He finished brushing the inscription away, and stepped aside. His boss, who seemed almost eager to step up and read the inscription, pulled out a ancient scroll and unfurled it. She studied both the inscription and the scroll, then started in a tongue that he thought was Latin. Then, he saw something he had never seen before, as the tablet glowed blue, and cracked. A low rumbling sound could be heard as his boss stepped away from the tablet. The tablet shattered, as the wall it was on suddenly moved. A small door formed, as tons of vines started shaking off the wall and onto the jungle ground. Garou and his boss ran away from the site, until finally the rumbling stopped.

Then, when it was all over, both Garou and his boss were staring at a very large Inca temple, previously covered by the jungle. His boss smiled, as she ran into the passage that had just formed. He followed cautiously, and found that there were no traps as he advanced down the passage. Finally, he came to a large room, filled with thousands upon thousands of gold coins. Different valuables were scattered about. It was just like a classic treasure horde, as he walked among the jewels. Then, his boss popped up, smiling. "You've done your job. I have the "manuscript"," she said, and held up a another ancient piece of paper. He could not even begin to tell what language was on it as she put the scroll away in a casket.

"Get some crews in here to excavate the treasure. Your check is in the mail Dr. Garou." Then, his boss walked out of the room, and left him there. He stared at all the fortune and could not help but pick up a few gold coins. Suddenly, he heard another rumble. It increased in size as he stood up slightly and looked around. The entire temple was shaking, as a tablet fell over his exit. He was trapped, and realized that the place was collapsing!

Demona watched the monitor display on her computer as a small counter approached the 100% mark. She was at her home office in New York, working on the computer at her desk while she was a gargoyle. Much work had gone into the translation of the scroll she had found in Peru. Her crews had left the site and cleaned up. Now, the final phase of her plan was almost complete, as her computers gave her the last sentence of components needed for a potion. This potion, which she had first learned about in the Grimorum Archinorum, mentioned something about Ultimate Power among all the untranslatable words. She eagerly pursued it, not knowing what kind of Ultimate Power it meant. All the components she had within her reach, except this final one. Her computer beeped, and a display came up. It showed a complete translation of the potion. She smiled slightly. Her plans were going to work...all it would need was a...she paused. A leaf from a South American Galapagos?

She was surprised, as she knew what would go wrong here. The South American Galapagos was very rare, and was assumed to have been cut down in deforestation. She did not want to spend another month or two searching for a blasted weed. She slammed her fist on her desk. All this time, just for a plan to fail? She paced over to her spell book, where she skimmed through the pages. Surely there would be some sort of creation spell she could use. Her experience on her last plan had failed sooner than she thought it would. She had set out to capture Alex, but the baby had done something to her, making her blind momentarily. She tried to escape, but saw Hudson, and fought him. Then, she made a quick getaway, but not as quick as she would like, as her body started changing into Hudson. Puck retrieved her while she was Hudson, and fixed her up and sent her back here. Now, her plan there had failed, and this was just one of the few plans that she had ready to start. She could not find a spell. She looked around, trying to find some South American plant that could be a substitute. She found a simple shrub downstairs, and took a leaf. This would do.

She started the procedure to creating the potion, putting up a large bowl, and filling it with holy water. Then, she placed the ingredients one at a time, saving the leaf for last. Every addition of a ingredient changed the color of the liquid, until finally it was light blue when she held the leaf above the mixture. She smiled, and placed it in. Nothing happened immediately, but soon, the liquid starting fizzing, and suddenly changed to a thick white color. She waited, but nothing else happened. Then, she poured the liquid into a flask. It filled a good portion of the bottle, coming up right to the top. The stuff was extremely thick, pouring like maple syrup into the flask. Finally, the entire contents were in the flask. She placed the bowl away, which was completely clean, with no trace of the white liquid in it. Then, she turned around and faced the outside window.

Sunlight was approaching, but she still had time. If she did something to her gargoyle self, the effects shouldn't carry over to her human self. She kept this thought in mind as she took a sip of the liquid. It went down smoothly, tasting like peppermint. Nothing happened. Confused, she took another sip. Nothing. This continued until she had managed to drink the whole thing. Nothing had happened. She frowned. Perhaps the substitute made it not work. But she was glad in a way. The worst a potion could do, if mixed wrong, was not work. All she had to do was make another potion, which was something she could do tomorrow. She needed to do it during a new moon, when no lunar influence would affect the liquid. She placed the potion ingredients away, and braced for her change into a human.

She did not have to wait long, as the sun rose from the east. Pain gripped her body, as she fell to her knees. Her change from a gargoyle into a human had begun, starting with the loss of her talons and claws to nails. Her brow shrunk, as the spikes on her knees and arms disappeared. Finally, her color changed, and her wings disappeared, as the process ended. She stood up, now the business woman Dominique Destine. She would have to kill Puck for putting her through such stress. But, this form was useful, so she would just make the Fae's death quick instead of slow, painful torture.

It suddenly hit her. If this potion worked, wouldn't she have ultimate power? Perhaps she could get rid of Puck's spell! No, that would not do. She needed both gargoyle and human form. Then she would just have to control it. She tried thinking about getting rid of the curse, but there would be no real proof unless she actually tried to change back to a gargoyle, or waited till dark. She wondered how to actually use this power, as she thought about changing into a gargoyle. Nothing happened. Apparently, the potion must have failed in some way. She sighed. Hopefully there would be a Southern Galapagos leaf somewhere. She sent a search order to Miss Corey, her assistant, to find a Southern Galapagos. Then, she got ready for work by taking off her leathers and switching to her red business suit.

