Elisa was relived that the attack did not herald a new
wave of persecution for the clan, but Xanatos' words also
meant that he was going to take action, and he didn't want
the police to interfere with him. :Why does he have to pick
now to demonstrate his complete and utter trust in me?: She
sighed. With the little information she had, there was no
point in telling Chavez to keep an eye on Xanatos,
especially when he could have told the clan that he thought
there were hunters, and tricked them all again. Protecting
the eggs was such an instinctive and emotional drive that
they would be easy prey any of Xanatos' ruses.
Sunrise was only an hour away, and Elisa's shift had
already officially ended. :Odd how paperwork has disappeared
from my life.: Elisa grinned and walked to the guest
quarters she had suggested to Owen. The suite of three
rooms was normally reserved for the children of visitors,
and thus contained few breakable objects.
Elisa knocked on the door, then let herself in. The
puma sisters were discovering with delight all the eighty-
seven cable channels available to them. Leona was talking
with Matt in her bed room, saving Elisa from having to find
him as well.
"Elisa!" Matt called to her when he saw the gargoyle in
the doorway, "Leona and I were just discussing our vehicles.
I think she has some really salient points about the
skycycle's lack of armament."
:This had better be a joke.: "So you're going to mount
a vulcan cannon on it now?" she asked playfully.
"Don't be silly," Matt replied, "The ducted turbine
design is too unstable for that much recoil. I was thinking
of an electron cannon like your pistol, only larger."
:Damn, he's really thought this through. Any armed
flying craft makes it much more dangerous for the clan. And
me.: "Well, you can try to sell Chavez on it when you and
Leona file our report." Bluestone winced.
"Still sleeping while I do the real work, eh?" Matt
replied, a little bitterness creeping into his voice. "I
know, I know, think of all the other things I can do during
the day besides paper work," Matt went on, forestalling
Elisa's rebuke, "It's just that all those things are on the
other side of the mound of forms to be filled out. Come on
Leona, let me introduce you to Mr. Triplicate."
"We're coming too!" Anna squealed as they left their
room. "You promised to feed us."
"You better feed us or I'll eat you!" Uni exclaimed,
suddenly looking very predatory.
"I know the perfect place," Matt said weakly as Leona
rolled her eyes. The door to the elevator closed, and Elisa
was alone. She grabbed a sandwich from the kitchen, then
walked into the gargoyle's living room. Broadway and
Delilah were in a love seat, pouring over a book :probably
poetry. Hudson sat in his chair, with Bronx resting on the
couch. Lexington, as usual, was at his computer, while
Brooklyn and his mate were still eating. Goliath . . .
Goliath was reading a book, but put it down and swept her
into an embrace with his arms and wings as soon as she
entered. Elisa returned the gesture.
"I'm sorry I wasn't there," he said in a low voice,
"Brooklyn needed help when a band of robbers split up."
"It's alright, Big Guy," Elisa returned, caressing his
face, "Everything worked out fine." Then, caping her wings,
she said louder, "I learned more about the attack."
Everyone's heads shot up at this, and Elisa could feel an
undercurrent of tension brought to the surface with her
announcement.
Elisa sat on the couch and composed herself for a
moment. Cagney wandered in, and jumped into her lap. Bronx
quickly jumped to the ground. Nobody knew how, but the
little cat had established herself above Bronx in the pet
hierarchy, despite her small size and the doggoyle's
formidable strength. Elisa thought it was because Bronx was
a marshmallow at heart.
"Xanatos told me that he is sure that the attack was
meant for him, not us." The faces around her lost their
tension.
"That does not mean we are safe," Goliath cautioned the
others, "If they will destroy the castle to get at Xanatos,
we will lose just as much if it had been destroyed to hurt
us." All the gargoyles scowled as they realized they were
stuck in the crossfire. "Until this is resolved," continued
Goliath, "half the clan will remain at Wyvern, while the
other half will patrol within two minutes of the Eyrie
building." The look he gave Elisa told her that Goliath's
rules didn't apply to himself; he would always be close to
her, no matter how far from the castle she traveled.
Elisa chatted a little with the other girls, but
everyone was on edge, and she eventually retired to her room
to change. While the stone sleep cleaned whatever she was
wearing, Elisa still preferred to maintain a wardrobe. :I
will never stop changing my underwear everyday, no matter
what gargoyle tradition is.: Over her unmentionables Elisa
pulled on her body armor. The vest was modified for her
wings, and would not only stop a bullet, but provided
protection from particle lasers and electricity. She then
slipped on open-backed black tights and jeans. :I _still_
can't believe traditional gargoyle clothes. Goliath better
believe that _my_ hatchling will wear more than a
loincloth.:
Elisa rejoined the others on the roof for the sunrise.
