But it always drove away any potential girlfriends. With my 'obsession' came a lot of secrets and alienation."

"Are you worried about you and Sara?"

"Yeah…no…I dunno…a little."

"C'mon, Matt."

"Alright, thing have gotten pretty serious since the end of the war, but some secrets are being kept. There's always good reason to, right? Yet when it came right down to it she trusted me with her biggest secret. What if I can't return that trust?"

Elisa was silent, she did not have any answers but she had to help her friend somehow.

"Well, for as long as I've known you, you've always had trust issues, but you're also a good judge of character. As partners we can trust each other to protect each other's backs and the people, even the clan's. We all trust you because your own friend and a member of the clan. Maybe what it really comes down to is it about trusting Sara, or you trusting yourself to trust her?"

This was no what Matt had expected Elisa to say, but clearly she was trying to offer advice without comparing her love life to his own. Still was good advice to think about. Something rare and special had happened to Matt, he had found a kindred spirit in Sara. She knew him and understood him like no one else did, not even Elisa. Matt smiled a bit as a though came to his mind about what he would do very soon.

One thing he had always been good at as a cop was trusting his instincts, and they said Sara was the one.

"Well, Elisa, if I can trust myself to trust other, then I really don't have anything to worry about. Like I know I trust you won't kick my ass when I tell you that I love you like a sister, but Sara's my gal. I guess part of me is worried that it's only a flirtatious relationship, once more I fall for the wrong kind of woman. Kinda like with you at first."

Elisa almost slammed too hard on the car brakes as she pulled up to the 23rd Precinct station.

"What!?" she almost yelled out surprised.

Matt mentally kicked himself for what he had just admitted but there was no turning back now.

"It's no big deal, Elisa, I thought you knew. It almost happened with my last female partner, but nothing really came of it."

Elisa took a deep cleansing breath to calm herself, and chuckled a little as she realized what Matt was trying to say.

"It's okay, Matt, no need to explain yourself to me. I'm just happy you found someone special for you."

"Thanks," he said smiling.

"So what's really bothering you?"

Matt became silent again, his gut filling with butterflies and doing summersaults.

"Mm. Something about my…hobby that I don't want to really talk about," he finally answered with a sigh.

Elisa cocked an eyebrow at her partner but said nothing. She was curious about his situation that he clearly wanted to confide in her about, but either wouldn't or couldn't. So she decided not to press it from him, for as his friend she would be ready to listen when he was ready to talk.

She finally cut the engine and was about to make her way inside when Matt suddenly asked,

"Speaking of attractions, have you told Goliath about your little admirer?"

Elisa gave him a slight snare as she said, "No, he doesn't need to know."

"Why?"

"Because…you know how jealous gargoyles can get. Besides, it's embarrassing enough the way he's followed me around like a lost puppy. I don't know how much longer I can tolerate it."

"C'mon, the kid likes you, cut him some slack. He'll get over it eventually."

"I've been 'cutting him some slack' for months. I almost did tell Goliath about it when Mom gave us our rings. But if he does need to know, I'll tell him when it feels right."

"Alright, but I do think he would understand considering who came to your wedding last week."

Elisa gave a slight not and sigh as she thought about it. They both finally went inside to tend to their respective police duties; Matt made his way to a meeting room with the Gargoyles Task Force to discuss this latest gargoyles sighting and Elisa went to her desk to write up the night's report.

As she came half way across the squad room, someone had suddenly bumped into her and a hurricane of papers went flying all the place, drawing the attention of other officers, arrested felons, or clients in the room.

"Watch it!" she yelled before she took a better look at who the source of the paper hurricane was.

"Oh, hello, Randy."

"H-hi, Elisa," the young police officer gasped in awe.

Randy Montoya was scrawny young man who seemed to be barely out of high school and whose extra small police uniform still looked a size too big on him. He had joined the police force as bright eyed and green as any rookie during the last half of the Unseelie War nearly a year ago. Although brilliant minded and talented in solving cases from on paper because of his eye for detail as well as a stickler for following rules, he soon proved to be more suited for paperwork than action on the streets. It was mostly because he had shown himself to be extremely clumsy. These characteristics of him earned him many nicknames among the precinct, including classics such as "Captain Klutz" or more original ones such as 'Randy the Brown Nosed Rookie.'

He bent down and began to clean the papers and files that he had dropped bumping into Elisa, who began to help him with the chaotic mess.

"Thanks, but there's really no need, Elisa," Randy said, "I got it."

Elisa said that she did not mind as she smiled politely to the rookie and handed him some loose papers. The mess was soon cleared from the floor and Elisa once more made her way to her desk and to her annoyance Randy followed in her shadow.

"Thanks, Elisa. You're the greatest."

"No problem, Rookie," Elisa said as she sat at her computer to begin the night's report and catch up on paper work.

Looking up from her computer, Elisa noticed Randy was still gawking at her with wide puppy dog eyes and a limp doofy smile.

"Is there anything else I can help you with, Randy?" Elisa asked politely.

"Um…Elisa…I, um," he stammered, as he often did around her. Elisa simply gave him a patient look.

"Do you wanna get some coffee this morning?" he burst out, "My aunt's café maks the best in town and makes the chain stuff taste like the slug here."

He grinned widely at her; clearly hoping for a positive answer but Elisa just gave a heavy sigh as she began to tell him, "Randy that's the third time this week you've asked me out."

His smile wavered a bit.

"As flattering as it is, there are a number of reasons why I can't," she said firmly but as gently as possible, "the first being that I'm old enough to be your big sister. But the most important one is that I'm…"

She held up her left hand and wiggled her ring finger for him to see. A glimmer of hardness came across Randy's face but he did not stop smiling at her.

"Well, whoever he is he's not good enough for you. Nobody is. I don't think that there's any man that can match your level and the ring is just to keep 'em off of you. But I can be that man, Elisa, if you let give me a chance."

Elisa just rolled her eyes and gave a small groan. Randy had been one of those rookies that had had trouble adjusting to the demands of police work, even with something that seemed as trivial as filing and paper work. Elisa had merely tried to help him adjust and even talked with him about his occasional problems, and she may have realized too late that he mistook her intentions. She was beginning to worry that his high school crush could become an all out obsession soon. Lately she had tried being a little tougher on him, But Randy seemed to mistake it for playing-hard-to-get.

"Randy…" Elisa began with a harder tone in her voice when a deep voice called out,

"Hey, Rookie! Unless that's paper for arts and crafts you'd better get those reports filed. Chit chat with Maza later."

Officer Morgan had come to his own desk, which was right near Elisa's desk, signaling with his thumb towards the filing room for Randy to move.

"Y-yes, sir," Randy stammered and ran for the filing room while almost once again dropping the papers. Officer Morgan smirked a little and shook his head as he watched the lovesick rookie dash across the squad room.

"Thanks, Morgan," said a relieved Elisa.

"Sure, Elisa. He's a smart kid but still a few apples short of a fruit basket."

"What am I going to do, Morgan? As if I don't have enough problems right now."

"Ah, don't worry about it. I used to be exactly like that, so I can help keep him off your back whenever you need it. It probably won't be long before another pretty young face catches his eye. He's still at that raging hormone stage."

"Yeah, thanks, Morgan," Elisa said and finally went to doing her much needed paper work.

****A dark alley somewhere in Midtown

The woman was only trying to make it to her friend's apartment for their weekly canasta game. Unfortunately, her friend lived in a rough part of town and as she came within a couple of blocks of her friend's home some street tough had chased her down a dark alley.

Now that same street tough had her trapped at the end of the alley in a reeking pile of garbage. The greasy haired youth was practically foaming at the mouth in joy as he held a deadly looking knife to the poor woman's throat and the other reached for her loose skirt, which also held her stolen money.

"Just lay back and relax, sweetie, this is gonna be fun," the street tough practically purred in an oily toned voice and licking his lips as though he were about the taste a juicy piece of steak. The poor woman gave a small squeak of fear, terrified of what the hoodlum was about to do to her. It seemed all hope was lost as the squeezed her eyes shut tightly, when a strange whoosh of wind sounded nearby.

Before the hoodlum's tongue could even touch the woman's cheek, a strong hand yanked him back the collar of his ragged shirt as he gave a yelp. Being extremely skinny and gangly, he suddenly found himself being easily held a few feet off of the ground with his feet dangling above the ground. A voice then growled at him,

"You humans are pathetic."

The hoodlum then got yanked around to face a monstrous form with glowing eyes. It was a large red gargoyle with a wild mane of blond hair, its eyes glowing brighter then the city lights. It snatched the money and knife from the street tough, looked at them then growled in discuss,

"You attack you own kind and for what, green paper?! You can't even court a female properly. Hmph, you make a pathetic excuse for a mate, it's clear not even a female of your own kind would have you."

The gargoyle tossed the money and knife away as the hoodlum began to struggle a little harder and shouted,

"What th' hell you talkin' 'bout? Lemme go, put me down, ya freak!"

The gargoyles scowled, its eyes narrowing to sharp glowing slits.

"As you wish," he growled, suddenly tossing the hoodlum hard making him yelp loudly. He hit a wall on the side of the alley hard with a disgustingly hard thump of stone breaking bone. He then fell limply in to trash bags and trash can with a crash and did not move again.

The gargoyles looked scornfully at the unmoving street tough, and then began walking away without looking back at the woman, who stared at him wide eyed. He did not even look back when she mumbled as loudly as she could a thank you.

He walked as a proud warrior to a nearby wall, and began to climb, his talons biting hard and deep. He then climbed up to the rooftop and took off into the wind with a leathery snap of powerful wings and a supernatural grace.

The woman watched in fascination the entire time.

****Over the city

Three winged silhouettes rode the winds in the sky as they patrolled the city. For some they are guardian angels meant to be praised, for others they were the very incarnation of the boogey that went bump in the night.