He found his wife, Fox, already asleep in their bed. She didn't have such a hectic schedule as he did, maintaining thousands of business partners, associates, and workers to worry about. Just Alexander. Than again, that was enough to rival even his schedule. He pulled up the covers to the bed after changing, just as Fox was waking up. "Long night David?"

Xanatos turned over and smiled. "As always dear. What with our guests, that can be expected. Now if you'll excuse me...Good Night dear."

Xanatos pulled the covers over his head and went to sleep. Tonight would be the first organic trial of Project "Larger Than Life".

She opened the doors to the business meeting, finding her associates and business partners seated and talking. They all hushed up as soon as she entered, for they knew she was not a woman to disappoint. She sat down and leaned back in her chair, putting her feet up on the table support underneath it. She looked at all the people sitting at the table as they looked at her. "I'll get right to the point. Our success in New York is starting to fall. We need new investments, and I'd love to hear them," she said, sitting there and waiting for someone to talk.

One person had an idea and started talking. "A lot of the public media has been saying that the Xanatos corporation is due for some major success in the field of science. Perhaps investing in Gen-U-Tech would be a good idea right now."

She considered this very briefly. Xanatos was one of the people she personally did not like. In fact, she hated even seeing the man. Once an ally, she is now enemies with him for he houses her most dreaded enemies, the gargoyles and Goliath. She sighed. "We will not. I don't like Xanatos, and I don't want anything to do with him. Besides, he is our competition. We are not going to side with our competition, or do some of you disagree with me?" Dominique looked at all of the people, bringing to mind the phrase "If looks could kill". No one objected.

She was a bit steamed when another person started talking. "Have we considered investing in the new Statue of Liberty restoration project? All the major money-holders in New York are funding it, and are supposed to get a cut of the revenue for the statue for 1 year."

Again, Dominique considered this briefly. The Statue of Liberty was a sign of freedom in this country, and she personally didn't like it. She would just as well destroy it if she had the chance. So if she invested, and destroyed it, she would lose big time. "No, I don't see the future looking bright for Lady Liberty. People, give me some sensible ideas. I'm getting very mad that you guys aren't thinking of better ideas." She was starting to get even more mad, but wasn't past the breaking point just yet.

Another person spoke up. "Miss, concerning the operation in Peru..."

She got angrier, for these people were delving into things that were not their business. "Yes?"

"We found a completely new material down there, and was wondering if you'd like to invest in mining it? The mineral could be quite profitable in today's modern industry."

She gave a mean look. How in the world did he get that information? She made a mental note to assign someone to watch this fellow, as Robin Correy came in with Dominique's morning coffee. "Thank you Robin. Also, concerning the plant?"

Robin paused, and turned around. "Already underway Miss Destine. We already have a good lead on someone who has a whole greenhouse full of them in California."

Dominique smiled. "Good, get it ASAP." Robin left, as Dominique took a sip of her coffee. She really didn't need to have caffeine to keep her going, nor did the drug have any effect on her body due to her imperviousness to diseases. She simply liked the taste.

Now, she had to take care of this person. She took a sip of her coffee, then set the cup down while leaning back into her original position. "We will send a team of miners down at once, but might I remind you Mr. Borne that what you know is classified information. Don't search for such things again." She would get cash for sending down the miners and getting this material, but might have to lose an employee if he kept acting stupid.

The meeting continued with various discussions and arguments on that decision. They were all fair, and she dealt with them appropriately, until the topic of Dr. Garou's whereabouts came to the table. "Miss Destine, are you sure it would be wise to send workers down there with basic equipment? I mean, the last time you went, a worker was lost on the site due to some mysterious circumstances."

Mysterious was not the right word for Dominique. She knew what would happen. The entire purpose of the excavation was to get the scroll, and that was the only thing that could be touched. Anyone who touched anything else, even her, would suffer a terrible curse, and apparently that curse was death, for the place collapsed. She had hoped Garou wasn't stupid enough to take some for his own, for machines could take it without a problem. Of course, the greed in him was too powerful, and he had to touch it. Of course, being that this was part of the Peru Expedition, and that she now knew that 2 people knew about it, it made her very angry. "So, you too have been delving into company documents? This is final. Any person caught looking into classified documents that are not allowed at their level in this business will be fired immediately. Consider yourself on probation Mr. Borne and Mr. Zarn."

She took another sip of coffee, when her hand suddenly started to shake slightly. The coffee spilled a bit, getting onto the skirt of her suit. Her hand felt all weird, as she quickly set the cup down. The feeling passed, but she felt very odd. Shaking it off, she looked down at her skirt to see that the small puddle of coffee had spread to cover a good portion of the front of her skirt. "Oh blast!" she said, not loud enough for everyone to hear. She looked at everyone, for the meeting was about to close. She was going to say something before they left, then whatever just happened. She continued.

"You people know what I expect of you, and I've told you what I want done. Now.." she paused, for her body felt bloated all of a sudden. It seemed to center around her hand. She looked down at them, wondering what the heck was going on. Suddenly, her ring from Macbeth became tight, then a second later popped off, hitting one of her associates in the head.

"Ouch!" he exclaimed, rubbing his head, and finding a broken ring in his lap. Dominique stared wide-eyed at her hand, when the feeling in her hands started going through her body. When it passed her chest, the top button of her suit popped off her, and then another. She gasped, and crossed her arms, making it look like she was hugging herself . Nobody was noticing this yet, but they would soon if it didn't stop, whatever it was. Luckily, the buttons stopped popping before they reached her chest, but some skin could be seen. She did not wear any undergarments, only getting clothes and letting the leathers take care of the rest when it came to night. The feeling reached her stomach, as her suit's jacket started getting very tight. Then, a few buttons popped on her suit very forcefully, one knocking out a light. A part of the room darkened slightly, everyone looking in that direction. "Miss Destine, are you all right?"

