All the characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyright Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of Rosebud1773.

Winds of Change: Season Three

Chapter Four

"My office! Now, Maza!" Chavez barked the instant Elisa made an appearance.

"Oh boy..." Elisa sighed as she hurried toward the office. She noted along the way that the damage done the night of the hunter's moon had finally been cleared away. It had taken nearly four years for that work to be finished. The construction crew was still working on the clock tower. She suspected they would be for some time to come. Realistically the whole building should have been condemned and torn down with the shear amount of damage the Canmore family had done to the place.

Chavez merely watched her as she closed the door behind her. "Take a seat."

Elisa made no comment. She simple followed orders. It was all she could do. There was still the question of her job hanging in the balance to consider. Chavez could easily ask for her gun and badge.

"Half the precinct knows you were pregnant, no thanks to Bluestone." Chavez stated flatly.

"I can come up with a cover for that.." Elisa began.

The older woman held up a hand to stop her. "I've already got that covered. There's a boy, a couple of weeks older than your twins..."

"What are you suggesting?" Elisa asked suspiciously, eyes narrowed on the woman before her.

"I'm suggesting you take him in. Pass him off as your son to the rest of the precinct. Raise him with the twins." Chavez stated calmly.

"Captain... Two babies are almost more than we can handle now. How are we supposed to take on a third?" Elisa protested. Then another thought occurred to her and she had to voice it. "Besides, won't the rest of the precinct realize he's not mine when they see him?"

"He has your coloring. They'll never know the difference." Chavez answered sweetly. She had an answer for everything, it seemed.

"You've thought of everything, haven't you?" Elisa asked suspiciously. "How long have you been planning this?"

"I've been chewing on how to cover the twins for a couple of months now, Elisa. This little boy was orphaned a few days ago. Mother died from complications of childbirth. Father was recently killed in action overseas. There are no other living relatives to take him in. He'll end up being raised in the system if no one steps up to claim him." Chavez offered.

Elisa thought it over, weighing her options and realized she really had none. Either she take this child in or she claim her pregnancy had ended in a stillbirth. Since there was no funeral and depressed, grieving mother to go with that particular cover, the rouse would fail before it was even off the ground. This little boy might be the key to keeping her hybrid twins a secured secret, protecting them from discovery.

"Alright, say we take him. How are we supposed to deal with three kids in diapers? The twins are a handful now." Elisa chewed on the idea.

"You have Goliath and the rest of the clan. I'm sure there are plenty of hands ready to help." Chavez said coolly.

Elisa eyed her dangerously for a moment. "Sometimes Goliath acts like he's completely terrified of the twins. If I leave him alone with them, he hands them off to Lex or Brooklyn before taking off on patrol."

Chavez leveled an angry gaze on Elisa. The look on her face said it all. It was clear she meant to have a word with Hudson over that particular revelation. There was no telling how that would go. Finally she asked, "Are you kidding me?"

"Uh-huh. He's here tonight, up in the clock tower." Elisa said tiredly.

"Ok..." Chavez said and abruptly stood. "I think I'm going to have a chat about responsibility with our giant purple friend."

The look that crossed Elisa's face was one of shear horror. She could imagine how that might go. Chavez would snap at him, he would bellow and the entire district would hear his outrage. "I really don't think that's a good idea, Captain."

"Look, he's your mate or husband or whatever gargoyles call it. He should be helping out with those babies. He helped make them. It's only fair he share the responsibility. I thought he was clan leader. Does he think he's above caring for his own children?" Chavez seemed very irate over the whole thing.

"It's not like that, Maria..." Elisa began.

"Hudson told me children are raised by the clan and almost never know who their parents are, but this is different. You're human, Goliath knew that from the start. I can't imagine he didn't know that humans raise our own children. You did tell him, didn't you?" Maria was trying to see all the angles.

"I didn't have to. He saw how human families function long before I ever met him. We just...well...we never expected to have one of our own. Sure, I thought we might adopt a kid later on, but the twins...? They were a shocking surprise. We didn't think we were genetically compatible or we might have been more cautious." Elisa explained.

"Are you telling me you didn't want the twins?" Chavez asked as she lowered herself back into her chair.

