***
Goliath paced in the courtyard. He was beginning to worry about Brooklyn, Layne, and Bronx. They hadn't checked in tonight, in fact, they hadn't heard anything from them in two nights. He was the one who had sent them, and it would be his fault if anything happened to them.
It was five minutes before he noticed that Lexington and Elisa had been standing several feet away. He stopped pacing to address them.
"Anything?"
Lex shook his head. "No, and I'm starting to worry. The first four nights one of them always called in, but we haven't heard from them in two nights. I tried calling them, but no one's answering."
"I'm sure they're fine," Elisa said. "You know how it's been around here since Layne's transformation. Between Hudson teaching her to be a gargoyle, Puck teaching her magic, and Brooklyn's duties, they've had no time together. I wouldn't be surprised if they were a bit preoccupied." She smiled, though she was saying that to extinguish her own doubts as much as theirs.
They thought this over for a moment, but Goliath remained unconvinced. "When Broadway and Angela return, Hudson, Lexington and I will patrol. Hopefully, we'll hear from them before too long. Is this what the rest of you went through when Elisa and I went to Avalon?"
"Pretty much," Lex replied. "But we eventually heard from you, we'll hear from them too."
Elisa checked her watch. "I go on duty soon, and I have to pick up Matt. You'll call me if you hear anything."
"Of course, Elisa."
"Bye, Elisa," Lex called after her. He turned back to Goliath, "I'll go tell Hudson he's patrolling tonight."
Goliath only nodded and looked up at the stars.
***
Matt was waiting outside his apartment building when Elisa pulled up. He opened the door and got in, catching his coat in the door. He pulled a couple times before reopening the door. Elisa bit her lip to keep from laughing. He finally pulled on his seatbelt and Elisa pulled into traffic.
"So when is your car getting out of the shop?" Elisa asked.
"Tomorrow, so you'll need to give me one more ride home."
"Right, that's what you said yesterday." They went several blocks in silence.
"Any word?" Even Matt was worried.
Elisa sighed. "No, and I don't want to hear your theory, again. I'm trying to find something linking this to Xanatos. After all, he's the one who sent them there, maybe it was a trap."
"Maybe you should relax. Both of them are very capable of taking care of themselves, and Bronx is there too. And I don't think Xanatos is responsible, he has a truce with the clan after all."
Elisa remained silent until they pulled up in front of the precinct. "Well, I still don't trust him."
"Come on, partner. We'll have a cup of coffee, then see what the Captain has for us."
"Wow, Bluestone, you really know how to cheer a girl up."
"Detectives! Can we ask you a few questions?" The voice was male, with an Italian accent. They turned to see two people standing behind them, a man and a woman, reporters by the look of it. The man stuck a hand-held tape recorder in Elisa's face, and she pushed it away.
The man was tall, with straight black hair, and deep black eyes. He had pale skin with sharply defined features, with most of his face shaded by a hat pulled down low. He wore a tan trenchcoat over a white dress shirt and brown slacks.
His companion was a half head shorter than him, but still taller than Elisa. She also had pale skin, but had bright violet eyes, and long red hair held back with a pair of sunglasses. She wore blue jeans and a green vest over a white T-shirt, and had an expensive camera on a strap around her neck.
Both of them gave Elisa an uneasy feeling.
Bluestone grabbed Elisa's arm and pulled her up the remaining steps. "We're busy." The two detectives didn't look back as they entered the building.
"That was eventful," the woman said. Her voice held a slight Romanian accent.
"We'll get them sooner or later, Vanessa. It's only a matter of time."
"We do have a great deal of that on our hands, Damon. Shall we try questioning Castaway, then?"
Damon let out a small laugh. "That fanatical madman, there's no point. But we'll go by the rally anyway, maybe we can grab something to eat."
Vanessa laughed as she and Damon left the precinct steps.
***
Hudson took a deep breath. The crisp December air filled his lungs as he looked over the city. He walked along the edge of the building where he had stopped to rest, the snow crunching under his feet.