Dominique couldn't say anything, for she was almost paralyzed by this feeling. Her feet, sitting on top of the table support, got the feeling too, as her pumps suddenly constricted to her foot. Then, they blew off her feet, as one of her associates cramped on the table and hit his head, as if in pain. He pulled up Dominique's pump, which had apparently hit him below the belt. Finally, the feeling ended in Dominique, as her associates were quite confused.

Dominique was confused as hell as to what was going on. Her ring was gone, which was now in the table in front of her as the person to her left had put it there. Her suit's buttons were gone, scattered about her and one in a light, which left her jacket open. Under her jacket, her white shirt had ripped a bit at the top, revealing more than it was supposed to. Finally, she was barefoot, as her pumps had suddenly launched from her feet. She shook her head. "Everyone, DISAPPEAR FROM MY SIGHT NOW!!" she said, getting the point across on the final word. Something felt odd about that statement...

Everyone left quite hurriedly and confused, as Dominique stood up. She took her pumps and tried and slipped them onto her feet. Strangely, they didn't fit. She frowned, and tried placing the ring back onto her finger. She could hardly get it halfway down her finger, unlike before where it was at the base. Her jacket couldn't be shut all the way either, suggesting she didn't fit into it. She also got this feeling of power, like she had after she awoke from stone or after a transformation. She quickly walked over to the door to leave and get back to her office, when she noticed another difference. The lamp sitting next to the exit was smaller. She usually was as tall as the lamp, but she was now taller than it. She knew what had happened. She had grown! But what caused it? The potion came to mind quickly. Of course, she thought. If the potion granted Ultimate Power, then this must be why I'm feeling so strong! But what is with this growth? She would have to try and decipher more of the text that described the potion's effects in order to find this mystery out. Carrying her pumps and ring in hand, she quickly exited the room.

She made it unnoticed to her office, as the feeling of strength seemed to increase. She looked around outside her office, and found Robin not there. She didn't care what she was doing, so long as she wasn't here. She kept looking down thinking what to do when she hit her head on something. She stepped back, and looked ahead, rubbing her head. She had hit the top of the door. She stooped her head before going in, and opened the back way to her 'private' office. Before doing anything, she did a quick physical on herself by laying flat on a platform and allowing the computer to scan her system. She let it go for awhile, thinking over what was going on. After it had completed, she went over the documents at her computer for several hours, studying them. She almost forgot about her suit, as the jacket sleeves ripped of the seams, and her skirt tore off. She quickly ditched it, but found that she couldn't take it off without ripping it. Instead, she tore at it, the entire thing coming off. She needed something she could wear at both Gargoyle and Human times. She walked into her closet, having to duck lower than she had to before to get past a door. The only thing she could think of was her leathers. She grabbed them, noting how small they had become, and walked back to a back corner of her office. Located there was her spell book, for which she would cast a spell to make her clothes fit at all times. She found the perfect one, an elasticity spell, and cast it quickly on her leathers. She knew it had a limit, but she wasn't going to grow that tall! Hopefully..... She put them on, finding them a perfect fit. Taking care of that, she checked back at her computer. It came through with a report. She went to work on the terminal.

So far, her only answer was her growth, which she could detect had stopped. She was taller than 9 feet now, but had stopped growing for the moment. Walking over back to the small document sitting on her desk, she sent it through the computer to try and decipher more of the document. It would be a several hour wait. She wanted to test something before that was over though. The original properties of the potion said that she was to gain Ultimate Power. So far, she was growing. Perhaps this increase in size was to be needed to contain this power? She might already have some of the power within her. She decided to give it a shot.

Imagining she had her wings, she concentrated deeply. She felt nothing happening. She sighed. The only detection of something different was that her breathing became heavier. Perhaps this was all she had created. A potion of growth. She was about to cancel the translation of the document when something brushed against her shoulder. Turning around fast, supposing someone was here, she was greeted by open air. Raising an eyebrow, she turned around again and almost hit the cancel button when she saw her reflection in the monitor. What she saw was herself, human, standing there in her leathers, several inches taller than she would be, with her gargoyle wings.

She was almost overjoyed. She could counter Puck's spell! She could change whenever she wanted to! But most importantly, IT WOULD NOT HURT! She grinned, and looked towards the window. The sun was an hour away from setting, as she had been working several hours on this problem. But, this did not worry her. If she could control her transformation, then she could be a human during the night if she wanted. Of course, she did not want this, rather being a gargoyle all the time. For now though, she would have to get some energy to build up, for it seemed that the potion was not strong enough to change her completely into a gargoyle. She would just have to drink more of the potion when the last ingredient came. Her assistant should bring it in tomorrow morning, if she wanted to keep her job. For now, she was stuck with this. She decided to go gliding, as the computer was decoding the text on the parchment. Opening the window to her office, she leaped out and let the wind take over.

Surprisingly, these wings worked just as well as her gargoyle ones, even though she had less weight to account for. She loved feeling the warm, setting sun on her skin, leisurely gliding around the city. She caught sight of the Eyrie Building, and knew those gargoyles were wishing they were in her position, had they known she could become a gargoyle by day with the mere drink of a potion. She wasn't spotted either, which was strange for her being in broad daylight.

