Well, I could be studying for my finals, so, instead, I've decide to
post this.  C&C is desperately begged for.

Intro

	The rest of this world is developed in a series of 
stories by Terese Sinclair, starting with  His Mate.  They 
are available at 
http://www.castle.net/DAlist/gargoyles/fanfic/stories.shtml
if you wish to read them.  While I recommend them, I believe 
my summery will suffice.

	Six years after Hunter's Moon Alexander Xanatos 
transforms Elisa into a Gargoyle for five days, just in time 
for the breeder's moon.  Elisa decides in the end that she 
would like to remain a gargoyle, and discovers she is 
pregnant.  Elisa retains her job on the force, and Matt 
Bluestone is given the first police skycycle, modeled after 
those the hunters used six years earlier.  Elisa, Angela, 
and Delilah lay their eggs without incident.  Nine months 
later, the clan and Xanatos rescue Demona's egg from a 
faction of the Illumanati after Bluestone was tricked into 
stealing it, and Demona asks the clan to take care of her 
egg for her.  This story begin about three months later.

	All characters belong to their respective creators, 
etc., etc.  Only the plot (such as it is) is mine, and 
owning up to creating _that_ might be hazardous to my 
health.


: : indicates thoughts
_ _ indicates emphasis

	Nekos in New York


	The night at castle Wyvern began with the customary 
shouts of gargoyles shattering their stone skins.  Even 
after a year, Elisa found the sensation slightly odd.  Odd, 
but _right_.  Her entire life as a gargoyle felt right, 
snapping into place with her personality as smoothly as if 
she had been hatched one. :Of course, it's not like I didn't 
fantasize about this for six years.: 
	Goliath turned to face her, the white glow of 
adrenaline fading from his eyes.  She saw a different glow 
entirely take its place when he looked at her.  "My love," 
he said in a low, throaty voice.  Elisa was sure Goliath 
still harbored fears of awaking to find the clan destroyed 
around him. She silenced Goliath with a deep kiss, then 
jumped backwards off the tower.
	"Tag!" she called back, "You're it!"  Twisting mid-air, 
Elisa righted herself, and spread her wings to catch the air 
with a thwump.  Leveling into a glide that skimmed the 
castle courtyard, she folded her wings and hit the stairway 
running.  Goliath managed to close his mouth, and with a 
roar, leapt from his perch to follow.  The rest of the clan 
watched with some amusement.
	A few months ago their expressions might have reflected 
worry, but Elisa had made excellent progress with her 
gliding, and now could match any of the clan in acrobatics.  
"Why don't you ever chase me?" Angela mock pouted to 
Brooklyn, her mate.
	The red gargoyle affected a contemplative expression 
for a moment, then responded with a grin, "I guess you're so 
fond of what happens after I catch you, you never seem to 
bother with running."
	Angela smiled and kissed Brooklyn, then they both 
walked to the stairway.  "I believe the only thing at the 
end of this chase is breakfast," she replied, "Perhaps 
you're talking to Broadway, and not me."  She flashed him a 
concerned glance,  "Have you been eating with him behind my 
back?"  Brooklyn burst into laughter at Angela's expression.
	"Sheesh," Lexington remarked as he passed the two.  He 
glanced back to see Broadway and Delilah murmuring similar 
nothings to each other.   "I'm getting a tooth ache," he 
said to himself as he descended to the kitchen.
	Elisa found lasagna in the giant freezer Xanatos kept 
stocked for the gargoyles, and she began to heat it in the 
microwave.  It appeared that there would be enough to feed 
even Broadway, which Brooklyn was quick to point out.  After 
the quick breakfast, Goliath assigned patrol areas, handing 
each gargoyle a belt with his assignment.  Each belt 
contained a cuff-taper, a badge issued by the Governor (it 
had eventually taken his intervention to grant the gargoyles 
official status), a tracking device, a cellular phone, and a 
pager; everything a gargoyle needed to make an arrest and 
call it in.  Elisa was a little uneasy with the cuff taper, 
it was a Japanese innovation that had just began to be used 
in the States.  It exuded a tough plastic to bind a 
suspect's hand or feet, and the plastic could only be cut 
with a laser set to the correct wavelength.  Still, it felt 
like she was hog-tieing cattle when she made an arrest.
	Elisa wrapped her belt around her waist.  It differed 
from the others in that her badge was still issued by her 
precinct, and she carried a gun.  Goliath had protested, but 
Elisa insisted.  She had been a cop before she was a 
gargoyle, and a cop needed a gun to deal with the situations 
she encountered.  After a few firefights without a weapon, 
Elisa had asked Xanatos to find a firearm that would 
accommodate her gargoyle talons.  The electron discharge 
pistol, or EDiP, Xanatos provided was based on the design 
MacBeth favored, and suited Elisa fine.
	"I suppose your patrol will just happen to coincide 
with whereever my police work should take me?" Elisa asked 
coyly.
	"It would be only fair," Goliath replied, "I paired the 
other mates together. 
	"Does that mean ye see Bronx and I as mates, lad?" 
Hudson asked.
	"I wasn't aware the TV room was a patrol area," Goliath 
shot back.
	"Come, Bronx, I m sure the doctors of ER will be kinder 
to their elders."  Hudson walked off to his nightly shows 
with the doggoyle following behind him.