There was a whoosh of air as Goliath landed a few feet away.
"Resting, old friend?"
"No, just enjoying the night. I should get out more often, I've almost forgotten what it feels like."
Goliath took a moment to enjoy the view as well, until an alarm broke the silence. They both glided from the rooftop and headed towards the blaring sound.
They saw that Lexington was already there, taking care of the robbers. The jewelry store window had been smashed and the thieves held bags filled with their loot. One of them swung a bag at Lex, but he ducked and tackled him.
A dark blue van pulled up in front of the store as Goliath and Hudson touched down. Quarrymen piled out of the van and surrounded the three gargoyles, all armed with sledgehammers.
Goliath charged and was able to take out three Quarrymen before they attacked.
"Attack!" someone yelled. The Quarrymen rushed forward. Lexington jumped backwards to avoid a hammer blow. Hudson used his sword to disarm the first Quarrymen that came after him. Goliath threw another Quarrymen into a nearby wall.
"Hey, hippie monsters!"
Goliath turned towards the van. Standing on top was a Quarrymen. Kinda.
The tall Hispanic man was wearing a Quarrymen uniform, but no mask. Instead, he wore a navy bandana around his head. His hammer was lying at his feet, and he had a rather large gun in his hands.
"Adios, for I am Jose Bacio, and I will blow a hole in your ass." With that, he opened fire.
***
Angela and Broadway sat in the library, quietly reading. Their radio headsets sat on a small end table, just close enough to hear if anyone tried to call in. As much as they tried, neither of them could concentrate on their books. Broadway sighed and put his book down.
"I'm going to get a snack, would you like anything?"
Angela looked up from her book. "No, thank you." After Broadway left, Angela felt another presence in the room. Her first thought was that Broadway had come back.
"Broadway?"
"No."
Angela leapt up from her chair. She recognized the voice immediately. "Demona! What are you doing here?"
Demona stepped out of the shadows to face her daughter. "I came to see you, my daughter."
Angela relaxed, but something inside her was still suspicious of her mother. "You aren't welcome here, mother. If any of the others find you here they'll attack you."
"Calm down, daughter. We both know that the only ones in the castle are you and Broadway, and I'd be long gone before you could call the others back with your radio. I only want to help you."
Warning alarms were going off in her head, telling Angela to leave, get the others, but she so wanted to believe her mother. "Help with what?" It wouldn't hurt to hear her out, would it?
"I understand the Brooklyn, Layne and Bronx are missing. I could help you find them."
Angela became even more suspicious of Demona. "'How? And even more importantly, why? You hate both of them."
"I want to help you, daughter. They're your friends, and I know how it feels to lose friends. I want to help you be happy."
"Why don't I believe you? Maybe it's because you've lied to us, me, on so many occasions."
Demona took a step back. She had never expected to hear something like that from Angela. Her daughter continued, "The most recent was Layne, after what you did to her, how could I forgive that. She never did anything to you."
"You don't understand what was at stake, and as for not doing anything, I should tell you that she…"
Broadway could be heard returning from the kitchen. He entered the library and saw Angela staring out the window, looking very distraught. "Angela, what's wrong?"
"Oh, Broadway." Before she could explain, their radio's increased volume.
"Broadway! Angela! Are you there?"
Both gargoyles grabbed their headsets. "Lex, what's going on? Where are you?"
"We were attacked by Quarrymen, and they've got us cornered." He gave them a quick explanation of their situation and where they were, then the radio went dead. Broadway and Angela hurried to the closest window.
Demona waited in the shadows as they hurried to help their clan.
***
Goliath, Lexington, and Hudson were hiding behind a dumpster as they were fired upon.
"They're coming," Lex said as he finished talking to Broadway.
"It'll take them at least ten minutes ta get here," Hudson said. "We canna hold them off that long."
Only four Quarrymen were still standing, out of the original ten, but one of those four was Bacio. He laughed as he emptied round after round into the surrounding area.
"Good thing he has terrible aim," Lex commented.
Sirens could be heard in the distance, approaching quickly.