The sun was a few minutes from setting when she was flying over the Hudson River. She didn't like this river, for it's name brought her bad luck. But now, she thought nothing could go wrong as the sun set while she was over it's waters. Nothing at all could go wrong....

Unfortunately, something did.

No pain came to her body, but her wings disappeared right as darkness hit her. She paused in mid-air for a few seconds before plummeting towards the water. She desperately tried to imagine having wings, or becoming a gargoyle, but to no avail, as she hit the water full force, knocking her unconscious. Her last thought before going underwater was whether or not the potion canceled her immortality.

She started to leave the island when she suddenly felt weird again. She looked down, wondering what was happening. Her hands were large...larger than they should be. Her eyesight become foggy...something was happening. She thought she saw the ground get farther and farther away. Various parts of her body seemed to grow out of proportion, then suddenly come into it as other parts grew. She stood very still, almost paralyzed by this feeling. Even though she had an elasticity spell on her leathers, they started to get tighter, ripping near the edges. Finally, her sense returned to her. She felt so bloated....she bumped into something when she moved. Her eyesight became less groggy. Hopefully, this wasn't some passerby or guard. However, as she could see again, she went into complete shock. She had bumped into the Statue of Liberty...only 5 feet tall.

She gasped, stepping back and feeling her foot submerge into water. She looked down, finding she was on a small island. She looked around, realizing what had happened as she saw tiny buildings in the distance. The potion...it had done slightly more than what she had thought. She was huge! Quickly doing the math, where she was originally 6 feet (hopefully not 9 from her human self) and knowing that the Statue of Liberty, originally 151 feet, was now 5 feet, she was at least 200 feet tall. She grinned. Oh what havoc she could create at this size...the humans would finally submit to her! And she could stay gargoyle during the day!

She wondered what to do first, leaning on the Statue's head. Small cracks began to form in the structure from Demona's weight. Surprisingly, no one had noticed her yet. She grinned. They would...and as she looked at the Statue starting to crack under her weight, she knew she would get a lot of attention from what she was about to do, which was what she had always wanted to do.

Reaching up with her arm, she brought it down upon the statue. The force of her hit caused the statue to keep cracking. Demona beat upon the statue, until it was ravaged. She had ALWAYS wanted to do that. Now, she would have to take care of the next threat...she stared at the Eyrie Building, standing tall among the other smaller buildings. It looked so much different from this point of view...she would be able to easily destroy it. She started going into the water, finding that at the deepest, it came up to her neck. No boats were out on the water as she made her way to the city.

However, she could feel herself start to get very tired about halfway through the river. The water kept coming up to her neck, but the closer she got to the buildings, the larger they seemed to become. She quickly dashed out the idea that she was shrinking, because she could still touch the ground. But as she got closer and closer, the buildings got larger and larger. She frowned, realizing what was going on. As she got closer, the depth of the water got shallower. So she was shrinking, but at the rate of which she was walking. She tried stopping, but soon her head was sinking below water. She made her way to the shore, disgusted to be back at 6' tall as she did. The potion must have worn off. She needed to drink the full potion in order to become tall and powerful again. She got some leverage off a building, and glided off to the Nightstone Building.

"This just in. The Statue of Liberty has just been destroyed. Eye Witness accounts say that the head started to crack, then suddenly caved in completely as the entire upper half of it was destroyed. A small wave was detected moving away from the island, but no clue as to why the Statue was destroyed could be detected. The President of the United States has prepared a statement for this event which happened only hours ago. He.." The broadcast continued, stating facts about the statue and showed the President's speech. Of course, Lexington wasn't there to watch it. His seat was unoccupied as he went to tell the others.

Xanatos called for Owen. His faithful blond-haired assistant came in. "Owen, call the New York Mayor. Tell him I'll gladly repair the statue. I got a few million to spend..and have some help to do it." Xanatos thought to himself, thinking that maybe if he could get "Larger Than Life" working, he could finish the task himself in days.

Owen nodded, and whipped out his cell-phone, dialing the number on speed dial. He went off down the hall, waiting for the Mayor to get down with his activities.

Dominique Destine had all the ingredients ready. She placed them ready for creation, and awaited the arrival of her assistance with the last ingredient. True to word, Robin had promised a leaf from this plant, and as she walked into Dominique's Public Office with the plant, she had kept her word. She smoothed out her blue dress, waiting for Dominique to tell her what to do next. Dominique was overjoyed.

"Robin, take the whole day off!" She remembered what she had said the first time Robin had almost died. "Enjoy life...it's so fleeting."

Robin was a bit surprised, but nodded and left Dominique's office. Dominique quickly grabbed the plant and rushed into her private, more spacious office. She placed the plant into a environment where it could thrive, with water, sun, and a little magic on her part. Then, she plucked a leaf from the plant, and closed the planetarium. She walked over to the pot she had set out, and prepped the potion. While she let the water boil, she had wondered what had happened last night as to credit her as the person who didn't destroy the Statue of Liberty. The news report had claimed that it was done "with no visible cause". She was 200 ft. tall, and no one saw anything? Did the city go blind for 5 minutes? Perhaps she had done something that had caused her to disappear from sight....

She suddenly remembered something. Right after she grew in her office, she had told everyone to disappear from her sight. Well, the potion had to be malfunctioning, and must have made her disappear from everyone's sight. She might do this again and destroy the city.

She smoothed out her pink dress. It was very loose, the only thing she had that could possibly contain a possible growth she might be having soon. The pumps she was wearing hardly fit, only about half her size. She had bought it last night in case she had to walk around her office or something. The skirt was staying on with a large belt, and the jacket had to come down to the back of her legs. She sighed, putting in the last ingredient. It was now or never...

