Chapter 2

"Brooklyn! Angela!" Goliath called.

"What's up Goliath?" Brooklyn asked, entering the room with Angela close behind.

"Stolen One is alive and in New York." Goliath said simply. "We must get to him before any trigger happy humans do." He strode quickly to the roof and leaped off the parapet, Brooklyn and Angela close behind.

"Who's Stolen One?" Angela asked. "Another of our clan?"

"Yeah," Brooklyn said softly, "But we thought he died along with the others."

"We thought the same of Demona. Perhaps she or Xanatos are responsible." Goliath grumbled.

"You mean like Coldstone?"

"Possibly." Goliath said. "In any case, we must find him. Soon."

Stolen One lit on a rooftop, high above the city. He was mystified and bewildered at the new magic that the humans had acquired while he slept.

"How long have I been asleep?" he wondered. "The world has changed so much, it must have been a long time indeed." As he gazed upon this wondrous world, he caught sight of his quarry.

"Ye'll not escape me witch." he growled.

Goliath and the others soon found the site where Stolen One had been spotted. There were news vans and police everywhere. A large crowd had gathered and searchlights lit the sky. Goliath spotted Elisa in the crowd of police. He dropped into a nearby alley, and called to her softly.

Elisa turned, and being careful not to be seen, she crept into the alley. "So who's the new guy?" she asked him. "Only a rookie would have let himself be seen."

"His name is Stolen One. We thought him dead with the rest of our clan but apparently we were mistaken."

"Yeah no kidding. The whole city's looking for this guy."

"I know. That is why we must find him first." Goliath said. "Did anyone see which way he went?"

"Yeah, as a matter of fact, they saw him follow another Gargoyle towards Central Park."

"Demona."

Stolen One landed in the wooded area. He had seen Demona head into the trees.

"Now the hunt ends witch." He strode cautiously into the forest, stalking her. She was here somewhere. He could smell her.

Demona knew he would not stop until she was dead. Therefore, however much it pained her to do so, she would have to kill him first. The thought of his strength filled her with fear, but she was certain that with the right equipment she could finish him.

She reached into a hidden pocket in her skirt and removed her cellular phone, which had miraculously survived the fight in her office.

Stolen One stalked the woods intent on his prey. So much so in fact, that he completely failed to notice the three additional scents that wafted through the air. If he had, two of the scents would have struck him as familiar.

Behind him, a twig snapped, revealing the position of Demona. Stolen One whirled around, annoyed with himself for allowing Demona to sneak up behind him.

"So murderess," he growled, "You've decided not to prolong the agony?"

"Yes." said Demona, pointing her laser cannon at him. "Yours." The blast blew Stolen One into a tree.

He sat where he had landed, painfully looking at the burn on his chest.

"Saints preserve us. What manner of black magic was that? Sure and she's a sorceress indeed." Slowly, still in pain, he rose and faced her. "How long have I slept that mankind has gained such magic? It can't have been long, for you have not aged a day."

Demona was stunned. Her laser had been set on full power! How could he have survived? Shaken as she was, she resolved to show no fear.

"You have slept for a thousand years Stolen One." she smiled.

"Impossible!" Stolen One exclaimed. "Not even Gargoyles can live that long!"

"Mortal Gargoyles cannot. But I am immortal."

There, she thought. That should throw him off balance.

Stolen One's eyes narrowed. "Let's just test that theory." He leaped at her, but another blast from her cannon threw him back once more. This time, Demona held the trigger, letting the laser burn him continuously.

Stolen One gritted his teeth against the pain, but he could feel the laser slowly burning through him. No, he thought. It can't end like this!

"DEMONA!" The familiar voice snapped Stolen One's eyes, which had been clenched shut, back open.

"Goliath?" he asked weakly.

Goliath quickly knocked the gun from Demona's hands, stopping the laser that was killing his friend.

While Goliath fended off Demona, Brooklyn and Angela rushed to Stolen One's side.

Through blurred vision, Stolen One saw his old friend coming towards him.

I am dead. he thought. I am dead and Goliath and my friend have come to welcome me to the after life. Then he saw who Goliath was fighting. "But then how did she die? Have I killed her after all?" Finally he decided he would figure it all out later, and blacked out.

Brooklyn glanced up at the returning Goliath.

"She got away huh?"

"Yes." The leader of the clan wore a dark expression on his face that somehow made Brooklyn glad that he hadn't said more.

"Will he be all right?" Angela asked, cradling the Stolen One in her arms.

Brooklyn felt a stab of jealousy and wished it was he, not Stolen One who she was holding so tenderly.

"It is nothing the sun will not cure." Goliath assured her. "We must bring him to the castle."

Stolen One felt himself being lifted into the air, but it wasn't the sensation of floating, which was what he expected of the afterlife, so much as the feeling of being carried.

Xanatos was waiting for them when they returned. "Well well," he said, "It seems I have another boarder. Friend of yours?"

"Yes." Goliath said. "An old friend."

"Goliath!" a voice called. Goliath saw Broadway, Lexington, Hudson, and Bronx approaching quickly. "We heard what happened." Broadway said. "Is it true?"

"See for yourself." Brooklyn said. He laid Stolen One's comatose body on the floor. The other Gargoyles gathered round his body, astounded and overjoyed to see their friend again. While they were standing there, the sun began to rise.

That night, there was a new roar added to those that Elisa usually heard. She stood, where she always did, waiting for Goliath and the others to awaken. Below her, she saw the new statue shatter, releasing it's sleeping occupant. And she saw the subsequent reunion.

"Saints preserve us!" Stolen One shouted joyfully. "Ye're alive!"

He ran to his friends. He had despaired of ever seeing them again, and now here they all were.

"It is good to see you as well lad." Hudson said smiling. Lexington, Brooklyn, and Broadway came forward as well to greet their friend. Suddenly, a blue blur leaped from behind them, and drove Stolen One to the ground.

Laughing, he tried to fend off Bronx's greeting. "It's good to see you too boy." he said.

"Welcome back Stolen One." Goliath said with a rare smile.

"Goliath," Stolen One said, "Is it true what Demona said? Has it been over a thousand years since we last saw each other?"

"It has indeed. Much has changed in that time, as you have no doubt seen."

"Aye I have indeed."

"One of the most important however, is that we now all have names."

"You do?" Stolen One almost laughed. "What are they?"

One by one, they all introduced themselves. When they were done, the silence was broken by Elisa.

"As long as you're all doing introductions," she said, "Don't forget about us."

"Ah, of course." Goliath said. "This is Elisa Maza, of the New York Police Department, My daughter Angela-"

Stolen One's brows rose at that.

"And David Xanatos."

Stolen One noticed that Goliath growled the last human's name. Evidently, he did not quite trust this, Xanatos.

"And this," Goliath continued, gesturing to Stolen One, "Is-"

"Ireland." Stolen One said quickly. "Call me Ireland." He cast a look at his friends indicating that he wished for them to call him Ireland as well. "This is a new time for me, almost a different world. The majority of the Scottish clan I lived with is dead, my original clan wiped out. The one I had loved, the one who saved me, and gave me my old name, has become a bitter enemy. I wish to leave the last vestiges of the old world behind. Excluding you, my friends of course."

From this day forward, he thought. Stolen One is dead. I am Ireland now. As for Demona, the knowledge that not all my friends are dead has dulled my hatred and rage.

"Now," he said, turning towards the edge of the parapet, "Who wants to show me around this City?"

The End