For the gargoyles, the human inhabitants were simply people trying to make their way through life and who needed reassurance and protection from the darker dangers of the night.

For one gargoyle, her time in Manhattan had been an enlightening time, although at times she still had her personal doubts.

"it's impressive the relations your clan has accomplished with this city's human inhabitants, Goliath," Tamora said as she glided up to respectful distance to the Manhattan clan leader.

"Indeed, thank you," he rumbled.

"Especially how several of them at one time were once some of your worst enemies, particularly your host, Mr. Xanatos."

"Indeed." A hint of growled skeptisism seemed to come from Goliath's voice.

"Clearly your example was underestimated at the council by those who mistook your wisdom for foolishness. Although your goals for establishing a further peace with the humans are admirable, I cannot help but wonder it is could ever be accomplished."

Goliath simply gave a small grunt.

"However, there are those who are willing to help, if you will let them." Her voice took on a soft lilting tone as she looked at the often stoic lavender giant with a far off dreamy look on her face, her right wing gently brushing along his left wing. He gave her a quick sharp look as he felt the feather light touch of her wing against his and quickly composed herself.

Goliath simply gave a small smile and a nod as he said, "Such generosity would be appreciated. For the more we are able to cooperate with each other, the better there will be a chance for peace with the other clans as well as the humans."

"Yes, such noble goals are indeed inspiring, but can it be at all accomplished." As much as Tamora wanted to believe in Goliath's ambitious goals, she was still filled with some doubt.

"The most difficult tasks to achieve in life, Tamora, lass, are most often the ones most worth accomplishing to work towards," said Hudson in his thick Scottish bogue as he flew up next to Tamora.

Tamora gave a small nod as she said, "Wise words as always, Elder Hudson."

"However, your skepticism is not without some logic," the Manhattan eldest continued, "It hasnae always been easy for our two races to co-exist peacefully for long, for humans have too often feared what they donnae understand."

"Yes, that is indeed true," Tamora concurred, "But, haven't I also been told that humans have learned to attempt to overcome such fears with knowledge?"

"Aye," Hudson smiled, "'tis one of the better qualities of humans in the age."

"Perhaps," rumbled Goliath, "However, it still begs the question of what they will do when they acquire such knowledge."

His two companions looked at the clan leader with slight confusion in their eyes; a shadow of hardness had come across his craggy features.

"Goliath, lad, is something troubling you?" asked his old mentor.

Goliath looked over to his predecessor with a small look of doubt in his eyes, who only looked back to the lavender gargoyles with a concerned look in his own eyes. The grey Persian gargess simply waited for an answer.

Indeed Goliath had let it slip that he was slightly troubled, but of a great personal nature. It was something he was uncomfortable sharing with an outsider nearby, let along an ambassador of the Gargoyle World Council, so he had to be as professional as possible

"There are indeed many humans who have learned to overcome their fears when they gain the courage with knowledge," he said, "Unfortunately; however, there are still those that try to twist knowledge to their own perspectives. Sometimes enough so that it keeps the cycles of fear from breaking."

"Ah, I believe I understand," said Tamora, "It is situations such as these that are the most difficult obstacles for your goals for peace."

Goliath gave a small nod, but it was only a small part of the thought that were currently troubling him. Many of which were making a small dark cloud within his mind that was steadily threatening to become a thunder storm.

"As a leader, you fear for the wellbeing of your clan's future. But you don't let it control you or the difficult decisions you must make. It is one of those qualities that earned you so much respect at the council meeting, Goliath."

Goliath gave a small grunt as he considered his next words carefully. Although Tamora has prove herself to have great intelligence, adaptability, and an open mind, whether by intent or not, every now and then she still let slip her somewhat misplaced admiration for the large lavender gargoyle.

"Perhaps, Tamora, and although I still believe that some measure of peace can be achieved with the humans, it has not kept me for being cautious when necessary." He continued with a small heavy sigh, "But even if I have earned some respect from the other delegates, I'm afraid I may also have earned some enmity from them, even those I consider friends and allies."

This was a bit of a shock to his two companions who looked back at him a bit wide eyed.

Tamora asserted herself once more as she began to say, "You underestimate yourself, Goliath. While, there were indeed tensions at the council meeting, because you stood by your beliefs so fiercely and were determined to open relations and alliances between the other clans, they do indeed respect you all the more because of it. Even Mei Hsing respects you to a point, even having called you a misguided fool."

Goliath looked over to her a bit taken aback, but only saw a look of gentle yet strong support in her eyes. He gave a small smile and nod ion thanks as he began to say, "I too once thought like those like Mei Hsing, that keeping my clan isolated from the outside world of humans was the only way to survive. I swore that because there were so few of us, and we believed ourselves to be the very last of our kind, we would never trust humans again. I did not even completely trust Elisa when we first met, however she quickly proved herself."

Tamora gazed away for a moment, her thoughts dwelling far off to an old memory.

"She has been a great significance to you clan, helping to teach you the better side to humanity. And in turn you taught her the honor of the Gargoyle Way."

"Yes, and I soon came to learn that isolation only meant that and deprived us of a true purpose, which was to protect. Once I rediscovered that purpose we learned to quickly adapt to these changed times, and I also realized that I could not let my own fears hold us back. Let the other leaders believe me a fool if they wish, but I will not let their pessimism determine my own views or how I should lead my clan."

Tamora was bit startled by Goliath's last words which had been spoken with a deep hardness in them, and creating a slight but strong sting of guilt in her gut like a small nest of hornets striking at once. Hudson noticed her hesitant reaction, despite how small it was and having only one good eye. He gave a small smile as he began to say, "Perhaps, lad, 'tis but a small bit o' proof that humans are nae the only creatures who feel fear of the unknown."

The two younger gargoyles looked over to the elder, nodding agreement, relief coming over Tamora.

Goliath had quickly realized what he had just said and the unintended way it affected Tamora.

"I meant no offense to you, Tamora."

"I know, Goliath, and I understand how you may be feeling. It may be true that several of the representatives from the council may not yet be ready for the changes that are happening in the world or what you proposed, but somehow I know in time that they will be, even the clans that didn't attend the first council meeting."

"Aye, they were a stubborn lot as all gargoyles are, e'en the elder ones such as I who will hardly change their ways for anythin'. But let us nae forget, my friends, that night by night a small difference is made in one view point or another about a great many things and hopefully for the better."

The two younger gargoyles gave their own agreements to Hudson's words, Goliath was about to continue the conversation when his comlink earpiece chirped to life.

"Goliath here, report."

"It's Brooklyn, Lex and I were patrolling with Elisa earlier tonight and she and Matt got a report about an alleged new gargoyle in town. He insisted on telling you and Tamora in person because they guy sounds like big trouble. You'd better high tail it back to the castle ASAP."

It did not take long for Goliath to once again figure out Brooklyn's strange talk. Once in an earlier time Goliath would have wondered what his tail had to do with the castle and why his second was calling him a sap.

He then ordered to his two patrol mates to begin their return, shifting their wings on the wind as the air currents carried them high towards the Eerie Building.

While riding the air, the dark cloud once more hung over Goliath's thoughts of earlier. Although their feud had been declared over not so long ago, for a short time now Goliath was beginning to have has doubts. Several human sayings went through his mind, such as how things change but also stay the same or how leopards could not change their spots.

There was only one way to put his doubts to rest, one way he could be sure that Xanatos would hold up his end of the bargain.

****Castle Wyvern, the Clan's wing

Brooklyn looked over to Lex, who was once more brooding at his computer, concern coloring the former Timedancer's face. His smaller brother had one hand on the keyboard and limply held his round head with the other, a dark expression on his face.

"Lex," Brooklyn gently called out to his rookery brother, " Do you want to talk about it?"

"No," Lex simply answered, though Brooklyn did not fail to hear the small ice chilly tone in his voice.

The truth was that Lex did want to talk, but not Brooklyn, for he had grown sick and tired of his now older brother's constant lying. On top of that, discovering that Darius may be in town to cause trouble just reminded Lex of too many things, creating a hurricane within him.

A parable storm of emotions and thoughts warred within the small gargoyle as though threatening at any time to burst forth from its small prison and wreak chaos on the world. Worse it brought up painful memories of recent times which also reinforces his old anger at Brooklyn, and even worse, him.

It always lead back to him.

Sex had thought once that he had let it go, had moved on, or even on some small level even forgiven his brick red brother. Unfortunately, when the memories arose they were just too painful to 'just get over them.' As much as he was now trying to drown himself with the latest techno breakthrough articles on many of his favorite websites or even chat with some online friends, such welcoming distractions did little to ease his pain.

Darius had been the representative of the Persian clan, alongside Tamora, but deceptively had turned out to be a wolf in sheep's clothing. In his attempt to seize power at the council he had set loose some of the strangest and most hideous creatures Lex had ever seen. They were called druj, and they were said to have been some sort of bizarre breeding experiment of the Unseelie Court.

Again it lead back to him.

Thoughts of Darius lead to the council, and despite some of the good that had come of it, in Lex's frustration it only reminded him of Mei Hsing's attempted interference of Goliath and Elisa's bonding ceremony. The clan would be forever band from attending future meetings, meaning that his chances of finding a mate would become infinitesimal to nonexistent. Although he had met some great females his own age at the meeting, they were both very new to the idea of technology and he had not even told them about his implants for fear of alienation from them.

His implants.

By the Dragon, was he really going to end up like Hyena because of his implants? She had claimed to be dying from a mysterious ailment, but Lex had no proof that it was being caused by her implants just because theirs came from the same source.

Again it all lead back to him.

And to put salt into the old wound, the only person who knew that something horrible was going to happen to him was watching him now.