She took up the potion into a small bottle, it still looking a little like maple syrup. She smiled, then drank the whole thing. She sat down and crossed her legs, unbuckling her belt and waiting like Dr. Jekyll for Mr. Hyde in one of those reactions. She smiled. Or rather, Dr. Destine and Ms. Demona.

She could feel it...the pure form of power. She looked down, seeing the fabric she was wearing start to rise as her body fit to the loose clothes. The wrinkles smoothed out, becoming flatter. Her skirt slowly crawled up her legs. The shoes shook less and less as they started to fit onto her feet. She could feel the skirt fit her waistline as she continued to grow. Her white shirt underneath her suit became tight, then stopped, as did her jacket. Finally, the shoes had come to a perfect fit upon her feet. She had estimated right as to how big to grow. She strapped on her belt to a strap that was a lot longer than the one she had previous.

She stood up, and stretched. All the clothes were a perfect fit. She was only 6'5" tall now, and would not be meeting any associates. She could get some work done before she destroyed the city in comfort, rather than in this cold environment with bare skin. She sat down, squeezing herself into the chair. Opening her very small laptop, she typed up some reports, finding that sometimes her fingers were too big, and hit two, three, or even four keys at once as she typed. It was starting to get frustrating, so she imagined herself getting smaller, back to her original size. As if on cue, everything got a bit larger. She grinned, for she had total control. Her clothes had shrunk with her...she set a time to have a date with the city for destruction. Today was going to be a good day.

He was positioned at the ray, aiming very steadily. The ray required one man to handle, with a firing button right beside the aiming handle. Fox walked in ,wearing a lab coat, just as Xanatos hit the fire button, holding it in place for aiming. "Hi David!" she said loudly, startling Xanatos. The beam fired, and missed it's target completely. The room's surface was such that the ray reflected off the area, bouncing around the room. Xanatos swore as soon as he saw the ray reflect, then quickly ducked. Fox did the same except with less audio. Xanatos dived behind a table just as the ray hit it, and bounced off. Fox was not so lucky. She wasn't as quick as she used to be, and was hit in the chest as she tried and moved. She let out a small moan as the ray hit her. Xanatos quickly made his way through the web of lasers, and hit the off button. Fox fell to the ground in a pile.

"Fox!" Xanatos said, running over to her. She woke up slightly at the call, and moaned quietly to herself.

"David...what happened?" she said wearily.

"Fox, you've been hit by our project. You startled me, and the ray missed and hit the area around it. I should have known this place had reflective properties for the laser. How are you feeling?"

"I...I'm fine. It's just that I feel like I'm going through PMS."

Xanatos frowned. "Honey, you look pale. Let me take you to a doctor." Xanatos had a physician on hand at all times. After all, someone so rich could not trust many people to aid him.

Fox stood up shakily. "David, I'm fine really."

Xanatos frowned. "I still want to get you checked out. Come on, let's go."

Fox sighed. "Fine David." Xanatos and Fox started to exit the room, but Fox paused a second. "Just a sec, I got to adjust these shoes." She reached down to mess around with her shoes, when a large ripping sound was heard. Fox came up suddenly, very surprised. "David..." she started to say, when small tears could be heard. Xanatos turned around to see what was going on.

When he turned around, he saw something that made him both freak out and overjoyed. Fox had grown a foot, ripping through some of her clothes and destroying her shoes. The ray had worked! It was experimental, and the effects should be reversible, but it worked...

Fox didn't care about the ray. She cared only about the fact that she was taller, and was looking at Xanatos. "David, what did that ray do to me?"

Xanatos smiled. "Honey...let me explain everything to you..."

Xanatos went into a detailed explanation of project "Larger Than Life", a growth ray meant for use in case things, such as the Gargoyles shrinking or a large threat attacking the city, ever happened. The ray had worked on inorganic things, but when it came to simple organic things like apples, it didn't work. However, the ray worked completely when it hit Fox, so he was wondering just what made her grow. Fox understood, but was still concerned about her height. Xanatos got rid of that worriness by shrinking her back to normal size with the ray. After a quick change of clothes, Fox Xanatos and David Xanatos went back to the Eyrie Building to celebrate, allowing the scientists to fine tune the ray.

She opened her eyes and waited some more, adjusting the spell she had cast and setting it in motion. The force of power began to swell inside her. She tensed a bit, then noticed someone approaching her. She opened her eyes, trying to look normal. The man was a guard from inside the Eyrie Building.

"Excuse me ma'am, but this building is closed for today. Care to explain why your hanging around?" the guard said, seemingly more interested in Dominique's body then why she was here.

Dominique was almost incapable of speaking due to what she was doing. It was starting, and she had to make everyone not notice before she really got started. Already she could feel it was too late for this guy to know, so she just walked up to him and smiled.

"Oh, I'm sure I have a long and big reason why I'm here. I believe you wouldn't have the time anyway." she said, trying to suppress the feeling she was getting. This guy was sort of annoying her. She got a strange feeling from that annoyance.

The man frowned, then looked Dominique up and down. "Pardon me for asking, but I could have sworn that you were a bit shorter a second ago."

Dominique grinned. "You'll find that I'm one to have big changes." The feeling was continuing. This guy was almost making her lose her concentration.

The guard shook his head, looking at Dominique. Dominique looked down at her shoes, feeling then start to get tight. The guard followed Dominique's gaze, and saw her shoes. "Gee, those look too small for your feet. You sure you got the right shoe size when you went shopping for those?"

