Defenders of the Night

It was nice, Hudson reflected, to get out of the castle without having to deal with insane super-villains, rogue Gargoyles, or mad scientists.  Granted, he wasn't so certain that tromping about in the woods was the best way to do it, but perhaps he'd gone a bite soft, too used to his recliner and the television.

On the other hand, Bronx seemed to be enjoying himself, sniffing constantly and running around.

"Yuir sure this is the right way?" Hudson asked Bear.

As the sun set, the three Gargoyles who had come to Guatemala--Goliath, Othello, and Desdemona--awoke with a powerful roar--and immediately discovered that this was not the secured facility Xanatos had promised them.  In fact, it had something of a warehouse look, a run down warehouse.  The kind usually favored by criminals.

Currently, there seemed to be no one around, but that was not likely to last.

"What was happened?" Desdemona asked.  "This surely cannot be right..."

"No," Goliath said, shaking his head.  "This is not right at all.  Something must have happened..."

The Gargoyles of the Manhattan Clan were striking back. Recent encounters with the Pack had only confirmed Thailog and Sevarius's search for Gargoyle specimens to use, though the purpose was only recently gleaned. Add to that the remnants of a French clan having been all but wiped out save for one survivor,  Luna, and it was small wonder that they were, after receiving confirmation of what they were walking into, going to strike back and hit them hard.

Granted, most of the plan rested on their mutant friend, Jubilee, and her pyrokinetic abilities, but they too would be baring the brunt of the assault, engaging with whatever security forces, along with the six enhanced humans, mutates, and cyborgs of the Pack, were there to face them.

Goliath, Elisa, Brooklyn, Katana, Broadway, Angela, Lexington, Othello, Desdemona, and Luna made up the strike force, with additional support being provided by Talon and Claw.  Hudson and Icy were with the Labyrinth Clan, ready to bring the clones as reinforcements if things truly got bad.  Guinevere was in the other Gargoyle-universe with Franklin and there was no time to recall her.  The children had been sent somewhere safe.

Now, they glided on the night wind, a tight formation heading toward the Nightstone Industries building.  Hopefully, Jubilee would soon be in position as well.

Goliath stood in the castle courtyard, facing Nashville and Bear.  His expression was serious.  Granted, his expression was often serious, but it also softened just as often these days, especially in the presence of either of his daughters.

"In olden days, both of you would be approaching the age in which young Gargoyles began to take further responsibilities within the Clan.  In those days, that would largely entail simple guarding assignments, or working and training directly under one of the elders of the Clan.  Our situation in this city is different, the threats we face far greater, but it does not change the basics.  It is time for the two of you to step up, and become more fully-functioning members of our Clan."

As the sun set over the horizon, cracks begin to appear on the shell of Lexington and Icy, who'd just made it out to the balcony when the sun has risen.  With one last mighty roar, Lex shakes off the remainder of his stone shell.

He gives Icy a smile.  "Feeling better?"

And he casts a glance back inside, checking to see how their "guests" are doing.

Lex is in one of his favorite places in the world--by Icy's side. True, it's a cold winter night, and true, they're on patrol together, but he just loves being with her. Two muggings and one burglary interrupted so far tonight, making it pretty quiet.  True, the Quarrymen were taking to the streets a little more, shouting their rhetoric and making a show of their masks and hammers, but no violence, at least not tonight.

The camera was with Angela and Broadway tonight, rather than the little headset Lex-Cam he often wore, giving the two of them a little peace.

Peace that would not last.

The sound of weapons firing alerts him that something's wrong and his eyes scan the rooftops, spying three familiar figures and three unfamiliar ones... Attacking as yet other unfamiliar figures.

The three he recognized, Jackal, Hyena, and Wolf.  The Pack.  The other three, though he did not recognize them, wore costumes of similar design.



An armored man with a stylized coyote head helmet.




A burly, red-haired man in armor, a robotic dog staying near his feet.



And a winged fox-woman, electricity crackling around her fingers.

"Ooooh boy..." Lex mutters.

It had taken quite a bit of scouting and arranging, but several of the Gargoyles from the Manhattan Clan were moving.  Taking over the top three floors of an office building belonging to Xanatos Enterprises, they'd converted that into living space, while letting the rest of it remain unaltered, much like the Eyrie building that housed the castle.  Rather than scrounging another site in Manhattan, they'd settled for the Bronx.  It was just across the river in case they ever needed to come running or needed help, but would allow them some measure of independence.

For Lexington, Angela, Broadway, Guinevere, Icy, and Jubilee, it would be quite the experiment, both in living on their own, and in terms of public relations.  They would be filmed much of the day, and while it would focus on their downtime, their patrol efforts would also be highlighted.   Great care would be taken to keep the location of their new roost (Lex had dubbed it Mini-Vern), as well as care in editing anything that happened on their patrols (something about video taping people without their consent/face blurring, etc).

But today?  Today was moving day.

The temperatures in New York were rapidly dropping as November lagged on.  Gargoyles were reasonably comfortable to certain temperature extremes, but the last few nights were slowly starting to push it.  Especially with the winds and actual snowfall that was accumulating.

Still, the winds were strong enough for gliding and it was a nice enough night.  Lex had, at the urging of several others (including Franklin), asked Icy to come gliding with him.  He still wasn't certain if he really like liked her, but he certainly liked her and that was enough.