What else does he know and has not told the clan? Is he doomed to remain alone forever when the rest of the clan, even their great leader, had found companionship? Will there ever be a time when he and his rookery brothers could just be the Trio again?

Lex sunk a bit into his seat as all of these thought burdened him, his stomach twisting as though he had eaten an old rubber tire from the junkyard, and his chest felt tight and hot as though it were set on fire by a crazed arsonist who liked to set wildfires with simple matches. Part of him wanted to scream.

Brooklyn could only watch Lex from a respectful distance with sadness and concern in his eyes, which weighed heavily on his heart. He could only speculate at some of the things that were currently bothering Lex, though he had a feeling he knew what some of it was. Until the time was right, he would need to once more speak with Lex about the issue.

It was not long when Goliath's party returned from patrol over the city, and only then did Lex leave his computer to tell the three older gargoyles about the possibility of the rogue Darius in New York.

The only to be most surprised was Tamora for she never thought of the possibility of seeing her mad clan mate again so soon.

Goliath's craggy face became even more hard than it was known to be. This was a matter for the whole clan, so he put out the call for everyone to rendezvous back at the castle immediately, even calling for Elisa and Matt to come quickly.

Lex's normally wide and expressive eyes had become hard and sharp like daggers, an expression of anger and determination on his youthful face that matched Goliath's own expression.

****23rd Police Precinct

Elisa had finally finished the last of her paper work for the night, slouched back into her chair which gave a small squeak under the pressure and let out a deep sigh of relief. The paper work may have seemed to take longer than she thought simply because Randy kept bothering her in one way or another every half hour or so just so he could be near her. He would offer to help her but Elisa refused him at every turn , insisting that she needed to do it herself.

As tedious as paper work most often was, it was the excuse she had for tonight to go through the most recent reports of gargoyle sightings that did not involve any descriptions of the clan. Most of what she found of the past week were simply exaggerations of a spooked public or crank calls. However she did find at least two reports of small robberies at a second hand restaurant near the docks or of a strange winged creature seen in a dumpster in an alley behind a slightly more improved neighborhood general store similar to Mr. Jaffe's store. Another report that happened to catch her eye was a call in about a young woman being saved earlier in the night from an attempted rapist by a red gargoyle that was too big to be described as Brooklyn and did not have a beak. It may have just been another exaggeration, but Elisa decided to let the clan know about it just in case.

Just as she closed the last folder with the last of the night's report, her earpiece chirped to life. It was Goliath telling her for her and Matt to come quickly to the castle for a clan meeting.

"On my way, Big Guy."

She did her quick routine of logging out of her computer and grabbed the folder as she whisper shouted to Matt the "Big Guy" called. They both quickly logged out of their shifts early as they past the captain's office to turn in the night's reports.

Before Elisa even took half a step out of Chavez's office, the captain stopped the Detective.

"Maza, wait."

Elisa turned to face the captain, absentmindedly placing her left hand on the office door frame, her body language clear that she was in a hurry.

The captain eyed her best detective as she slowly rose from her seat behind her desk. She briefly eyed the shine of a gold ring on Elisa's left hand that drew Chavez's attention, keeping a blank look on her face.

"Is there anything else that you need to tell me?" she patiently asked.

Elisa simply raised an eyebrow as her deep earthy brown eyes met the hazel green eyes of her captain. For a microsecond she considered telling the captain everything', but it quickly past as she remembered the urgency in her life mate's voice.

"No, Captain, not right now," Elisa simply said, and Chavez finally dismissed her.

Elisa quickly made her way across the squad room to meet Matt at her car just as a whirlwind of disturbance ran towards her.

"Hey, Elisa!" shouted Randy as he knocked over papers, disks, and various other work supplies from other officers' desks as he tried to catch up to the dark haired detective, a chorus of protests following him as he dashed across the room, but he totally ignored them.

"Later, Rookie," Elisa called back as she waved to him, "Family emergency."

Randy was feet from her when an older veteran officer grabbed the scrawny rookie by his arm with a hand large enough to encompass it. The officer may have been going grey but was still easily five times the size of Randy.

"Forget it, kid," the officer said with a basso voice, "She's way outta yer league."

Although Randy momentarily glanced at her restrainer, he did not listen to the older more burly officer as he stared after Elisa as she walked out the front door of the precinct with an absent minded grin on his face and the thought of watching her strut her stuff with such a great butt.

Maria Chavez merely watched with mild amusement, a small smile on her face. However it merely covered the thought that worried her about Elisa.

She returned to her desk and looked through the last file of reports that Elisa had handed in to her. It was just as she thought, the report seemed incomplete; as though some things had been omitted which created holes, and created much speculation when facts did not add up. The report only appeared to be complete, but Chavez had noticed a small pattern emerging throughout the years as Maza steadily seemed to change little by little.

Chavez had no doubt in her mind about Elisa's Abilities or her commitment to being an officer of the law, she had even considered recommending a promotion for the hard headed detective sooner or later. She had merely become concerned with some of the detective's methods, or the 'hunches' she claimed to get from seemingly out of thin air. Although there were acceptable times for bending the rules, Elisa on too many occasions seemed to do things outside the book. But then Chavez could not hold it against her, for she too had felt the need to do things outside of the book in order to bring justice and even a little peace to the chaotic streets of New York.

Chavez was only sure that Maza knew more what she would tell, for whatever reason or another. She just was not sure if she should talk to Elisa about it. She was proud to be her captain, but as Elisa's friend she had become worried about her, as though Elisa no longer trusted Chavez. As captain she could only expect the best and hard work from those she lead, but as a friend she worried for their welfare.

She thought about it for a short time, and finally decided it was long past time to finally discuss what really happened that seemed to have begun on that fateful night years ago.

****Matt's apartment

The meeting with the clan had lasted far into the rest of the night, which made Matt all the more glad to be home as he collapsed onto his couch with a breath.

This latest gargoyles sighting had gotten the clan all riled up when suspicions were revealed as to whom it may be.

This Darius sounded like a dangerous character, almost as dangerous as Demona was. It was told that he tried to take over the Gargoyle World Council using the strangest magical creatures Matt had ever heard of, and so he made a note to himself to look in to any reports of possible attacks by big wolf-pigs. Tamora also told about how in her clan, Darius was suspected of practicing dark magic of some kind. So he and Elisa would have to keep their eyes peeled for any 'weirder-than-usual' cases that seem to pop up out of nowhere in the city.

Elisa had also told of her suspicions that there may be more than one new gargoyle in town. The other sightings seemed to match Darius' description but this other gargoyle was far more aloof.

If the two were connected, how were they? If not, then why did they come to the Big Apple?

Although Matt knew himself enough to know when he would get overly paranoid, with all that had happened lately he did not want to dismiss any possibilities just yet. Such as if someone like Thailog crossed paths with this Darius, their enemies' strength would just grow stronger.

Speaking of paranoia…,

As Matt began to remove his signature trench coat his fingers just happen to touch the mysterious white envelope he had received earlier that night. He removed it from his pocket to momentarily look at it. He then looked suspiciously around his apartment and frantically closed the blinds to his outside balcony, locked all of the locks on his front door, even covering the peep hole, even covering the windows in his bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen and closing the doors to his bedroom and bathroom.

He finally sat back down on his couch, and instead of using a lamp on a nearby side table, he took out a small police flashlight to use to read his message.

Matt rapidly tore open the envelope to only find an index car with a typed messege:

Friday 7:00 pm

Matt mentally kicked himself for overreacting to such a ridiculously simple messege. He then suddenly remembered that he had a date with Sara on Friday, which was tomorrow!

He looked at the white envelope again and found no mention of a meeting place. What was he supposed to do? He could not just cancel their date at the last minute. This was the first real date that they were able to plan in a long time.

As much as they claimed to be a group of enlightened people, there was just no way of getting an easy answer from those people.

Matt just decided to pretend for now they did not exist and just keep living his life the way he chose. He simply got ready to sleep and soon plopped onto his bed.

As determined as he always was to expose them as the manipulative conniving sociopaths that they were, some days Matt Bluestone wished that he had never even heard of the Illuminati Society.

****An undisclosed location

The last several nights had been the worst of his life, but one thing kept him going: revenge.

He hungered for it far more than his belly hungered for proper nourishment, which had been far easier to satisfy than his true hunger. However he had become much thinner than he usually was.

He would not rest until he had gained satisfaction from that blue skinned wench that betrayed him, as well as from that muscle headed lavender fool. He did not know whom he hated more.

Of course there was also the feathered youth.

He was not sure how the whelp found out what he knew, but he too will soon learn respect.

Although he was able to escape that fiasco at the council it had also left him exhausted both physically and mystically as he used the last of his magical resources to bring himself and the last of his loyal pets to this gods' forsaken place. He knew that after his escape, at some point his foolish soft hearted younger rookery sister would tell their leader, his rookery brother, Balthazar, about his treachery and no doubt proclaim banishment. Well, it mattered not for as soon as he had the necessary resources and strong allies he will return to his clan to claim his rightful place as leader, and then at the next council meeting claim his rightful place as the King of the Gargoyles.

Of course, he had to be patient and redouble his efforts. Banishment no doubt meant being cut off from his necessary resources, but he knew it was only temporary and a small price to pay if he is soon able to achieve his ambitious goals.

And this may yet be the first step of many in achieving those goals. When he first awoke tonight, he found amongst his clothing a typed message telling him to meet the contact at this location shortly before dawn. He did not know who this contact was or what they wanted, but for now he was willing to make whatever alliances he could against his enemies.

However if this was some joke to humiliate his like some gullible fool, he would be sure to make them think twice before trying to it on a skilled sorcerer such as himself.

Be that as it may, an alliance with the right sources will man vast improvement from his current situation. He had grown wary of living as a rogue, having to scrap off whatever food sources he could find in the waste dispensing areas of this rat infested city of filth. To make matters worse, when he did find better sources food, the humans who claimed the food as personal property attacked him like an animal.