Other gargoyle statues lined the ramparts of the castle, all
in the shape of the clan's most impressive, artistic, or
funniest poses. They first ones had just appeared one day,
and neither the clan, nor Xanatos had broached the subject.
Since then, an informal competition had arisen, to have
one's pose immortalized in sculpture. Elisa had recently
thought of a new twist she was sure would gain her another
point. And so, as the sun rose, it froze her standing
before Goliath, his knee bent to the ground, his hands
holding hers, in an obvious proposal of marriage.
Arisa and Kyouko stood in Akiko's office, heads bowed.
Akiko regarded them coldly, at last speaking. "That castle
should be missing two towers. Instead, it is not only
whole, it retains part of its defenses. Why?"
Kyouko spoke in a small voice, "We were dealing with
the defenses when a gargoyle attacked us. When a Bonaparte
class tank appeared, the combined fire was too much, and we
were hit."
Akiko paused to digest this. "While tanks were normally
a helicopter's prey, the Bonaparte's vulcan cannon did much
to set it on an equal footing. Akiko also knew that it was
incidents like this that lead to the formation of the tank
police in New Port. Tokyo was, of course, in her pocket,
and she could get away with a few small incidents there, but
this was New York. If they had both the gargoyles and
Bonapartes. . .
"Very well. Due to the unexpected opposition, you will
only have to pay for the cost of poison-one," Akiko declared
generously. "We'll see if this takes David Xanatos' mind
off business for a time. If he begins to make any more
moves towards the takeover, you will cause property damage,
as you can, to Xanatos Enterprises' holdings, until he once
again ceases to bother us. It's imperative to the survival
of the company that we have these next two days! If he can
be stalled that long, we will be free, and his takeover will
fail! But during those two days, he will be able to snap us
up like a particularly tasty piece of sushi!" Akiko was
yelling at this point. She visible took hold of her temper,
and dismissed them in a calm voice.
After the room was empty, she turned to the window
behind her and clutched her fist in defiance. Softly she
whispered, "I will not fail you Grandfather."
Elisa found the next night unbearable. She was tense,
expecting a call for help from the castle at anytime, but
nothing happened. _Nothing_. The Gibbs case had no leads,
no muggers seemed to come within one hundred yards of Leona,
and Dracon had the good sense not to pull anything while the
police had a mini-tank. :It's a pity, too. I'd love to see
his face when Leona arrived on the scene.: The most exciting
part of the evening was Bluestone complaining about the Puma
sisters. Apparently when he took them back to his
apartment, they'd eaten his toaster, then gotten bored, and
left.
Elisa sighed as she landed on the clock tower's roof.
No new incidents tonight. Of course, that meant the next
move would probably be by daylight, when she would be
helpless. And if nothing happened during the day . . . :Not
on my night off, please. It's supposed to be just me and
Goliath and our bed, no cats, no cases, and defiantly no
crises.: Elisa smirked at her alliteration. A hand waved
in front of her eyes broke her reverie.
"Hel-lo-o?" Matt sing-songed. "Flight control to
gargoyle one, come in gargoyle one."
"What is it Matt?"
"Look," he began, "I know it's your night off tomorrow,
but could you make sure Leona makes it to the station? I
don't like the thought of her and that mini-tank lost in the
middle of Manhattan and short on patience."
Elisa smiled at the image. "Fine, I'll make sure she
gets here, but I m not even landing, so forget pushing part
of tomorrow's caseload upon me."
"Perish the thought!" Matt protested with mock
innocence.
"That's good, cause I'd hate to have to bring two
androids over to your place for dinner," Elisa threatened
lightly.
"You wouldn't," Matt said as firmly as possible. "They
almost took a bite out of my stereo system!" Elisa only
grinned before leaping off the roof. She opened her wings
with the sound of the wind filling sails, and she glided
back towards the Eyrie building. Goliath joined her in
flight, and they kissed, then flew on in silence, each lost
in their own thoughts.
Xanatos greeted the pair as they landed, a broad smile
on his face. "Detective Maza, Goliath, just the gargoyles I
wanted to see," he began. "I have wonderful news. I
believe that after tomorrow, we won't have to worry about
any more surprises like last night."