"What?! No, of course not. I just didn't think we'd be having them so soon. I'm sure Goliath wasn't ready for fatherhood so fast. Gargoyles have a good ten years after a clutch to prepare. He had hours." Elisa tried to explain.

"As I understand it, he has a grown daughter. Isn't Angela his daughter?" Chavez asked.

"Yeah, but she hatched and grew up on Avalon. He had no idea she even existed. He completely missed her entire childhood. Maria, he'd never been close to a child until Brooklyn came home with his son. With babies, he's completely clueless. He'll play with them, but everything else seems... I don't know...too much, too fast for him?" Elisa was reaching a stress high and she knew it was hormone related.

It was hard to express her concerns regarding Goliath and their children. Puck had made matters worse by explaining how her mate had apparently abandoned thirty-six eggs to the care of the princess and the Magus. Instead of attempting to care for and raise them, he had opted to take a one thousand year stone nap. The idea just rubbed her the wrong way. Of course she understood why he had done it. His entire world was turned to ruins in just one night. He had believed he was the only living gargoyle left on the planet. That would be enough for anyone to consider suicide. In his mind, the curse the Magus conjured must have seemed like a death sentence. Elisa also understood that, without help, it would have been impossible to care for thirty-six babies no matter how self-sufficient they might be at birth. One person could not have done it alone. Proud as he was, Goliath would not have left Castle Wyvern with the princess.

"He should still be helping out with those kids. He's never going to get used to the idea of raising them if he doesn't jump in." Chavez interrupted her thoughts after a moment of consideration. Pushing herself up to her feet once more, she muttered half under her breath as she headed for the door. "I still think I'll have that word with him. If it doesn't work, I'll talk to Hudson."

Elisa jumped to her feet with a gasp as the woman stepped out of the office. This was not good. Goliath, more mellow and secure with their 'marriage', was still very capable of being unreasonable. She could just about hear him bellowing loud enough for all of Manhattan to hear when Maria confronted him. The woman would do it anyway, but there had to be a way to keep her mate calm.

/

Goliath was leaning on the bent railing just outside the new clock face when the two women stepped out behind him. He turned curiously and noticed the expressions on their faces. Elisa was in a near panic and Chavez had a sour, somewhat determined look. Dread clenched his gut when he realized he was about to receive some sort of verbal battering. He sighed in resignation and crossed his arms. This was not going to be pleasant.

"Why are you here? Why aren't you with the twins?" Chavez barked, her tone angry.

"They are safe and cared for. The clan will protect them while we are away." Goliath answered smoothly.

"The clan aren't their father." Chavez' tone was crisp.

"Children are raised by the clan. It is the gargoyle way." Goliath answered almost automatically.

"I understand that, but Elisa is human. That makes the twins half human. Human babies require bonding and security from both parents." the woman snapped while Elisa hung back with a look of pure horror on her face.

Goliath frowned at the police captain. His temper was nearly bubbling over. He wanted to remind her that Elisa was much more than human. She had seen it the night of the commitment ceremony. All of their friends and family had. That had to mean something with the twins and their ability to adapt. In his building anger, he rumbled. "Tread carefully, Captain."

"Or what? You'll bite my head off? Bellow at the top of your lungs? Fly away into the night to stew on your anger? Sorry, not buying that wagon. Try again." Chavez was the first to raise her voice.

"You risk much..." Goliath said darkly.

"Yeah, and you need anger management classes. I swear, if I could find a therapist who wouldn't run the other way at the sight of a gargoyle, I'd send him up here to meet you." Chavez glared at him and poked her finger into his chest a couple of times to make her point. "Go. Home. Take care of your children. Elisa is safe enough here."

Goliath glared at Chavez. His entire field of vision had shrunk down to that one irritating female. What does Hudson see in her? She is like salt in a wound. "This clock tower proves otherwise," he growled and pointed at the shattered wall. "or have you forgotten the Hunter and the destruction he and his family rained down on this building? What of the lives lost that night? Elisa could have been one of them. She very nearly was."

It was the captain's turn to glare in silence as the gargoyle pointed out the facts. She did not like it, but she had to admit he made a good point. If he and the rest of the clan had not shown up at the cathedral, the Canmores might have gotten away. Then again, if Elisa had not shown up, Goliath might have torn one or all of them apart with his bare hands.

