"Bitter Sweet Occurrence"  Ryley Breen at ubreen@fox.nstn.ca

Note:	I have already read several stories found in the Fan Fiction section
of the Gargoyle Home page and have loved everyone.  I especially like the
ones where Elisa and Oberon's children are included (especially Puck).
That comedian among immortals is always good for a laugh or two.  In the
following story I will explore what may happen in a future episode that
would change Elisa and Goliath's relationship forever.  This takes place
after the final part of the series "Hunter's Moon"  (mostly because of the
fact that it gives me more freedom to write).  Well I hope you enjoy what I
have written and I would appreciate any thoughts you may have on it.  Oh
and if it is good enough could you put it on "The Gargoyle Home page"  Fan
Fiction section.  If this were on television (which if Buena Vista checks
out this home page it may someday be) it would show scenes from "The
Mirror"  episode"  where Elisa is seen as a gargoyle as well as scenes from
"Hunter's Moon"  showing Demona with the praying gargoyle as well as the
tablet.    Well enough of the chit chat, on with the story.

"Bitter Sweet Occurrence"

	Night was falling in New York and the creatures of the night both good and
evil arise from their hiding places in the shadows.  Most of these
creatures are considered to be law breakers but there are a few that strive
to uphold the law and protect. It is true that the people of this city now
see them as a menace to be wiped out, these creatures of myth and legend
protect this city regardlessly.  Some would think that these winged
warriors of the night must be very lonely but fortunately they have human
friends that believe in them and would do anything to protect them.  This
fact has yet to be given limits but in the coming days/nights Elisa Maza is
about to discover for the first time how much she is willing to sacrifice
for her friends, for her Gargoyles.

Sunday 6:55pm New York

	"Why is it that I feel like a cat in a dog pound?"  thought Elisa to
herself as she walked up the stone stairs to the ramparts.  She had been
uncomfortable that Goliath and the rest had returned to Castle Wyvern.  She
had been even more surprised that Xanatos would allow them to live at his
headquarters.  With all the trouble that they had caused them in the past,
Elisa half expected Xanatos to be laying some sort of villainous scheme to
get revenge on them.  Goliath seemed to trust Xanatos's promise of the
Castle being their home once again and that was enough to relieve her
worried mind.  "Then if I trust Goliath's judgment why am I upset so much"
asked Elisa as she reached the top of the steps.  It was probably because
of the way he had been acting the past couple of nights.  She had seen a
rage in him that she had never seen before.  Goliath Had been acting more
and more like Demona in his growing hatred of humans.  She hoped that it
would fade away in time but it still worried her.  "Well no time to ponder
that now, I'd best put on a cheerful face or Goliath will worry"  thought
Elisa as she watched the sun set.

	As the pitch dark blackness of night began to once again cover the city a
sense of foreboding rose around the tower.  A feeling of impending eruption
of power, a feeling of awe as the sounds of crumbling stone filled the air.
As Elisa watched this she couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement
fill her being.  "No matter how many times I see this it is just as
magnificent as the first time"  thought Elisa with a slight snicker.
Goliath sprang from his stone sleep with a mighty roar.  Elisa wondered how
many people may have heard that down below at the base of the Xanatos
building.

	Goliath smiled as he saw Elisa standing behind him.  He was so happy that
she was alive and not dead.  The night before had been a roller coaster of
emotions for him.  First filled with happiness that Angela was survived the
attack by the Hunters, then overrun with rage at the destruction of the
clock tower and Elisa's apparent death, then overjoyed to discover that she
had survived.From here on he promised that he would never allow his
emotions to endanger her again.  "Glad to be back in your home?"  asked
Elisa as she walked up and patted him on his muscular  back.  "Yes, to walk
along the walls of the place where I hatched and to know that it is once
again mine" said Goliath as he gazed over the courtyard.  "Well the others
seem to like it, Broadway is already gone to the kitchen and the others are
giving Angela a guided tour of her ancestral home"  remarked Elisa as she
saw the last of them skitter into the castle.  "Yes, perhaps now our lives
can return to normal" , said Goliath with a chuckle, "whatever that is" .
"Well don't be too happy Goliath, you still have a bit of a problem" ,
remarked a voice from the stairs, "you still have to deal with the
anti-gargoyle frenzy that is sweeping the city" .  When they looked to see
who had said that they frowned as David Xanatos came up the steps.  They
were still a bit cautious around the multi-billionare, even though he had
probably saved their lives the night before.  "As you know thanks to the
broadcast by the rogue member of the "Hunters" , every person in the city
will be coming after you" he said as he stood not a foot away from Goliath.
"He's right you know, now it will be much more dangerous for you out on
patrol" Elisa said as she looked at Goliath's grim face.  "I suppose you
are right.  I'll be sure to inform the others of this too before they go
anywhere" sighed Goliath.  "Speaking of patrol I'd best go on patrol
myself, people might begin to wonder why a cop is hanging around the
Xanatos building so much"  said Elisa as she walked toward the staircase.
"I'll come with and we will patrol together"  suggested Goliath as he put
his hand on Elisa's shoulder.  After nearly loosing her before Goliath
refused to risk it again.  "I don't think that would be wise Goliath.
Given the current crisis it would be better if you were not seen with
Detective Maza"  ,interjected Xanatos, "if anyone sees you two together
they may label her as a traitor and give her extra trouble" .  Goliath let
out a low growl at this statement and probably would have begun yelling at
Xanatos but fortunately Elisa stepped in.  "Goliath, as much as I hate to
admit it he may be right" , said Elisa holding Goliath by the shoulders
reassuringly, "Don't worry, in a little while this will all blow over.
Besides, I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself" .  With that she
trotted down the stairs and was gone.  Little did the fair Elisa know that
on this night she may live to regret her choice.

	The interior of Demona's house was a complete mess that night.  She had
torn it apart the night before after her defeat at the hands of Goliath and
his clan.  She had been so close to finally getting her revenge on the puny
humans, then Goliath had to go and ruin it for her.  Demona was also mad at
the fact that Goliath had apparently returned to his naivete on the human
race.  If he had kept this up a bit longer Goliath and herself could have
been reunited.  The thought of having a potential companion being ripped
from her grasp infuriated her.  It had been a while since Thailog had died
and she once again felt the emptiness of solitude creeping into her soul.
Since her defeat she had begun to plan her next attempt at destroying
humanity(Is that all she ever thinks about?).  She could thing of nothing
until she remembered an article from yesterdays paper.  There was a new
exhibit at the museum of natural history that intrigued her.  Apparently
the museum archeologists had uncovered a priceless artifact from Norway.
It had been identified as the mythical sphere of Tatania.  "Hmmm, this has
definite potential" thought Demona with a slight grin.  According to legend
it was a source of incredible power and almost limitless in its
applications.  If she could retrieve it from the museum who knows what she
could do.  She might very well be able to achieve her ultimate goal, the
complete destruction of the human race.  As that thought passed through her
head another one brought itself tothe surface and a sinister smile came
across her face.  "I could even get rid of that pathetic human Elisa Maza
and retrieve my beloved Goliath" thought the rogue gargoyle.  "Yes that is
what I'll do and then the world will be free of the cancerous human race"
exclaimed Demona.  Without another word she jumped out the window towards
her destiny.  Then again when it comes to destiny and Demona you know it
can't be good.

	"Halapania" sighed Elisa as she came to an intersection.  It had been
rather difficult adjustining back to the night shift timetable after being
posted to the day shift for awhile.  Truth be known she kinda liked the day
shift while it had lasted.  To feel the sun's warmth all day instead of
just at dawn and dusk as was the norm.  Don't take it wrong, she liked the
night shift and all but some nights she wondered why she even bothered.
Already she was beginning to feel her stamina begin to wear down, Elisa
almost thought that she would fall asleep at the wheel.  She had already
had three plastic cups full of coffee but even that was losing it's
effectiveness.  It was already three AM and and she had another another
three or four hours to go.  Unfortunately her inner desires got thrown
aside as Elisa saw the all too familiar shadow of a female gargoyle glide
by in front of her.  "I wonder why Angela left the castle, she should know
that it is pretty dangerous to be seen right now" , thought Elisa.  As she
pulled over to the side and looked up her jaw dropped to the ground in
shock.  The look of shock quickly fled from her face and one of worry and
bitterness replaced it.

 "Demona!" moaned the young Detective.  "What are you up to now" thought
Elisa as she sped off in pursuit of the Demon.  She followed Demona for a
few blocks until she saw the winged form land atop the roof of the museum.
Elisa knew that it would take Demona only a matter of minutes to find what
she was looking for, given the fact that Demona usually planned her crimes
rather carefully.  She was then faced with the choice of calling for backup
and risk Demona escaping or go in now and risk possible death.  In the end
there was only one true decision, she had to go after Demona now or else
risk her getting away with a possiblely powerful artifact and adding more
fuel to the anti-gargoyle fire.

	When she finally got inside the museum she could easily hear the sound of
Demona trashing the security systems and glass cases.  "Not being to smart
are we Demona?" mumbled Elisa as she took out her handgun.  It wasn't hard
finding Demona with all the noise, she seemed to be in the Norse section of
the museum.  "What could she possibly want with a bunch of Norse artifacts"
, wondered Elisa, "surely the artifacts here don't have any magical
abilities or she would have stolen them sooner" .  Then she remembered her
eventful trip to Norway and a sense of dread saturated her body.  When
Avalon's magic had sent them there they were pitted against the Norse god
Odin.  At first it seemed that they would be able to keep the bearded god
at bay but he proved to be far more cunning then they realized.  Odin soon
took her hostage and told Goliath that if he wanted her back that he must
hand over the eye of Odin.  From there on in things became very stange but
soon came to an end.  The thought of something like the eye in Demona's
possesion was reason enough to pick up the pace and hope that she wasn't to
late.   As she approached the doorway of the Norse wing if the museum she
could hear Demona beginning to chant something.  The smell of brimstone and
the sensation of power filled the air.  Elisa peeked into the room to see
Demona holding a large sphere-like crystal glowing in her hands.  "Uh-oh"
whispered Elisa as she gazed upon the crystal sphere.  It was like looking
into the sun and not having to turn away after a bit.  It didn't take a
genius to know that this thing was powerful and if Demona got away with it
the whole world would be at risk.  At first glance the only visible option
was to try and grab it away from Demona and get away from her asquickly as
she could.  Unfortunately there was another option that her sense of logic
urged her to do.  It told her that she should go back to her car and get
back-up but by then Demona may escape.  "It's amazing how seldom I listen
to my logical side"  thought Elisa with a grin.  Taking a deep breath she
decided on the first course of action.  At nearly break neck speed the
unique detective ran toward Demona and rammed her shoulder into Demona's
back.  The gargoyle sorceress, stunned from the blow stumbled forward and
had thrown the sphere into the air.  Elisa jumped as high into the air as
she could, not wishing the unknown energies in the orb to be released.  As
it was about to land in her hands a small feeling of dread swept over her
body.  It was if her entire body was nothing but a skeleton swinging in the
wind.  It could only be described as being her own self-preservation
instincts screaming a warning, but the warning had come to late.  Energy
blasted from the magical antiquity as wave crashed onto Elisa's skin.
Suddenly the energy changed shapebecame a long cylinder of energy and was
directed at Elisa.  Elisa, completely unprepared for the onslaught,
screamed a glass shattering scream as pain filled her entire body.  This
was far more painful that anything that she had ever been through before
and considering what she had been through the last couple of weeks it
frightened her.  As the darkness of the museum began to surround her and
cover her she began to cry at an inaudible level.  "I'm dying" , thought
Elisa as her thoughts became harder to form, "and I'll never see Goliath or
the others again" . Then she lapsed into an unconscious state and Tatania's
sphere dropped from her hands and rolled to Demona who was slowly
recovering her senses.

	"Uhh what happened" moaned Demona as she got to her feet.  Her back was
aching from the blow that her unknown attacker had dealt her.  As she
gathered her thoughts she felt a smooth pearl-like round surface bump into
her taloned feet. Looking down she saw Tatania's sphere glowing at her
feet, seeming to beckon her to pick it up.  Wondering what had happened she
gazed around the room and froze the moment she saw the glowing and floating
mass of energy in the air.  It was like a cocoon, a cocoon that would soon
open and release its gift of beauty.  When she took a closer look her eyes
widened in delight.  "Well, well maybe this night is turning out better
than I planned" , sneered Demona, "I get to gain unimaginable power and
destroy the focus of Goliath love all in one night" .  Suddenly the magic
surrounding the unconscious human began to grow brighter and shot off small
lightning bolts of energy.  At that moment the devious smile that was once
on Demona's cruel face changed to one of fear.  Something was happening,
something quite disturbing.  Not knowing what was about to happen, Demona
grabbed the sphere off the ground and ran to the sun roof which she had
used to gain access.  "I don't know what's happening but I'd best get out
of here" thought Demona as she gazed back to the doorway leading to the
Norse exhibit.  All that she could see was the light of the magic growing
brighter by the second.  Not wasting another minute she jumped onto the
roof and flew away.  Had she looked back she would have seen light bursting
out of almost every window then vanish.