	Elisa folded her wings as her feet touched the roof of 
the station house, and bent down to open the trap door 
leading into the building.  After the destruction of the 
clock tower, she never thought she would use these stairs 
again, but they were the easiest way for her to get in and 
out of the building. Access became even easier when 
Bluestone's skycycle began to be hangered on the roof.
	Elisa walked to Captain Chavez's office.  She noticed a 
few stares from newbies who hadn't seen her before, but, for 
the most part, the officers treated a gargoyle in the 
station house as an ordinarily event.  Which it was.  Every 
so often a rookie would grumble about Elisa or the gargoyles 
in general, but there were enough cops who'd received  
aerial backup  just in time to save their skins that 
malcontents were quickly put to right.  Or got reassigned.  
Elisa suspected Xanatos was behind the latter, but let it 
slide; in the last seven years he had demonstrated he truly 
felt he owed a debt to the clan, and went out of his way to 
repay it.  
	"Maza," Chavez acknowledged as Elisa entered.  She saw 
Matt was already inside.  "The officer from the 
international exchange is going to arrive early.  Apparently 
she caught a cargo flight instead of the passenger liner we 
expected."  Chavez looked each of the detectives in the eye.  
"I don't know why she couldn't wait until tomorrow, but it 
means that the two of you are going to have to pick him up."
	"Captain, are you sure that this is a good idea?" Elisa 
asked.
	"I know that she could be a Quarryman for all we know," 
Chavez answered, "but you two are my best detectives, and if 
she can't deal with it, that's her problem.  I'm not going 
to change the way I run _my_ station for anyone." Chavez 
paused a moment, then continued.  "Besides, the flight lands 
at JFK in a half hour, and you're the only two who won't get 
stuck in traffic."  Taking the hint that time was short, 
Elisa hurried to the roof with Matt.
	Matt strapped on his helmet as Elisa inserted the 
earbug and throat mike that would allow her to keep in touch 
with both Matt and the police dispatcher.  Matt completed 
his preflight checklist and took to the air.  Elisa 
followed.
	As the airport neared, both detectives took to flying a 
few yards above traffic along the access road.  Even so, 
Elisa shivered whenever a jet roared over them on a landing 
run. She touched down on the tarmac in time to see a plane 
bearing the taxi to a stop. She realized this was the plane 
they were looking for as it opened its rear doors.  
	Elisa blinked as she saw the figure that stepped out of 
the back of the plane.  She wore a blue uniform on her six 
foot two frame, filling it out in a way that Matt surely 
appreciated.  Long blond hair reached down to her waist, and 
atop her head perched two cat's ears.  While Matt had seen 
some strange things since he met Elisa, he still didn't have 
nearly as much experience with strange people as she did.  
He stared openly at the woman before him.
	"Officer Ozaki?" Elisa asked. :And we were worried 
about her reaction to gargoyles!:
	The catgirl turned, revealing a spiked ball and chain 
earing.  "Hey, boss some weirdos want you!"  Elisa could 
make out a clink of metal hitting metal, then a mini-tank 
rolled out of the plane.  Not very large, she guessed it was 
about as long as a van, with a ball turret mounted on top of 
the front sporting a stubbly little gun.  The back had a 
vulcan cannon mounted on another ball joint.  'Police' was 
stenciled on the front, and a little red cop light sat 
attached to the top.  This time Elisa _did_ stare.
	She had heard of the tank police before; the media 
covered their creation and initial operations with gusto.  
Despite some problems, Elisa didn't think New York was so 
bad as to need tank police yet.  In fact, she was rather 
confident that there was nothing wrong that more gargoyles 
couldn't fix. :And I've done my best to ensure that.:  Elisa 
allowed herself a moment to picture her egg in the rookery.
	As Elias refocused on the tank in front of her, a hatch 
at the top opened, and a short brown haired women in the 
same uniform as the catgirl popped out of the tank, pulled 
out a snub nosed rifle, and proceeded to gun down the cat-
eared lady.  "You robotic bimbo!" she yelled, "Those are our 
hosts!"  The catgirl was thrown back, but otherwise 
unharmed.
	:That explains it.: Self aware androids were rare in 
the U.S. after the court precedent that ruled gargoyles 
equal to humans was successfully applied to the sentient 
robots.  No company wanted to make such an expensive machine 
just to let it literally walk away with their investment, 
not even Xanatos.  The situation was different in Japan, 
however, where the 'synthetic people' were caught somewhere 
between property and citizenship. :As long as this one isn't 
like Coyote we should get along fine.: Elisa's conscience 
told her she was doing a disservice to Xanatos' robot, who 
hadn't been a problem for the last eight years, but she 
could not forget their first two years as adversaries.  
Actually, her relations with Coyote were similar to those 
with Xanatos; a small voice would always whisper at her to 
be wary.
	The woman in the tank turret turned to Elisa, flushed 
with embarrassment.  "Please forgive Uni, her command of the 
language is shaky.  I am Leona Ozaki; I assume you're here 
to meet me?"