And that arrogant naïve fool, Goliath, wanted to make peace with the second race when clearly he was blinded to the fact that they only wanted to exterminate his noble race. And because of that, he himself has been forced to live as a common thief and savage.

Well, that ends tonight.

Darius waited patiently for a few minutes for something to happen or for someone to appear. When naught but silence and shadows past to his annoyance he was about to leave when his keen gargoyle hearing detected a faint noise that was steadily coming closer. It was great distant roar of wildfire like a flying machine's engine that his clan had hear about.

He looked up in the direction it seemed to be coming from to witness a most peculiar sight. The light of a roaring fire brought before him what appeared to be a gargoyle completely clad in silver armor as though it were truly his skin and not just protection in combat. Even his wings were metallic and deadly looking enough to do impressive amount of damage. His arms were clan with large gauntlets which made him look stronger in his own presence and his eyes glowed fiery red with life as well as a dark malice.

From this strange armored gargoyle Darius even sensed magic of all things, a kind of magic that he had sensed before, similar to the magic of the Spawn of Arimanes only more mirthful.

The silver clad gargoyles landed in front of Darius, stood in front of him with a kind of cool and arrogant confidence as he began to say with a somewhat oily metallic toned voice,

"Greetings, friend, I am Coldsteel."

Although the silver gargoyle had introduced himself, he did not offer the traditional warrior's arm gesture which Darius was unsure of how to think of his greeter. The yellow Persian eyed his contact momentarily, who merely stood his ground with a slight smirk on his metallic face.

"You are the one whom wished to meet with me?" Darius asked suspiciously.

"Indeed," Coldsteel simply replied.

"Why?" a slight hardness came into Darius' voice.

"It has been my experience," Coldsteel began to say, "that gargoyles who come to this isle of iron towers are those seeking the company of that local clan and that miserable fool, Goliath."

Darius did not fail to notice an acidic hateful tone in the metallic gargoyle's voice when he said the Manhattan leader's name.

"So you are not part of Goliath's clan?"

"Indeed not, though I was once. He managed to usurped leadership of the clan, for reasons I still do not understand, which was clearly rightfully mine."

Darius smirked at Coldsteel's statement. So the muscle-headed lavender fool was not above making enemies in his own clan, if he had seen any indication form that two-timing blue wench.

Perhaps this was indeed one of the allies he had been seeking.

"What do you propose in the way of an alliance? I do believe we can help each other."

"Questions later. Come, dawn is soon."

With some nods the two very different gargoyles took off in to the air, Darius following Coldsteel in a direction leading towards Nightstone Unlimited.

****Nightstone, Unlimited. Sevarius's lab, mid morning

"There's no need to keep checking on me every hour of the day," Sevarius said annoyed at his contact on his computer screen.

"You are aware of your employer's wishes, Doctor," the young woman said, "Keeping to the promises of your experiments is in your best interests as well as to the company's."

"I know, I know. You can tell him tonight that I'm nearing a breakthrough in the formula I'm developing. I always knew I could've done it done long before the deadline."

There was a sudden small beeping noise in the background, making Sevarius adjust his screen slight away from the source.

He looked back at his contact, a young woman in her 20s and with flawless dark features that showed she may have been of Middle Eastern descent. She also seemed to dress as a high school Goth with dark clothing and strange pieces of jewelry, primarily various necklaces. Sevarius had noticed that one pendant had a peculiar pyramid scheme on it.

Sevarius was never sure, but something about the young woman set his teeth on edge. What it as, she at least seemed to keep Boss Thailog happy.

"I'm sure he'll be very pleased to hear it," she said. If she had suspected anything she did not show it.

"Indeed he will be. Unfortunately, I do have one slight set back. I'm going to require some fresh new material from the…original donor."

"It shall be acquired by any necessary means I'm sure."

"Good to know we understand each other. Now, please, stop bothering me so I can get some work done, do you understand me, young lady?" he gave off a small greasy snarl.

Her eyes twinkled as she lilted small chuckle as though laughing at a private joke.

"Yes, I'm glad we understand each other…young man."

The communication screen suddenly went black, and Sevarius at last released a heavy deep sigh of relief. He then looked over to the source of the beeping alert, a twisted smile came across his homely features.

Within a glass incubation tube was his latest and possibly greatest experiment, one that will become essential to others, his pride and joy. The specimen had grown a little more quickly than even he had expected, but it was still only the beginning.

Sevarius took a nearby sample slide and placed it under a microscope and activated the monitor.

Yes, everything was going smoothly and the specimen's vitals so far were working flawlessly. Each time he created a new one, he learned more of the great potential with their DNA. This time he can take it to its ultimate potential; every cell, every atom, every chromosome and every DNA strand will come into absolute perfection. It would even help solve the problem with the flaw of discoloration anomalies.

For a long moment, Sevarius could not help but daydream about what potential the future may hold. It quickly past as he set back to work. He had to be patient in order to get everything right.

His smile became a little more twisted with these thoughts as he touched the sterilized incubator which held his own home grown purple spotted gargoyle egg.

****Over the city, midday.

The day was bright and glorious, one of the many things that had come to appreciate in his current form. It was also one of the many advantages he now had over his lavender former rookery brother, ever the elders' pet champion even in this age.

Although his new form made him superior in many ways not only to his former leader and his , unfortunately he had also discovered that it also had a few very inconvenient drawbacks. Not long after returning to Manhattan to find his wayward brother and sister, he once fried to once again return to the old castle atop the darkly named tower which belonged to the wealthy baron the clan seemed to be allied with.

Unfortunately, whenever he now came too close to the tower the tech-nol-ogy that made up his body would begin to not function properly; his systems would become 'jammed' as Thailog's scientists would say.

And he thought once that his clever sister though up the strangest devices and terms.

Fortunately, Coldsteel had learned to be a little more cautious when he came near the tower, never leaving it out of his line of sight.

Of course, that was another great advantage his metallic for provided, superior senses such as his sight, even with the recent 'upgrades' the scientists provided him with. He could see things in ways he could never have imagined before, and the way his mind could remember every miniscule detail as freshly as when he first sighted it is positively astonishing.

Like now, how his memory was telling him something was amiss.

His rocket pack had brought him to the old sacred temple known in the city as St. Patrick's Cathedral, a place that had in recent years received replacements to mush of its damaged statuary. As he had come to understand it, the damaged had been received by the typical human reaction to fear by way of using violence. Although many statues had been replaced and much repair had steadily returned the Cathedral to a portion of its former glory, Coldsteel could still see that something was out of place.

He had passed by this place very few times since forging an alliance with his rogue 'rookery son,' but remembered enough which pieces of old statuary were newer to the old cathedral and which pieces were originals.

Having also once been a flesh and blood creature, he remembered enough to recognize what is a piece of hand crafted sculptures and what a living gargoyle is in stone sleep.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Coldsteel arrogantly chuckled to himself as he came closer to investigate his quarry.

Far up out of the sight of most passersby, but still clearly trying to cleverly conceal himself with the cathedral's stone décor was a new gargoyle.

****Manhattan Community Center, early afternoon

The taxi had finally pulled up to its destination, its passenger getting out and paying quickly all too eager to get away from the driver. In typical New Yorker fashion he had driven across town in a hurry, going through red lights or even nearly running over pedestrians. On top of that he was even blatantly flirting non-stop with his attractive female passenger, a strawberry blond woman with greenish eyes behind large round glasses.

Although she had acted as civilized and friendly as possible to the scruffy, putrid smelling, undignified taxi driver it still took a great amount f restrain to keep herself from breaking his neck or ripping his heart from his ribs. Even in her weakened human form she knew she could do it.

However a better idea occurred to her as she made sure to memorize the driver's name, can number, license number, and company name, for at some point she will take great pleasure in making his life a living hell after she had reclaimed her company.

However such small satisfactions will have to wait.

She steadily made her way towards the community center doors up the stairs, a few fond memories making her briefly smile.

When she came inside she was momentarily taken aback by what she saw; many people, mostly college age or young adults, were working at setting up booths for various activities of one kind or another, one wall was being filled by various food and confection of all kinds being tended by both professional looking chefs and culinary art majoring students. A large banner human from the ceiling proclaiming the event's purpose:

P.I.T. CREW FUNDRAISER FOR INNERSPIECES PEACE AND EQUAL RIGHTS

It was brightly decorated with different upbeat symbols such as stars, helices, squiggles, but the image that really drew her attention was beneath the bold bright blue letters was an image of two humanoid shapes; one clearly human the other an indigo colored gargoyles shape, both clasping hands in front of an enlarge peace symbol.

Another smile unconsciously came across her face as she looked at the image with a small sense of swelling pride, clearly her friend's work.

It was only a moment before she noticed that a young man with beautiful mocha skin color and shaved hear came up to her with a very white toothy smile and said,

"Hello, are you here to participate for the fundraiser? We're always looking for more volunteers or even more contributors."

A snare rapidly went to a smile as she said, "Actually, I'm looking for a friend of mine, Andrea Calhoun. Is she here?"

The dark skinned man looked around the large room full of PIT volunteers as he said, "I think she's around here somewhere, I could've sworn I saw her earlier. C'mon let's find her together."

They made their way through the crowd of volunteers, at first not finding Andrea anywhere nearby, but soon found her near the far back of the room where she was, unsurprisingly, painting touch ups on fundraiser posters and signs.

"Hey, Andy, someone's here to see ya."

"Ty, how many times must I tell you not to call me that," she said as she placed a soiled paint brush into murky water.

"Hello, Andrea," said the mysterious strawberry blond woman.

"Hello," Andrea return politely, "Ty, whose your friend?"