	Dave Sampson had worked the beat for quite a while and came to believe
that there was nothing he couldn't handle.  He thought that the rumours of
mysterious happenings were nothing more than stories that the other cops
told to keep life interesting.  He was completely astounded when he saw
what had happened at that old abandoned church a few nights ago.
Gargoyles, things that he thought were nothing more than foreboding water
spouts, fighting it out with mercenaries in high-tech gear.  He hadn't seen
much of it since he was mostly occupied with keeping a crowd of people away
from the battleground.  The entire crowd was out for gargoyle blood after
the WVRN news team had blamed the gargoyles for the destruction ofthe
abandoned clock tower and damaged the lower floors of the building.  Of
course Dave knew that there was absolutely no evidence of this, which upset
him a bit.  The only thing linking the gargoyles to the explosion was that
they were in the same spot as the explosion and were seen flying away from
the tower.  Even at the protests by one Detective Maza and Captain Chavez,
the Mayor ordered that a Gargoyle assault team and equipment designed to
deal with the threat would be created.  Sampson knew that the Mayor was
only doing this so that the public wouldn't go hunting for the gargoyles
themselves.  "I hope that they at least give these Gargoyles a chance to
explain themselves and not shoot first" thought Sampson.  Suddenly his
radio came to life and brought him back down to earth.  "Car 102, car 102,
break in and possible arson at the museum of natural history.  Please
investigate" spoke the dispatcher.  "This is car 102, ten-four" spoke
Sampson as he put his siren on and sped off to the museum.  For a moment
Dave wondered what he would find when he arrived.
	Elisa's eyes opened slowly as life returned to her limbs.  As her eyes
focused she immediately wondered what had happened to her.  She tried to
get to her feet which was no easy task considering she ached all over and
found it hard to think straight.  After a bit of straining she was able to
get to her feet and immediately noticed that something was different about
herself.  No sooner did she look down then she saw  taloned gargoyle feet
where her previously five-toed feet had been.  She was shocked at what she
was seeing and leaned against a wall for support.  "Halapania, not again"
moaned Elisa.  Once more she was in the tan brown and black gargoyle form.
Her scarlet red coat was gone and as she felt her back she discovered that
her black T-shrt had been rewoven to accomodate her Brooklyn-like wings.
She had once before been transformed into a gargoyle by the trickster of
Oberon's children.  Now Elisa was once more a Gargoyle but this time she
had some mixed feelings about it.  Half of her was saying that she should
try to find a way to return to her human form, while the other half said to
accept this new form and hold on to it for dear life.  It wasn't  at all
easy to think at the moment so Elisa was unsure if she should trust her
thoughts.  She wasn't sure what she was going to do until she heard the
sound of an approaching squad car.  "Can't allow myself to be seen" ,
thought Elisa"  it would only worsen the public image of gargoyles if one
was seen fleeing from a crime scene and make things harder for Goliath and
the rest.  Slowly she made her way to the front door and hoped that she
would be able to get away before the cops arrived but she wasn't very
optimistic.  The pain in her legs was almost overwhelming, she felt that
any second that she would collapse.  As she approached the doorway she
could hear the squad car come to a screeching halt outside.  "Damn"  she
muttered.  Now she would have to try and escape from the police and if he
gets much as a glance of my current gargoyle body then the shit will really
hit the fan.  Summoning up all her strength and folding her wings over her
shoulders Elisa bolted out the entrance way.
	As Dave approached the museum he was temporarily blinded by a flash of
light and he felt as though someone had taken a mug shot of him.
Miraculously it disappeared a split second later and all was dark once
again.  It didn't take long for his eyes to readjust to the change in light
and this was good because otherwise he may have accidentally driven himself
off the road.  "What was that" gasped Dave.  It looked like someone had set
a gas truck on fire but only a green light was produced by the blast.
Curiosity and anticipation fuelling his spirit Sampson floored the
accelerator.  As he approached the museum parking lot he saw what appeared
to be a female gargoyle flying away from the scene of the crime.  "Oh boy"
sighed Dave.  He hoped that that was the only one because from what he
heard these things could take on an entire S.W.A.T team.  For a minutethe
thought of getting some back-up here flashed through his mind but with such
flimsy grounds for such a call he decided against it.  As he pulled up to
the front doors he saw yet another gargoyle like figure bolt from the front
door.  Not wasting a second Dave went off in pursuit of the figure seeing
as how it was the only lead to the perpetrator.  "That's weird, I'm barely
breaking a sweat and I can catch up fairly easily" , pondered Sampson, "I
thought these things were supposed to be tough" .  As he began to gain on
the creature he noticed that it seemed to be struggling with every stride.
"Hmmm,it being injured would certainly explain why it is so easy to keep up
with it" , thought Dave, "must be pretty bad" .  Suddenly he was yanked
back to reality by the fact that he saw the gargoyle begin to stumble and
slow down.

	"Won't....m-make...it"  mumbled Elisa as she struggled to stay on her
feet.  She felt terrible but even so she knew that she had to continue to
run or she would feel more than her share of pain from being a laboratory
specimen in some military lab.  She was barely maintaining any distance
between her and the cop and she knew that she couldn't keep it up for very
long.  Somehow Elisa had to lose the cop behind her without hurting him.
Maybe I can get back into the museum and hide in there until he leaves.
"I'll have to push myself to the max if this is going to work" thought
Elisa.  Drawing on her dwindling stores of energy she put all her might
into one final burst of speed.  Unfortunately her new body was quick to
inform her that it was completely void in terms of energy as she soon
collapsed with a thud onto the green grass.  Even though Elisa knew it was
futile she tried to force herself back to her feet but her limbs twitched
and spasmed in response.  She could hear the officer coming up behind her
and repeatedly tried to move but it was no use.  Once again the blackness
stripped her of her vision and every car horn and every alarm began to fade
away. The last thing that she saw was the officer bending over her with a
concerned look on his face.

	"Uh-oh whatever was wrong with this gargoyle, I have a funny feeling it
just got a lot worse" thought Dave as he gazed down on the feminine form
before him.  He kneeled down to take the pulse of the bestial beauty that
was laid out before him.  The pulse was fairly strong for now but he could
feel it slowly weakening.  "Better call this in before this one bites the
big one" , mumbled Sampson as he took out his radio, "Car 102 to dispatch,
I have a injured suspect in need of immediate medical assistance" .  "Roger
car 102, please describe the suspect and estimate the persons injuries"
squawked the dispatcher over the radio.  "I don't quite know how to say
this but she's a female gargoyle and I estimate her injuries to be severe
electrocution and muscle strain" , spoke the officer with an unsure look on
his face, "there may also be some severe bruising" .  "Car 102 please
repeat the appearance of the suspect, I don't think that I heard you right"
spoke the dispatcher in an obvious tone of puzzlement in her voice.  "You
heard me, and injured five foot nine female gargoyle" , said Dave as he
continued monitoring the gargoyle's condition, "I know it sounds crazy but
that's all I see" .  "All right car 102, the ambulance is on the way please
keep the subject alive until it arrives" said the lady dispatcher.  Dave
was a bit upset that she had referred to the gargoyle as "Subject"  as if
it were some sort of laboratory specimen.  True he wasn't in any position
to argue with her, seeing as how the second the beautiful gargoyle was
stabilised she would probably be sent off to some research facility.  "Oh
well, there's nothing much I can do about it" thought Dave.  The most he
could do was perhaps file a strong protest against such action.  Looking
down on at the face of the suspect Sampson couldn't help feel as though he
had seen her once before.

	It took about five minutes for the ambulance to arrive and the gargoyles
pulse was weakening.  When the medic from the ambulance got close to enough
to see the winged woman his jaw dropped to the ground.  This was perfectly
acceptable given the fact that only a select few people have ever seen a
gargoyle up close before.  Unfortunately time was of the essence if they
wanted to save this one.  "Quit gawking man, this... lady needs some
serious help" yelled Dave as he grabbed the medic by the shoulder.  This
snapped the awed man out of it and he began to survey for himself the state
of the bizarre form before him.  The man was still shocked at the sight of
the taloned beast but appeared to be able to do his job.  "L-looks like
severe electrocution all right we had better get to the hospital fast" said
the medic as he began to run to the ambulance to get the stretcher.  After
getting her into the ambulance and calming down the startled driver they
were on their way.  As the medic finished putting an I.V into his patients
arm he turned to Dave and asked" Do you have any idea what happened
to...her" .  "Not a clue but from what I remember there was a flash of
light that came from the museum when I arrived" said Dave not taking his
eyes from the unconscious gargoyle.  "That could mean electrocution but
nothing in the museum could generate that much power unless the...lady
somehow did it to herself" spoke the medic with a questioning look as he
placed an oxygen mask over the mouth of the gargoyle.  "Nah I don't think
so, she seemed plenty concerned about her life when I saw her" , said
Sampson, "I guess we won't really know what happened at the museum until
either I look at the security video tapes or she wakes up".

	They arrived at the hospital five minutes later and could see that some of
the top doctors in the hospital were waiting for them.  They put the limp
form onto a gurney and raced her into the hospital.  Sampson could hear
them fire back and forth medical terms and also terms of amazement at the
rare find before them.  Soon they rushed her into an intensive care unit
and would not allow Dave to go any further.  "Officer Sampson" said a voice
from behind him.  When he turned around he saw Captain Chavez hobbling up
to him on crutches.  After the attack on the precient house the Capatin was
banged pretty good so it was a surprise to see her walking around much less
involving herself in a case like this.  "Captain, I thought you were
supposed to be taking it easy" said Sampson with a hint of sarcasm in his
voice.  "When I heard over the police scanner that a live gargoyle was on
its way here how could I resist coming down here to see it" said Chavez,
who was apparently looking around for the gargoyle.  "If you are looking
for the gargoyle the doctors have it in the intensive care unit" said
Sampson looking in the direction of the door that he had seen the doctors
wheel the strange creature into.  "How badly was it injured?" asked Chavez
with a slight look of concern on her normally calm face.  "It looks as
though it somehow got a couple hundred volts shot into it but it should be
alight" replied Dave as returned his gaze to the Captain.  "Hmmm, I'm going
to get the riot control team down here.  If word gets out that there's an
injured gargoyle here there is no telling what may happen"  said Captain
Chavez.  "Right, I'll stay here in case the gargoyle wakes up" said Dave.
Withno more than a nod they went their separate ways, unaware of a
mysterious figure in a trench coat had been listening in on their
conversation.

	Owen sighed as he finished the latest court document concerning Mr.
Xanatos' rescuing of the gargoyles a few days ago.  It may end up costing
Xanatos Enterprises quite a bit in the way of investors if they should
happen to believe that WVRN broadcast.  He knew that his employer would
manage to find a rather convenient excuse for his actions but that would at
most keep the majority of the investors with the company.  Suddenly the
phone rang and when Burnett looked at the phone he saw that someone was
calling him on his secured line.  "Hmmm, Mr. Xanatos didn't notify me of
any special projects being staged tonight"   he thought to himself with a
eyebrow raised.  He considered calling Mr. Xanatos at the Wayne Foundation
party but decided against it.  No doubt they were having a good time and
besides he didn't want to disturb him without just cause.  Owen picked up
the phone and hoped that this wouldn't be a waste of his time.  "Mr.
Burnett you wont believe what just got wheeled into the hospital" , said
the in forment," they just pulled in a living gargoyle" .  "Are you sure?"
asked Burnett with his usual unmodulated tone of voice.  "Without a doubt
sir.  It was a female gargoyle and this may sound funny but it kinda looked
like that cop Maza" said the informant excitedly.  "Very good.  I shall
inform Mr. Xanatos of the situation, you just keep an eye on the gargoyle"
ordered Owen.  "Hmmm, what a delicious diversion! Who knows what games the
trickster Puck could make of this development" thought Owen as he reached
for the phone once more.  Suddenly three shimmering silhouettes appeared
before him and soon were revealed to be the Weird Sisters.  "An assignment
we have for you" said the black haired one.  "One that you must not fail to
do" said the blonde.  "To find Tatania's sphere you must" said the silver
haired.  "To fail is to lose Oberon's trust"  said all three in unison.
Upon the conclusion of the rhyme a green mist enveloped Owen and when it
dispersed Puck was in his place.  "You three are definitely one of the more
bizarre of my sisters" , spoke Puck in a sarcastic manner, "but then again
that's hardly uncommon to a Fey" .  The sisters made no response to this
only continued their gaze at Puck.  "Yeesh, daddy must have really socked
it to you three after your run around with Goliath's clan" , said Puck with
a small smirk, "I bet he has you cleaning his castle as small monkeys" .
The three sisters merely stood there, like stone statues, which is exactly
what they acted like most of the time.  This time the comical changeling
did react but instead of a smile it was a frown.  "Fine be that way.  I
would only be too happy to accept this assignment" , said Puck, "there is
just one small problem, I am forbidden by Oberon to use my abilities except
in the teaching of young Alexander" .  "Your powers are now free" said the
blonde.  "But only temporary they are to be" said the black haired one.
"For you are too wild" said the silver haired one.  "even for an Oberon
child" said them all.  Then in a flash of light all three of the mysterious
maidens vanished.  "One thing I must admit they do make up terrific rhymes"
, said Puck, "Well I had best get to work before daddy has a fit"

	"Ohhh,  halapania" moaned Elisa as she opened her eyes.  She felt a bit
better but still felt as though she went ten rounds fighting Oberon.  As
she brought her hand up to rub her face she was partialy relieved and
partialy scared when she found out where she was.  Elisa was happy that she
was in a hospitol instead of a jail cell but the fact that she had been
captured by the police didn't exactly make her feel comfortable.  The door
then opened to reveal a doctor who was accompanied by the officer who had
been chasing her and CAPTAIN CHAVEZ.  "Uh oh, if she recognises me I'll
have a lot of questions to answer!!" thought Elisa in panic.  The officer
obviously saw her panic and said" Easy we're not going to hurt you, we just
want to ask you a few questions" .  Elisa knew that she would be spotted
immediately by Chavez if she spoke normally so she decided to give her
imitation Scottish accent a try.  "Well o.k, if ye must"  said the Scottish
Elisa.  They seemed fooled enough but she would have to wait a bit to make
sure.  "First of all what were you doing at the Museum of Natural history?"
asked Chavez.  "I was nae trying to steal anything if that's what ye mean"
, replied Elisa, "I had spotted a rogue member of my clan breaking into the
museum and had glided down to investigate" .  "What were you doing in the
area?" asked  Sampson.  "It was a part of my nightly patrol schedule, my
clan and I go out almost ev'ry night on patrol" , replied Elisa, "Though
quite frankly I was amazed that Goliath had allowed me to go out at all
considering all the hoopla over our old home being blown up"   "The clock
tower was your home?" asked Chavez with one eyebrow raised in surprised.
"Aye, we had made a home of it a little over a year ago" , said Elisa, "We
had lived at Castle Wyvern before that but its owner made it too dangerous
for us to live there so we had to move" .  "Hmmm, that would explain a few
of the disturbances around there" , said Chavez, "Do you have any idea who
was responsible for the attack on your home?"   Elisa knew she had to seem
angry at this question or they might become suspicious.  "Aye, I know those
butchers.  They have hunted down and killed my kind for a thousand years!"
, Elisa said as her eyes glowed a crimson red, "they nearly killed my
daughter and nearly destroyed my clan!"   At the sight of her glowing eyes
both of them backed up a bit before regaining composure.  "How did this
feud start, I mean there must have been a reason?" asked Sampson.  "It
began with the rogue member a thousand years ago" , said Elisa as she
allowed her eyes to return to there normal shade, "she had apparently
maimed a young lad who thereafter vowed to hunt down and kill every last
gargoyle" .  "A thousand years ago?!  That's impossible" , said Chavez,
"nothing lives that long" .  "By natural means no, but Demona is far from
natural" , said Elisa with a angry grin, "It was she who betrayed my
rookery brothers and sisters to the Vikings in 994 A.D" .  "How could she
have lived back then and still be here now?" asked Sampson.  "A group of
magical beings called the Weird sisters formed a magical bond between
Demona and the human Macbeth" said Elisa as she looked at the clock,
"thanks to that, she canne die unless Macbeth kills her or vice versa" .
"Magic!?  You must be joking, there is no such thing as magic" said Sampson
with a smile.  "I'm sure that up until a few years ago you thought that
gargoyles were only stone statues" said Elisa with a snide smile.  There
was a brief pause and after looking at the near-dawn indicating clock she
decided to take advantage of it.  "If ye don't mind, ye'll have to wait
'till sunset before ye can ask anymore questions" said Elisa as she turned
her head to look out the window.  "Why!?" they both asked.  "Just wait
until the sun rises above the horizon and you'll see" said Elisa as she sat
herself up.