"I will remain here. I trust my clan to care for the hatchlings this night." Goliath broke the silence that seemed to stretch out into long minutes. It was clear from his expression and body language this was his final word on the matter.

"Fine. Stay. You'll need to be here to take Elisa home later anyway." Chavez fumed and turned toward the open door. A thought seemed to strike her and she glanced back at him for a moment. "The two of you will be taking a human baby home with you tomorrow night."

"What?!" Goliath bellowed, but the woman ignored him and headed back inside.

"He's our cover, Goliath. We raise him with the twins. The rest of the world thinks he's the baby I gave birth to. The twins stay safe." Elisa quickly soothed. She would have liked to wait for the right moment to tell him, but her boss had taken that out of her hands.

Goliath was seething. He turned away from his mate to stare out at the city. Perhaps Chavez was right. Managing his temper might well avoid trouble in the future. He admitted, but only to himself, that sometimes his temper got the better of him. Sometimes it forced him to act on impulse. He knew far too well that anger driven impulses were bound to lead to more trouble. A deep sigh of irritation rolled from his lungs at that. He would clamp down on his anger more in the future. His children did not need to grow up believing their father's rash behavior was acceptable. Or, and the very thought chilled him to the core, believing me to be some sort of monster.

"Very well, my Elisa. We shall take this boy in, if that is what you wish." his voice, when it finally came, was much softer and calmer than he had thought it would be.

"You're sure? I mean, he'll be a handful with the twins..." Elisa commented with a note of disbelief in her voice.

"I am certain this child is the answer we are seeking. As you say, he will provide the twins a cover." Goliath confirmed quietly.

/

Castaway stepped around the corner of the building toward the waiting van. It was time to train some of his fledglings, those who were not as committed to the cause as he would like. As he rounded the corner he saw the very young man who had initially crossed his mind; Vinnie. Before the man could slip away into the night, he grabbed him by the arm.

"Vinnie, was it?" he asked smoothly.

Vinnie gulped and nodded, "Yeah... Look, I'm not sure all this hammer business is really necessary, you know. I mean, I was just offered a job in Japan. Couple of weeks and I'll be outa here."

"Put the hood on, Vinnie. It's the only way." Castaway stated in a menacing tone as he guided the younger man toward the back of the van.

"With all due respect..." Vinnie began and was cut off before he could utter another syllable.

"You hunted down a gargoyle. We need more people like that. People who will go to any lengths to cull the gargoyle menance." Castaway said as he pushed the 'hood' toward Vinnie's chest. The thing was more like a hooded helmet as it dug into the other's breastbone.

"Yeah, about that, Mr. Castaway... Sure, I hunted one down, but, um...when I caught up to him... Well, I just hit him with a cream pie." Vinnie stammered looking for a way out.

"Even still, you took the initiative and hunted the beast down. Imagine if you had had a Quarrymen's hammer in your hands that night. You might have liberated the world of one nighttime threat."

The enthusiasm of a true zealot, that was what Vinnie realized he was hearing in the man's tone. He knew in that instant that there was no way out. Following this madman was his only hope. Maybe he could convince him that smashing the gargoyles was not the way to tackle this problem. If nothing else, he thought he might be able to stop him from killing one of them tonight, at least.

His mind made up, Vinnie settled the odd hooded helmet onto his head. Castaway clapped him on the shoulder as he guided him into the van with a few others. There seemed to be a smile hidden behind the mask he wore as he spoke. "Good man."

The ride was relatively short as they made their way to an airfield. A helicopter sat waiting, it's engine running hot and ready. Vinnie gulped in anxiety. He had not been in the air since the air-fortress had come crashing down. This night just gets better and better. What's worse, he wondered, being in the air again or maybe facing down an enraged gargoyle?