"She said she was your friend," Ty said confused when he heard someone call his name from across the room.

"Gotta go, I'll let you two get caught up."

He then dashed off as he gave the two women a two fingered salute, who merely looked at each other awkwardly for a moment.

"Do I know you?" the grubbily clad artist asked as politely as possible.

"I'm Heather," she simply said.

"I'm sorry, I don't know anyone named Heather."

"I'm not surprised, because you knew me by another name."

Andrea only gave her a confused look.

Heather stepped a little closer to the brown haired artist, pulled her glasses down slightly as she began to say, "When we first meant you told me about the disappearance of your sister and I shared with you a certain kind of dream."

The strange woman, Heather, was barely whispering and Andrea had to come much closer to hear what she was saying. There was indeed something familiar about the woman's voice but she could just almost place, but when she looked deep into her now leafy green eyes over the large circular glasses Andrea's own eyes began to widen slightly as she picture the woman with far redder hair, a red business suit, and sterner attitude.

"Dominique?!" Andrea whispered surprised as the older woman tried to desperately shush her.

"We need to talk. Alone," she said with an authoritarian tone.

"Uh…yeah. Sure," Andrea stammered and then steadily leads her friend to a side storage room, which only held plenty of extra folding tables and chairs.

The reddish bond woman slowly closed the door as she looked outside to be absolutely sure no one had followed them. She then took a few precautions to secure the door. She turned around as she switched on a light and suddenly found herself in a vise like grip that encompassed her upper body and was squeezing the breath from her lungs.

Her warrior instincts to break free surged through her momentarily before she realized it was only Andrea giving her a gripping bear hug.

"I thought I'd never see you again," the mouse-brown haired you woman said while trying got stifle a sob. She then released her grip on her friend to look at the older woman with eyes glassing over with tears she was trying to hold back.

Andrea then mock slapped her friend on the shoulder, if a bit harder than she intended. Heather gripped her shoulder and snared at Andrea, a gargoyle snarl almost escaping her throat.

Curse this weak human body.

"Where the hell have you been?!" Andrea nearly yelled, "I haven't heard from you since that shooting and then I can't reach you at any of your numbers. Your house is empty and I check at your office only to have some weirdo tell me that you've taken a permanent leave of absence and somebody else is running your company. If you didn't want to be friends anymore you could've just told me so instead of worrying me half to death."

When Andrea finished venting her hurt anger on her friend she noticed that Dominique was giving her an acidic look as she gripped her slapped shoulder. Andrea's anger was immediately replaced by relief and sympathy. She gave her friend a gentler hug then time as she said,

"I'm sorry, Dominique. I've been so worried about you I began to think you didn't want to be friends with me anymore, that it was beneath a blue blood like you to seen with a blue collar like me."

The strawberry blond woman was confused for a moment by her friend's remarks, but it did not matter as she gradually returned the hug. On some level she realized that she had greatly missed this, almost as much as she missed the embrace of her daughter.

This reminded her…

"Please don't call that name, I'm Heather," she said as she firmly but gently removed herself from her friend's embrace. Andrea looked at her with confusion but waited for an answer.

'Heather' got out two of the extra chairs and placed them in front of each other, inviting Andrea to sit down.

"It's a very long story, Andrea, and I can tell you everything soon, but not here not now. Just tell me what you know about what's happened at Nightstone."

As much as Andrea wanted to catch up with her friend, who was being very mysterious and serious, she decided not to argue as she took a seat.

"Not much," she said, "Only that after about a week I didn't hear from you after the shooting and I tried calling all your numbers, even you home and office. It said that they were either out of service or disconnected. I then tried to look for you at your mansion only to find it locked down tighter than Fort Knox. I then tried to go to your office, only to have some snooty new receptionist say that you were no longer in charge and that the new CEO was some guy named Alexander Thailog, what a mouthful. I tried to see this Alexander Thailog to see if he knew what had happened to you, and I almost forced my way in, but then some creep claiming to be the guy's personal executive assistant told me that 'Dominique Destine had taken an extensive leave of absence and has left the company in more capable hands.' He then threatened to call security and have me arrested for trespassing if I didn't leave the building."

Andrea huffed out a heavy breath and crossed her arms in discuss as she remembered the experience. Enough anger welled up within Dominique that she had to consciously keep her eyes from glowing red.

Andrea then got a thoughtful look on her face.

"Wait a minute," she exclaimed, "Isn't this Thailog guy one of your ex-husbands, the one who went missing?"

Dominique scowled a bit, took a deep breath as she said to Andrea in a hard toned voice, "Yes, he was. I had believed him dead for a long time, and now he has stolen my company from me."

Andrea looked at her friend with a bit of shocked surprise and sympathy. There was something else Dominique was not telling her but must have wanted to. They said in silence for some long moments before Andrea finally said, " He threatened you didn't he?"

"Yes," she said after a long minute, then she continued, "He used your friendship against me. Did the same with those close to my daughter."

"What?!"

"He said you were a weakness, mocked me for having become 'a champion of humanity.'" Her voice became colder with ice as she told Andrea her problem.

"That bastard," heat came to Andrea's voice. She became silent again as some thoughts occurred to her.

"So you had to disappear for a while, you thought you were protecting me and Angela by going underground until you could find a way to contact us without him knowing."

Dominique looked at her emphatically at the artist for a moment, knowing that it was not quite what she presumed it was but for now she did not need to know.

"Yes, something like that. I've also spent the last several weeks looking for allies, ones he wouldn't expect. Unfortunately, they either refused me because of my…reputation, or they weren't what I expected."

Andrea did not fail to notice the hardness of her friend's voice, so she sat patiently as she thought about what she was trying to say.

The artist smiled as she said, "I'll help you, Dominique, and however I can, because that's what friends do."

The gargoyle turned human found herself a little taken aback by this young woman's sudden eagerness to help her. She merely a human with a passion and talent for art and no big connections and none of the resources she really needed. So why was she here with a human she had foolishly considered a friend in the past?

Because in a sense it may be exactly what she needed, exactly what the arrogant clone would never expect. But it will still take time, and Andrea did not fully understand the danger she was being placed in.

She smiled and took Andrea's hand in support as she said, "Thanks so much, Andrea, it means a lot to me. But there is much you don't know, things I have never told you. I will in time, but not here not now. I'm asking you to trust me."

There was momentary confusion and fear in Andrea's eyes but it was only a flicker as determination replaced it.

"Of course, Dominique, I always figured you'd share with me your secrets whenever you were ready. Just tell me what we need to do and I'll be there for you."

The two women then momentarily hugged, a pact of true friendship sealed.

They then parted as Dominique then told Andrea, "From now on don't call me Dominique, I'm Heather."

"Right," Andrea whispered, and just as Heather was about to reopen the door, the grubbily clothed artist began to ask, "What did you see in that guy anyway?"

The strawberry blond woman snared again as she said, "Something I very much doubt you'd understand."

Andrea chuckled as she said, "Don't worry; you're not the only one to have fallen for the wrong guy in one way or another."

The two women smirked, Heather a bit forcefully. She almost opened the storage room door when Andrea suddenly said, "He's wrong, you know."

Heather looked back at her.

"About friendship and caring about others, it's not a weakness. Being my friend, loving you daughter, those are the greatest gifts there are, and if he can't understand that then we're going to prove it to him."

Heather froze at her friend's words, ones that she had once considered nothing more than foolish human rhetoric and weakness.

So why would they now effect her so differently?

It does not matter now, she only gave Andrea a smile and a high five as she said, "Yes, we will."

They both finally returned to the larger room where activities for the PIT fundraiser were being prepared. New arrangements were going to be made.

Was there possibly another way? One she had not considered? No, sacrifices for the greater good needed to be made. In order to regain her company and save her daughter, she will have to sacrifice her weaknesses.

Beginning with Andrea.

****23rd Precinct, Night

Elisa was once again at her de4sk filling out the night's paperwork. Although tonight's work was fairly simple compared to other nights she could remember, like other experienced cops she preferred the action on the streets.

For the last half hour she had been looking through files of the last week or ten days for any more reports of this other mysterious gargoyle besides Darius and had come up with nothing.

This other gargoyle may have only arrived in town later than she thought or was very good at keeping out of the public eye.

In the meantime, she had also taken the time to investigate for any sign of Demona returning to New York, mostly at Angela's request. So far there has been no sign of the flame-haired gargess since she crashed the council meeting, and then just as suddenly as she had appeared she was gone before Darius' attack on the council.

There was no evidence to suggest that the events may be related, but for now her detective instincts were telling her not to dismiss any possibilities.

After the clan revealed their suspicions about the renegade gargoyles sorcerer, the biggest issue that truly worried Elisa was how he may have gotten to Manhattan in the first place.

For now that was an issue that would have to wait as a sudden earthquake dislocated her desk and then an avalanche of papers and folders fell all across her area. Momentarily startled she looked up to find Randy catching himself in a fall while passing out folders to other officers. The scrawny rookie looked at her with an embarrassed lopsided grin and said,

"Here's some more of those gargoyle files from last week you wanted to see, Elisa."

"Thanks, Rookie," she said a bit annoyed, even though Montoya was trying to stammer out an apology as he grabbed all the loose and scattered papers.

"Why do you need all these files anyway?"

"It's part of a case I'm working on," Elisa said in a tone that said the conversation was done, but Montoya did not seem to catch it.

"They may've been total nutcases but they were right about one thing," Randy said in a more serious tone.

"Who?" Elisa asked suspiciously.

"The Quarrymen."

Elisa felt a slight chill go down her spine. This was a side of Montoya she had never seen, one she was about to rebuttal with a hard comment what she heard Captain Chavez call her, "Maza, I need to see you in my office, please. Now."

The detective gave the rookie a hard look as she said in a semi-cold tone, "Later, Rookie."