"Xanatos," Goliath began warningly.
The man held his hands up in front of him as if to ward
the gargoyle off. "I assure you," he continued in his usual
confident tone, "that nothing will happen to force that
lovely mate of yours to drag me off to prison." He smiled.
"Again." Elisa couldn't quite suppress a grin. The man was
arrogant, but he was also successful, and leavened his
arrogance with self irony. "But I came here to talk about
more than old times. Alex will be having a friend from camp
over to visit, and I m sure he'll end up showing you off if
he gets the chance."
"We will be ready for some extra company at sunset
then," Goliath acknowledged.
Xanatos smiled. "I'm becoming quite the family man
aren't I? Making sure everything is ready for my son's
friends. I wonder if I'll meet Morgaine's dates in my
armor, or just ask you two to growl at him?"
"Pointedly polishing the particle rife wouldn't be enough?" Elisa asked,
amused.
"Not my style," Xanatos replied with a grin.
Goliath realized that he'd missed a reference or two to
some aspect of human culture, although he understood the
motivations behind it. "I don't think we would be very
effective," Goliath commented.
"Oh?" Xanatos asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Think a moment. If our children inherit our genes at
all, they will end up getting married." At the other two's
look of surprise, he explained, "How else could they find
someone their parents disapprove of, _and_ is a different
species?" All three grinned.
"Now Goliath," Xanatos began, "I didn't know about Fox
until Owen learned I was going to propose to her." Xanatos
looked to the sky. "It's almost dawn. I've got work to
attend to, and you have to decide on impressive poses for
Alex's friends."
Kyusaku sat in his wife's waiting room, reading the
magazines. He thought it a little rude to the Americans
that all of them were in Japanese, but it was a windfall for
him. Nuku Nuku sat across the room, staring with
fascination at the built in aquarium. He'd had to explain
to her that the fish were being saved for later when she'd
tried to catch one.
Akiko said she'd see him last in the day, but he had
waited for at least fifteen minutes past nine. It was
almost dark! More than Ryunosuke's future would be
discussed. If he ever got in to talk to her.
Coyote checked the blueprints in main memory. On the
other side of the wall was the target's most likely
position.
:One heat source. Probability of heat source being
target 93.21%.:
:Insufficient probability to begin operation.:
:Audio sensitively at full.:
:One voice detected.:
:Comparison to target's voice on file 99.44%
probability of match.:
:Engaging main program.:
The giant gold robot destroyed the wall in front of it, and
walked into the room beyond.
:Target.:
:One human, female.:
:Visual confirmation of primary target.:
:Begin operation.:
The robot turned its head to face the woman. The face, half
metal, half bearing Xanatos' features, regarded the woman,
then began to speak. "Mrs. Mishima," Coyote began in
Xanatos' voice, "I believe you may wish to not use anything
heavier than a lawyer to fight this takeover. Otherwise,
you may find you've lost more than your company."
The woman screamed. This was expected. Coyote was to
1) prevent capture, 2) prevent destruction of self, and 3)
escape, in that order of priority. The new glider unit
would be the easiest method of escape. Before the robot
could shatter the window of the office, the double doors
burst open.
:Two targets.:
:Target one.:
:Human, male.:
:Unarmed.:
:Threat value negligible:
:Target two.:
:Human, female.:
:Unarmed.:
:Threat value negligible.:
The robot barely had time to notice the two fins pop up
from behind the second target's ears before its body was
rendered inoperative.
Nuku watched the fish swim in front of her. Mama-san
was saving them as a treat, so she couldn't catch any, but
it was still fun to watch. A muffled thump echoed through
the room. Nuku Nuku's head popped up, looking for the
source of the noise. Nothing was evident. Then Mama-san
screamed.
She and Papa-san hit the doors at the same time.
Inside, a hulking gold robot or powered armor stood facing
Mama-san. Then it turned to face them.
Everything slowed down as Nuku Nuku's battle programing
took over. External sensors deployed on the sides of her
head. Acting quickly, she punched at the glass globe
containing a head. If it had a head, the CPU had to be
there right? Much to her surprise, the robot didn't block
the punch. She connected, transferring the momentum of her
swing to the android's CPU, which flew backwards, shattering
the window as it headed for a different bourgh of New York.