	Anna had just started Bonaparte's motor when Leona 
heard Uni shout, "Hey, boss some weirdos want you!"
	"All right, take us out," Leona told the catgirl at the 
controls.  The aircraft door passed by on both sides, and 
the sound of Bonaparte's treads changed as they moved from 
the ramp to the tarmac.  Standing outside was as red haired 
man in a flight suit next to an odd airbike.  From the badge 
peaking out from under the trench coat, she guessed that he 
must be there to meet her.  Then she saw the gargoyle.
	Tan, with jet black hair and wings, she stood as tall 
as the man beside her.  She wore jeans and a tight black 
top, with some sort of utility belt around her waist.  Leona 
had known about them, of course.  Not only were the top news 
story in Japan eight years ago, but when she was volunteered 
for this exchange by the chief, he'd also briefed her about 
the gargoyles.  Leona got the impression that the briefing 
was to prevent her from shooting them and causing an 
incident.  She would never have admitted it was warranted.
	Leona didn't care much about them from what she'd 
heard.  They couldn't fit into her tank, which was a 
definite minus to her point of view, but she figured she 
could work with them a lot easier than, say, section three 
back in Japan.  Besides, one of the theories as to why New 
York didn't need tank police was that they had gargoyles.  
(Of course, another theory was that New York *did* need tank 
police.)
	Snapping back to the present, Leona realized that Uni 
had just insulted their hosts.  Leona had already 
inconvenienced them with her arrival time (but she 
_couldn't_ leave Bonaparte behind), and now this!  Popping 
the hatch, she unloaded her clip of rubber bullets at the 
offending android.  
	"Please forgive Uni," she said, turning to face the two 
officers, hoping she could reduce the damage. "Her command 
of the language is shaky.  I am Leona Ozaki; I assume you 
are here for me?" : Remember Leona, surname second.:
	"I m Matt Bluestone," the red-haired man replied, "This 
is my partner, Elisa Maza."  Looking pointedly at Bonaparte 
he continued,  "We were only expecting one person."
	Leona knew that he was referring to her tank and not 
the two catgirls, still, she felt it best to take the 
question at face value.  She wasn't really _supposed_ to 
have the tank here at all, but she'd managed to trick squad-
leader Brenten into letting her bring Bonaparte, then took 
off before he realized what she'd done.
	"I needed a driver, and my squad-leader said that if I 
took one, I had to take the pair."  He had actually said she 
should take the androids too, and Leona had  interpreted  
that as an order to find an excuse to take them along.  Like 
taking her tank.
	"Hey!" Anna protested from inside.  Leona slipped her a 
jawbreaker and the catgirl stopped complaining.  Bluestone 
sighed.
	 "Well, I''ve room on my skycycle for. . . Uni is it?" 
Leona nodded.  "We'll fly low so you can follow us.  I think 
the best thing to do is to check with the captain and let 
her know about the, uh, extra arrivals."  Another glance at 
Bonaparte
	"Lucky Uni, I get to fly!" the catgirl exclaimed, 
clutching her fists to her chest.  Leona watched the cop 
tear his gaze from Uni's chest and smile.  She barely heard 
him mutter.
	"Lucky Uni?  Lucky Matt."