He merely looked after her confused, with a side of great admiration for her tight butt, as she made her way to the captain's office.

"What's up, Captain?" she asked.

Chavez was silent as she returned to her seat behind her desk, trying to consider her first words carefully.

"There's something I've been meaning to talk to you about for some time, Elisa, something I thought you would come to me about."

Elisa only gave the captain a confused look, who only looked back at her patiently.

Chavez decided to get straight to the point, "For the last several years, something about you has steadily changed."

Elisa only gave a hard stare.

"As a police captain," Chavez continued, "I must respect the privacy of my officers' personal lives, unless something in their personal lives begins to affect their work."

"I know the risks, Captain," Elisa said a bit defensively.

"I know," she said patiently, "I only wish to know if something has changed in your life that I should know about."

Elisa only looked at the captain a bit defiantly, for the last thing she needed right now was someone with great authority such as her captain asking about her personal affairs.

She could only look away momentarily as she said, "I wish I could, but I won't."

Thinking that was all that needed to be said, Elisa was about to leave the captain's office when Chavez stopped her with an authoritative tone.

"Maza."

She froze at the office door as Chavez got up from her desk and came up to Elisa, gently grabbing her left hand and examining the gold ring.

An eternal silence stretched out before Chavez finally asked, "Is this what I think it is?"

Another moment passed as Elisa hesitated before answering, "Yes."

She then gingerly removed her hand from Chavez's grasp, who then asked, "When?"

"Last week."

Chavez smiled a little saying, "Lucky guy."

"Yeah." Elisa was beginning to get a little impatient, but she did not let it show.

"What's his name?"

Elisa merely gave a blank look without answering. It was all the answer Chavez needed to confirm some of her suspicions.

She then walked back to her desk and sat on one end of it with her arms crossed patiently waiting for Elisa to say something. After a long minute, when nothing was said Chavez finally asked, "What really happened that night? Did they make it out?"

"Captain?"

"Let me rephrase that. What was the gargoyles'' real involvement with the attack on this station three years ago?"

Elisa froze. If she had been a gargoyle her eyes would have flashed brightly, yet Maria Chavez was still able to pick up in it as clear as day.

"Very well, Detective. I'll be honest with you. I've told you what I expect of my officers, but on some level I also believe that there needs to be a sort of personal relationship, a kind of friendship."

Elisa continued to remain silent as her captain spoke, a small sense of guilt twinge in her chest.

"I've considered us good friends for a long time. I was only a little younger than you when I first server with your father when he was still on the force, and I've known you and your siblings since you were kids."

Chavez took a small breath as she saw Elisa's tense posture.

"This isn't an accusation, Elisa; I'm trying to say you can be honest with me."

Elisa's tenseness only relaxed half an iota as she asked, "What about me do you think has changed? I've dedicated my life to the force and protecting the people out there who can't protect themselves."

'I never doubted that," Chavez continued patiently, "It has just seemed as though you've carried a heavy weight on your shoulders for the last five or six years, which I believe started on that night of the explosion from the Eerie Building Xanatos claimed was from a faulty generator."

Elisa continued to remain tensely silent. Chavez then uncrossed her hands and placed them on her lap. Clearly Elisa needed a little more persuading, so Chavez continued, "There were then your many visits to the Eerie Building prior to your mysterious 'accidental' shooting in your own apartment. You clearly had already a strong enmity towards Xanatos, more so after your brother disappeared. Then there're rumors flying around the station about your constant visits to the old janitor's closet leading to the old clock tower before it was destroyed. Suddenly you go missing for months on end; I think it was the same night that strange man in the old medieval armor showed up. Despite my personal feelings of you going AWOL, it was lucky you could return to duty as a new gang war was breaking out. Of course the biggest clues may have been the small ones. All of the insight 'hunches' you got; the many holes in the reports I read; or even your reactions to gargoyle sighting that would pass through the station. However, many but not all of my suspicions were confirmed with the events surrounding the attack on the station's clock tower and then at the condemned St. Damien's. From there things just got weirder; once more there 're visits to the Eerie Building, rumors that you've begun dating a mystery man whom no one has met or hasn't even come to the station, and several other thing that I suppose don't need to mentioned. But, despite it all you've always been the most dedicated and resourceful police detective I've had the honor of serving with."

Elisa only looked away, her posture still tense but her guard only dropped a degree or two. Chavez had her cornered, perhaps more so than when Matt first confronted her about the clan. Her partner hardly knew anything about the gargoyles at first, but her captain was now revealing that she may have known far longer than even Elisa had known and could have at any time before now have had her exposed to Internal Affairs, or worse, kicked off of the force.

"What do you expect me to say, Captain?" she asked with quiet tensity.

"Only the truth, Detective," Chavez answered ever patiently.

There was another long minute of tense silence as Elisa stared off at a far wall, wondering how she can say anything. Finally all she really could begin to say was, "The things I know. The things I've seen. The places I've been. It's all more than enough to have me wrapped in a straightjacket and put behind padded walls in the loony bin for the rest of my life. Yet I know it all to be true, because I've seen and experienced it."

Chavez waited for Elisa to continue, but when she did not Chavez offered her what may be a fairly easy choice.

"How well do you know them?"

"Intimately," Elisa said with quiet hesitation.

Chavez's eyes widened momentarily, but somehow told herself that it was not so surprising. She smiled a bit as she said, "Well, if you do know them so well, when you can, tell them I'd like to meet them. Soon. But on their terms, of course."

Elisa's tension seemed to evaporate, but she kept much of her guard up at her well meaning captain.

She gave a small smile as she asked, "Why do this now, Captain? It you've know for so long, why wasn't I reprimanded before?"

Maria Chavez steadily got to her feet as she said, "Perhaps, because on some level I know that they've done some good out there."

Last small smiles were exchanged between the two police women, Chavez gave a small nod to Elisa to say she was dismissed.

As the raven haired second class police detective closed the office door behind her, Chavez hoped in the back of her mind that she was doing the right thing.

****Castle Wyvern, the clan's wing

Brooklyn watched Lex as the webbed winged gargoyle stared intently at his computer screen. After returning from an early evening patrol with Angela and Broadway, Lex had gone straight to the computer as though it drew him like a magnet. Brooklyn was unsure as to what Lex expected to find on that ridiculous machine, but mostly it may have been just been as good as any excuse to distract his mind from his many frustrating problems.

Ever since his mysterious shooting some time ago, Lex had become very adamant and withdrawn from his now older rusty colored brother. In his delirium, Brooklyn had mumbled something about the future involving Broadway's daughter. Since then, Brooklyn had done all he could to try to assure Lex that there were things about the future that he should not and could not reveal to the olive green techno wiz or the rest of the clan. A gut feeling told Brooklyn that Lex may be once again brooding about it along with his many other problems.

It was far past time to resolve this issue once and for all.

Walking up to Lex and drawing up a nearby chair, the clan second simply asked, "You wanna talk about it?"

"No. Leave me alone," he said harshly.

"Lex," Brooklyn was stern yet gentle.

Lexington just harrumphed.

Clearly it was going to take a lot more persuasion.

"Lex, please," Brooklyn tried not to beg, "Ever since we found out this Darius creep might be in town, you've been acting all bleak like a bee flew up your ass."

Although Lex did not react to what Brooklyn had said, for a moment the former Timedancer was glad his mate and children were not around to hear it. A lecture from Sata would be never ending.

"Lex, you've been down this road before and I don't like where it's taking you now. You seemed so much happier after the council. Is that it? This weird sorcerer is reminding you of what that bitch said, about banning the clan from future meetings? Or it is something else?"

Lex continued to stare at his computer screen as he gave a deep sigh. Why couldn't Brooklyn just leave him alone? Clearly there was no point in talking about what he already knew was going to happen.

Nobody could truly understand.

Brooklyn decided to take another approach.

"So…have you heard from any of the females you met? What were their names?" Brooklyn scratched his head in a mock curious way behind Lex, "Oh, Aurora of Antarctica and that cute brown female from the old country."

"The Caledonian Forest clan," Lex said, before his brain registered that he had just spoken.

"What was her name again? I don't remember you telling me."

Lex finally turned away from the computer to face his brother, a scowl on his round face, and his arms wee crossed, his webbed wings cocooning his torso.

"Kirstie," he said with a prideful tone that he was finally able to remember her name, "And no, I haven't heard from either of them since the meeting. And I don't think I ever will."

"Why do you say that?" Brooklyn asked concerned.

Long moments passed as Lex only took a deep heavy sigh before finally saying, "I left them both messages recently, on the Antarctic clan's computer on their plane and through one of our friends in the London clan. But since they're both so new to the idea of technology it'll be some time before I hear from either of them. Besides, Kirstie still has several available males from the London clan to choose from. I wouldn't be surprised if she's already chosen a mate by now."

Brooklyn could only be silent for a moment as he thought about what to say next.

"Don't worry, Lex, you'll find someone. So, have you heard from Liz lately?"

Lex gave an annoyed scowl at Brooklyn as he said, "we have an online chat last week and she said she's call me tonight or tomorrow. And don't you start that again."

"What?" Brooklyn gave a mock shrug as he did an I-don't-know-what –you-mean gesture. Lexington only continued to scowl as his rusty brother just burst out laughing. As much as Lex tried to resist, the ends of his lips at least curled a bit into the beginning of a smile.

Brooklyn calmed down soon enough, hoping he had brought Lex's defenses down just enough.

"Talk to me, Lex, what's really bothering you?"

Lex looked away from his rookery brother, who just waited.

"I think you already know," he said in a quiet icy tone.

"Lex, we've had this discussion before," Brooklyn said patiently.

"I know," he said harshly, "But it still doesn't change all the lies and half truths about what you 'may or may not' know."

