"A Change In Character" by Ryley Breen A.K.A "Shadow Master"
E-Mail Adress-ubreen@fox.nstn.ca

	Just when you thought it was safe to download, I have returned!  I hope
you enjoyed the last story I wrote because it took me a long time to write.
Even if you didn't I really enjoyed  writing for the "Fan Fiction" section
of your home page.  So much so I think that if possible that I will become
a regular contributor to the home page.  Thus I wish to be referred to as
Shadow Master in any use of my stories.  It may be a bit corny but no worse
than Dark Phoenix or Chief Web Guru.  Getting back to the story at hand, it
concerns greatly with Titania's and Oberon's adventures as mortals on Earth
during the past millennia or so.  Over such a long period of time you might
wonder what they did and what were the results of their actions on the
Earth realm.  In this story we will meet one of the most dangerous beings
that the rulers of the third race ever encountered.  This being was so
dangerous to the two rulers of Avalon, that not even they could subdue him
for long.  If this were on T.V they would show Oberon and Tatania using
their magical abilities and also Tatania explaining what she, Oberon and
the children of Oberon have been doing for since leaving Avalon a millennia
or more ago.

"A Change In Character"

Kjolen Mountains, Norway, 8:30pm

	The weather in this land was as always harsh and cold but what else could
you expect in a land known for it's harsh winters and even harsher past.
In the past this was a place that was home to a band of conquerors called
the Vikings.  For several years they plagued Europe with their plundering
of castles and senseless murders.  It didn't matter if there was or wasn't
reason for the killings, the only thing that saved the victims of the
Viking raids was their ransom value.  Now you might ask "what unscrupulous
desire caused these raids?" One answer was mostly for the riches that could
be gained by the raid.  Another was because of the religion that these
Vikings followed, it set the ground rules by which their lives were ruled.
In this religion there would of course been stories of gods and their
adventures which were used to explain nature.  One such god and probably
one of the more well known was Loki, god of mischief and evil.  There have
been many tales spoken of this god, many adventures involving him and other
Norse gods.  Unfortunately his deeds of evil did not go unpunished for
after the death of the god Baldur Loki is eventually captured and chained
beneath the earth for all eternity.  Though many who still believe in these
gods say that Loki will someday arise from his imprisonment and that it
will spell the end of everything, they also hope that they will not live to
see that day.  Unfortunately for them all their praying has been in vain
for the time of his release is near.

Avalon, Present

	Sleep.  It is usually the one time in a person's daily routine that peace
can usually be attained, but not always.  On the mystical island of Avalon
there exists a people that do not require sleep but sometimes it do any
ways.  Titania for example rather enjoys sleeping, enjoys the freedom and
serenity it produces.  Her children and Oberon find this peculiarity of
hers pointless and generally uninteresting.  She doesn't care for she is
Titania, queen of the third race and wife to the almighty Oberon.  In these
visions of fantasy she has seen a great many things.  She has seen her
mortal daughter Fox, her grandson Alexander and her son in law David and to
all she felt feelings of joy and love.  You would think that this
particular night would be no different but if you thought this you would be
making one hell of an understatement.  In this dream the visions of past
dreams were thrust aside and replaced with horrors unseen by Titania for a
millennia.  Now this powerful being is not one easily scared, she has seen
every act of cruelty imaginable and then a few.  Normally things like this
wouldn't trouble her but tonight fate just threw her a curve ball.  For
this dream terrified Titania ,more so than ever before.  So much so that
with one heartfelt  scream the immortal women woke up in a cold sweat.
Even though she was awake and safe in her room the feeling of fright and
horror never left her being.  So frightened was she that all she could
manage to say, all she could manage to whisper was "Loki".
	It had been quite a while since Oberon had concluded the gathering and his
children and he had settled in.  Though a few of the children were unhappy
for being called back to their home so soon but this mattered little to
him.  He was their ruler as well as their father and as such he knew what
was good for them.  True he didn't feel entirely comfortable with allowing
Fox's son remain on the earth realm nor Puck for that matter but what's
done is done and there was no sense moping over it.  Suddenly a wave of
fear swept over him and he felt as thought he would scream if he had not
the will power to stop himself.  Unfortunatly as the sound of another
screaming reached his ears he knew that he was fortunate.  Almost without
thinking he teleported to the source and was shocked and concerned to find
his wife sitting up in bed with a look of fear etched firmly on her face.