Dominique didn't say a thing, as the shoes got tighter. Then, her feet ripped out of the shoes, crushing the heels and utterly destroying the shoes. The guard quickly stood back, looking up at Dominique. Dominique had set into motion a large growth spell for herself, and was trying now to surpass this feeling she was getting of growing. The guard stared in amazement as Dominique started to tower over him, her clothes starting to look like spandex. Dominique could not get her clothes to grow with her. The sudden loss of concentration by dealing with this guy had made her lose it. However, she was able to control her leathers.

Dominique had to take care of the city without getting noticed, so she set her new power to work. She didn't do any chanting, but issued one command to the power she now controlled. "Make the City sleep."

Power burst from Dominique as did buttons from her pink suit. The essence flew about the city, covering it and making everyone in the city fall to sleep. Of course, crashes did occur, and some fatalities were made due to this and other situations where falling down was fatal. But Dominique didn't care. However, her essence seemed to be blocked by the Eyrie Building. There must be some sort of magical protection on this building. She waited, as small tears started to form in her skirt. Parts of her leather gargoyle belt could be seen through the fabric, as her other large belt snapped and feel to the ground besides her huge feet Her skirt ripped off completely. She had her loincloth underneath, growing with her. The sleeves on her suit ripped off, as all the buttons on her suit had popped, revealing she also had her leather top on.

She kept growing, past 50 feet. Her clothes were gone now, save for her gargoyle clothes. She might have to become a gargoyle later on, should the threat from Xanatos be great enough to ensure that. She set herself to 100 feet, her growth showing no end. She grew past 150 feet, and past 200 feet. Building tops were starting to pass by her. Her growth finally ended. She was about half the Eyrie Building's height. Her feet filled the street. She stood up right next to the building. "Xanatos!" she bellowed, the sound able to be heard for miles if anyone was awake to hear it.

"Apparently sir," said Owen in a calm manner, "We have guests."

Xanatos frowned, and quickly went upstairs to the balcony. What he saw shook his inner being. Standing like a tower was Demona in human form, in only her leathers. He stood back in surprise, as she started climbing. She got face to face with the wealthy business man, her face dwarfing him. "Xanatos, you either come quietly, or I will tear this building down," she said threateningly.

"Over my dead body," said Xanatos, hoping she would back down, or some sort of miracle would happen.

"Suit yourself," Dominique said, raising her huge fist, then bringing it down.

However, it didn't make it all the way, as suddenly a yellow field surrounded the entire building. Dominique's hand bounced off, as did her body. The energy field that they had used against the last threat, Oberon, had been fixed and was still in place. Xanatos thanked his stars, but Dominique was most likely not going to shrink due to energy usage such as bashing against the shield. She was trying though, and the shield was taking a pounding. He quickly went to consult Owen . He needed some help to take her down.

*CRASH*

It sounded like something hitting a building, like a wrecking ball. She quickly ran down the street, coming around the final corner leading to the street of which the Eyrie Building was on.

She tripped on something large, and landed on something soft. Funny, New York sidewalks weren't supposed to be soft. She looked down, to see something pink. Looking forward, this pink thing extended down the street, ending abruptly with 5 toes with nails. Looking up, her jaw went slack.

She looked off into the distance. The sun would set in several seconds, but she would maintain her form. Her wings could get in the way of her rampaging. She set out again on trying to crush the shield. Her power was once again limited, as she could not grow any larger. Oh well, who was to say one potion would give her all the power in the world? She would have enough.

"Is this Heaven?" she said, a tad confused and muddled.

"No, it's Iowa," Xanatos said, remembering the line from the movie Field of Dreams. "Elisa, your OK. We saw Demona about to crush you, and Owen here teleported you here.

"But I thought Owen was only allowed to use his magic to protect Alex!" exclaimed Elisa.

Owen responded, "I figure that should you not be alive or not survived, then this would cause a great disturbance in the Gargoyles, and they are our primary defense for Alex. It's complex really, but we need you to stop Demona."

Elisa frowned. "Why me?"

Xanatos frowned. "Well, we could also use Angela, but listen here. The scientists at my Gen-U-Tech lab have been working on a growth ray, since you and the gargoyles have been having that shrinking feeling of late. The ray was found to have worked on inorganic items slightly, but not organic items. Then the ray hit Fox. They analyzed the data, and found that the estrogen in her system was the catalyst. Therefore, the ray will only work on females, for now. They are going to work on getting the ray to work, no matter who gets hit, but your the only one available that can't help too much in this castle's defense."

Elisa frowned. "So what are you saying? That I should grow to Demona's size and take her out?"

Xanatos frowned. "That's on the last resort. We have weapons on the castle that could hopefully hurt her, because there is also the risk that the growth is permanent. Fox's growth, when she was hit with it, was only a small change, and could have been corrected immediately. But the kind of change we're talking about, it could permanently change your DNA. For now, stay here."

Elisa nodded. "I'll wait right here, just go see what Demona is doing."

As soon as the everyone left, Elisa walked out the other direction and towards the elevator. What she was thinking was completely rash, completely stupid, but what she was thinking was possibly the only way to stop Demona if this weapon of Xanatos's did not work. Plus, she felt the need for revenge that only hand-to-hand combat could bring. Demona had gotten in the way one to many times. As she waited for the shield to drop to get into her car and drive to Gen-U-Tech, she had only one thought on her head. She was going to have a growth spurt.