Brooklyn could only give a deep sigh. The smallest of the disbanded Trio seemed to have the hardest problems that just kept piling on top of each other with no way out of them. No matter how much Lex wanted to be stubborn about it, it would not keep Brooklyn from helping the small gargoyle.

"Lex…," the armored gargoyle began.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Lex snapped, "I know, I know, 'time can't be changed'; it's all inevitable,' blah, blah, blah."

Brooklyn stared hard at Lexington; feeling tempted to yell at him, but kept himself composed.

"That's not what I was going to say," Brooklyn said patiently with a hint of a hard edge in his voice, "whatever I may have mumbled about the future, Broadway has accepted that he doesn't want to know. Why can't you?"

"Because you just stood by and let bad things happen to good people," Lex practically hissed, "I can't do that."

"Then don't," Brooklyn simply said. Lex looked at him a little confused.

"And neither have I, nor will I ever again."

Lex looked as though he wanted to yet at Brooklyn but he continued before any shouts were exchanged, "Lex, I wish I could help you better understand why I never told you or the clan about what the future may hold."

"Then why don't you? Obviously you something bad is going to happen."

"Something bad always happens, but so does something good. Really good."

Lex clearly did not believe what Brooklyn was saying as he just stared at him hard with crossed arms.

"I've thought really hard about how I could tell you this. Your and brother and my friend, and I never meant to hurt you."

Lex just listened.

"The best way I can put it to you is that some of what I know is a little like being second in command. I have many great responsibilities that require me to consider the best needs of the clan. But it doesn't give me the right to decide how everyone should live their lives from night to night. Remember how I acted when Angela first came?"

Gave a small nod, there were embarrassing moments from that time that he still tried to forget about.

"All I'm trying to say is I don't want you put your life on hold because of bad past experiences or bad things that my happen to you in the future. You always have the right to make your own choices, and Timedancer or not or second of the clan or not, I have no right to deprive you of that choice. So you may choose to hate me or not. You may even choose to take a mate or not. But more as your brother than your second, I won't let you go down a path that destroys yourself until there's nothing left. I won't let you give up, because I've seen where that path leads."

Lex did not move, only took his eyes off of Brooklyn momentarily as though deep in though. Another eternity seemed to stretch between them before Lex finally said, "I just want the lying to stop. I just want thing to go back to the way they were."

"Sometimes I do, too, but they can't. I could at least try to be a little more honest with you, Lex, if you'll let me. But there'll still be limits. Remember out talk about paradoxes?"

Lex gave a small nod, a feeling of hurt twisting his insides.

He finally asked, "If you're really willingly to be more truthful with me, then answer my next questions with just yes or no. No long statements or lectures, just one word and be truthful. Understand?"

Lex was very stern and Brooklyn could see he was playing hardball. So he simply answered, "Yes."

Somehow it was not so surprising that Lex's first question was, "do you remember more than you claim to?"

"Yes."

A long minute would pass between each question.

"I'll take what you said earlier into consideration. If I start asking too many questions about the future will you still be honest with me, but also let me know it I'm going too far?"

"Yes."

"Despite the 'limits' can you at least help me make the right decisions if I ask for it?"

"Yes."

"Will you promise to try to spend more time with me and Broadway, like we used to?"

"Yes."

The last question Lex took the longest to consider carefully before he finally said, "If something bad is going to happen to the clan, will you help me prepare for it?"

Brooklyn hesitated for a long minute before a smile graced his beak. It will take some time to rebuild his friendship with Lex, but this may be a first small step that he was willing to begin trusting again.

Brooklyn finally answered, "Yes."

Another long minute passed before asking what Lex had in mind, but before he could answer someone stomped hurriedly into the room and boomed, "Brothers, you must come for a clan meeting immediately, she's been hurt."

Othello had kept a warrior's composer, even though he felt very agitated.

"Who?" the old rookery brothers asked simultaneously, thinking the worst about the clan females.

"Tamora," the blue-grey gargoyle said. As he lead them to a larger meeting room in another part of their wing he began to explain, "My rookery brother, she, and I were investigating a part of the city that was rumored to have a hidden supply of deadly weapons. Our human sister informed us that two warring factions were close to seizing the weapons for their own sides. There was a battle, and indeed a hard struggle for us all. However near the end, one of them chose to be a coward and attempted the worst form of conduct on the battlefield. One we believed to be incapacitated as the rest of his fellow bandits seized one the fire weapons and fired it at Goliath while his back was turned. Tamora saw this too late, but was still able to move him out of the way just as the fire hit her in the back. The manservant, Owen, had taken her to the infirmary. Her wounds looked very severe. She is a strong warrior; she may survive the night, though I'm unsure if she will ever be able to glide again."

The three clan mates all looked at each other with great pain on their faces. Unless one was a great elder whose wings had grown weak with age and could no longer support a gargoyle, to be denied the skies was among nearly every gargoyle's worst fear.

They made their way to the meeting area to wait for the others, as well as their leader.

In another part of the castle, Goliath had made his way to Xanatos' office to speak with him about both current and personal matters. He had not even knocked twice when a familiar faint *click* told him that the door was opened. He had a very serious expression on his handsom craggy features as he saw Xanatos speaking to someone on his phone. The only indication that the billionaire acknowledge the clan leader's presence was his pointer finger held up for a moment as he nearly yelled,

"I don't care how long it takes, I just checked those numbers myself and something's seriously flawed with them…Dammit, get it through your thick skull that there are some exceptions to the rules. I'm the prime shareholder of this company, if you have a problem take it up with me at your earliest convenience…See that you do!"

He then slammed his phone down really hard as he pinched the bridge of his nose and his eye squeezed shut. After several long moments, Xanatos finally took notice of Goliath and said,

"I'm sorry you had to see that, Goliath, I thought I'd be done with that damn call before you got here."

He breathed heavily before finally recomposing himself to his infamous cool yet arrogant posture.

"So what can I do for you?" he asked too casually.

Goliath gave a small grunt as he said, "I assume you've already heard about Tamora."

"Yes, and I believe the words 'unfortunate tragedy' would be an understatement. Try not to worry, Goliath, although I had the unfortunate…obligation to 'dismiss' Dr. Grey, we're still lucky to have Dr. Goldblum and his team from the Labyrinth. Seeing as how Dr. Grey didn't turn out as whom I expect, I've already begun searching a proper replacement for you clan's physician, only this time I won't hire anyone without your final approval first, of course."

"That is appreciated, Xanatos," Goliath said a little suspiciously, "It's very unfortunate when things are not what they appear to be what we expect. However, I came here to speak with you about our…agreement."

Xanatos looked at the lavender giant with a serious stare which was returned with equality but backed by a kind of quiet strength.

"What's made you so skeptical about it now, Goliath?"

"Although I have accepted," he began with a serious tone but was edged with a hint of suspicion, "That our feud has ended, and much has been done to ensure the welfare of my clan, for some time now I've begun to wonder what benefits you from it all."

"I thought we'd settled this, Goliath," Xanatos said a bit insulted, but ever keeping a cool head.

"Indeed. However recent events have come to pass that made me doubt, even question, your true intentions."

"Such as?"

"Some of my strongest suspicions surround the battle your mysterious cargo you called Project Nightshade, I will need to know more about what it is. Also your funding of the first council meeting, although appreciated, has made some delegates apprehensive and I can't help but wonder is some of their fear have a touch of legitimacy. But now it is also your gift to me and my mate, the 'honeymoon' to your privately owned island."

Xanatos could only raise an eyebrow at Goliath's accusations. Although the feud was indeed over, there was always the hints of grudging tolerance behind any attempts of friendship. But it was better than the alternative.

"If you wish to remind me of what it really means, I haven't forgotten. We both know the code word, and when the time is right, one of us will be sure to use it."

There was a thick silent tension between the two former adversaries, as they looked deep into each other's eyes, neither of them willing to back down or show weakness. However k a strong understanding had past between them.

The conversation would have continued when there was a hard knock at the door. The next moment Elisa burst through the door as though she were battering ram. Looking at the two males in the office she seemed agitated as she eyed them closely.

"I heard what happened to Tamora," she said so quickly as though it was a single breath she had been holding for a long time, "I came as quickly as I could, Matt should be here soon enough."

The two males looked back at each other to only give small nods as Goliath finally left with Elisa.

"What was that about?" she asked her life mate when they were a good distance from Xanatos' office.

"A private matter between Xanatos and myself," was all Goliath said in a tone of finality.

So they walked together in silence down the corridor, simply enjoying each other's company.

Shortly before they came to the clan's wing of the castle, Elisa stopped Goliath.

"Hold on," she said hesitantly, "There's a couple of things I need to tell you."

"Is it something the whole clan needs to know?" he rumbled.

"One of them is, the other I just want kept between us, okay? It's really embarrassing."

Goliath momentarily clocked an eyeridge as his life mate slowly told him about Captain Chavez and her wanting to meet the clan. This greatly intrigued the clan leader, for it another strong ally for the clan.

"This is indeed welcoming news, my love. The entire clan must know of it, and then we will decide how to proceed in welcoming Captain Chavez. Now the other situation you wish to speak to me about."

Elisa was a bit more hesitant because of her embarrassment but more for her fear of Goliath's reaction. When she finally finished telling him about Randy, what he did next took her totally by surprise. He threw his head back as he released a hearty booming laugh that filled the stone walls of the castle. Elisa was unsure of whether to feel relieved or insulted.

"Apologies, my Elisa…ha-ha…" he grabbed his massive chest as he tried to catch his breath from laughing so hard, "But I cannot help but remember what you must be going through."

His life mate looked up at him puzzled as well as curiously until he finally calmed down enough from his laughter.