Not wishing to startle her he walked slowly to his beloved's side and took
her hand and placed it in his.  Despite his efforts the emerald skinned
beauty jumped at his touch and looked at him as though he was a formless
wraith.  This look remained only for a moment before Titania reasserted her
normal calm and civilised appearance.  "You felt it too I presume?"asked
Titania as her night gown changed into her normal Arabian princess
appearance.  "Yes and I can only hope that we can stop this evil before it
can do any real harm" said Oberon as he helped his beautiful bride to her
feet.  He knew how she felt and felt the exact sense of fear she did.  It
had been over a millennia since they confronted Loki and brought his reign
of terror to a screeching halt but he could still remember it as though it
were yesterday(pretty hard given the fact that you've been alive for so
long).  Loki had begun to secure power on earth as well as other magical
plains and was preparing to seize the throne of the third race for himself.
Though Oberon's forces were able to keep the challenger's forces from
getting to Avalon for a moment it looked as if Loki would win.  Only by
summoning the combined might of the third race were Titania and he able to
subdue him and imprison him with a combination of physical and magical
barriers.  They had hoped that it would be strong enough to keep him
confined for all eternity but they should have realised that nothing
endured forever.  "How will we stop him this time, he'll surely be prepared
for us?" , asked Titania as she walked over to the window and gazed out
into the moonlit night, "we barely defeated him the first time and mostly
due to his arrogance."  Oberon agreed with this statement, Loki was
definitely not the sort to repeat a mistake, arrogance or no arrogance.
	Before his treacherous acts began he always saw himself as being superior
to his peers, superior to Oberon himself.  He was always rather hungry for
power, that much was shown when he rigged Baldur's death by mistletoe.  By
the same example he was also very clever and that was the basic means by
which his army was raised.  He searched for those he deemed to have the
necessary resources and skill to fufill his goals.  Once he had them hooked
he used their own vanity and greed to manipulate and reshape their needs to
suit his purposes.  A millennia ago this didn't amount to very much in
terms of power but in numbers it more than made up for the difference.  In
this day and age Loki would be able to have both power and numbers if he so
wished and that worried Oberon.  He had been on the receiving end of what
this era's science had to offer and it was as formidable as magic had ever
been.  With such power at his command he would give reason for both mortals
and immortals to fear him.  Something would have to be done and soon but at
present Oberon was at a loss for a solution.

New York, America, 6:45pm

	"Problem dear?"asked Fox Xanatos as she looked at the frowning face of her
husband David Xanatos looking at his computer screen.  Their marriage had
happened almost a year ago to the day and she had many a chance during that
time to study the body language of her billionaire husband.  She could tell
when he was happy, sad, disappointed or angry.  There was nothing that she
could not immediately recognise in his behaviour.  "Nothing serious I was
just trying to figure out how I'm going to deal with my disgruntled
investors" , said Xanatos as he changed his frown to a grin, "I can keep
them in line  for now but it won't stay that way forever, sooner or later
they may take their money elsewhere."  At first Fox was puzzled by the
mention of problems with the investors but soon remembered what it was
about.  A while ago David had rescued the gargoyles from the police and an
angry mob and just a few nights ago was involved in a riot outside New York
General hospital.  His investors were none to happy about which side David
had chosen to support but knew that they didn't have the leverage to force
him to changehis mind.  The eccentric business man was right that he would
have to come up with a way to cool their hot tempers before anything
happened.  "Don't worry David, they know they wouldn't last long without
you" , said Fox as she plopped herself onto his lap, "besides dwell on it
and you'll only worry yourself...."  Fox was stopped in mid-sentence as a
feeling of impending doom shot through body.  For a moment all she did was
sit there with a look of dread covering her face.  David had obviously was
a bit disturbed by this as he reached for the intercom to call for Owen.
He was just about to press down on the button before Fox returned to normal
and stopped him.  "No need to bother Owen David, I'm fine" said Fox as she
tried to put on a confident and calm face on.  "You sure, you looked almost
pale for a second there?" asked David as he removed his finger from the
intercom button and reached up to feel Fox's forehead.  "I'm sure, just had
that 'somebody walking on my grave' feeling that's all" ,  replied Fox as
she got up to leave, "Well I'd better get ready if you don't be late for
the party!"  All David did was give a medium sized grin as she walked to
the door and left to get dressed.   She wasn't sure that he had believed
her but she didn't want to worry him over just a feeling she had.  Still,
ever since she had discovered that her mother was some sort of mystical
immortal queen and that she had magical abilities all her own, she had
always wondered what exactly were the limits of her powers.  Did she have
some sort of magical warning system or was she just acting crazy.  "Well no
sense thinking about something so trivial" , thought Fox with a sigh, "I
don't care if I have magic in me or not.  I have never needed it before and
I probably never will".  Saying no more on the subject Fox walked down the
dark tiled hallway and changed her thoughts to those of what to wear and
what's going to happen.  Little did Fox realize that her magical abilities
would be a key part in the battle to come.