/

Elisa had gone back to her old apartment one final time. She meant to retrieve any family photos left behind. Her true goal was to recover Cagney's urn, if it was intact. She had not been inside the apartment since that fateful night Demona had carried her away. As she turned the key and pushed the door open, she realized no one else had either. The door leading to the balcony was boarded up, but the wreckage of her furniture remained. Memory flooded her as she scanned the room. Goliath lying in a heap of broken wood, his left wing crumpled over him. Demona explaining that he would never glide again. Accusing her of turning the gargoyle against his own kind and ultimately being the cause of his greatest loss. It had been a night of hell, followed by a good many months more. It was a chapter of her life she had pushed aside for quite some time. Her coping mechanism for those months of torment had been to avoid facing it at all. She was more than ready to close the door on it all. That meant letting the apartment go. She no longer had need of it. Beyond a few sentimental items she should have retrieved long ago, there was nothing left there for her.

Glancing out the unbroken window adjoined to the door, Elisa gazed loving at Goliath's stone form. He had opted to leave the amulet at the castle claiming he needed the rejuvenating affects of stone sleep today. She knew the truth that he refused to speak. The apartment was a bitter reminder of his own perceived failure. No matter how she soothed him, he still counted two failures to protect her; the night she had fallen off the dam into the Hudson river and the night Demona had carried her off. Neither of those were failures in Elisa's eyes. They were simply circumstances beyond his ability to navigate. In her eyes, he had never once failed her when she truly needed him. That was why she trusted him, why she loved him and why she had married him. She knew, when he finally got his head on right in regards to their new family, he would not fail her or them. It required a bit more of an adjustment period for him, however. In acknowledging his children, he was flying in the face of gargoyle custom. That was something even Chavez did not yet understand. She might be betrothed to a gargoyle, but that did not mean she understood everything about them. Even I don't know everything about them, Elisa admitted to herself.

Elisa packed through the day. Some of the things she packed were bound for Good Will. A couple of boxes would go to Derek and Maggie. A few boxes were headed to her parents and the last box... That last box should have gone to Beth. Beth had begged her for a couple of years to let her have that one pair of boots along with Grandma's Christmas ornaments. Now it was too late. Beth was gone.

Sighing, Elisa taped the lid down and scribbled Good Will on the side of the box. She wiped at her eyes and grunted in frustration. Her voice was little more than a choked whisper, "It's not fair. She was just a kid..."

Glancing up toward the window and the early evening sky, she realized sunset was maybe an hour away. Goliath would be awake soon and she would bury herself in the security that his solid form offered. For now, she meant to take a shower and change. Digging through all the nooks and crannies of the apartment was dirty work. She meant to be ready to leave as soon as he awoke. Xanatos had already arranged for someone to come pick up the boxes and deliver them to their destinations.

/

"We found one!" called a hooded woman hanging halfway out of the helicopter.

Vinnie glared at her. They had been in the air a good part of last night, only setting down for a short time before sunrise. As soon as the sun was up, they were back in the air. He had lost count of exactly how many statues had been found and shattered across lower Manhattan. To his great relief Castaway had stomped and cursed each time one crumbled into so much rubble. Those were merely statues. The man claimed that if they had been real, some pieces would have melted away into something resembling sand. Not all, but some. He said it had something to do with their alien nature. It did not matter to him, he was just glad they had yet to find a real gargoyle in stone sleep. At least until now.

As his eyes shot toward the target, his mouth went dry with dread. He knew that colossal form. Flesh or stone, he would know him anywhere. That was the big one he had seen on the air-fortress with the crazy redheaded female. He was the one Vinnie had launched a pie at. Goliath, he thought the others had called him.

"It's probably just another statue..." Vinnie grumbled, hoping it would deter them from the task they had chosen.

"Better smash it and be sure." someone else snapped behind him.

Vinnie tried a couple of delaying tactics as they closed in on the balcony. None seemed to work. The ladder was dropped and the two goons descended.

/

The sun was sinking toward the horizon when she stepped out of the bathroom in a loose blue dress. She did not worry about the twins, they were being spoiled as she packed out the apartment. Her parents had volunteered to look after them until she and Goliath returned. She knew her mother with babies. Nothing made the woman happier.

"Man, that helicopter is annoying..." she muttered and glanced toward the window. Her heart nearly stopped at the sight of the hooded man climbing down the ladder toward Goliath. "No, oh god, no..."

Nearly tripping over a box, she slammed into the window frame and forced it open. Squeezing out onto the balcony, she ran at the man who had just charged some sort of electrified sledgehammer.