"In my adolescent days when the old clan was still whole, I was among the most sought after males of my rookery generation, and may have become even more so when I first ascended to second in command. It continued even when I began courting my fiery haired sister and I still received unwanted attention from the unmated females when we first became mates. It finally ceased one day, but I can see how it is inconvenient and discomforting for you."

"So you've not angry?" Elisa chuckled a little, relieved from any possible tension.

"Hardly at all. However, if this adolescent male 'makes a pass' at my wife, I will break him in two very easily," he rumbled with a semi-mock growl in his voice.

"Thanks, Big Guy, but that won't be necessary. I'm just really flattered that you have so much faith in me, even if you could be the jealous type," she said teasingly as she wrapped her arms around his muscular neck.

"I ever will, my beautiful Elisa. Besides, what's not to love?"

Their different laughs mixed well as they embraced for a deep passionate kiss.

****The next day, Michelangelo's Ristorante, 6:56pm

The taxi had finally pulled up to the charming restaurant, somewhat inconveniently earlier than expected by Matt Bluestone. He and Sara, who insisted on paying the taxi driver herself, made their way inside the restaurant where Sara's old acquaintance, Giuseppi, showed them to their own private table where they had fist eaten together. Menu were handed them and Matt practically his behind his as he opened it.

As much as he tried to concentrate on deciding what to eat, he kept glancing to his watch every 15 seconds. Finally when it said 6:58 then immediately chanced to 6:59, he told Sara he would be back as soon as he used the little boys' room.

Sara could only stare after him in confusion. He had been acting very strangely when he picked her up for their date, looking around as though he felt he was being watched or followed. Although he had admitted to being a bit of a paranoid, Sara only saw him for the good cop and even better man that he was. If something was going on, he would either tell her or she would figure it out on her own in time.

Outside of the restaurant and in a secluded side, Matt looked around for his 'contact.' He had expected someone to come inside the restaurant in a kind of James Bond style, but he instead decided to go to them and leave Sara out of the danger.

He checked his watch one last time, which promptly ticked to 7:00. He looked rapidly around himself, seeing no one. He momentarily thought that he contact had become sloppy, was about to make his way back into the restaurant when he heard a 'psst.' Matt looked in its direction to see a familiar male silhouette in a more secluded area at the side of the restaurant.

Matt walked up to Martin Hacker who showed Matt his Society lapel from the inside of his jacket and matt did the same in return.

"What do you want, Hacker?" Matt asked bitterly, "In case you haven't noticed I'm on a date."

"I know," the FBI Illuminatus simply said, "This won't take long, the Society has a small favor to ask you, Matt."

"No."

"What do you mean 'no'? You don't even know what it is yet, and besides you can't refuse the Society, Matthew."

"I don't care, every time the Society asks a favor of me it borders on betraying those I care about. I've had enough. Do whatever you want with me, but I won't do it. You can use them to threaten me all you want, but I know they'll find a way fight back. They always do."

"Your loyalty is admirable," Hacker said casually, "But slightly misplaced at the moment. In fact that's the favor, to keep watching over them like you always do, but more closely this time."

"What?" Matt had become very confused.

"They're going to need your help, Matt. Since Nightstone has acquired some new management we've noticed a steady change in the financial areas of some of the city's major conglomerates. We've had to keep our eyes wide open since the clone took over from that loose cannon, the Demon. I can't tell you all the details because I don't know them myself, but I can warn you to keep your eyes open. That clone may be as dangerous as the Demon, if not more so. It's no wonder they hooded up for a short while. Anyway, he already began his first move against Xanatos, and it's sure that the clan will follow soon."

"Why don't you tell Xanatos about this, seeing as how he's the supposed victim, a businessman and a fellow Illuminatus?" Matt said a but snidely.

"By now he no doubt does know or has begun to find out. He's quite a brilliant man, Matthew, don't underestimate him. He'll have out assistance when it's necessary."

"So what're you going to do about Thailog?"

"We already have an agent on the inside watching him. If he makes a move we'll know it. Something's going to happen, Matt, and it disturbs the Society. It disturbs me as a Federal agent."

"Really? That's never stopped you before."

"C'mon, Matt, stop it. Have I ever lead you astray before?"

"Yeah, when you revealed your little secret to me and showed where your real loyalties are. I'll do your little 'favor' but my way, I've had enough of this crap."

Matt was about to walk away when Hacker said, "Do it right, Matthew, and there may be a promotion in it for you, maybe even you old position as leader of the Gargoyles Task Force."

Matt looked back at Hacker with an acidic glare.

"No thank you, Martin. If I'm meant to be leader of the GTF again I'll do it by earning it the right way, not because of great connections in some over inflated fraternity club."

He finally walked away back into the restaurant to be with Sara, Martin Hacker merely watching him go.

You really do live up to your name sometimes, Hacker, Matt thought silently to himself.

At the front door of the restaurant he almost ran straight into Sara.

"Matt, where have you been?" she asked annoyed, "You were gone an awfully long time and I began to think you bailed on our date. What the hell's going on?"

He looked down a bit ashamed for taking so long to handle his 'private meeting' with Hacker. He then smiled mischievously as he wrapped an arm around Sara and said,

"Never. I just ran into an 'old friend' who wanted to ask a favor. But I think it can wait for now. In the meantime I need to get some things off of my chest. For now, let's just enjoy the evening."

Sara smiled up at him as she leaned into his embrace. They then made their way back into the restaurant for a quiet romantic dinner.

****Two nights later

This was a waste of time, he had a task to complete. So why was he even following this strange armored gargoyle? Simply because he, for it indeed appeared to be male, had promised help in finding what he was looking for with strong allies. Still there was something about this strange armored gargoyle, Coldsteel as he called himself, that he did not trust and made his hide crawl.

There were reasons why he had not sought the aid of the local clan, for it was a private matter. However if this armored one kept to his promises of helping him full fill his mission more quickly, then all the better.

This now gargoyle had not been easy to recruit, and on many levels this mysterious scarlet one reminded him to his utter annoyance for too much of his two former brothers. It had taken him nearly twenty minutes to convince him to come to Nightstone and meet with Thailog about forging an alliance, but clearly he had not been so easily fooled. He had not even divulged his own name or his reasons for being in Manhattan. Of course, it would not surprise him too much if the scarlet one came from a clan that did not take to the human practice of naming, though he personally has come to appreciate it benefits.

It was not long before they arrived at Nightstone Unlimited's main building, Thailog's lair, or 'headquarters' as the ebony clone called it.

At the top floor a window opened to allow them easy access into the main office. The bright red gargoyle looked around the spacious office with caution and suspicion, though he kept a blank expression on his face.

It was mostly dark, save for a mostly dimly lit circle of light around a large desk and a large leather chair turned away from them. To one side of the chair was an outlined silhouette of a human female, her features heavily covered in shadow. And in front of the desk stood a tall yellow gargoyle with strange webbed wings and an arrogant posture.

The silver armored gargoyle lead him to the front of the desk near the this yellow one and said as he raised his arm with a metallic whir, "Welcome to Nightstone Unlimited, my friend."

The red gargoyle hardly seemed impressed.

"I was told there would be answers, I will speak only to your leader," the red gargoyle said with some impatience.

"To the point without wasting time," rumbled a deep voice, "A rare quality I like to find in new associates."

The large leather chair slowly turned around to face the others, revealing Thailog.

"I am Thailog, CEO of Nightstone Unlimited. The leader of this company, if you like. Now whom might you be, my friend?"

"I am Typhon of the New Olympus clan," the red gargoyle said with an edge of hardness in his voice.

"Impressive," Thailog said smugly, "No doubt after the father and most terrible of all monsters."

A grunt from the red gargoyle was his only response.

Long moments passed before Thailog finally asked, "So what brings you to Manhattan?"

"That is none of you concern."

"It is if you wish to have my help."

"I do not."

Clearly the New Olympian was going to be stubborn and not easy to manipulate.

"What do you want of me?" he asked harshly, "This is a waste of my time. Answer now or I leave immediately."

Thailog chuckled from deep within his chest.

"Only a temporary alliance so you can better achieve your purpose in this city. I can see that it's hardly to your liking."

"No, and you are obviously not of the local clan."

"No, but I did have a clan once until they abandoned me. Worst off my own mate betrayed me and left me to burn in a fire."

Thailog spread his arms a bit to better show his burns.

"As you can see I've had to endure the after effect with these wounds for nearly three years. An annoying inconvenience. It took my last bits of strength to scrounge together enough resources just to survive and build my company."

Typhon looked over to Darius and said, "And what do you benefit from all this?"

"Darius is a new associate with promising qualities," Thailog smirked, "He knows how I want to use my company for the benefit of all gargoyles."

Typhon's eyes flashed for a moment, a great amount restraint kept him from attacking the thin Yellow Persian.

"No doubt the same Darius who caused all that trouble at the absurdly proposed Gargoyle World Council."

Darius tensed but asked in a civilized tone, "What makes you believe that?"

"Icarus told of it when he returned to New Olympus."

Darius' eyes gained a daggered edge to them.

"Your clan mate mistook my intentions."

If Typhon did not believe what Darius said he did not show it.

"You now know a little bit more about us, what about yourself?" asked Thailog with soured friendliness.

Typhon looked again to the wounded gargoyle.

"Not long after Icarus returned to tell of his attendance to the council he once more has disappeared. Manhattan seemed the most likely place to begin searching for him. First because he has an admiration for the clan's leader, for reasons I don't understand. Then it seems he has taken a fascination for a female from another clan that is said to live in this city. I believe he said her name was Delilah."

Thailog's and Darius' eyes perked up at this bit of information. For one it would mean another opportunity for revenge; for another it meant a better chance at regaining more of what he had previously lost and what was rightfully his.

"I can see that we all have something to gain from each other," Thailog said, a devilish smile graced his craggy face, "Now my friends, shall we get down to business?"

End of Episode 2