The shield dropped at the top portion, allowing Xanatos's helicopter to escape. She did not need to take out the building, only it's owner. The helicopter sped away, as Demona began to pursue. They helicopter was unprotected, so all she had to do was smack it and she could take care of it. Unfortunately, New York's numerous buildings were getting in her way. She was also taking side streets to follow, a plan most likely thought up by Xanatos to keep her from crushing hundreds of people beneath her feet. Finally, the helicopter stopped and whirled around. It deployed some sort of large bomb-looking projectile. Demona smiled. They were going to chuck a toy at her? "Bring it on Xanatos."

The bomb launched at her. Demona smiled and put her face forward to greet it. It blew up, in her face, as the entire area went in a flash of light. Xanatos grinned, at the pilot controls of the helicopter. She knew Demona's immortality spell would hold, even in this case, but she should be knocked back down to size should this bomb work.

However, to his utter horror, Demona was still standing there. A small aura of light had surrounded her, as she had placed a shield with her energy around herself. Xanatos quickly turned the helicopter towards the Eyrie Building, with Demona in close pursuit again. He landed safely and resumed the shield. Well, Plan A had failed.

Looking around, he found several things the confused him. First of all, he found the Grimorum, but it looked like it had not been used for a long time. Next, he found a cauldron, which had been used recently, judging from the small amount of liquid in it's bottom. Next, he found over by her computer a parchment. This had to be a direct indication of how she grew. Booting up her computer, he quickly hacked into her system and into her personal files. He opened the File Manager, then clicked on the arrangement type. He hit "Sort By Date" as the files suddenly transferred from latest to oldest. There, he found a document labeled "scroll.doc". He opened the document, and there, was a complete translation of the potion and it's description. Apparently, this wasn't a word for word translation, for it said so in the opening statement. He skimmed as fast as he could, and found a recent entry that marked Demona's first day with the potion. Printing the document and saving it to a local disk, he started his trek back to the Eyrie Building. One question popped in his head as he flew back. How was he to get back in?

"Owen, where's Elisa?"

"5.....4.....3......2..*" she continued to count, about to say 1. Then, the ray lanced out at her early, striking her fully in the chest. She stood there as the ray continued to hit her, feeling some sort of weird, tingly feeling all over her. Finally, after what seemed like hours, the ray ceased. She stumbled to the floor, barely holding herself up. She managed to get on one foot, then two. She felt so weak. Perhaps this wasn't the correct ray? No, this had to be it. She had quickly checked logs in hope of finding how to operate the machine. She stumbled out of the lab, towards the outside. Perhaps Xanatos could set it properly because the way she felt, she must have done something wrong.

She made it to the front part of the building, and stumbled out. She felt out of alignment, trying to get her balance straight. Finally, the feeling inside of her ended. Except now she felt all bloated. Perhaps the ray was working?

She made her way to her car, and pulled out the keys to the cadillac. However, her hand started to shake violently. She brought it back out, as the small seizure seemed to end. That's when she noticed the cuff on her jacket. Instead of being loose, it was real close to her arm. She felt another wave of dizziness hit her. Now her entire jacket felt tight. She looked down, and saw her car. It was tiny, almost like a toy. Her jacket felt like it was ripping off, as did her shoes. The button on her jeans gave way, as she could feel the jeans become tighter against her skin. Then, the feeling ended. She was really muddled, but as each second passed, she got a full glimpse at what was going on. She looked down, seeing what looked like the Gen-U-Tech building, only smaller. She went wide-eyed. The ray had worked! She had grown to Demona's size!

Her clothes were worn like when she was a gargoyle. Xanatos had said that the ray had a small effect on inorganic materials. She was lucky her clothes didn't rip off completely. Grinning, she made her way towards the Eyrie Building, seeing Demona at a size that was normal to her and huge to everyone else. It was time to kick her butt.

Growling, Demona summoned what power she could. However, she could not change to a gargoyle. Something was wrong here. The "Ultimate Power" that she had created for herself was not as it was few hours ago. She could swear that the Eyrie Building was taller. Then, it hit her. The potion was wearing off again. If she didn't take out Elisa soon, however she got big, then she would have to try again tomorrow and get the potion. That is, if she wasn't killed first. But she had a back-up plan...she grinned, looking at a large vial by her belt. She had made another dose of the potion. She reached down for it. Elisa watched curiously, ready to dodge in case it was thrown at her. But instead, Demona drank the potion. She grinned, walking up to Elisa.

Elisa was confused again, for Demona, in relative size, was a few inches shorter than her. Then, she was even, then taller. Demona was growing again, but she stopped, only a foot larger than her. She noticed other changes taking place. Demona was now really becoming Demona! The gargoyle transformation was occurring! Now it was Elisa's turn to move fast. She grabbed Demona, and looked for a place to throw her without doing the city damage. She threw her into New York Bay.

Xanatos was already on the roof, preparing his helicopter for another flight. He turned towards Lexington as he came. "I hope you have good news."

Lex grinned. "Do I ever! I got a complete list of the ingredients Demona used to make the potion that gave her power."

Xanatos smiled. "This could certainly help. Elisa is holding off Demona, for now. I'm heading to the Gen-U-Tech lab to get the growth ray located there. Let me see the list, I might be able to stop Demona with it."

Lexington took out the printout from his loincloth, and handed it to Xanatos. "But how will a growth ray help? Elisa's big enough!"

Pocketing it, Xanatos stepped inside the helicopter. "You'll see. Wish Elisa luck, she might be our last hope."

With that, the helicopter took off. Lexington watched the two women fight in the river.