"Nighty-night..." the guy in the mask snarled as he raised the hammer.

As she rammed into him, he dropped the hammer and it clattered bare inches from Goliath's stone toes. Fighting him wildly, she threw a punch and he caught her fist in his palm. The man squeezed and snarled in her face through his mask, "No way you're fighting this hard if stone-face weren't the real thing."

A wordless snarled passed her lips as she struggled to break free of his grip.

"Makes smashin' him all the sweeter."

With another snarl, Elisa kicked his legs out from under him. He scrambled to his feet with a snarl of his own, "Monster loving wh-"

"Shut up!" she snapped and drilled him in the face with her fist. Stooping with her hands on her knees for a moment, she grunted in an effort to catch her breath. Her eyes found the hammer lying far too close to her mate's feet and she reached for it.

"I wouldn't touch that. Only Quarrymen are licensed to pile-drive! Now back up!" came a woman's voice from above.

Elisa looked up and froze. Another hooded figure was descending the ladder and she had a gun trained on her. The sounds of movement behind her told her the other hooded thug was coming around. He groaned softly as he got to his feet.

"Get up and finish what you started!" the woman snapped, her aim never wavering.

Elisa glanced toward the horizon. Just a few more seconds. Please. Only a few seconds and Goliath will wake up. In answer to her silent plea, she heard the first cracks sizzling across the surface of Goliath's stone form. The guy climbing to his feet uttered a quiet 'uh oh' mere seconds before Goliath burst free of his stone skin with a roar.

Heart pounding, Elisa all but screamed at him, "Goliath, look out!"

Goliath was fully alert at her shout and narrowly avoided a hit from the electrified sledgehammer as the first thug swung it. The second thug, the woman, yelled at her colleague to get out of the way. Goliath was faster, slamming the pair bodily into each other. They fell in a tangle of limbs with soft moans.

Elisa and Goliath came together for an instant. Both asking in unison, "Are you alright?"

It was a brief moment that did not last. Gunfire ran out and bullets peppered the wall behind them. Goliath hastily grabbed Elisa around the waist and dove off the side of the building. They had not gone far before the helicopter gave chase. A hail of gunfire followed them and Goliath dodged it as best he could. He meant to shield Elisa with his own body if he must.

The lavender behemoth knew a moment of blinding pain when a bullet tore through his left wing. The membrane shredded into tatters against the current of wind as the bullet passed through it. Another struck home and he heard the distinctive sound of metal on bone before he lost his hold on the wind. His world was pain, brilliant, blinding agony as he tried to maneuver himself to protect his mate even in the fall. Failure was not an option in this. He would gladly sacrifice himself if he could ensure that his mate survived this fall.

/

Terror raged through her as they fell. She tried to control her cry of fear. It only fueled Goliath's desire to protect her. He twisted in the air trying to roll so that he took the full force of the impact that was coming. All the while she was trying to grasp that elusive spark of magic she had wielded so easily the night of their commitment ceremony. It danced away and she grew more frantic. She watched in horror as his wing shuttered and crumpled in on itself in spasm. The very wing Demona had all but destroyed that night.

A moment came when he was unable to maintain control of the wing and they flipped toward a rooftop. She gasped when he rolled them, his back facing down. The wind took the word before it reached his ears, "No..."

The impact was hard. They skidded across several feet of gravel before Goliath's shoulders and upper back slammed into the small dormer that housed the exit to the roof. Cracks spider-webbed across the small building the instant they came to rest against it.

Goliath took a pained breath after a dozen long and thunderous heartbeats. Elisa let hers out. He was alive. She had feared this was his end. Wasting no time, she carefully disentangled herself from him and stood. Hissing in pain when she stepped on a sharp stone, she realized one shoe was missing. That was the least of her concerns, she realized as she assessed her mate's condition.

/

By the dragon, will we ever be safe from those who would hunt us down and see us all slain? Dazed though he was, Goliath's mind still spun that question out to the cosmos. At every turn, whenever they had come to a place of seeming stability, it was ripped away. He was tired of the fight. He wanted peace, peace for his clan, his mate, himself, but most of all he wanted peace for his children. The dragon knew he had tried time and again to turn humanity's views of his kind. He had tried to sway their hatred with knowledge and understanding. In the end, he wondered if perhaps Demona had the right of it after all. Not her genocidal ideals, of course, but there was some merit to her distrust of nearly all of humanity.