"We'd better get outta here before the police get here," Hudson said.
"Agreed," Goliath replied. "But how?"
At that moment, the shooting stopped. There were several clicks, followed by a string of curses as Bacio checked his pockets.
Hudson leapt in front of the dumpster. "Finally, a fair fight. Let's see how you do at hand to hand combat."
"I will kill you, you hippie freak!" He dropped his gun and grabbed the hammer. Then he jumped down to the ground. "Prepare to feel the wrath of Jose Bacio, I will have my revenge!"
Two of the other Quarrymen ran towards the old gargoyle, hammers charged and lifted over their shoulders. Goliath and Lexington pushed the dumpster they had been hiding behind and it rolled towards them. It hit the two men and pinned them against the wall.
Bacio charged towards Hudson, screaming something about a buck fifty and Girl Scout cookies. Hudson lifted his sword to block the blow, imbedding the blade just under the head of the hammer. He threw the sword away and lifted up his insane attacker by the collar.
"Now, lad, what was that ye were sayin'?"
Before the frightened man could answer, Goliath called out, "Hudson, we have to go."
Hudson dropped the man and followed Goliath and Lex up the side of the wall. They got to the rooftops just as the first police cars pulled up. Within a moment, Elisa's red Fairlane joined them.
Elisa and Matt surveyed the damage, which wasn't as bad as they had feared. Elisa looked up to see her friends gliding away and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Why did it take so long for the units to get here?" Elisa demanded of the nearest uniformed officer.
"The Quarrymen had these streets blocked off. Them claimed they had to quarantine the area. It took us awhile to get past, even with the SWAT team, but it seems like it was nothing more than a robbery."
"This is getting out of hand," Matt said. "I wish the Task Force could do something about those Quarrymen."
"Yes, Detective Bluestone," a voice to said from behind. "What is the Gargoyles Task Force going to do about these incidents?"
They turned around to face the two reporters they had confronted on the precinct steps earlier this evening.
Matt frowned. "They're out of our jurisdiction, unfortunately, and they have a lot of public support." There was a bright flash of light as the woman took their picture.
"Who are you people anyway?" Elisa asked, blinking the spots out of her eyes.
"I am Damon Salvatore, and this is my charming companion, Vanessa Vladink. We are reporters." He smiled, revealing perfect white teeth. He gave Elisa the chills.
"What are you doing here, this story shouldn't be out yet."
"We were at the Quarrymen rally when the gargoyles were spotted. We followed them here to get the story first."
"I see." Elisa didn't trust this guy at all, or his girlfriend. His handsome features and charming foreign accent didn't sway her. She knew evil when she saw it.
"Well, Detectives," Damon said. "If you do not wish to answer our questions, I'm sure one of the Quarrymen will be more than happy to."
Elisa grabbed a passing officer. "Baker, I've got statements to take, will you answer any questions these two have concerning tonight's activity. And do not let them near the prisoners."
"Yes, Detective." Baker took one look at Damon and Elisa knew she had made the wrong choice. The tall brunette seemed to turn to mush under his gaze.
"Hey, Morgan!" Elisa called out to her friend. He came over and quickly figured out what needed to be done.
"Okay, you two, this area's being blocked off. You'll need to stay away. Baker, help Andrews with that tape."
Damon turned to Vanessa. "I'm afraid we've outstayed our welcome." He put his arm around her and walked away as Baker put up tape where they had just walked.
***
Goliath called Angela and Broadway down onto the roof. They were a good ways away from the crime scene by now and stopped to wait for the young couple before heading back to the castle.
"Don't tell me it's over already," Broadway whined.
"Aye, but maybe next time you can be th' one's ta get ambushed and we'll come to th' rescue."
"At least we got out in one piece," Goliath replied. "Let's get back to the castle."
Once they got back, Broadway and Angela went back to the library, Angela looked around the room, as if she expected someone to be there.
"Is something wrong, Angela?"
"No, nothing." She caped her wings, picked up her book, and sat down on the couch. "It's nothing…important."
***