	As the sun drifted down farther beneath the horizon, a fiery glow covered
the cloudless sky.  Shadows finished their day long transformation and had
already begun to fade from sight and be replaced by those of the night.
People heading home after a long days work and others whose shift is just
beginning.  One group of people who are abundantly associated with the
night are the gargoyles.  Some of the populace believes them to be
bloodthirsty animals who should be separated from their world.  Others are
still trying to form an opinion of their own, one based on fact rather then
fear.  Then we come to the remaining few who believe that the gargoyles
have been a great aide to the war against crime.  Out of all these opinions
one can only assume that time will eventually solve this situation either
through violence or peace.
	As night fell upon the stone statues of Castle Wyvern a feeling of
anticipation filled the air.  A feeling commonly associated with the
transformation of things of myth and things of reality.  At first it seemed
as though the anticipation was in vain, that there would be no great
transformation.  That feeling was banished from thought as the sound of
crumbling stone filled the air.  Slowly, as if it were going in a
particular order, the surface of each statue began to crack and fall to the
ground.  Then the eyes of the stone guardians opened to reveal glowing orbs
of light, as if it were some robot that had been encased in solid stone.
That theory was ripped apart as each of the winged forms burst forth from
their stone skin, roaring with a volume that seemed to be a declaration of
their awakening.  A warning to all criminals that tonight just became a lot
more dangerous and futile.  With their warning issued each taloned figure
moved about their business but two of the former statues remained atop
their perches looking out into the night sky.
	"Are you o.k Elisa?"asked Goliath as placed his hand on her shoulder.  It
had been a few nights since Elisa had destroyed the sphere of Titania and
sealed her fate as a member of the gargoyle race.  She had reassured him
that she didn't blame him for the fate, none of the others did either but
he still couldn't help but feel a little guilty.  If only he had pushed
himself  a bit harder, moved a bit faster, it might have been enough to
return Elisa to her proper form.  "Sure, turning to stone at sunrise is
getting less shocking and breaking out of the stone shell is easy" , said
Elisa with a encouraging smile, "I was just thinking of how I'm going to
tie up the loose ends of my human life."  So that's what had been troubling
her since her first days rest here and it was perfectly understandable.
Though Elisa's life as a gargoyle was just beginning she had left the
remains of her human life behind.  Her job, her friends, her family,
everything that she had worked for in her years of existence.  Somehow she
had to find a way to salvage what she could from the past in order to
proceed into the future.  Slowly she stood up and spread her wings to open
air and glided down to the courtyard.  Once she landed she turned around
and looked at him and yelled "c'mon Goliath, it's time for breakfast".
Pushing his guilt torn feelings aside Goliath glided down to Elisa and
accompanied her inside.  Still, in the very back of his mind, a small tinge
of guilt still scratched at his conscience.
	Even with the modern trappings of technology that Xanatos had incorporated
into the castle interior Elisa could still envision what it must have been
like back then .  Feasts after every victory, minstrels playing their sweet
melodies and warriors laughing over feats of bravery and feats of
cowardice.  Still amongst those feelings of joy and happiness there was the
ever present wisp of tragedy ingrained into these walls.  It was in these
very halls and rooms that brave warriors, both human and gargoyle had
breathed there last.  "It must have been horrendous for Goliath to return
to find almost every last one of his people destroyed" thought Elisa as she
gazed at the small closet size spaces in the wall.  As she spoke the words
a hint of irony came up and brought a grin to the gargoyle's face.  "Funny,
in a way I guess they're my people now" , thought Elisa as the grin was
replaced with a sense of sadness, "so in a way I have lost my brothers, my
sisters, perhaps even parents".  Sounds of conversation from the dining
hall dispelled the feelings of mourning from the face of the matron
gargoyle.  When she and Goliath entered the room they could see Brooklyn
and Broadway staring angrily at each other.  "Guess when one of them struck
out both did" whispered Elisa to Goliath.  "Yes, it would appear so"
replied Goliath with a wide grin.  Things had definitely changed since
Angela and the remainder of the voyagers returned home.  Bronx certainly
seemed to be glad to be back in the company of Hudson and there was no
question of the trio's 'appreciation' of Angela.  All of them had at one
time or another tried to gain Angela's attention for a time but always had
it ripped away by the others.  Elisa knew that this made Angela a bit
uncomfortable but she seemed to be handling it well.  "Whoa, look at all
this food!" exclaimed Elisa as she got a better look at the spread, "is
Xanatos expecting guests or does he expect us to eat all this ourselves!"