	--One Day Earlier--

	Kyusaku had just finished Nuku Nuku's monthly tune-up 
when the screen behind him flared to life.  "Kyusaku?"  It 
was his wife.  He never should have made her that 
transmitter.  When one decided to live separately from their 
wife, it didn't help when said wife could send her image to 
any screen in Japan.
	"Akiko," he began carefully.  She hadn't yelled his 
name, so she was up to something.  "What a surprise."  Best 
to find out her scheme right now.
	"I have an important business meeting in New York.  I 
leave in three hours.  Since Ryunosuke has never been to 
America, I thought he might like to come with me.  We should 
only be there for a week."  She smiled sweetly.
	:Tricky.  You know that I won't let you have Ryu, but 
he'll be upset if I don't let him go.:  "Well," Kyusaku 
began, stalling.  The decision was taken out of his hands 
when Nuku Nuku dragged her  brother  into the room.
	"Ryu!" she gushed, "Momma-san promised to take us to 
New York!"  Kyusaku smiled at the surprise on his wife's 
face when Nuku Nuku said  us. 
	"Really?" Ryu asked.  At his father's nod, he smiled.  
"Thank you Mama!  Com'mon Nuku Nuku, let's pack!"  Ryu took 
Nuku Nuku's hand and pulled her towards his room.
	Turning back to the screen, Kyusaku managed to speak 
quickly around his smile.   "Thank you for your generous 
offer Akiko, it is so unlike you to invite all of us.  We 
will await your car.  Pick us up in, say, one hour?"  He 
shut off the power to the screen before Akiko could recover.
	The car pulled up in one hour as expected, and the two 
humans and one cyborg piled in, stowing their luggage in the 
trunk.  One of Mishima Heavy Industries' jets waited for 
them.  Kyusaku had his doubts as to Arisa and Kyouko's 
skills as pilots, but he said nothing.  After all, he had 
only seen their flying under combat conditions, and anyone 
would fly badly with Nuku Nuku destroying their plane.
	Whether it was luck or skill, they made it to New York 
in one piece.  Kyusaku had to admit that having the two 
women fly did keep them from picking a fight with Nuku Nuku. 
He didn't want to die in a ball of flame because his  
daughter  got a little too enthusiastic in her  play. 
	Akiko arranged for Ryu to be included in a youth group 
of, as she put it,  his peers.   Ryu beamed about the other 
children over dinner, and the group helped his English, so 
Kyusaku didn't object.  He toured the sights with Nuku Nuku, 
explaining the different monuments to her.  It would have 
been nice to meet one of those gargoyles that he'd read 
about, but he knew that New York at night was too dangerous 
a place to simply wander about.  Instead he occupied his 
nights with constructing a new accessory for Nuku Nuku.  He 
and the others kept themselves out of the way as Akiko met 
with the people from Xanatos Enterprises.