Nuku Nuku pouted. She was happy Mama-san was safe, of
course, but the fight had been so _short_. The high point
of Nuku's life was the combat she saw. It was only then
that she felt most alive, partly because of her feline
nature, partly because of boredom, and, of course, partly
because of the endorphin generator Kyusaku had built into
his prototype. All Nuku Nuku knew was that it was fun to
fight.
"It broke," she complained. Mama-san muttered
something about cheap American workmanship.
"Are you alright?" Papa-san asked just as Arisa and
Kyouko came running in, sporting an amazing array of
military hardware. The remains of the robot emitted a
muffled *whumf*. The two henchwomen spun and unloaded their
full clips into the battered body. Papa-san examined the
body. "Scuttling charge," he announced, "What it didn't
destroy, your two flunkies did."
Nuku Nuku perked up. Arisa and Kyouko would often play
with her. If she was lucky, she would get to fight herself
and Papa-san out of here. Mama-san shook her fist at the
broken window. "You're too late Xanatos, I've already won!"
The laugh that followed was slightly hysterical.
"Akiko," a pale Papa-san asked, "did you say Xanatos?"
"Yes," she replied," that thing had his face and voice.
Why?"
"Um," Papa-san said, tugging at his collar, "I told Ryu
he could go to a friend's house. Alex Xanatos' house."
"WHAT!" Mama-san screamed. "You let the man who's
trying to kill me take our son?" Until this outburst, Nuku
Nuku didn't see what the fuss over Ryu's friend was about.
Now, Knowing that he was in danger, she had to rescue him!
"Nuku Nuku, wait!" Papa-san yelled. She stopped and
turned to see him holding a backpack. "The RX-95 Butterfly
attachment," he announced joyfully. He slipped the straps
crosswise over her chest, and explained the two button
control system. One button to open or close the wings, and
one button to release the straps.
Nuku Nuku jumped out of the broken window into the
darkening sky. Pushing the first button, two translucent
wings with the shimmer of oil on water unfolded, and began
to flap. Nuku sighted on the Eyrie building.
Kyusaku watched his daughter fly off into the sunset.
He hoped that she could save Ryu from his mistake. He hung
his head as images of Ryu in danger sprung from his
imagination. "We'll get Poison-Three!" an exuberant Arisa
offered. "Our knowledge of their defenses will let us
triumph! Let us avenge our defeat, my lady." Kyouko looked
with trepidation at the grinning mask of anticipation that
was Arisa's face.
Kyu paid little attention to Arisa's latest psychotic
episode as the significance of her words hit him. He turned
to his wife and asked in a low voice, "This time?" Akiko
laughed nervously.
"We needed time to gather the necessary funds, so I,
ah, arranged a distraction."
"I should have known it!" Kyu put his hand on his
temples. "Anything involving heavy weaponry had to trace
back to you!" he screamed. "And then you accuse *ME* of
putting Ryu in danger!" Kyusaku sudden stopped his tirade.
"I've got to keep Nuku Nuku from leveling the man's home!"
he exclaimed, then ran off towards the elevators.
Elisa awoke in the middle of a battle. Leona was using
her rifle at full auto. Steel clan robots swooped through
the air over the remains of their brethren. Both Xanatos
and Fox held particle lasers. The defense lasers had been
transformed into piles of junk, a burned and torn
butterfly's wings lying on the stairs next to the
emplacements.
In the center of all this chaos was one little girl.
Sort of. In the time it took Elisa to assimilate the fins
on the girl's head and the bullets bouncing off her, Anna
attacked. Screaming, "No one interrupts my dinner and
lives!" she charged the girl. And got thrown into a wall
for her trouble.
Elisa was impressed. She knew firsthand how strong the
androids were from their forceful relocation of parking
offenders. They just picked up a car and flipped it upside
down. A roar tore the air as the other gargoyles attacked.
"Goliath, careful!" she yelled as the clan descended on the
combatants. Damn it, her mate _had_ to learn better tactics
than scream and leap ! Elisa pulled her EDiP and brought
it to bear. "Police! Freeze!" she shouted. Not
surprisingly, no one stopped.
Brooklyn and Angela tried to sandwich the girl between
them. She simply leapt away, letting to two hit each other.
Delilah and Broadway circled the battle field as the girl
dodged the lasers directed at her, and tried to take out her
attackers. She appeared to be slowly succeeding. Her shot
blocked by allies, Elisa looked for Lex. She found him with
Uni, helping the injured catgirl out of the wall.