Shaking his head, he forced himself to full alertness and pushed himself up onto his knees. No, Demona's hatred of humanity was not the path he wished to take his clan down. That path lead only to death and destruction for both races. His clan had a greater purpose. Why else would the dragon goddess herself choose him to become her father? Thanks to Puck, he knew something of the prophecies now. He knew that in the last fifteen hundred years he was the only gargoyle to align himself so closely with a human. In all of gargoyle and human history combined, he was the only gargoyle to have bonded himself to a human and lived to tell of it.

And now there were children, the dragon goddess herself reborn within one of them. Of course his clan was meant to change the world, but perhaps that was not his task. His task this night was to keep his mate safe from those who would slaughter them both out of fear. He would not fail in that task. It was his duty, his honor that hung on the line. Twice he had failed her. There would be no third time. He would die first.

The sound of tearing fabric grabbed his wavering attention for an instant just before he felt Elisa's gentle hands wrapping the injured struts of his left wing. He hissed in pain as she tied it off and regretted the involuntary reaction as soon as it had spilled from his lips. Rarely did he ever allow her to see how much pain most injuries caused him. Instead, he would bite down on that pain, feed it into his rage and use it against his foes. Last night, he had come to realize that he had allowed his anger to rule him. That was not the gargoyle way, nor was that the gargoyle he wished to be. He was not a creature of rage. That definition fit Demona best, not him.

Tonight he had derailed his anger before it could consume him. In some ways, he regretted that decision now. It left him open, vulnerable in a way he was not accustomed to in the eyes of his mate. He supposed that it made him seem less a mythical creature and more a mortal being. She would still see him as her guardian, her champion. Perhaps more so knowing that he was not invincible. He knew she would love him no matter what form he was draped in.

"Sorry, best I could do..." Elisa said softly as she came around to stand before him.

"It will do." Goliath murmured as he climbed to his feet and caped his wings. "We need to return to the castle, but...I cannot glide on this wing."

"Right. We need another way..." Elisa began and was interrupted by Goliath pressing her against the cracked wall even as he pressed his own back against it.

The helicopter made a pass of the building, the light searching for any sign of them. As the light was turned toward the building across the street, Goliath scooped her up and dashed for the edge of the roof. Elisa gasped as he leaped out into open air, wings pinned tightly against his shoulders. A heartbeat later they landed with a heavy thud on the next building. They went along like that over several rooftops before those in the helicopter grew wish to the direction of the sound.

"Old stomping grounds..." Elisa muttered as she gazed at the shattered clock tower with its network of scaffolding.

Half a heartbeat later, the helicopter swung around and the spot light landed on them.

"Run, Elisa!" Goliath growled as he thrust them both toward the building's edge. With all his might, Goliath flung them both at the opening below the clock face that had not yet been repaired. Gunfire followed them. He heard the glass face of the clock shatter and rain down to the street below. The artillery they were using must have been armor piercing to do that kind of damage. That glass had been several inches thick. He feared to see what it might do to flesh.

Scrabbling for purchase, he pushed Elisa into the debris strewn room and pulled himself up. For a moment, they had a chance to catch their breath. It did not last. One of the Quarrymen swung into the opening, his hammer charged and ready. Another followed him with a gun.

"If he gets away, we can kiss our paychecks goodbye." the woman said as Goliath hid in the shadows.

"Pucker up..." Elisa snarked from the ragged opening that had once been the clock face. He had not seen her climb up there in his haste to seek the shelter of the shadows.

Before either of them could turn toward her, Goliath charged out after them. He ripped up ruined floor boards and dropped one of them to the floor below. The man moaned, but did not rise again. Somewhere along the way, more of them had come into the clock tower. He dealt with the woman swiftly, but another man he had not seen struck him with the electrified hammer. The charge that coursed through his body ripped a scream from his lungs. The man herded him toward the opening he and Elisa had come in through until he stumbled and fell. It was sheer luck that allowed him to catch hold of a piece of a twisted girder. Pulling himself back up, he screamed again when the hammer struck once more.