	Elisa thought they must make quite a sight, a gargoyle 
and the skycycle escorting a mini-tank along the streets of 
Manhattan.  She noticed that no one ran a light, or even 
honked at each other as they passed, and smiled.  She could 
get used to this.  Leona parked her tank in a visitor's 
space in the garage, and climbed out.  A five year old 
version of the cat-eared android followed, wearing a baggy 
one piece.
	When they entered the station, the child android made a 
beeline for the water cooler.  Taking the water tank off its 
base, Elisa watched, amazed, as she proceeded to chug the 
entire bottle.  By the time she was finished, the catgirl 
had grown into a twin of the first one, and the one piece 
was stretched into a tight swimsuit.
	"Wipe that drool off your jaw, partner, we've got to 
bring these three to Chavez," Elisa teased.
	"Nothing wrong with being a red blooded American male, 
Maza," Matt shot back, but led the way.  Matt was right 
though, all the male eyes in the room remained on the puma 
sisters until they entered Chavez's office.
	Chavez glanced over the three newcomers, then put one 
hand on her hip and waited for an explanation.  Elisa did 
her best.  "Captain, this is Leona Ozaki of the New Port 
tank police, as we expected.  She also brought the androids 
Uni and," Elisa paused for the name.
	"Anna."
	"Anna here.  Apparently she need a driver for her 
tank."
	"Does that means that you brought a tank as well?" 
Chavez asked Leona directly.
	"Yes Ma'am," Leona answered.
	"I hope you realize that we have some very strict 
police brutality laws in the U.S.?  Not to mention having to 
pay for property damage?  I don't see any circumstances 
where you will be justified in using a tank's armament."
	"Captain," Leona began, "the vulcan has rubber bullets 
suitable for most situations-"
	"Be that as it may," Chavez cut in, "I don't expect you 
to open up with that unless it is truly warranted."  Seeing 
Leona's nod, she glanced at Elisa.  "Maza, since you and 
Bluestone seem to draw the occasional situation when a tank 
might _actually_ be useful, you will be in charge of Leona 
and her associates for the duration of their stay."  She 
turned to Leona and smiled sweetly, "I apologize for putting 
you on the night shift," she began in a voice that showed no 
apology, "but that is the only time traffic is light enough 
for me to allow a tank on the streets."
	Taking a deep breath, she composed herself and 
continued.  "All right, I'm assigning you to the Gibbs 
investigation.  She was found lying outside a video industry 
convention, bludgeoned with, at our best guess, some sort of 
weighted club.  I get the feeling some of the people in the 
apartments in the area might want to talk, but are afraid we 
can't protect them.  You might as well put that tank to good 
use."
	"Looks like you're stuck on the night shift with us," 
Bluestone said cheerfully to the puma sisters.
	"'Long as we don't have to sit around here all night, I 
don't care," Anna remarked.
	"Say boss," began Uni, "could you buy us something to 
eat?  The tank police have this dumb rule about working 
before you get paid, and we're broke."
	"Um, sure," Matt replied, hardly believing his luck, 
"We'll go somewhere after our shift ends."
	"Matt," Elisa said in a lowered voice, "you do realize 
they probably don't eat normal food."  From the look and his 
face, the idea hadn't occurred to him until now.
	
	David Xanatos sat in his office, going over documents 
and preparing for tomorrow's meetings.  Mishima Heavy 
Industries was ripe for the taking.  They had suffered a 
number of losses in the last year, with their combat robot 
project dieing before it began, and their bid to build laser 
satellites ending with the malfunction and eventual 
destruction of the prototype.  The company was short on 
liquid cash, something Xanatos Enterprises had a surplus of.  
The entire deal could have been mutually beneficial if the 
Mishima Heavy Industries' CEO had agreed to an orderly 
merger.  Xanatos wouldn't even have fired her; it seemed her 
business instincts were sound.  One look at the restaurant 
division she had just created proved that!  Their first 
branch became the most profitable restaurant in Japan during 
its first quarter.
	Despite this recent success, there was no way Mishima 
could prevent the takeover, and Xanatos was surprised at the 
obstinacy of its CEO in opposing the inevitable.  She was 
using every delay possible.  Still, despite such 
stubbornness, the company would be his within days.  They 
simply didn't have to available money to oppose his 
maneuverings.  Xanatos shook his head, turned off his 
computer, and got up to leave.  Fox and Alexander were at a 
party, but would be back soon, and he wanted to be ready to 
greet them as they returned.  He was almost out the door 
when the first blast hit.