	Almost as if on cue the sun peeked up and the once flesh and blood
gargoyle turned to stone.  "What the..." said Sampson.  Both the officers
and the doctor stood there, amazed at what they had just witnessed.  "This
is definitely a peculiar turn of events" , said Chavez, "I'm going to get a
few S.W.A.T people guarding her, in case any disgruntled citizens try
anything" .  "Captain you don't honestly believe what she said" , asked
Sampson, "she could be lying about what she was doing at the museum to
avoid arrest" .  "Perhaps but even if half she says is true it is in our
best interests to keep her alive" said Chavez.  With that they both left
the room, leaving the stone beauty to sleep.  Little did Chavez know that
keeping the gargoyle safe was not going to be as easy as she had hoped.

	"That puny Elisa Maza is finally dead" , laughed Demona as she looked at
the sphere in her hands, "torn from existence by you, my lovely little orb
of power" .  She was overjoyed at this turn of events.  Things would
definitely be easier with her gone, not that she was afraid of the human.
Only because now Goliath and his puny clan won't discover what she is up to
until it was too late.  "By the time I'm done with you the human race will
be no more and gargoyles will be given their rightful place as rulers of
the world" said Demona as she placed the sphere into her wall safe.  She
then walked into her living room , with a wide smile on her face,  to watch
the television news to see if the humans had grasped the dire trouble their
lives were put in.  When she turned to the news there was mention of a
break in at the museum but there was also something else that she hadn't
expected.  According to the reporter, police had captured a gargoyle and
were holding "it"  for questioning.  "What?! There were no other gargoyles
there when I robbed the museum" , thought Demona, "the only other person
who was there was...." .   Suddenly a look of pure anger fell onto her face
and she let out a yell.  "Maza isn't dead, that annoying human survived !"
yelled Demona.  Without warning a sly smile came to her face and she let
out a loud laugh.  "This could could actually be to my advantage" , thought
Demona, "not only will Maza keep the humans out of my way but she should
also take care of Goliath" .  With that she sauntered out of the room still
giggling at the thought of how much trouble Maza would be in and at how
easy her plan had become.

	"So Mr. Xanatos what do you think?" asked Owen in his usual neutral tone.
For a while David Xanatos said nothing, he simply gazed at the closed door
across the  room.  "This may be a problem, especially if a riot starts" ,
said Xanatos with his hands steepled in front of his face, "we should try
to get Maza out of there as soon as possible" .  "Sir, doing so could risk
losing even more favour with our investors" , said Owen, "15% alone have
filed complaints and have threatened to 'wash their hands of Xanatos
Enterprises' all together" .  "They couldn't leave even if they wanted to
Owen, they all owe me considerabley large 'personal' debts"  , said Xanatos
as he looked up to Owen, "Still I suppose I we should retrieve Detective
Maza in a more 'formal' way" .  "Might I suggest asking the police to place
her in your custody for 'scientific' research"  asked Owen.  "Excellent
idea Owen though we'll have to do it after sunset so that there will be
less risk to Maza" said Xanatos as he reached for the phone.  "As you wish
sir.  Should I inform Goliath of the situation when he wakes up?" asked
Owen.  "No, if he  discovers what has happened to Maza and what a
predicament she is in now he would undoubtably want to forceably rescue
her.   People might get a bit jumpy if seven aggresive gargoyles land in
front of the Hospital" said Xanatos putting his feet on his black desk.

	"Things are getting nasty out there Captain" said Sampson as he took a
worried look out the front doors.  A fairly large crowd had gathered
outside the hospital and was yelling for the gargoyle to be handed over to
them.  "I know, they aren't to happy with us given how we handled the
gargoyles the last time" said Chavez.  "If that crowd gets any more violent
they might storm the hospital to get to her" said Sampson.  "I know, lets
just hope that that gargoyle is strong enough to run when she wakes up"
said Chavez.  "Run!?  Captain you can't be serious, the Mayor would have
our hides if we let the gargoyle go" exclaimed Sampson.  "We have no
evidence to connect her to the break-in that would hold up in court" , said
Chavez as she looked at her watch, "and if the Mayor can't accept that I
would be glad to explain it in detail to him" .  Before any more could be
said her cellular phone rang.  "Chavez here" said the worried Captain.
"Ah, the esteemed Captain Chavez" , rang Xanatos' joyful voice, "I hear
that you have a gargoyle in custody" .  Chavez quickly swore under her
breath and said" It was supposed to be kept a secret but yes we do have a
gargoyle in custody!" .  "Oh don't worry Captain, we're on a secured line"
, said Xanatos, "I just called to offer my companies assistance in
disposing of it" .  "If by 'disposing' you mean killing it, I wouldn't hold
my breath if I were you" said Chavez with a hint of bitterness.  "Captain,
Captain, Captain, I was merely was suggesting that we put on a bit of a
show for the rather dangerous crowd in front of the hospital" , said
Xanatos, "Make them think that we are not showing any favouritism toward
these gargoyles" .  "Assuming I allow this, what to you have in mind?"
asked Chavez.  "I thought that I would have a few of my robot security
guards show up, put some high-tech manacles on the gargoyle and fly away
with it", explained Xanatos, "after which you will state your position on
the gargoyles, that way the gargoyle doesn't get harmed and you regain some
public support" .  Chavez knew that Xanatos was a tricky and clever man, he
knew that much from what Elisa had told her.  He never did anything unless
there was something to gain.  Why would he help a lone gargoyle?  To make
an army of them or to experiment with them.  Either way she looked at it
she had no other choice but to play along.  The crowd outside was getting
meaner by the minute and there was no way that they could get the gargoyle
to safety by car.  "All right Xanatos we'll play it your way" , said Chavez
with a defeated sigh.  "Thank you Captain, have the gargoyle ready by
seven-thirty and my robots will pick her up then" , said Xanatos in a happy
tone, "oh and Captain I suggest you keep a close eye on the gargoyle, the
locale citizenry is out for blood" .

	"A pinch of this and a dash of this and I make a cake you cannot miss"
said Puck in a melodious tone.  He loved the fact that he had been given
more freedom concerning his powers.  It had been so boring since daddy
Oberon had restrained his powers.  Sure he had a few minutes fun with
Coldstone and those three souls but that was nothing compared to what he
could have done with all his powers.  Already he was dreaming up schemes of
subterfuge  to put into motion once Alexander's teaching was done.  Most of
them were inspired by the current situation, that being Maza and the
sphere.  "I wonder how she and Goliath would react if Maza stayed a
gargoyle" thought Puck.  Suddenly a voice from behind him said" I hope this
isn't the extent of your efforts Puck" .  He whirled around to see the fair
lady Tatania standing (or floating) in the doorway.  "Actually yes, for the
time being" said Puck as a piece of cake floated up to him on a plate.
"What do you mean?" asked Tatania as she raised an eyebrow.  "Xanatos is
about to free Maza from the hospital" , said Puck as he floated upside
down, "Once that is done its only a matter of time until they deliver your
sphere right into my hands" .  "What does Maza have to do with this?" asked
Tatania.  "Why don't you know?  Your sphere changed her into a gargoyle
again" , said Puck with a light chuckle, "and from what I hear Maza is not
too pleased" .  To this Tatania said nothing, she only stared at him with a
questioning look on her face.  "You know that look is really starting to
annoy me" , said Puck with a frown, "You and the Weird Sisters should try
something a bit more original" .  Without another word Tatania disappeared.
"I'm glad she's gone" , Puck with a groan, "Now back to the cake!" .
Suddenly without warning he fell to the floor and changed back to Owen.
"What the.." said Owen with a hint of Puck in his voice.  Suddenly the cake
flew off the table and right onto Owen's face.  Then the air filled with
the laughter of Tatania as Owen sat up and wiped the cake from his face.
To this type of joke you would expect him to laugh but a trick isn't fun at
all if your the one who usually does the tricking.  With a pronounced frown
Owen pushed up his glass' and left the kitchen.

	Slowly the sun sank beneath the horizon and night once more emerged.
Inside the room the officers simply stared at the stone statue in the bed.
They had been ordered to guard the gargoyle in custody but when they
entered the room they were a bit mystified when they found a statue
instead.  Little did they know what beneath that grey exterior lied a
warrior that would make Superman run for cover.  As the darkness caressed
the feminen form the stone gargoyle cocoon began to crack and with one
eruption outwards the female gargoyle roared into the land of flesh and
blood.  "Ahhh, nothing like a full days hibernation" said Elisa as she
stretched.  The officers hadn't moved an inch since just before sunset,
they just stood there with their mouths open.  It only took Elisa a moment
to notice their dumbfounded looks and it made her laugh.  "Come on guys
surely ye have seen stranger things than this" she said as she took the
tubes out of her arms and got out of the bed.  The awakened gargoyle
streched her rested muscles, all the while letting out noises associated
with a cougar.  In an effort to seem less intimidating to them she folded
her wings over her shoulders and smiled at them.  This did loosen them a
bit as they began to close their mouths and move again but they never took
their eyes off her.  "Well that's a start" thought Elisa with a smirk.
Elisa then thought" this would be a great opportunity to secure some
friends in the NYPD for the gargoyles" .  All she would have to do is try
and show them that gargoyles aren't a bunch of savage creatures and that
they are almost the same in terms of culture and custom.  Just then Chavez
came in and was a bit surprised herself at the way that the men were
looking at the gargoyle.  "O.k men the show is over, go out and help keep
the mob back" said Chavez.  Slowly they began to walk out but not before
taking one last look at the former statue.  Elisa was a bit disturbed by
the sound of a mob outside.  "What's this I hear about a mob?" asked Elisa.
"Well given what happened to the clock tower a few days ago and your
appearance here, the people are a touch afraid and a touch angry" , said
Chavez, "and that can make a dangerous combination" .  "I know, but as
m'love always said' it is human nature to fear what they dinnae
understand'" said Elisa.  "Sounds like your love is a very wise gargoyle"
remarked Chavez as they left the hospital room.  "Aye he is, but he has a
nasty temper.  Fortunately he keeps it under control most of the time" said
Elisa as she remembered how Goliath had looked at the church a few nights
earlier.  She had never seen such raw fury on his face before.  With such
fury inside of him Elisa thought that she would be hard pressed to find
anyone who would even try to stop him.  When she looked back at Chavez she
saw the Captain staring at her with a puzzled look on her face.  "What is
it, is there a wee bit 'o' stone still in my hair" said Elisa with a smile.
"No, it's just that you look remarkably like one of my detectives"  said
Chavez quickly looking away.  "I guess I just have that kind of face" said
Maza with a chuckle.  After hearing this Chavez began to laugh as well,
though hers was somewhat more restrained.  If only it was this easy for
humans and gargoyles to get along.

	The sun had set just a few minutes ago and Goliath was still perched high
upon his stylised rampart.  He was worried about Elisa, not because he
thought that she couldn't handle herself but because she hadn't come to see
him after her shift ended and she hadn't come after sunset that night.  He
tried to reassure himself with some rational excuse like "she's probably
working undercover"  or "maybe she decided to spend time with some of her
cop friends" .  None of this seemed to help, he still felt as though she
may be in some trouble.  "Nonsense, she's probably just late getting here"
, thought Goliath, "probably stuck in rush hour traffic" .  He remembered
how he recently he had thought her dead, only to later find out that she
was alive and well.  Another thing that kept making its way into his
thoughts was the way he had felt when he thought Elisa was dead.  He felt
as though his life had just been shattered, like there was nothing left of
him but a brittle shell.  He had not felt like that for many years, 1000 to
be exact.  When he returned to Castle Wyvern to find his clan destroyed and
his angel of the night destroyed he felt as though he had died too.  His
entire purpose for living wiped out.  He was a gargoyle and his purpose was
to protect, yet he had failed to protect the one thing that he treasured
the most : family.  From that moment on he vowed to never again allow
another life be destroyed as long as he lived.  He hoped that another
moment like the massacre or Elisa's "Demise"  would never happen again.
Suddenly the low humming of gears and the clanking of steel on stone
brought him back to the present.  He turned around to see Xanatos in his
steel clan armour and two other steel gargoyles coming out into the
courtyard.  This obviously peaked his curiosity and he swooped down to the
courtyard and landed in front of Xanatos.  "Where are you off to Xanatos?"
asked Goliath, trying to keep the slight bit of distrust from showing.
"I'm going to pick up some very important cargo from Manhattan General"
said Xanatos as he placed the helmet on.  "For that you need your battle
armour and two of your steel plated robots, I find that hard to believe"
said Goliath with a 'yeah-right' look.  "There are some rather...'angry
citizens' who would very much like to destroy the cargo" said Xanatos in a
digitised voice.  "What could be so negative so as to motivate people to
attack a hospital?"  thought Goliath.  Before he could get an answer from
the armoured man Xanatos and his steel clan robots took off leaving Goliath
with a lot of unanswered questions.  "Hmmm, I had better follow him"
thought Goliath as he jumped to the top of the castle walls and off after
Xanatos.