Then Goliath chose to stoop. Before he hit the girl,
she grabbed his outstretched talon, flipped in mid-air,
still holding him, and threw him over the edge of the
castle. "NO!" Elisa screamed as her vision went red. She
was dimly aware of the other gargoyle's eyes glowing too,
but it didn't matter; tearing apart the _thing_ in front of
her did.
Leaping in front of the girl, Elisa pulled the trigger
of her gun. The two arcs of electricity struck her target,
and the girl froze, but as soon as the burst finished, she
jumped away.
"I think she's an android Detective," Xanatos yelled.
"See if you can overload her systems again! Elisa tried to
aim, but the girl was now on full defensive, attacking only
at moments of opportunity, and almost impossible to hit.
The three second charging time on her weapon didn't help
either.
Elisa stopped quick firing when she realize her misses
were hitting allies. The girl leapt in front of other
gargoyles just long enough for Elisa to fire at her, then
jumped away. Her clan-mates managed to shake off the
effects of her EDiP so far, but gargoyles were vulnerable to
electricity, and they could not shrug off repeated shocks.
The red haze dissipated as she forced herself to think, then
vanished altogether as Goliath soared over the castle wall,
rejoining the fray.
Two boys suddenly emerged from one of the towers and
ran towards Xanatos' position. Worry and relief warred
within Elisa. Worry, because she now had to prevent the two
from being hurt. Relief, because one of the boys was Alex,
and if Alex was here then . . .
"Here's Puck!" exclaimed a glowing whirl wind. The
long haired fey appeared in the air above the battle, and
turned to younger Xanatos. "You should be safe in you room,
you know. Oh well, I felt like some exercise anyway." The
fey turned to face the girl, and quickly shot up ten feet as
he dodged a kick. "Aren't you the feisty one. And cute
too! Now bound with light from head to toe,/ you're a
prisoner I'd like to know! he chanted." Green lightning
flew from Puck's mouth and enveloped his target in cocoon of
light. She struggled to move, but couldn't leave the green
light.
Before Xanatos could reprimand his offspring for being
there, the boy next to him cried out, "Don't hurt Nuku
Nuku!" Everyone turned to look at the boy.
"She's his sister," Alex explained.
Bluestone lead the SWAT team into the elevators. He
could still see rising from the castle at the top of the
building, and no one could understand why they were
responding to call from a passing motorist, and not Xanatos
himself. The elevator doors opened and they rushed out. To
find an odd assortment of guests chatting in the great hall.
Gargoyles, Xanatos' family, the visiting tank policewomen,
and a few Asians he didn't recognize.
"So Akiko managed to sell the family's antique
furniture in the time you gave her. It should be enough to
keep her company independent," a black haired oriental said
to Xanatos. The billionaire scowled, then noticed the
police.
"Detective Bluestone," he called waving for the
visitors to come in. "I suppose you're here for Officer
Ozaki. I know she's late for work, but just mention my name
and I'm sure everything will be fine."
"There were reports of explosions," Bluestone began,
feeling utterly confused.
"Just the party getting a little out of control,"
Xanatos explained with a smirk. "We're celebrating, you
know. I didn't manage to acquire Mishima Heavy industries,
but Kyusaku here did gain uncontested custody of his son
from his wife. She didn't want her life to resemble Fox's
too much, I believe." Xanatos' tone left little doubt that
the events were related, and no lesser mortal should try to
find out how.
"All right Xanatos, whatever you say. Move it guys,
false alarm," he called to the squad behind him. If Elisa
was in the thick of this, he could trust her judgement of
Xanatos' actions. "Leona."
"Yes sir!" the officer replied.
"Get in your tank and get moving. An excuse from
Xanatos will make you even less popular with the chief, and
you're already late for duty." Bluestone scowled at Xanatos
once more. He'd get the full story from Elisa latter.
Xanatos retained his calm demeanor, well aware of the
detective's thoughts. "You can ask your partner about it
tomorrow Detective Bluestone. She and Goliath left the
party rather early, and I do believe they had. . . plans."
Xanatos smiled.
Bluestone sighed. He was frustrated back when he was
looking for conspiracies, and he was frustrated that he had
found them. Probably because he was usually part of them.
He waited for Leona to drag the catgirls away from a cute
purple-haired girl, then entered the elevator with the
three.
"Am I going to see two more months of this?" Leona
asked, clearly able to imagine the prospect from the look on
her face.
"Oh no," Bluestone replied, and watched her relax.
"This is rather tame." Her expression was well worth the
beating he received.
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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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