Though the snow had certainly started to pick-up since they'd left the castle.  He wished he'd paid more attention to the weather report before heading out...

It was just after sunset, on October 31, 1996, the night the Gargoyles of Manhattan had been looking forward to for some time.  It was the one of the few nights of the year where they could interact with humans without having to worry about their reactions.  So long as they exercised a certain amount of caution with regards to their wings and tails, they would be thought of as nothing more than humans in costumes.  And with the Halloween Ball that Xanatos was throwing, they intended to do exactly that.  It would be good for all of them.

A few had opted out.  Hudson was going with Claw to take the children from the Labyrinth (along with Nashville and Tachi), trick or treating.  Guinevere had decided that she would head over to the parallel world they now sometimes frequented, in order to spend the holiday with Franklin.  Icy had declined to attend, feeling uncomfortable in such a crowd of humans.

And one particular Gargoyle was looking forward to tonight most of all.  Angela was going to spend the next twenty-four hours as a human, an offer that had been made by their houseguest, Jubilee, who in return would be spending the time as a Gargoyle.  It had turned out, according to Owen, that it was magically less taxing to trade aspects of a thing, to keep the universal forces more in balance, than to try and change something outright.

So it was that Angela wrapped on Jubilee's door.  "Jubilee?  Are you ready?"

Lex was, just about anyone in the Clan would admit, the most graceful of all of them in the air, able to perform maneuvers that would have been beyond the capabilities of the others.  He owed it to the web-like design of his wings, a somewhat rare, but still viable variation in Gargoyles.  Even within the types of wings the others had, there was equal variation.  Some, like Elisa or Brooklyn, had wings defined largely by two bones, and the tiny digit-based wing talons.  Others had wings with more ribbing, or more hook-like wing talons.

Gargoyles were, perhaps, one of the most varied species on the planet.

But what it really meant was that he was unable to give instruction to Icy in the art of gliding, beyond the most rudimentary.  Which was a shame, because it made him feel as though he was not contributing as he should here.  Still, he had volunteered to go with Angela on a simple glide over Manhattan, for the purpose of helping Icy learn more about her new home.  He hadn't had anything better to do with his night, and he did enjoy spending time with Icy. 

It was nice to have someone around who wasn't part of a couple and was his age.

"Careful," he warned as he rose.  He'd darted a bit ahead of the girls.  "Updraft!"

She didn't understand, didn't understand at all.  One moment she was gliding over Castle Wyvern, searching for her beloved, the next she was in a world of pure chaos.  Strange spires of metal and glass filled the landscape, while horseless chariots alighted with torches moved incessantly below.  It was a dizzying, confusing place, like the depths of what the humans called hell.

Where was her beloved?  Her rookery brothers and sisters?  In the distance, she almost thought she could see the castle, but it looked as though it had been brought above the clouds.  It was impossible.  Crazy even. 

Was that it?  Was she under some sort of spell?  The Archmage was capable of such a feat, and he would certainly seek revenge after the strange events that had transpired with the other of her love and herself.  The one she did not wish to be.  The one she could not see herself becoming.

She set down on a rooftop, fear gripping every aspect of her being. 

What was she going to do?

Matters had conspired to keep Franklin in their reality past dawn, and so it was that sunset had come and the Gargoyles awoke.  Following a simple breakfast, Hudson and Kat, along with Nashville, joined him on the battlements, while the others went about their tasks for the night.

"Would ye like to come with us, lad?" Hudson asked.  "We're takin' the lad out on a simple route.  Time enough to be showin' him what protectin' this city means."

It was a smallish patrol group, made up of Angela, Lexington, and Brooklyn, that took wing over that section of the city that night.  Broadway, Katana, and Hudson had taken Nashville on what was supposed to be a safer, less crime-filled route, in order that the "ten" year old might start getting used to the patrol of the city.  Elisa and Goliath were taking the night off, in order to stay at home with Hope, as well as watching over Tachi.

"Quiet night," Lexington said.

"They should all be like this," Angela replied.

"Too quiet," Brooklyn added.  "Too quiet.  Keep feeling like something's going to happen."

Central Park was rather packed already with fans of the Gargoyles rock group.  Most of them were in costume.  Some were good, some were bad, and some were fairly average.  But the fact remains that a few real Gargoyles aren't going to stand out too much.

"Pretty ah... cool, is it not?" Angela asks the Fayes.

With some of the others already gone on their nightly patrol, and some of the others busy in order parts of the castle or elsewhere in the city, Goliath stood in the castle's courtyard.  He had been told by Elisa that Harley, friend, ally, and honorary part of the Clan, has a favor to ask of him.

And Goliath was never one to turn down a friend in need.

"I do not need to talk to anyone," Angela says, prompting Goliath and Elisa to share a look.

"Look, Angela," Elisa starts.  "You do.  Really.  With everything that's gone down... You've got to let some of this out or you're going to explode.  And since you won't talk to me, and you won't talk to Goliath, and hell, you won't even talk to Broadway about it..."

"We are concerned about you," Goliath finishes.  "Please.  Even if you do not talk, at least listen to what Harley has to say.  I believe she has keen insight that will be of help to you.  Do this... for me, please?"

Angela considers this and looks away.  "Very well.  I shall... listen, at least.  No promises of anything else."

"About as good as we could expect to get," Elisa says.  "C'mon, Big Guy.  Let's give her some privacy."

And that leaves Angela alone, waiting on the arrival of Harley.