	"Xanatos?!" exclaimed Elisa.  From what Chavez had told her Xanatos was
coming to 'escort' her away from the hospital in his steel clan suit along
with two steel clan robots.  That was not the kind of news she wanted to
hear, especially with the crowd outside.  The locals are already suspicious
of Xanatos after what happened at the church incident.  With the crowd as
hyped as they were the presence of those robots might push the people into
a riot.  She knew that Xanatos would probably try and go a reasonable
distance to save her but she was unsure as to just how far that distance
was.  "Yes, I thought he was a friend of yours" , said Chavez, "Given the
way he saved your clan from the church a few days ago" .  "I prefer to call
him an aquantince, we haven't always been on the same side" said Elisa as
she took a long gaze out the window at the mob behind the barricade.  "How
so?" asked Chavez with an eyebrow raised.  "He was the human who awakened
my clan a few years back" , said Elisa, "then tricked us into stealing top
secret files from Cyberbiotics" .  This perked a reaction from Chavez.  "So
it was your clan that broke into the installations" , said Chavez, "were
you the one who destroyed fortress one?"   "No, it was the rogue who did
it!" , said Elisa in a panicked fashion so as to seem edgy.  "Easy, I was
just wondering" , said Chavez as she put a reassuring hand on Elisa's
shoulder, "I didn't mean to upset you" .  "Tis okay, the last couple of
years have been rough and given me little reason to try to trust many
humans" , said Elisa, "I was just afraid that ye would be just another one
to check off the list of possible friends" .  Chavez seemed to buy that and
that meant that her little project-trust was working.  If all went well the
only thing that Goliath and the others would have to worry about are
citizens taking pot shots at them.  Not that it would be easy to avoid
being shot at since most of the contact that the gargoyles had with humans
was in trying to save their lives.   Suddenly she heard the familiar engine
whine of the steel clan robots. Looking out the door she saw two grey steel
clan robots and Xanatos in his red steel clan exo-frame.  "Hmmm, Xanatos
must feel that this is important if he is running the show himself" thought
Elisa.  When she saw Xanatos begin to enter she noticed that none of the
people outside didn't look too upset.  This made Elisa let a sigh of
relief, now they had a half decent chance to get out of here without
starting a riot.  As the red armoured figure approached she immediately
turned her eyes a bright red, bared her fangs and let out a low but
threatening growl.  "Easy my dear, despite my past encounters with you I
won't hurt you this time" said Xanatos. "I'll believe that when I'm safe
and sound back home Xanatos!" said Elisa as she ceased her growling and
covered her fangs but kept her eyes a scarlet red.  As if he hadn't heard
that remark he took a pair of high-tech hand-cuffs out of a compartment in
his armour.  "In order to insure that the crowd outside believe what they
are seeing, I'll need you to put on these electromagnetic manacles" said
Xanatos as he opened them up and held them up to Elisa.  In a reluctant
fashion Elisa raised her arms and placed her wrists into the manacles.
They clamped down with a electronic beep and Elisa and Xanatos began to
walk to the front doors.

	Goliath had been up on the building across the street trying to figure out
the problem that had plagued him since he had left the castle after
Xanatos.  He could find no real answer other than the possibility that one
of his pet projects had gotten loose and eventually fell into the hands of
the police department.  This disappointed Goliath, he had thought that with
the birth of his son that Xanatos would start to value life a bit more.
Whatever he had created was obviously very important to him to risk
revealing his own personal robotic army.  The two steel clanners had taken
up strategic places near the front entrance outside the hospital.  Just as
he was about to ponder the mystery once more he noticed that the steel clan
robots were preparing to leave as they moved to a safe distance from the
building.  Staring at the hospital doors Goliath saw something that he
hadn't seen in a long while.  It was Elisa, not in her usual human form but
rather in the gargoyle form that she had once before been in during the
Puck problem.  At first he wanted to glide down to talk with her but he
knew that it would only upset the group of people behind the police
barricade.  Upon a closer look Goliath saw that Elisa was wearing some sort
of restraints on her arms, obviously they had been provided by Xanatos.
Goliath was a bit angry that restraints had been placed on Elisa but he
knew that it was just to keep the crowd happy.   Suddenly a voice shouted
out from the crowd "There's the freak!  Lets kill it, destroy that scum" .
That yell was repeated by the majority of the crowdand was immediately
followed by gunfire from a number of the onlookers.  Immediately looking to
see if Elisa had been injured he was relived to find that as soon a the
human in the crowd had begun yelling Xanatos had stepped in front of Elisa.
She would be safe from behind there but unfortunately the local police
weren't faring to well.  They had been caught flat footed by the mob and
had already taken heavy casualties as the mob tried to charge past them to
get at Elisa.  Even with help from Xanatos' robots they would not last
long.  Without another thought he swooped down and grabbed one of the
gun-carrying  crushing his shotgun and scaring him half to death with a
loud gargoyle battle cry.  Unfortunately this brave act soon backfired on
him as the mob then turned its full force on Goliath.

	"Goliath!!!" yelled Elisa in fear.  The anti-gargoyle mob had brought him
down and surrounded him.  There was no way he would survive such an
onslaught without help.  Gathering up all her newfound gargoyle strength
Elisa ripped out from the restraints, letting out an ear piercing battle
cry of her own.  She jumped up atop a car and did a short length glide over
toward where she had last seen Goliath.  As she looked impatiently for
signs of life her prayers were answered by an eruption of people that flew
into the air from the centre of the mob.  Goliath's show of strength made
most of the crowd back up a bit but Elisa knew that it was only momentary.
Landing beside Goliath she let out a rather loud growl that made a few of
the people stare and blink.  "Need a hand" asked Elisa as she gave Goliath
a sly grin.  Goliath only smiled at her and that alone made her think that
they may be able to handle this mob themselves.  That thought was
immediately thrown away as the crowd let out a roar and charged the two
courageous gargoyles.  A bit surprised by the sudden change, Elisa
hesitated a moment and almost got hit in the ribs with a steel bat.
Almost, but not quite.  With amazing quickness she lashed out with her
talons and sliced the bat to pieces from just above the attackers hands all
the way to the end.  This made the attacker drop the bat and try to escape.
Another came at her and this time the person had a crowbar raised high over
his head.  Almost without thinking Elisa wrapped her tail around the legs
of the attacker and brought him down quick.  She looked over her shoulder
to see how Goliath was doing and was amazed to see that he was taking on
four attackers at one time and whipping there butts to boot.  As she
continued to fight the seemingly endless legion of enemies, she knew that
they wouldn't be able to keep this up much longer.  There was only one
thing that she could think of, one person that might be able to save them.
Xanatos.

	Xanatos had to admit, Goliath and Maza were definitely a force to be
reckoned with.  They were even more formidable now that Maza was a
gargoyle.  So far they were able to keep the crowd at bay and discourage
some of the more cowardly among the mob to flee but he knew that it
wouldn't stay that way forever.  After a few last minute minute
calculations Xanatos took aim with his patented wrist laser and fired a red
beam just a few inchs above the crowds heads.  "That was a warning shot
people, next time it will be a foot lower" , said Xanatos in a 'no more mr.
Nice Guy ' fashion, "if you don't leave the gargoyles alone and go home" .
In order to better show that he meant what he said he signalled his other
steel clan robots to aim their lasers to match his.  This definitely got
the crowds attention, but they still made no attempt to leave.  "This is
not going according to plan" muttered Xanatos.  If they renewed the riot
there would be no way to prevent significant casualties on the part of both
gargoyles and humans.  "A lot to go through for two winged animals,  but in
for a penny in for a pound" thought Xanatos as he did a brief scan of the
crowd to see if there was any weapons that could conceivably damage him
battle armour.  A few of the people had some home made fire bombs but
otherwise all they had were blunt weapons.  "Still who knows what would
happen if they got some heavier weaponry" mused Xanatos.  As he looked over
to Goliath and Maza he saw that they were still ready for a fight but he
hoped that they were secretly thinking up a plan to get out of here because
he was pretty much out of ideas.

	So far Xanatos' attempt at delaying the crowd was working.  The crowd just
stood there looking back and forth between Elisa and him and Xanatos and
his steel clan.  Though Goliath was confident that he could probably handle
most of these people he didn't want to risk Elisa's safety.  Taking a quick
glance around Goliath could see that not more than eleven feet away was the
S.W.A.T van.  If they could make onto the roof of the van they might be
able to get enough altitude to glide out of here.  Before the noble
gargoyle leader could decide the crowd once more charged them and forced
Goliath to go for it.  "This way!" yelled as he flung himself in the
direction of the van.  He knew that Elisa might not be able to glide but at
least from atop the van they would be less vulnerable to attack.  Once he
landed on the roof he took a quick glance behind him and saw that Elisa was
going to make it and jumped of the van to gain enough altitude to glide.
Within moments both he and Elisa were airborne and quickly gaining
altitude.  As he turned to head for the castle Elisa glided up to his side
and gave a broad smile and a wink of her eye.  Surging with happiness
Goliath smiled back at her and the smile refused to leave his face as he
returned his gaze to Xanatos' building in the distance.  He was so happy at
the moment that he didn't even think of the fact that she would have to
return to her human self soon or she may return to the precient house with
a great many questions to answer.  For now all he could think of was the
fact that once again he was soaring through the air without a care in the
world.

	"Good, now that Goliath and Maza are out of the way the crowd is beginning
to calm down" , thought Xanatos, "still, the crowd may refocus their anger
on me so I had best follow Goliath's lead and go" .  With that Xanatos shot
into the air in his battle suit, leaving the local police to deal with the
'upset citizens'.  As he reached cruising altitude he began to wonder just
how the dear detective came about this amazing transformation.  He had
already come up with several possibilities but all of them had one thing or
another to do with Puck or Owen as he was more commonly known.  On that
thought he felt a bit uneasy.  Here he was, one of the most powerful
businessmen in the world and one of his employees has the power to take it
all away with a fluttering of an eyelid.  As if on cue there was a flash of
green light beside him and the comical changeling appeared flying next to
him.  "Oh you needn't worry about your empire Xanatos, I have no desire for
corporate power" , said Puck as he did the backstroke, "besides it's much
more fun to see what you do with it" .  "How long have you been
eavesdropping on my thoughts?" asked Xanatos.  "Oh just since you left the
hospital, nice job by the way" , said Puck with a grin, "I think your
popularity just dropped another ten percent" .  With a sigh Xanatos decided
to make the best of a 'unusual' situation.  "Since you were listening in
would you mind supplying an explanation as to Detective Maza's condition?"
asked Xanatos.  "If you mean to ask did I have anything to do with it the
answer is no" said Puck as a piece of paper and scissors appeared in his
hands.  "Then if not you then perhaps the weird sisters, they have been
known to meddle in human affairs?" asked Xanatos with a shiver.  He had
only met the Weird Sisters once but once was enough.  "No it isn't them
they're stuck on Avalon clean-up duty due to that fiasco with the
Arch-mage" , said Puck as he unfolded the paper to reveal paper dolls of
Goliath and the now gargoyle Elisa holding hands, "truth be known the
entire thing happened by accident" .   "By accident?" said Xanatos in a
quizzical manner.  "Is there an echo up here!?  Yes an accident" , said
Puck with a frown, "Maza was just at the wrong place at the right time" .
"Don't you mean 'at the wrong place at the wrong time' Puck?" asked
Xanatos.  "No I'm pretty sure I had it right the first time" , said Puck,
who judging from the cartwheels he was doing was back to his old self, "If
Maza hadn't been there we wouldn't have known about the sphere's
disappearance until it was too late" .  "What sphere?!" asked Xanatos, who
was beginning to lose patience.  "Why the sphere of Tatania of course" ,
said Puck in a matter-of-fact tone, "Its one of Mothers more powerful
trinkets" .  This statement intrigued Xanatos, if only due to the fact that
it was within reach.  With such a magical bauble in his possession he and
his family could finally achieve immortality.  "Don't even think about it
Xanatos, it won't happen" , said Puck floating just a few feet from his
face, "as soon as the sphere is in my possession I'm going to return it to
Tatania in hopes of gaining more freedom with my powers" .  "Ah well, no
sense arguing the point with him around" , thought Xanatos, "besides, there
will be plenty of time to ponder it later" .  "Don't count on it Xanatos,
tonight is going to be a busy, busy night" said Puck and with a loud laugh
the fey disappeared.  As the castle loomed into view Xanatos could already
see the silhouetted forms of Elisa and Goliath landing on the tower.