	Leona was following the gargoyle and her partner, 
privately enjoying the way the cars parted way in front of 
Bonaparte.  She knew she was on the night watch as a 
punishment for bring Bonaparte with her, but she'd been on 
that shift before, and her new partners seemed to be nice, 
if odd.  Besides, Bluestone could certainly appreciate a 
fine machine - he had that skycycle didn't he?  It was no 
Bonaparte, but it could give him a perspective into her 
love.
	Suddenly the police band repeater sprung to life.  "All 
units, explosion reported at Eyre building.  Unknown 
aircraft reported."
	Elisa's voice came over the radio in a snarl, 
"Hunters!" and she abruptly banked and sped off.  Bluestone 
made the same hurried turn, barely keeping his balance.
	"Follow them!" she shouted to Anna, who had shrunk and 
resumed her job as Leona's driver.
	"I have ears; you don't have to shout!" the catgirl 
replied, but increased the throttle as a she complained.  
Once Bonaparte had made the turn, Leona could see the 
building.  It was huge, with a castle perched atop it, 
currently outlined in flame.  She could see the two 
detectives each flying in their own way to the top as a fast 
as a they could.  Leona grinned despite the situation. 
_Surely_ this was sufficient cause.
	"Anna, make sure you have the live ammo on the vulcan 
and then get into the lobby," Leona ordered as a she popped 
her head out of the hatch.  People tended to want 
explanations when you crashed though their doors.
	"Yeah, I got the ouch-ouch rounds loaded.  Geez, boss 
lady, I mess up once and you never forget it."
	"Just MOVE!"  Leona screamed and the tank jumped 
forward.  Luckily the automatic doors in the lobby reacted 
fast enough to let the tank in.
	"Urgent police business!" Leona called to the guards 
that appeared at their entrance.  Seeing the flashing lights 
and badge, they hesitated, and by then Anna had fit 
Bonaparte into the nearest elevator and they were already on 
the way up.
	Leona had fought with Bonaparte in so many buildings 
that the novelty of her tank in an elevator had long since 
worn off.  Not so her companion, who shouted 'whee!' as they 
ascended.  Leona fed Anna another jawbreaker.
	An explosion shook the castle as a the elevator doors 
opened on a stone hallway.  Anna headed for the nearest 
stairs, and Bonaparte came out in the courtyard, into a 
battlefield.  A red craft hung in the air above the castle, 
its helicopter body held up by two huge fans mounted on 
either side.  Around it flew Detective Maza, her eyes 
glowing red.  However, the odd propulsion system seemed to 
make the craft very maneuverable, and it dodged not only the 
gargoyle, but the shots of the two remaining air defense 
lasers.  Bluestone, still with Uni, was desperately trying 
to stay out of the thing's field of fire.  Crouched behind a 
corner, a pony-tailed man took the occasional snapshot with 
a particle beam rifle.  Wreckage of some sorts of iron grey 
robots surrounded him.
	Leona didn't know what the hell was going on or what a 
hunter was, but she saw only one unidentified aircraft and 
she figured this was the best chance she'd get to use 
Bonaparte on this trip.  "Anna," she ordered, "use the 
Vulcan to box it into a predictable path for a second."  The 
catgirl brought the machine gun to bear as a Leona broached 
the high explosive magazine.  The plane dodged the rounds 
sent towards it, but Leona expected that.  "Fire!" she 
shouted gleefully as she pulled the trigger switch and 
Bonaparte's main cannon launched a shell straight at the 
hoverjet.
	Leona's target tried to dodge, but too late.  The shell 
caught its left engine and exploded.  The wreckage spiraled 
down to the ground then bloomed in a fireball.  "Alright!" 
She and Anna shouted as a one, slapping each other's palm as 
a space permitted.  Leona popped up to inspect the area.  
Maza landed next to the tank, her eyes losing their glow, 
but still worried.  She suddenly relaxed as a pale man with 
short blond hair walked up the stairs.
	"They're alright?" she asked.
	"I assure you Mrs. Maza, the eggs are fine.  With the 
magick Alexander invested in that room, it could survive the 
destruction of the rest of the castle."  All the worry fled 
from her face at hearing this.
	:Eggs eh?  Guess it makes sense, gargoyles living in 
castles and all, that they would stay here.:  Just then the 
pony-tailed man walked up to Bonaparte, a grin on his face.
	"Detective Maza, you must introduce me to your new 
friend who so graciously saved my home."
	"David Xanatos, Leona Ozaki," Elisa obliged curtly.  
"Leona is here with the international officer exchange, from 
the New Port tank police.  Leona, Xanatos owns the building 
and castle."  Leona had dealt with enough important men not 
to be overwhelmed, but her eyes still widened when she 
realize exactly who the detective was treating so brusquely.
	Uni ran over from where Bluestone landed his vehicle, 
and caught the last part of the conversation.  "Ooo! Does 
that mean he'll feed us?" she cried, clapping her hands 
together.  Leona winced.
	"I insist that you stay here at Wyvern with me for as a 
long as a you like," Xanatos replied graciously.  
"Although," he continued with a grin, "I'm afraid the tank 
will have to stay in the garage."