There was so much food on the table that you could barely see the table
itself.  "Not really Detective but if you wish to invite anyone I'm sure an
extra place can be set at the table" said Xanatos jestingly as he and Fox
entered the room.  "Where are you to going?" asked Elisa with a quizzical
look on her face.  "There's a party being held at the twin towers and we
have been invited to attend" said Fox as she returned Elisa's look to a
tee, "Why?  Do you want to come along, I'm sure the other guests wouldn't
mind."  "No, I've been to enough high class parties to know what goes on" ,
retorted Elisa as she took her place at the end of the table, " 'sides I'm
on patrol duty tonight but thanks anyway."  This seemed to amuse Fox a bit
as a sly grin came across her face.  "Some people have all the luck" , said
Fox as she gave the taloned vixen a fake look of envy, "see you later, if
I'm lucky."  With that discussion finished the two wealthy business people
left the room and left the gargoyle clan with a feast to pack away.
	Owen was not in a happy mood and that was easily visible by his faltering
visage.  His cool and calm composure was replaced with one of worry and
intenseness.  He recognised the feeling of fear he had experienced just a
few minutes ago and even he could not shake his reaction from his face.
"Loki is breaking out of his prison and when or if he does there goes the
neibourghhood!" thought Owen as he picked up a book from the shelf and
tried to concentrate on its contents.  He would begin a sentence but even
before he reached the middle of the page an image of Loki would present
itself.  "Maybe a session of training Alexander would lift my spirits" ,
thought Owen as he placed the book down, "his prowess at magic always
cheers me up".  Quickly he shape shifted into the comical trickster Puck
and teleported himself to  Alexander's room in a flash.  When he arrived he
saw that the child had also felt the wave of terror but had expressed it in
a different and particularly messy way.  "P U, we have got to get you potty
trained and the sooner the better" muttered Puck as he went for the nearby
package of diapers.  After the mess had been cleaned up Puck began to
ponder what trick he should teach the little rug rat.  It took him a while
but after a few minutes he decided on shape shifting.  True this would be a
bit of a stretch but with a bit of help he might be able to do it.  Taking
the young infant in his arms Puck floated to the couch and placed him on
top.  "O.K Alexander, this is going to be quite a strain for your miniscule
abilities but I'm sure you can do it"said Puck as his clothes changed into
a lab coat and a clip board appeared in his hand.  Alexander simply sat on
the couch, paying little attention to what the floating man was saying.
"You know you're not going to get a very good grade if you don't
listen"said Puck as he floated over in front of Alexander so as to get his
attention.  To this the child simply drooled and giggled, obviously this
was going to be harder than Puck had thought.  "O.k you asked for it.
Little child who cannot read, fruits of wisdom I wish to seed, so listen
you must and show concern, for now it is time for you to learn" chanted
Puck as he gazed at the child.  For a moment it seemed as if the spell
would work but then Puck received the shock of his life.  Just as the
magical light was about to touch the babbling child it did a complete 180
degree turn and hit Puck right in the gut.  "Why you sneaky little devil,
you've been practising behind my back!" exclaimed Puck as he overrided the
spell and laughed.  "Ohhh, mother is going to enjoy your report card very
much come the end of the month" said Puckas he proceeded to carry
Alexander over to his play pen.  Alexander definitely liked Puck, probably
because of his charming personality but Puck doubted it.  After placing a
few stuffed toys in the pen with him Puck said"o.k, let's try your
levitation skills kiddo then I'll leave you to play".  The billion dollar
heir smiled and with no more then a gesture lifted a teddy bear a few
inches off the ground.  "Good, good, now lets go for the really big prize
and try for two"said Puck as he levitated over another stuffed object next
to the teddy bear.  For a while it seemed as though he was going to hold it
but then the toys dropped to the ground.  With a frown Puck picked up the
small child and floated back over to put the kid to bed.  "You know Alex
you have a rather annoying family trait despite your potential" , said Puck
as he placed the child in the crib and pulled the covers over him, "you
always mess up when you strain yourself".  Apparently the child was tired
for not a minute passed before he was fast asleep.  "Sleep well little one
because one way or another your future will be decided soon"whispered Puck
and with a slight flickering of light Puck vanished from the room.