	Elisa loved gliding and didn't ever want it to end.  Unfortunately even a
gargoyle needs rest and her wings were already a bit sore.  For some of the
trip back to the castle Elisa had pondered how she had learned to fly so
quickly.  Suddenly she remembered how Goliath had corrected her when they
first met.  A small smirk came to her face as she landed gracefully next to
Goliath.  "Well that question can wait" thought Elisa as she stepped off
the edge of the castle wall.  She had only had this form for a little over
a day now and she felt as if she had been born this way.  It felt so right,
so natural but she knew that this would end once Goliath and the rest
helped her find Demona and the Sphere.  Elisa would then be changed back to
a human and things wouldgo back to normal.  "All the more reason to
cherish the few moments I have with Goliath as a gargoyle" though Elisa as
she grabbed Goliath's arm and held onto it as a daughter would grasp her
fathers arm.  This provoked a momentary look of surprise on Goliath's face
but soon faded into a smile.  She knew that he was enjoying every moment of
this and so was she.  For him he was once again feeling emotions that he
had thought were lost forever.  For her a bridge had finally formed between
them and she was free to reveal everything to him, especially her love for
him.  Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted as she heard the sounds of
several winged forms come down in front of them.  The entire clan was there
and at first they didn't say anything, not surprising seeing as how they
didn't ever expect to see Elisa in this form again.  Surprisingly Angela
was the first person to say anything.  "What happened to you?" asked Angela
as she slowly looked Elisa over.  "Well I tried to stop Demona from
stealing a magical artifact from the museum but in the course of doing so
the sphere turned me into a gargoyle" answered Elisa, who was a bit
uncomfortable at how Angela was looking at her.  Angela had some knowledge
of how Goliath felt about her and after Angela's previous encounters with
Demona this little scene must be a bit unnerving.  After that Angela didn't
say anything, she simply stood there and stared at Elisa.  "Is it permanent
Elisa?" asked Lexington, trying to break the silence.  "I don't know but I
hope not" replied Elisa.  An almost inaudible sigh came from Goliath.
Elisa knew that this wasn't easy for him, she meant a lot to him.  That was
pretty much borne out by how he reacted when he thought she was dead.
Elisa knew that Goliath had feelings for her that went much deeper and were
much stronger than friendship.  She felt the same way about him and that
made it seem a bit unusual.  Before all this she never had to think about
it because the difference of species was usually enough to discourage any
in depth discussion.  Now that she was a gargoyle it must have seemed like
heaven to Goliath when they were gliding.  Sadly they both knew that she
would have to somehow be changed back to human form.  "All the more reason
to cherish the moments you have together now" said a cheerful voice behind
her.  She whipped around to see Puck floating upside down behind her.  She
let out a small growl to show her detestment for the changeling.  The last
time she had seen the trickster he had changed her into to a gargoyle as a
joke for Demona.  It wasn't completely terrible but he could have at least
asked her first.  Frowning at Elisa's behaviour he turned right side up and
floated over to Goliath.  "Surely you Goliath can appreciate the
opportunity you are being given" , said Puck floating around Goliath, "Now
you can get a taste of what might have been" .  "What might have been
doesn't matter" , said Goliath with a frown, "but you are right to say that
we should make the best of an unexpected situation" .  "Atta boy Goliath, I
knew I could count on you" , said Puck as he flew over to the others, "Come
on people, support your gallant leader" .  The others only stood there and
gave him 'just leave' looks.  "Sheesh, rough crowd" said Puck as he sat
himself cross-legged on the castle wall.  "Puck what could Demona do with
this 'sphere'?" asked Goliath taking a step toward the bored midget.  "Oh
nothing much, just  eradicate half the humans on this world along with most
of the plants" said Puck as a pack of cards appeared in his hands and began
playing solitaire.  "What!?" exclaimed everybody.  "Oh don't get so upset,
it will at least take her another three or four hours to set anything
decent up" , said Puck as he finished his game, "you have plenty of time to
prepare" .  "Still it won't matter at all if we don't know where to find
her" , said Brooklyn, "you wouldn't know where she would need to be to use
the sphere" .  "Unfortunately no.  The sphere can be used just about
anywhere" said Puck as he started playing cracker jacks.  "Ibelieve I can
help with that little detail" said a digitised Xanatos as he landed his
battle armour next to Puck.

	This whole thing was getting a bit confusing and a bit uncomfortable for
Angela.  She knew that Goliath had feelings for Elisa and she knew that he
would just about anything for her.  The real question was how did Elisa
really feel for Goliath, how far would she go to help him?  She didn't
really have the time to ponder these thought as the entire clan glided down
to the courtyard after Xanatos.  As they entered the great hall Angela
couldn't help but stand in awe of the beauty of the place.  True it was
different from how it had been a thousand years ago but it was still
breathtaking.  The others seemed to take all this a bit for granted, though
she understood why.  They had lived here most of their lives while she had
only heard certain details about it from Princess Catherine and the Magus.
They went down a long corridor to Xanatos' office which seemed drastically
different from the castle decor.  As she began to listen she couldn't help
but look over in the direction of Goliath and Elisa.  Goliath's eyes could
barely stay away from looking at the new gargoyle, it was as if he had
gotten the greatest gift in the world and didn't want to let it go.  Elisa
seemed to be a bit more restrained concerning her emotions and only looked
at Goliath a few times.  Angela guessed that this was because she didn't
want to mess Goliath's feelings.  Elisa had already stated that she wished
to return to her human form.  This brought up another curious question, how
far would Elisa go to reclaim her humanity.  "Oh your just being silly,
Elisa cares for Goliath" , thought Angela, "she wouldn't put him at risk
just for her own convenience" .  Still the thought continued to roll around
in her head and it seemed to show no indication of leaving Angela's
thoughts.  Little did Angela know that in a few short hours that question
would receive an answer.

	"Ever since I found out that 'Nightstone Enterprises' was owned by Demona
and Thailog I have tried to keep tabs on their activities" , said Xanatos
with a smile frown combination, "and discover as many of their secrets as
possible" .  As Xanatos took off the last of the armour he couldn't help
but notice the two lovebirds in the corner.  "Don't they make just a lovely
couple!"  thought Xanatos said sarcastically.  "They have four main
buildings in the city that would suit her purposes" , he said as he clicked
on the view screen on the wall, "Nightstone tower, Demona's private
residence, a warehouse by the docks and a new electronics firm downtown" .
"What makes you think she would use the sphere in any of these places?" ,
asked Brooklyn, "one building in New York is just as good as another" .
"True but only these would provide the view that would allow her to see and
hear the sounds of every human in the city dying" said Xanatos in a hateful
tone.  Goliath only nodded in agreement, while the others seemed to just
plain angry.  "We cannot hope to cover every one of them in time so we'll
have to split into teams" , said Goliath, "Elisa and I will take the tower,
Angela you and Brooklyn go to Demona's home, Lexington you and Broadway go
to the electronics firm" .  "Aye, and Bronx and I will take the warehouse"
said Hudson as he looked at Bronx and grinned.  Bronx simply moaned about
this, apparently he wanted to keep an eye on either Angela or Elisa.
"Agreed, Owen and I will co-ordinate efforts here and send you
reinforcements should any of you  need them" , said Xanatos, "we will also
provide you with flare guns so one team can alert the others if Demona's
spotted" .  Broadway didn't seem to be very happy when Xanatos had said the
word 'gun'.  Not surprising given his experiences with guns.  With that
they left the room and began to walk back outside.

	Elisa was worried about this plan of Xanatos' and not because he was a
major part of it but because it also provided him with a great opportunity.
With the power of the sphere in his control he would be unstoppable.  He
coulddo whatever he wanted and given the depths she had seen him sink it
made her shudder to think of the sphere in his hands.  They would have to
try and destroy the sphere the minute she was back to normal.  That brought
to the surface a rather disturbing thought, would Goliath try and sabotage
this so she would remain a gargoyle?  Elisa didn't think so, he had had the
opportunity once before to keep her from becoming human again but allowed
her to return to normal.  This pretty much dismissed the doubts she had
about Goliath.  As they reached the courtyard she noticed that Goliath had
been staring at her the entire time.  He immediately blushed and turned
away once he saw that she had caught him in the act.  It was kinda nice
seeing Goliath act this way, most of the time he seemed so serious. As they
began walking up the steps to the outer wall she noticed that everyone was
giving her quick glances of concern.  They cared for her as if she were one
of their own(which at the moment she was) and they were all probably
wondering if she should be going with them.  Elisa knew they were concerned
about her whenever she accompanied them on certain missions and she was
also concerned about them as well.  Unfortunately concern like this could
cost them the victory against Demona which they could not afford.  "I have
to do something to snap them out of this"  thought Elisa.  As she saw them
climb up onto the edge of the wall to take off an idea snapped into her
head.  If she showed them that she could fly just as well as they could
that would at the very least calm them down enough to concentrate.  Taking
a deep breath Elisa jumped over the castle walls and opened her wings in
mid-air.  "Well that's a start" , thought Elisa as she looked back at the
dumbfounded clan, "a bit of aerial gymnastics should finish the job" .
With that she did two corkscrew dives followed by two loop-da-loops and
then casually glided in the general direction of the Nightstone building.

	"Whoa" , said Brooklyn as he saw Elisa glide away, "She's good!"   Goliath
was equally amazed as he saw the jeans wearing gargoyle glide off into the
night.  All he could say was "halapania" .  As he gazed around he saw that
everyone but Hudson had their mouth open.  Shaking himself out of the
lovesick stupor he said" lets go" .  With that he dove into the air and
glided off after Elisa, who had by then gained considerable distance.
Trying to focus on the task at hand he briefly glanced back at the castle
and saw that the others were slowly coming out of their shocked states and
followed his lead.  Their shock was understandable, Elisa had been a
gargoyle for less than twelve hours and already she glided as if she were
born to it.  This definitely dismissed any doubts he had about her safety,
he was sure that there would be nothing they couldn't handle.  "Oh I
wouldn't go that far" , said a voice above him, "I admit that she is
impressive but then so is Demona" .  As Goliath looked up he saw Puck
floating above him with his patented grin on.  The appearance of Puck
brought an interesting as well as disturbing question to mind.  "Puck, what
would happen if the sphere was destroyed?" , asked Goliath, "Would it
explode or just shatter like a normal crystal ball?" .  "Both of those
things could happen but I thinks its best not to try and find out" , said
Puck as began doing the breaststroke, "otherwise you may envy what happened
to the Arch-mage" .  With that the child of Oberon disappeared and Goliath
was left with even more questions.  Puck was right about one thing, the
crystal must not be destroyed or even damaged unless there was no other
option.  Returning his gaze to Elisa he saw that she had been circling over
an apartment building waiting for him to catch up.  Flapping his wings
Goliath swooped off towards Elisa, still asking himself what should be done
about the sphere.  If only Goliath knew that in the end it wouldn't be him
that decided this, but someone who would have an even harder choice to make
when the time came.

	Demona gave a loud laugh as she finished making the appropriate
preparations for the momentous night.  She was simply overflowing with
ecstasy as she contemplated the results her scheme would produce.  The
deranged gargoyle could virtually see Xanatos is his office after the spell
had been cast.  Calm and content then suddenly feeling his body scream out
with pain.  The thought of seeing him flail around in a vain attempt to
fight the pain was only overshadowed by the thought of every human in
existence doing the same thing.  All of humanity screaming out for mercy,
mercy which did not exist in her.  "The Vikings and the Hunters didn't show
my kind any mercy" said Demona as she gazed at the circular vessel of
power, "so I will show their kind no mercy either" .  At the mention of her
kind her thoughts shifted to Goliath and his clan of traitors.  By now they
would be trying to locate her so that they could put an end to her plans.
Fortunately she had anticipated this from the beginning and had made some
adjustments to remove them from the game.  She had a virtual army at every
one of her major buildings in New York.  Demona had ordered that they
capture all the gargoyles and bring them to her.  She also said to leave
Goliath alone as well as the now gargoyle Elisa Maza.  She wanted to deal
with those two personally, they had to pay for thwarting her plans in the
past.  Goliath was the main focus of her anger because he was responsible
for the destruction of her clan.  At the thought of her former love a
glimmer of love came across her face but quickly changed into one of bitter
hatred.  "If he had only led the clan away that night, if only..." she said
bitterly.  It was because of his stupidity and weakness that her rookery
brothers and sisters were gone.  She had made several attempts over the
years to forget about it and try and start a new life with the few
gargoyles she had stumbled upon over during the past millennia.  Demona had
tried to forget about her lost love but people like the Hunter refused to
grant her that peace.  Since then she had dedicated her life to ending all
threats to her kind but found that it was simply to much for her alone.
When she had discovered that Xanatos was moving castle Wyvern and the
remains of her clan to New York she at first wanted to kill him.  That
changed when they met and he explained the terms of the spell.  At that
moment she was filled with joy, joy at the fact that her loneliness was
going to come to an end.  After she and Goliath had been reunited she
actually felt as though she might actually be able to feel love again.
Demona's hopes were shattered when she discovered that Goliath was still
the fool he had been a thousand years ago.  From then on she knew that he
would oppose her in her quest.  From there on in her desire for love was
twisted into an all consuming hatred.  When she finally succeeded tonight
she wanted him to be there, for him to see her ultimate triumph.  Then she
would use the power of the sphere to destroy the feeble coward that he was
and rebuild him into what he should be, a gargoyle who would do anything
she wanted.  With that final thought Demona let out a loud laugh and left
the room, still contemplating what she would do.

	Brooklyn and Angela landed on the roof of Demona's house with a slight
thapping sound.  They knew that if Demona was here that she was probably
expecting them.  He gazed along the edge of the glass window for signs of
alarm systems.  He saw one sensor at every corner with wires going into the
wall.   "Hmmm, Demona doesn't seem to concerned with home security" , said
Brooklyn, "Still we had best not take any chances" .   Motioning her to the
other side of the window he said" When I give the word you rip through the
roof and cut as many wires as possible" .  Angela nodded an took her place.
"One...two...three...now" said Brooklyn and with all his might he tore
into the roof.  Suddenly he felt a stinging sensation in his back followed
by his entire body going numb.  "Tranquilliser Darts" moaned Brooklyn as he
collapsed.  Brooklyn tried to yell to Angela but she was already on her
back unconscious.  In a final act of desperation he reach for the flare gun
and tried to fire it off, but it was knocked out of his hand.  Gazing
blindly around Brooklyn could only see the silhouettes of three men
standing around him and then everything went black.