"One more time should just about do it, monster." there was a barely concealed laugh in the man's voice.

"No!" Elisa cried out and grabbed for the hammer's handle. The Quarrymen tapped her with it and she went down.

"Hold her while I finish her beast." he said to another man in a slightly different uniform.

"Are you sure about this?"

"Careful, Vinnie. This is war and traitors are dealt with harshly in war."

"I mean, what happens to her when he's...you know..?"

"I don't take prisoners. She chose to abandon humanity for this monster. She'll get exactly what she deserves." the leader snapped.

"This is wrong. I won't let you do this." Vinnie growled as he gently lowered Elisa to the floor. When he stood, he jerked his hood off.

The Quarrymen leader turned and raised his hammer in defense as Vinnie made a grab for it. The two wrestled for several moments before the hammer struck Vinnie. He went down like a sack of potatoes next to Elisa. "Now it's your turn."

Goliath was ready for him. Vinnie had given him precious seconds to recover a fraction of his strength. He rushed the Quarrymen, but the other moved just as quickly. He dove under Goliath's arm and shot out the gap in the wall. The gargoyle glared out that opening almost hoping the man had fallen to his death. Mere seconds later, the helicopter rose to eye level, the Quarrymen leader dangling from the ladder.

"Dream of me, Goliath! Dream of me!" came the shout from the deranged man.

Elisa rose with a moan holding her head shortly after the helicopter disappeared over the Manhattan skyline. It was clear she was going to have a hell of a headache for awhile. Goliath was surprised she was awake so soon. Vinnie was still out cold. He had no intention of leaving the man behind. At the very least, he would make sure he was going to be ok before he and Elisa continued their trek to the castle.

They did not have long to wait for the man to awaken. He did not shy away from either hand that offered to help him to his feet. Instead, he grasped them both and was hauled up quickly. "Hey, you're alive! I mean, I did save your bacon just now..."

"Yes..., you saved us." Goliath allowed him to take credit for their survival, after all, without his distraction, they might not have survived the night.

"So, you gargoyles gotta be more careful in the future. I'm not gonna be around to pull your fat outa the fire after next week. Moving to Japan, new job and all. No more gargoyles to muck things up and need saving." Vinnie laughed as he headed toward the ruined trapdoor that lead down into the precinct. He waved before disappearing below.

"Who exactly was that anyway?" Elisa asked.

"You know, I've never really been sure." Goliath admitted with a smile as he thought back on a couple of encounters with the man.

"Do you think we should tell him there are gargoyles in Japan?" Elisa asked, a spark of mischief in her eyes.

"He'll find out soon enough. Perhaps it's best he doesn't know now." Goliath said with a smile then glanced toward the Eyrie building. "Let's go home."

"More roof hopping? How's the wing?" Elisa asked.

Goliath grumbled then met her eyes honestly, "Not good... The sails need stitching to heal properly at sunrise. I am not sure how badly the struts are damaged..."

"Then we need to move. Sunrise isn't far off and Dr. Sato should look at that before you turn to stone." Elisa said in a matter of fact tone as she headed for the ledge.

"Yes..." Goliath drew the word out as he scooped her up. It would take some time yet to reach the castle above the clouds.

/

So, Chavez is a mouthy one, but we knew that already. Goliath is realizing that he has been allowing his anger to dictate his actions. Good for him. He's also realizing that it may not be his duty to correct the thinking of an entire world. There's also the matter of his reluctance to do more than play with his twins. He's stubborn and still stuck in 'the gargoyle way' frame of mind. I'm sure he'll come around...eventually. [the character himself is driving that tidbit of stubbornness...lol] Oh, and there's the wing thing to deal with...again. Isn't it wonderful. Poor gargoyle barely regained use of that wing last time. The Quarrymen just had to pick on that same wing.

[The human baby mentioned is, in fact, the boy this pair was meant to adopt in Weisman's timeline. I'm not tossing out the whole 'human resistance leader' theme he had set up for the space-spawn era.]

Plenty more to come [if I don't destroy my keyboard, stupid M key barely working...]. Stay tuned.