Elisa took advantage of that moment, and tackled Demona. They both crashed into the waters of the bay, struggling against each other. Demona tried to punch Elisa, but Elisa dodged the deadly talons and slapped her right on the cheek. Demona growled viciously, and returned the slap, knocking Elisa off of her. Elisa gently touched the large red area against her cheek. She was infuriated, and kicked Demona again. Demona fell, her large elbow nearly taking out a building close to shore. Elisa didn't want to endanger any people, so she tossed Demona back into deep water.

Demona was enraged at Elisa, and ran towards her, creating small tidal waves from her legs. Demona crashed into Elisa, knocking them both underwater. The fight continued still...

He could see that both the giantesses fighting in the waters had been cooled down by the bay's waters. He tried and set his sights on Demona, but they were fighting too much for him to get a proper aim.

Elisa tossed Demona away, thoroughly scratched up and bleeding in places. Demona grinned, and approached her with talons glimmering. "Now you die Elisa Maza!" she said, raising her talons high to strike the final blow.

Xanatos fired, as the ray lanced out. Demona looked over her shoulder, seeing the ray coming at her. She tried to dodge, but the ray struck her in the back. She shrieked in rage from the ray, almost as if it were painful. Instead, Demona was feeling the pain of her gargoyle transformation, since she did not completely transform when she did with the potion. She fell to her knees in the water. She shook steadily, then tried to stand up. The feeling of power within her was leaving, she could feel it. She looked forward to find herself looking at Elisa's belly. She was shrinking back to normal size...she had lost.

Elisa smiled as Demona shrank before her sight. She picked up the small gargoyle and placed her on the shore, then looked down at herself. "OK Xanatos, you've taken care of Demona. Now how about me?"

Xanatos recharged the ray, talking over a megaphone. "Elisa, I can't guarantee this will work fully. Unlike Demona, your DNA has been altered...this might not work."

Elisa nodded, and waited. Xanatos let the ray fire again. The ray engulfed Elisa in a red glow. Then, Xanatos stopped the ray. There was a quiet pause.

Elisa frowned. "It's not working Xanatos..."

Xanatos watched closely. "Give it a second Detective."

Elisa shook her head. She felt that same groggy feeling again. Then, a sense of falling. She regained her sense to find that she was falling. She had shrunk so quickly, and in mid-air, that she was at the top of her original height, and falling! She screamed on her way down, but felt herself get caught by familiar hands. Looking up, she saw Goliath flying there, holding onto her. Elisa smiled, and laid her head onto his chest. Today was a very long day...

Xanatos smiled, holding onto Fox. "That can be arranged. Owen, get a shower ready for Detective Maza."

Owen nodded. "If you will come with me Detective."

Elisa followed, looking somewhat proud. Goliath grinned. Why shouldn't see be? She was the hero today. Turning towards Xanatos, Goliath said, "So what of the potion and the growth ray?"

Xanatos raised an eyebrow. "Well, if you don't destroy it because of it's possibilities to be used for evil, I was hoping on fine-tuning the ray and keeping the scroll in storage." Goliath nodded.

Fox broke in. "However, Demona also has a copy of the scroll too, but I believe she would be reluctant to use it to make the potion just yet."

"Yes, she doesn't usually try plans twice that has failed once before. She might reconsider her plan and take out the growth ray."

Xanatos smiled. "I have 4 of those things in the works. She would have to simultaneously take out each one in order to destroy them."

Goliath nodded again. "Then if you will excuse me, we have a city to check on. Since Demona's power influence has left the city, people are waking up, and some of them will need medical intention."

Lexington walked in, hearing the conversation. "Yeah, we could score some points with the locals for this!"

Xanatos smiled. "Then I shall see you later Goliath. Fox and I have some work to do."

The gargoyles and the humans left the room to do their respected duty.

She grinned. She still had the scroll, and was creating the only storage of South American Galapagos ever in the world for the potion. She sat down, looking over her plans. She always had some plot going on...and now was one of those times.

Xanatos smiled, as he looked across New York City. The Statue of Liberty had been rebuilt as planned. It had not cost him much, since he also had the support of various other people who were willing to invest in rebuilding the statue. He grinned. His faith in the city had been restored some. Hopefully he didn't have to do anymore rescue calls for the gargoyles. He left the balcony and headed downstairs to check on Fox and Alex.

Reaching it, she walked in to find it empty. Sevarius must be taking a vacation. Or did he quit? She didn't know right now. She waltzed over to the vault, her blue pumps creating noise as she did. She stopped quickly and took them off, hanging them from her belt. Then, she took out a small laser device. Her role as a Hunter wasn't as strong as it was before, seeing as she wasn't hunting gargoyles anymore, but she still had access to the technology. Decoding the lock on the vault door, it flew open, admitting her. She stepped in.

The vault was quiet, and quite bare. The only thing of importance was a small scroll. She walked up to it, analyzing the text. It was English. She read the text out loud, a bit confused by the meaning.

"Downsize reader through magical means, then grow them back as if nothing was seen."

She frowned. This was just a small scribble. The parchment it was on did look old, but this was something Dominique Destine must have written. Walking outside the vault and shutting it, she made her way to the elevator. Placing her shoes back on, she affirmed that she was once again a little bit taller.

She stepped outside and starting walking down the street. Then, a sudden tingly feeling filled her completely. She paused a second, as the feeling passed just as fast as it had come. She frowned. She started walking, when her blue pump on her right foot slipped off. Looking down, she frowned again. She reached for it and placed it back on her foot. Sighing, she started walking again. She could have sworn that these heels were shorter than 3 inches.

A furry, taloned hand came out of the hole, gripping for the edge. In the distance, a wolf could be heard howling....

Garou was loose.

Tim "Nigeria" Daniels