	Lexington loved the fact that they were given the job of staking out the
electronics firm.  Though he knew he had to keep his mind on the mission it
didn't mean that he couldn't look at all the neat hardware and software and
gadgets.  Once they were inside Lexington's mouth dropped as he gazed upon
the isles of electronic wonders.  It was like walking a technological
wonderland, though Broadway didn't seem to be too impressed.  "Hmmm, his
idea of heaven is probably a supermarket all to himself" thought Lexington
with a grin as he began to search the store.  The firm was pretty much
deserted, the only thing that seemed to be alive was him and Broadway.
Suddenly a bone chilling laugh rang throughout the building, a laugh that
both Lexington and Broadway knew was Demona's.  Both of them immediately
began to look for the source of the sound and were able to track it to a
locked office in the back.  Motioning Broadway to knock the door down Lex
readied himself for battle.  With a resounding crash Broadway burst through
the door and let out a loud growl.  "Funny nobodies here" said Broadway.
Lex shared his brothers puzzlement, the room was completely empty except
for a pedestal in the centre.  "What's that on the pedestal?" asked
Broadway.  As if on cue a spotlight came on and shone down on the pedestal
and a glittering crystal ball was revealed.  "Hey, there's the sphere" said
Broadway as he started to walk toward it.  "Wait it could be a trap" , said
Lex, "there's no way that Demona would leave it unprotected" .  Lex looked
around and found a stray piece of metal on the ground.  He picked it up and
with a slight toss he threw it at the crystal.  It didn't get within two
feet of the crystal before it got shot down by lasers mounted on the walls.
"There's no way we can get past that without getting turned into swiss
cheese" said Broadway with a frown.  "And there's no way you monsters are
getting out of here either" said a voice from above.  Suddenly the ground
was filled with thousands of volts of electricity.  Broadway and Lexington
screamed in pain as their bodies flailed around in uncontrollable spasms.
A second later the electric torture stopped and both Lex and Broadway fell
to the ground.  It was at this point that Lex just about wished that he had
never woken up tonight.

	Bronx let out an audible moan as he lumbered into the warehouse.  "Aye boy
I know how ye feel" said Hudson with his sword drawn.  Hudson hadn't
relished the thought of having to go up against Demona again, especially
alone.  Oh he had Bronx but against the kind of technology and sorcery she
had he didn't think they would be enough.  He had once before gone against
Demona after she had poisoned Elisa.  He found out that night that Demona
was definitely a force to be reckoned with.  Hudson had fought his hardest
against her that night and at best he was able to keep her busy.  Suddenly
he heard sounds of movement coming from the back of the warehouse and he
immediately took a look in that direction.  All he saw was a cape like
shadow dart away.  That was all Bronx needed as the large gargoyle dog
charged off in that direction.  "Wait boy!"  said Hudson as he took off
after the beast.  He didn't like what was happening, not one little bit.
He knew that it was probably a trap but he also knew that he couldn't allow
Bronx to get caught.  "Two against ten is better then one against ten"
muttered Hudson.  When he turned the corner he found Bronx sniffing a solid
steel door which the cloaked figure had apparently gone in.  Sizing up the
door himself he estimated it to be at least half a foot thick and solid as
a rock.  Hudson looked down at Bronx and said" O.k boy, give it your best
shot" .  With that Bronx took a few steps back and with a loud bark ran and
dove paws first at the door.  With a loud clang the door fell down to the
ground with a muffled thunk.  When Hudson looked in all he could see was
dusty old furniture.  "Ach, what a mess" said Hudson with disgust.  The
dust was so thick it was even floating in the air with surprising
denseness.  Bronx took a quick sniff of the dust and immediately jumped
back and began to growl.  "What is it boy?" asked Hudson as he himself took
a sniff of the dust.  It didn't take him a second to find out what had
bothered Bronx.  "Gas!" , said Hudson as he covered his mouth, "Quick boy,
back outside.  Breaking into a sprint the two gargoyles ran with all their
might for the exit but for each step they took the second seemed to be
harder to make.  The gas was having its affect as Hudson fell to the
ground.  He hoped that at least Bronx would be able to make it but that
thought was kicked aside as Hudson heard the thump of Bronx's body beside
him.  He tried to stay awake and fight to the door but his old body didn't
respond.  With one final strain of his limbs Hudson looked up to see men
wearing gas masks.  That was the last thing that Hudson saw before he
succumbed to the blackness.

	Elisa was having the time of her life up above the city and she never
wanted it to end.  She had only glided for a few moments back at the castle
and already she felt as if she had done it all her life.  From what she
heard, the others were completely shocked at her aerial prowess.  She knew
how they felt because she herself was shocked that she had been able to
pull those manuevers off, especially since she just got her wings a day or
two ago.  The transformation must have done more than just transform her
into a gargoyle, it must have given her the instincts as well.  Inside her
mind she had knowledge that humans could only theorise about.  She looked
over at Goliath and saw how casually he soared on his four foot long wings.
Elisa knew that for him this was probably normal for him, just routine,
but for her it was like a ride on a miniature glider.  She regretted that
she would have to give it all up in a few hours.  Part of her didn't really
want to but the other part reminded her of the responsibilities she had as
a human.  Her job as a police officer she could probably do without but her
friends and family was something that she could never give up.  Elisa knew
that she could probably keep a few of her friends as a gargoyle but the
fact that they were friends could make things harder for them.  They would
probably be persecuted as "freak-lovers"  among other things and that was
something she wouldn't wish on her worst enemy.  Her mind snapped back to
reality as she saw the Nightsone building just a few blocks away.  She
would have to put these thoughts on hold for now.  With angel like grace
she began her descent to the balcony on the top floor.

	Goliath strained with his spirit as he saw Elisa glide down to the balcony
of the penthouse at the top of the Nightstone building.  He pushed away the
thoughts of abandoning the mission and letting Demona keep the sphere.  If
he did that Elisa would remain a gargoyle and he could once more feel love.
It wouldn't have mattered if all the humans were gone as long as she was
with him.  Unfortunately his sense of honour and integrity banished those
thoughts from his mind.  It would be selfish and dishonourable to try and
keep Elisa in a form she didn't want to be in.  It would be equally
dishonourable to treat human life with such disregard, even if he only
thought it.  To think that way would make him no better than Demona and he
would not allow that.  When he landed next to Elisa he could tell that she
was engaged in a spiritual battle of her own.  They both knew what they
wanted but they also knew what had to be done.  Without another thought
they dismissed all other thoughts and focused only on the mission at hand.


	Puck was beginning to wonder if there would be any excitement tonight.
There had been no flares the entire night and that bothered him.  By now at
least one of the teams would have found Demona.  If Demona wasn't found
before she cast the spell the world would be in jeopardy.  "C'mon Goliath
find that sphere" , said Puck dramatically, "don't let your old buddy Puck
down" .  If he failed in his mission Tatania would not be in a good mood.
The sphere was one of the few things that she owned with the power to
commit genocide.  If she didn't get it back he would be lucky to have any
access to his magical powers at all.  Suddenly he felt a powerful presence
behind him and he turned around and saw Tatania standing behind him.  "What
progress have you made with your assignment Puck?"  she asked in a stern
tone. "Quite a bit mother dearest" , said Puck with a bit of panic in his
normally playful voice, "the gargoyles have already been sent out after
Demona and it won't take long for them to beat her and get the sphere back"
.  "You seem so confident in their abilities Puck" , said Tatania frowning,
"what if they fail and Demona succeeds in her attempt to destroy humanity?"
"That won't happen, Goliath would rather die himself than let that
happen" , said Puck in a confident tone, "as would the remaining gargoyles"
.  "What about  Elisa Maza, would she sacrifice herself?" asked Tatania.
"Of course, she's a police officer for crying out loud" , said Puck as he
jumped off the wall to the ground, "she knows all about 'dying in the line
of duty' stuff" .  "You had best be right about this Puck or you will envy
the Weird Sisters punishment" said Tatania as she vanished from sight.  "I
hope I'm right as well" said Puck as he resumed his nervous and eager gaze
at the night sky.

	"Man, what a mess!" thought Officer Sampson.  It had taken them forever to
get that mob to disperse even with the two gargoyles gone.  It had taken
what must have been twenty cans of tear gas and two whole precients to
quiet things down.  He was just glad that he was back to the normal night
beat.  True he probably wasn't going to see any more action tonight but
that was fine by him, he had had his fill of excitement for one shift.
"Car 102, break in at the Nightstone electronics store on fifth and
broadway, please investigate" squawked the radio.  "This is car 102, 10-4"
said Sampson as he flipped on the sirens on his car.  This was turning out
to be one busy night, first a riot now a robbery.  "Great! What's next, the
empire state building going to explode" thought Samson as he speeded off in
the direction of the robbery.  When he arrived he saw a large van parked
out in front of the store.  It didn't look like your run of the mill van,
it was more like a battle van of some sort.  Armour covered it from stem to
stern, it looked like it was strong enough to take on a tank.  Suddenly he
saw six masked figures coming from the alley next to the store and all
seemed to be fully armed.  Then Sampson noticed something funny about what
these punks were doing.  They were apparently carrying two human looking
figures except they had tails and wings?!  "They must be gargoyles" ,
thought Sampson, "and in that case these punks aren't going anywhere" .
Flicking on the squad cars floodlight Sampson got out and trained his
pistol on the six figures.  "Freeze punks, dead or alive you're coming with
me" said Sampson hoping to intimidate them.  Unfortunately the sound of
automatic weapons fire showed that they were not intimidated in the least.
"Shit" cursed Sampson as he ducked behind the door.  There was no way he
was going to stop these rambos all by himself.  Crawling back into the car
Sampson reached for the radio in hopes of summoning back-up.  The hoods
must have caught on to his tactic because a hail of gunfire went through
his windshield, causing glass to rain down on his head.  It didn't take a
genius to know what would happen if one of those slugs hit the fuel tank.
"Only one chance" muttered Sampson as he cocked his revolver.  Charging
away from the car Sampson fired blindly at his enemies in hopes of stalling
them until he got to the alley on the other side of the building.  With a
loud boom the squad car erupted into a ball of flame as metal shrapnel flew
everywhere.  "Damn, I lose more cars that way" thought Sampson as he peeked
out to see what their next move was going to be.  Surprisingly they didn't
pursue him instead they simply threw their live cargo into the van.  "I've
got to stay with them" , thought Sampson as he saw them shut the van doors,
"there's no way that those autos their packing are legal" .  With all his
speed and cunning Sampson rushed up behind the van and made like a rail
runner and hitched a ride underneath the van.  As the van sped off Sampson
began to wonder what those six crooks would want with two gargoyles?

	As Goliath studied the door to the room Elisa's thoughts drifted back to
the time that Goliath, Hudson, Bronx and herself had gone to investigate
the apparent reemergence of the Pack.  They had apparently been cornered in
a run down apartment building, but as they later found out the Pack had set
a trap for them in hopes of field testing the their new bionic and
cybernetic accessories.  She had felt so helpless then, going up against
them when they were human was hard enough.  Though even if she had had this
gargoyle body back then it probably wouldn't have had any effect on the
outcome.  "No need to try and sneak in Goliath" , said a voice from a
hidden speaker, "I've been expecting you" .  The sound of Demona's sly
voice snapped Elisa from her thoughts and made her eyes glow a scarlet red.
The renegade gargoyle was really beginning to get on her nerves.  "Now,
now Detective you'll get a chance at me eventually" said Demona.  There was
a low buzzing noise and the door leading into the penthouse swung slowly
open.  Uncertain of what awaited them Goliath took point while she took up
the rear as they entered the proverbial 'lion's den'.  The entire room was
pitch dark, so much so that even their glowing eyes could not illuminate
more than a few  feet of the room.  It looked like your run of the mill
penthouse, with the exception of having a lot more windows. The darkness
was shortly eliminated as a laser blast flew across the room and just about
singed Elisa's skin.  "Down!" yelled Goliath as he pulled her behind a
plush couch.  Two more shots flew over the top of the sofa as they stooped
close to the floor.  "This is no good, we can't stay here" , said Elisa,
"this couch won't give us much protection against that laser gun" .
"Agreed, I suggest we try coming at it from two directions" said Goliath
and immediately took off towards the right side of the room.  Without
questioning him she took off in the opposite direction.  Elisa couldn't
help but wonder if this was exactly what Demona wanted.  As she reached
approached the laser turret she saw that it seemed to be purposely avoiding
any direct hits on Goliath.  Unfortunately it wasn't being anywhere near as
accommodating for her as it took all her speed and agility to dodge the
deadly red beams.

	This was a trap all right and he apparently was the target.  This wasn't
exactly something to be happy about but it at least gave him an idea of
what Demona had planned.  Obviously she wanted him alive either as a test
subject for the sphere or because she wanted to kill him with her own two
hands.  Though she seemed to care little about what happened to Elisa, that
much was shown by the laser fire.  He was about a foot away from the laser
when he heard it.  With lightning speed a bolt of electricity shot across
the room and struck him in the side.  He let out a cry of pain as he fell
against the wall and try as he must he couldn't move anymore.  Suddenly the
laser fire stopped and all was quiet, the quiet of the dead you could
almost say.  Goliath's mind strained to command his limbs to move but they
didn't even twitch.  "Goliath!" yelled Elisa as she ran toward him.  She
didn't get two feet before she was shot by a tranquilliser dart.  "Elisa!"
Goliath roared as he redoubled his efforts to move.  The dosage must have
been fairly high because she dropped to the ground within seconds.  He
strained to move but it proved both futile and senseless.  All he could do
was wait, wait for whatever fate Demona had planned for him.