	Elisa spent the next hour alternately reassuring 
others, and being reassured, that the eggs were untouched.  
She finally rejoined Bluestone and Leona as they interviewed 
Xanatos.
	"What did we recover from the wreck?" Elisa asked.  The 
top priority in her mind was to determine if the attack was 
on Xanatos, or the gargoyles.
	"Nothing yet," Matt answered, "The unused ordinance 
exploded when the thing crashed; it'll probably be a week 
before the lab boys will get anything from this one.  One 
thing I can tell you though, no bodies.  Whoever was in that 
thing got away."
	"No way to tell if it was Hunters then?"
	"No.  I m tentatively calling this an attack on 
Xanatos, since no gargoyles were present, but, as I said, 
that's only tentative."
	Suddenly a hand grabbed Elisa and dragged her away.  
Elisa turned to see Anna pulling on her arm.  "Come on," the 
catgirl said with urgency, "you have to stop her!"
	Following the android Elisa asked, "Stop who?"
	"The boss-lady, she's gonna do something awful."  Anna 
dragged Elisa in front of Leona, then demanded, "Tell her to 
let us stay here!"
	:Interesting definition of crisis she's got programed 
there.:
	"You stupid pile of bolts," Leona lashed out, "It'd be 
improper conduct to accept, and the Captain hates me enough 
for bringing you two with me for me to deliberately break 
any regulations!"
	Elisa thought she could see a way to take care of this.  
"If you won't stay with Xanatos," she asked, "would you stay 
with me?"
	"I don't like cathedrals," Uni whined in the 
background.
	"I was impressed with your performance, and am grateful 
you saved my egg."
	"All right, I don't see any problems with accepting 
that.  You're another cop and all," Leona replied slowly.
	"Good.  Then you can take the rooms Owen assigns you."  
Seeing the confused faces of the others she explained, "The 
reason my egg is in castle Wyvern is that I live here too.  
All the gargoyles do."
	The pumas let out shrieks of joy when they realized 
what Elisa had said.
	"Yea! No more dumpsters for lucky Anna!"
	"I still don't see why they kicked us out of those beds 
in the morgue," complained Uni.
	"Those were nice," reminisced Anna, "They shouldn't 
have wasted them on all those dead people."  Elisa shook her 
head as she left to find Owen.  She wanted to see his 
reaction to the pair.

	Xanatos knew who had ordered this attack.  He couldn't 
tell the police, they couldn't do anything and they _would_ 
try to stop him from taking effective action.  He might 
inform the gargoyles; if the situation deteriorated he could 
need their help.  Besides, they deserved to know this wasn't 
a new offensive in one of Canmore's plots .  "Mishima did 
this."
	"That is a distinct possibility sir," Owen confirmed.
	"It's more than a possibility Owen.  Tell the XCG's 
director of operations to make sure Mrs. Natsume understands 
that its in her best interests to use nothing more 
destructive than a lawyer in our arguments."
	"At once sir."
	"Oh, and look into getting some of those mini-tanks for 
the XCG also.  Their ability to enter buildings could prove 
useful."
	"Owen!" Elisa exclaimed as she saw him.
	"Good evening Ms. Maza," he returned.
	"Your new house guests are wondering when their rooms 
are.  I thought Owen might be able to show them," Elisa 
explained.
	Xanatos saw the glimmer in Elisa's eyes and knew 
something was up.  Never one to pass up a chance to tweak 
his assistant, Xanatos agreed.  "I think that would be a 
good idea.  Owen, take care of our guests, then deal with 
what we talked about."  Xanatos smiled and followed them 
onto the roof to watch whatever Elisa had planned.
	As Owen herded the visitors away, and tried to keep the 
policewoman from gunning down the two androids, Xanatos 
leaned over to whisper in Elisa's ear.  "I have some 
information. . . for Elisa the gargoyle."
	"But not Elisa the cop?" she asked without turning to 
face him.  After a moment, she nodded, "Alright, what is 
it?"
	"I can confirm that the attack was directed at me and 
my company, not at the clan."  With that, Xanatos turned and 
walked away.  His wife would be home soon, and they would be 
busy for most the night.
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|  ("`-''-/").___..--''"`-._                   Bastet's Chosen              |
|   `6_ 6  )   `-.  (     ).`-.__.`)        matthew.lewis@Yale.edu          |
|   (_Y_.)'  ._   )  `._ `. ``-..-' "The difference between a cat and a dog |
| _..`--'_..-_/  /--'_.' ,'              is a cat can bark and doesn't."    |
|(il).-''  (li).'  ((!.-'                               -D.J. Dodd          |
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