	"Perfect" said Demona with a short laugh.  Both Goliath and Maza were out
and now she could proceed with phase two of her operation.  The Mercenaries
had captured the remaining gargoyles and placed them in the main hall next
to the sphere.  All were tied down with chains and cables so that they
couldn't escape, not that it would help them any.  With Tatania's sphere in
her hands there was no place on earth they could hide from her.  All who
opposed her in the past would perish and she alone would emerge the ruler
of the world.  Unfortunately she first had to test the sphere's abilities
before she could risk using it for her ultimate goal.  Goliath's clan would
prove to be the perfect test subjects except for Angela.  Though she knew
that he daughter had too much of Goliath's stupidity and concern for the
humans in her, she was sure that with time Angela would learn the same
lesson about humanity as she did.  Reaching up to the intercom Demona
instructed that Goliath be taken to the main hall and said that they could
do what they liked with Maza.  Though she wanted to deal with that infernal
gargoyle/human herself, Demona figured that she should let those pathetic
humans have their fun since in a few hours they would die along with the
rest of the human filth.  At the conclusion of her conversation she
proceeded down the dark hall to see how Brooklyn and the rest were.  No
doubt they were conscious now and probably mad as hell.  The thought of
those fools struggling against their bonds brought a smile to Demona's
face.  She would enjoy practising on them, for each of them on one occasion
or another had thwarted her plans.  "It's payback time" said Demona and
with a loud, maniacal laugh she proceeded towards her ultimate triumph.  Or
so she thought.

	"Ohhh" , Brooklyn moaned as he slowly came to, "what happened?"   As he
looked around he was easily able to asses the situation.  Obviously Demona
knew that they would come after and had set up traps for them, but why?
"Are ye alight lad?" asked Hudson who was on the other side of the room.
"Yeah nothing a bottle of asprin wouldn't cure but if Demona has her way
none of us will be O.K much longer" said Brooklyn as he strained to break
free.  Sadly there was apparently still some tranquilliser drugs in his
system.  "It's no use lad, these chains and cables are two strong" , said
Hudson as he tested his own restraints, "I doubt even Goliath could break
these blasted things" .  That didn't bode well for the rest of them, not
one little bit.  As he gazed around he saw that both Elisa and Goliath had
not been captured.  "Well at least Goliath and Elisa are still free" , said
Broadway in a cheerful tone.  "Not any more!" , said Demona as she wheeled
Goliath into the room on a high tech stretcher.  "This is bad, very bad" ,
thought Brooklyn, "now it is up to Elisa to save the world as well as us" .
"What have ye done with Elisa?" asked Hudson with a growl.  "Oh don't
worry, Detective Maza will be joining you shortly" , said Demona with a
chuckle, "she's just getting better acquainted with a few old friends from
the state penatentury" .  All of the clan let out a slight gasp as they
realised the meaning behind Demona's statement.  "What do you plan to do
with us?" asked Lexington hoping he wouldn't regret hearing the answer.
"Goliath and the rest of you have long been a thorn in my side.  Every time
victory is within my grasp you six show up and ruin it" , said Demona with
bitterness, "I should destroy you now but that would be a waste of a
valuable resource.  After I rid the world of every last human I will use
the power of the sphere to bring you around to my way of thinking" .  "Oh
yeah,  this is bad" , thought Brooklyn, "only a miracle could save us now"
.

	Sampson cursed at himself as he got out from under the van.  They had
gotten to their destination about fifteen minutes ago and Sampson had
decided to wait a few minutes before peeking out to see if things were
safe.  "Cough, cough.  A lot to go through for two gargoyles" thought
Sampson as he wiped the dirt off his body.  He was in a rather large
parking garage and aside from the van the entire was empty.  As he looked
around the room he spied a company logo painted on the wall.  "Nightstone
industries eh, figures" , he thought as he crept toward the elevator, "It
would take a fairly well heeled place like this to support that goon squad"
.  Once he got to the elevator he saw that the mercenaries had gone up to
the twentieth floor and apparently gotten off.  He knew that he would need
back-up for this job but as he searched for his radio he got the sinking
feeling that he wouldn't be getting it.  He looked down at his belt and
discovered that his radio was missing.  "Damn, must have fallen out on the
ride here" , muttered Sampson as he pressed the elevator button, "it looks
as though I'm on my own" .  Once he got in he began loading his pistol, and
checking every so often what floor he was at.  "Heh, saving three gargoyles
in less than two days" , thought Dave, "why is it I always get the weird
jobs?"   The elevator chimed and Sampson flattened himself against the side
of the car.  As the doors slid open he prepared himself to hear the sounds
of guns cocking and bullets flying but there was nothing but silence.  As
he peeked out he saw that the lavish hallway was bare except for a few
lamps on the walls.  As he looked at his surroundings he let out a slight
whistle and muttered" I'm definitely in the wrong business!"   That thought
was cast aside as Sampson heard a loud crash and the sound of a person
being struck.  He looked around the hall for a clue, a hint as to where the
sound was coming from.  Then he saw it, at the end of the hallway he saw
that a door marked "Gym"  was slightly ajar and light was seeping through
the cracks.  As the lone officer creeped down the hallway the sounds of the
beaten became clearer and he was able to identify the victim as being
female.  Then to his surprise a loud cougar like growl rang throughout the
floor.  That was the final piece in the puzzle as Sampson realised that the
victim of the abuse was a gargoyle.  Once he reached the door he peered
through the crack to try and estimate just who was in there.  Only about a
half  of the room was visible but that was all that was needed.  All the
hoods he had seen at the store plus three more, though now they were
relatively unarmed.  As he gazed up to get a look at the gargoyle they were
beating his jaw dropped to the ground.  It was the same gargoyle that he
had helped the night before.

	"Unnh" grunted Elisa as she was struck in the gut.  Things weren't making
much sense to her but one thing was for sure, she couldn't take much more
of this. The last thing that she remembered was being hit with a
tranquilliser dart and falling to the ground and everything going black.
Then she had been rather rudely awaken with a slap to the face.  Somehow
she had apparently been taken to a gym and strapped to the punching bag.
Demona obviously wanted her to suffer a little before being sent to meet
her maker.  Another blow connected except this one hit her ribs and she
almost felt it crack.  She had tried from the first moment she was awake to
break free but both the restraints they had placed on her and the drugs she
had been pumped full of were doing there job.  Once more she let out a loud
gargoyle roar in hopes of scaring them off but it only made them laugh all
the harder as they beat her.  Elisa gazed about the room, hoping that there
was something she could somehow use to her advantage.  Nothing that could
be of use to her was anywhere near her, letting out a sigh of defeat her
eyes fell to the ground.  That's when she saw it, two squinty eyes peering
through the space left by the ajar door.  Struggling against the pain she
strained to match a face to those eyes.  Suddenly she matched them, it was
officer Sampson from the hospital.  Somehow he must have discovered about
Demona's plan and come to stop it.  Unfortunately him knowing just that
wouldn't help her any.  "How can I get free to help him?" thought Maza.  As
if in answer to her question the officer burst through the door and
startled the nine thugs to the point of being speechless.  Not wasting any
time Elisa yelled" shoot at my restraints!"   Without so much as a 'you got
it' four shots rang out and Elisa fell to the ground.  Pain lanced through
her sides as she struggled to her feet.  Those punks had definitely cracked
a rib or two, that would restrict her movement quite a bit.  Elisa's pain
was the least of her worries as she gazed across the room and saw that
Sampson was surrounded.  Knowing that they had a better chance of surviving
tonight if they worked together, she swallowed her pain and with a bone
chilling yell roared" It's payback time!"

	"She can't take much more of that" thought Sampson as he closed his eyes
with each blow.  The gargoyle was pretty much out of it and if she was
going to be any help to him he had to get her out of there.  Taking a deep
breath Sampson slammed the door open and levelled the gun at the heads of
the abusers.  Surprisingly the gargoyle was apparently still conscious and
yelled to him" shoot at my restraints!"   Not needed to be told twice he
shot four bullets at the techno gear that held her to the punching bag.
Apparently they had done quite a number on her as he saw her grip her rib
area with pain once she hit the floor.  He hoped that she wasn't to badly
hurt because he was in big trouble.  The commando's(and I use the term
lightly)had surrounded him and he didn't need to be told that he was up to
his neck in it now.  Suddenly he savage roar shattered the silence as he
saw the gargoyle dive into the nine hoodlums with a vengeance.  She was
taking on these punks two at a time and looked to actually be having fun.
Unfortunately no matter who is fighting, one person against nine people
didn't stand a chance.  That was proven when just as the gargoyle vixen
brought one of the thugs above her head one of the others took a short
steel bar and hit her square in the stomach.  That one blow brought the
brave warrior to her knees and it looked as though she was finished as he
saw the gorilla bring the bar up above his head for another swing.  With
surprising quickness Sampson raised his gun and shot the steel bar right
out of his hand.  He had pulled off an amazing shot but it had cost him,
for now the remaining four punks returned their sights to him.  He was down
to his last bullet and he was damn sure that these four
sorry-excuses-for-human beings wouldn't let him reload.  Fortunately he
didn't need to as the gargoyle goddess launched a second attack on her one
time captors.  She still seemed to be a bit sore but she still was a sight
to see.  "Why should she have all the fun!?" thought Sampson as he
holstered his pistol.  With little time to act Sampson grabbed one of the
remaining goons by the arm, spun him around and gave him a right hook that
would have made George Foreman proud.  That left one for each of them to
handle and the two that were left seemed none two pleased the turn of
events.  In a flight of panic one swung a pitiful hay maker at the gargoyle
which she easily ducked.  Taking advantage of the unbalanced hood she
grabbed him by the throat and threw him across the room.  Surprisingly,
when the remaining thug saw that his comrade had his clock cleaned his eyes
rolled to the back of his head and he fainted clean away.  "Thanks for the
help" said the gargoyle as she took a barbell and wrapped it around two of
the commandos.  "Hey no problem" said Sampson as he cuffed another two to a
pipe.  Without another word the female gargoyle charged out of the room.
"Hey what's the matter?" he yelled as he took off in pursuit.  As the final
words fell from his mouth he suddenly got the feeling that he didn't want
to know.

	There was no time to waste, no telling what Demona had done to Goliath
during her absence.  Elisa charged down the hall with to her surprise the
officer in hot pursuit.  "What's the matter?" he yelled.  "You wouldn't
believe me even if I told you" said Elisa as she opened the doors to the
stairs.  "Hey, I've seen a gargoyle, metal robots and street punks armed
like navy seals" , said the officer, "I'm willing to believe in the Loch
Ness Monster right now" .  Elisa let out a slight chuckle at his mention of
the Loch Ness Monster.  She, Goliath, Angela and Bronx just saved two of
them from Sevarius only a month ago.  "Alright, if we don't find the
renegade gargoyle and stop her every human is going to die" , said Elisa,
"and I don't just mean in the city, I mean the entire human race" .  "How
the devil is she going to do that!?" asked the officer in amazement.
"Magic, how else?" replied Elisa in a matter-of-fact tone.  It was obvious
he hadn't completely absorbed that but his dumbfoundedness wasn't the chief
issue here.  "We have to find out where she's going to cast the spell" ,
said Elisa as she counted the floors as they climbed, "and I think I have
an idea where" .  The officer only looked at her in questioning gaze.
"She'd want to cast it someplace where she could get the best view of the
chaos she created" said Elisa as she reached what she hoped was the right
floor.  "This renegade is a sick one isn't she?" he asked.  "As sick as
they come and maybe a bit more" said Elisa with a frown.  As she took a
quick peek out the door to look around.  Instantly a laser beam streaked
through the air and just barely singed Elisa's long black hair.  Frightened
momentarily by how close she came to getting her head shot off she quickly
backpedalled into the stairwell.  "Right floor!?" asked the officer as he
cocked his gun.  Still a bit upset by the deadly spotlight, all Elisa could
do was nod.  "So what do we do now?" , asked the officer, "no way we can
stop that sick phsyco with that overgrown pea shooter out there" .
Agreeing with him she checked her pockets and was surprised to find that
the flare gun that Xanatos had given her back at the tower was still there.
"I have a plan" said Maza in a calm fashion.  "What do you plan to do with
that pop gun?!" exclaimed the officer.  "Call reinforcements" she said as
she made her way down one floor.  Fortunately when she poked her head out
this time there was no laser fire.  Elisa quickly made her way to the
nearest office and was thankful that it had a window.  Smashing the window
to pieces Elisa gave the officer a quizzical glance as she pointed to the
window.  "Hey, I didn't see a thing" he said with a smile.  Taking careful
aim she fired the flare gun and watched as the sky lit up like a  giant
light bulb.  Smiling she gazed at the Xanatos tower and thought" ironic
that the one person who can help us is the man I hate the most" .

	He had been waiting for hours and there had been no word from Goliath and
the rest of his clan.  Did they suspect that he would want the sphere and
would rather be killed than allow him to get him hands on it.  Xanatos had
hoped that his rather generous reinstatement of them into castle Wyvern
would have dispelled most of the doubts as to his feelings toward him.
Maza was probably now trying to persuade him not to call for help.  Not
that he blamed the detective, had he been in her shoes he probably would
have done the exact same thing.  True if he had been in her shoes he would
probably be a captain right now but that wasn't the point.  Suddenly there
was a bright flash of light and a small smouldering object began to slowly
descend from the sky.  Almost as if on cue Puck materialised and exclaimed
"I knew Goliath wouldn't let us down!"   Xanatos merely raised and eyebrow
as he open up his Goliath battle armour.  "You know you're as bad as the
Sisters when it comes to humour and that isn't good" said a frowning Puck
as he floated toward the window.  "Where did the flare come from?"  asked
Xanatos as he clicked his helmet into place.  "It came from the Nightstone
building" , said Puck as he returned to his cheerful self, "apparently
Demona is having a party and forgot to invite us" .  Pressing a button on
the wall Xanatos watched as the window in front of Puck began to slide
open.  "Then what are we waiting for!?" asked Xanatos as he ignited his
backpack and soared out the window.  "Oooh a race!!"  , exclaimed Puck,
"this is going to be fun!" .  Not a nanosecond later Puck vanished in a
flicker of magic.

	"Unnh" groaned Goliath as Demona struck him in the stomach.  She had
waited a long time to do that to him.  Ever since she returned to the
castle a millennia ago she had wanted to punish him for his stupidity.  A
few years ago when she heard that the castle was to be moved to Xanatos she
had first been enraged at the defilement.  That rage had passed once
Xanatos revealed to her the terms of the spell.  The thought that she would
soon be reunited with her beloved again filled her mind.  She felt a joy
she had not known for a long time, but that happiness was destroyed when
she saw how Goliath acted.  He still wanted to protect the humans, even
after the destruction of his clan he wanted to protect them.  When she
heard him say he had to meet a human friend he had made she was shocked,
even after she had tried to persuade him otherwise.  Demona knew from that
point on that he would oppose her and that he would have to be dealt with.
Unfortunately getting rid of him was like trying to get rid of a stain,
they always reappear just when you think they're gone.  Suddenly the door
swung open and two of the humans she had ordered to take care of Maza
barged in.  "Ms. Dominique, Ms. Dominique the other gargoyle has escaped"
, said the first nervously, "the cop we ran into set her free!"
"Impossible, I thought you and the rest were guarding her" , yelled Demona,
" ooohhh, that's what I get for sending a human to do a gargoyles job.
Activate the security drones!"    "Y-y-yes mam!" stammered the first guard
as he followed the second more silent one out the door.  Apparently she had
made a mistake hiring common thugs for her commandos.  She had thought that
with the weaponry that she gave them they would be able to handle the
simple task of dealing with Maza.  Well the security drones should take
care of her and once she was done with Goliath and his clan she would deal
with the human race.

	Sampson looked at his temporary partner and said to himself once more" it
sure has been a weird night" .  So far he had helped to quiet down a mob,
got his car shot to hell trying to stop seal team-wannabe's and now he was
helping a gargoyle stop genocide.  Not that it had been any less weird
before but compared to this all the rest was about as serious as
jaywalking.  Just a few minutes ago he had seen the gargoyle shoot a flare
out the window and say that she was brining reinforcements.  Sampson didn't
know what those reinforcements were but he hoped that they were packing
some heavy artillery.  Suddenly he heard what sounded like a motorised
wheelchair in the hallway.  Being careful not to give whatever it was a
large target he opened the door to the office and peeked out.  "Holy shit!"
he yelled as he ducked back in the office and closed the door.  "What is
it?" said the gargoyle.  "We have company and it doesn't look to friendly"
said Sampson.  The puzzled gargoyle walked over the door and took a look
for herself.  Slamming the door shut the gargoyle looked at him as if
saying 'you weren't kidding'.  "Maybe we'll get lucky, maybe it won't come
in here" said Sampson as he tried to produce a smile.  That one ray of hope
was shot to pieces as the door was riddled with laser fire.  "Then
again..!" said Sampson as he covered his head.  The gargoyle dove out of
the way of the lasers, which were missing her by inches.  Both he and the
gargoyle knew that they wouldn't last long if that robot got in here.  "Any
ideas?!" he asked as he shielded his face from the debris.  "Only one"  she
said as she grabbed him by the arm.  With little or no effort she slung him
onto her back and yelled "Hang on!"   For a moment he wondered what she had
meant but all his questions were replaced with undeniable fear as she
leaped out the window to the less than safe and less than solid open air.

	"I hope this works!" thought Elisa as her taloned feet left the solid
office floor.  She had never before had to carry a person like this when
she was human much less as a gargoyle.  "Well, there's no time like the
present" mumbled Elisa and with a prayer she spread her wings once they
cleared the window.  At first they plummeted but only for a few seconds and
then they soared high into the sky.  "Had me worried there for a second!"
said the officer as he loosened previously tight grip.  Elisa was about to
reply when she spotted the metal sides of the Nightstone building slide
away to reveal steel-clan look-a-likes.  There was one very drastic change
that Maza noticed immediately, instead of the familiar Goliath form they
now resembled Demona.  "It's not over yet!" , exclaimed, "steel clanners at
twelve 'o' clock high" .  The puzzled police officer looked behind them and
mumbled a few curses that she didn't quite catch.  "I've got to get him to
safety" , thought Elisa, "there's no way I can fight those things with him
on my back" .  Taking a quick look around and found nothing she could just
dump him in.  That meant that she had to land for a moment and let him, but
that also meant being a better target for those walking scrap heaps for a
few seconds.  "No choice there" thought Elisa as she quickly went into a
power dive.  "What the hell are you doing?!" screamed the officer.  As if
to show him, just a few seconds before they were to slam into the roof and
become scarlet pancakes she spread her wings and landed with a thud on the
roof.  "Stay here and stay out of sight!" ordered Elisa as her scarlet
glowing eyes gazed back at the now three approaching steel Demonas, "I'll
deal with our playmates!"   Gathering what strength she had with her Elisa
dove off the roof and unleashed all the gargoyle ferocity she could marshal
at the moment.  Like clockwork,  just as she approached the robots they
opened a compartment on their wrists to reveal lasers that looked amazingly
like the ones on Xanatos' robots.  "Demona, can't you think of anything
original!?" asked Elisa sarcastically.  As if in answer to her question two
more lasers appeared but this time they were mounted on her shoulders.  A
second later the air became filled with laser fire and Elisa was barely
able to dodge the scarlet beams of death.  As she searched her memory for a
tactic she noticed to her surprise that one of the robots had sneaked up
behind her and was attempting to get a target lock on her.  "Not tonight
Demona!" said Elisa as she broke into a dive toward the Nightstone building
wall.  True to form the robot followed her into the dive still unable to
get a stable target lock.  Just as it appeared that she would become a
pancake Elisa broke out of the dive and soar up paralell with the wall of
concrete and steel.  The Demona robot was not so lucky, just as it was
about to turn away it slammed into the wall and exploded sending bits of
debris to the street below.  "One down, two to go!" said Elisa as she
searched for the other two.  Unfortunately the other two found her first,
one had come up from behind and slammed all one and a half tons of itself
into Elisa's back.  This blow sent her for a loop and she crashed head
first onto the exact roof she had just left.  "Ohhh, I'm definetly not
going to be able to work tomorrow night" mumbled Elisa as she tried to get
her bearings.  Out of nowhere a laser blast streaked out of nowhere and
slammed her deep into the shingles on the roof.  As she gazed up she saw
the two remaining Demona robots hovering in the air in front of her with
their lasers trained on her.  A look of fear fell upon her face as she
realised that death's hand was reaching out for her.  Fortunately Death
would be cheated that night as a crimson blast shot across the sky and went
through one of the robots as though it were onion paper.  Looking up to see
where the laser had come from she saw a man whom she never expected in her
life to be happy to see.  Xanatos.

	As Xanatos approached the building he discovered that he was a bit on the
late side as he saw Maza fighting for her life against three steel clan
look-a-likes.  "Hmmm, I'll have to have Owen file a lawsuit against Demona
for plagiarism" thought Xanatos as he prepared to deploy his laser.  Just
as he had one of the robots in his sights he surprisingly retracted his
laser and simply commanded his suit to hover on the spot for a while.
"What are you scheming Xanatos!?" asked Puck as he came to a stop next to
the red steel clanner and copied the robots floating posture.  "I'm just
letting dear Maza test herself against these robots to see if I can spot
any weakness'" , said Xanatos trying to sound nice, "If it turns out that
she requires assistance I'd be only too happy to help her."   "'Only too
happy', 'dear Maza'!" , exclaimed Puck in shock, "Xanatos did you drink a
snootful of the old 'vino' before we left?!"   "No" , said Xanatos, "I
haven't had a drop of alcohol since the baby was born."   "Then you're up
to something and I don't like it" said Puck with a questioning frown on his
face.  "Excuse me but our alcoholic anonymus meeting will have to wait"
said Xanatos as he pointed at Maza's dazed form on a nearby roof.  Not
wasting another second Xanatos aimed his laser and sent a streak of light
hurtling through the night sky and right through one of the robots.  "Care
to finish the last one?" asked Xanatos as he looked at Puck.  "With
pleasure.  'little maiden made of steel, your appearance is truly surreal,
your expression be like black tile, so long babe you're going to the pile!"
exclaimed Puck and almost instantly beams of green energy flew from his
mouth and hit the robot straight in the back.  At first it did nothing but
with a little blow from Pucks mouth, it crumbled into a pile of junk on the
roof where Maza was watching.  "Well now that that is taken care of let's
check on Elisa" said Xanatos as he began to fly toward the lady gargoyle
who apparently was not as badly hurt as she appeared to be.  As they
approached they noticed another form moving toward her.  "Who is that?"
said Puck.
	
	"Hey are you O.K?" Sampson asked as he carefully approached the gargoyle.
"Yeah, nothing that a day of stone sleep won't cure" replied the gargoyle
as she got to her feet.  "You were amazing out there" , he exclaimed, "I
bet if you weren't so banged up you could've taken on all three" .  "Don't
give me too much credit" , responded the gargoyle in a modest tone, "I'm
surprised it took them as long as they did to knock me down" .  "Don't be
so hard on yourself Maza" , said a digitised voice from behind him, "you
did a great job, I doubt Goliath could have done much better" .  When
Sampson turned around he was surprised to see another steel gargoyle
standing behind him,  along with what looked like a small floating man with
a maniacal grin on his face.  "Who are you!?" Sampson asked as he backed up
a bit.  "That's not the issue here officer, we have got to get going, that
little game bought Demona another few minutes", said the female gargoyle,
"If we don't stop her soon she'll complete her insane scheme!"   "Good
Point. I'm afraid you'll have to excuse us officer but the detective and I
have a sorceress to stop" said the lustrous gargoyle and with that final
word it zoomed off toward the building.  The female gargoyle was about to
go and join them but Sampson couldn't let her leave just yet.  He grabbed
her shoulder and said" Where do you think you're going?" .  "I've got to
help Xanatos, no way he can beat Demona on his own" she replied with a
determined look.  Sampson had seen that look on many a cop in his years in
the force and knew that there was no way that he could persuade her
otherwise.  "Then at least take this with you" said Sampson as he took out
his fully loaded pistol and passed it to her.  She seemed a bit surprised
by this act, though given what happened to her clan a thousand years ago he
had expected it.  "You understand this is just a loan until later of
course" he said sarcastically as he put the gun in her hands.  That last
comment seemed to do the trick as she smiled and put the gun in her tight
fitting jeans.  With a simple thanks she jumped off the roof and glided
after her strange friends.  As she flew away he remembered something
peculiar about what the robot gargoyle had said to the normal gargoyle.
Something about her being a 'Detective' and her last name being 'Maza'?
What did he mean by that?  "Well I'll have to worry about that later" ,
said Sampson with a sigh, "first I gotta get down off this dang roof" .

	Elisa was furious at Xanatos and if it wasn't for the fact that she needed
his help if she was going to free Goliath and get back to normal she'd kill
him right now.  She caught up to him just as he arrived at the third last
floor from the top.  "Xanatos!" she yelled with eyes blazing red.  "Yes
Maza?" replied Xanatos in his normal suave tone.  "Oh don't give me that!"
, she said, "Do you have any idea what kind of trouble you may have just
caused me and Goliath?!"   "Oh don't get your tail in an uproar Maza" ,
said Xanatos, "I'm sure he didn't even catch a word I said and even if he
did I'm sure that you'll  think of something to tell him later" .  As much
as she hated to admit it Xanatos did have a bit of a point.  In all the
excitement, the attacks and action there was a chance that he didn't catch
it.  Elisa turned to Puck who at the moment was playing some sort of
porable video game.  "So Puck, care to tell us where the sphere is?" asked
Elisa as she began circling him.  "It's on this floor, where exactly I
haven't got a clue" he said briefly looking up from his game.  Elisa gave
out sigh and said" well lets get a move on!" .  With that she glided toward
and crashed through an offices window, her wings covering her face.  "She
sure knows how to make an entrance, doesn't she?" said Xanatos with a short
laugh as he followed the gargoyles example and flew into the building.
Puck merely shrugged and followed Xanatos, all the while playing his game.

	"Damn her!" cursed Demona as she saw the last of her steel clan fall to
pieces.  She had counted on Xanatos interfering but Puck was definitely
another story.  True the sphere of Tatania had the power to vanquish them
all, but who knew what effect that would have on her goal to obliterate
humanity.  Still this did mean she would have to step up her plans a bit.
As she strolled back into the chamber, Goliath and his clan were futily
trying to rip through their ropes.  "I don't know why you bother" , she
said sarcastically as she knelt next to Goliath's side, "Even you must know
that it's impossible for you to break out of those restraints."   With a
slight groan of frustration Goliath stopped struggling and said" You won't
get away with this Demona, Elisa will stop you and if not her perhaps
Xanatos!"   "Hmph, spare me the hopeless bravado Goliath" , snorted Demona
as she went over to her main prize, "Maza never has been and never will be
a threat and as for Xanatos he won't be able to do anything soon."   As if
holding an egg, Demona took the sphere and held it in her arms and began to
chant in a language so ancient it didn't have any real meaning anymore.
Slowly, the smell of brimstone and death filled the air as the floor
vanished beneath a blanket of fog.  As Demona chanted the magical green
light within the sphere began to glow brighter with every word.  "Uh-oh!" ,
said Brooklyn as he gazed in horror at the glowing orb, "If anybody has any
suggestions as to how to stop this, they had better spit it out now or
forever hold their peace."   The room remained silent for nobody in the
group, not even Goliath had a sliver of an idea about what could be done.
Slowly Demona's chanting came to a halt and she placed the sphere back on
its place on the pedestal.  "I've decided to change my plans a bit, I've
decided to kill you all first then destroy humanity" said Demona as began
to walk towards the door.  Suddenly the doors of the room exploded and
wooden shrapnel flew every where.  When the smoke and debris cleared two
gargoyle and one