	"Have you thought of anything yet my lord?" asked Titania as she saw her
true blue husband enter the room.  He apparently was not in the best of
moods and it was not an easy task to upset him like this.  "Not really
beloved, the only possible course of action is to try and strengthen his
prison and hope it's enough"spoke Oberon in a dry sombre tone.  "How can we
do so, according to your own laws no immortal can leave Avalon once the
gathering has concluded?" asked Titania as she walked to his side.  "I
know, which is why I'm sending only the Weird Sisters to earth" , replied
Oberon as he met his wife's gaze, "they have been waiting for a chance to
redeem themselves for quite some time."  Titania only nodded with but a
gesture summoned the three sisters Seline, Phoebe and Luna.  "Yes my lord?"
they said in unison.  "I assume that you three have felt the same fear as I
did?" asked Oberon.  "Yes we did my lord and it was very unpleasant"said
Seline.  "That feeling of fear was a sign that the millennia old prison of
magic and stone in which we confined the being Loki has become critical"
said Oberon in a foreboding tone.  At this all three of the silk dress
wearing maidens gasped in horror.  Though they were young at the time he
knew that the deeds of Loki were remembered by each and every one of them.
"I have decided that you three shall go to the site of his prison and use
your powers to strengthen it so it will be able to contain him as it was
meant to" , ordered Oberon, "In exchange for these services I shall forgive
your actions and perhaps if the job is done well I may allow you to stay on
the earthly realm and aid Puck in the defence and teaching of young
Alexander."  The sisters seemed to have mixed emotions about the mission
and Oberon expected that.  They were probably pleased with the chance of
being released from their labours but they didn't entirely like the fact
that they may end up working with Puck.  None of the children really liked
Puck for he had played a prank on all of them at one time or another.  "As
you wish my lord"said the sisters reluctantly.  Without a moments protest
concerning the reward the sisters disappeared and went about to complete
their mission.  "Do you think they can do it?" asked Oberon as he turned to
face Titania.  "Only the timeless Fate can answer that and she hasn't said
a thing since the beginning of time"said Titania as she held her husbands
hand to comfort him.  This seemed to help a bit but nothing that Titania
knew of could rid either of them of the feeling of doom.
	The site of Loki's imprisonment was unlike any other, for there was no
marking of a grave.  Not surprising since if anyone tried to dig him a way
out it would mean the end of everything.  High atop the tallest mountain of
the Kjolener Mountains appeared the three sisters, who for the past
millennia walked the earthly realm.  The cold wind and snow blew by them
with a vengeance but the sisters took no notice of it.  "Oberon has
promised us much" said Luna.  "Yes but I could do without the addition of
Puck!" said Phoebe with a bitter frown.  "Definitely but we can worry about
that later sister, for now we must complete our assignment before it
literally blows up in our faces" said Seline as she gave a sigh of
frustration.  Oberon's punishment had been severe for their violation of
Oberon's law and all three of them would just as soon forget about it as
soon as possible.  Forming a large triangle above the tip of the mountain
the sisters began to chant and join their powers.  In no time at all the
three sisters had built their combined their powers to their peak and the
time came for the final incantation.  "Loki whose power all should fear,
your awakening would destroy all held dear, we imprison you now with utmost
certainty, that you will remain here for all eternity" chanted the sisters
in one vibrating voice and in one concentrated blast drove their immense
collection of magic upon the mountain below.  Instead of damaging the
mountain below the rock and ice below seemed to soak up the energy, to suck
it in like a thirsty baby sucking on a bottle.  After a while all sign of
the magic disappeared from the surface and all seemed as it had been
before.  "Our work here is done"said Phoebe in a exhausted form of voice.
"Yes let us return to Avalon and await our reward" agreed Seline as she
floated towards her two sisters.  Luna was about to join her sisters when
her eyes caught a small flicker of energy coming from the mountain below
them.  "What was tha..."spoke Luna but before she could finish her sentence
the mountain top exploded in a flash of green magical energy.  So intense
was the blast that it slapped the Weird Sisters from the sky and sent them
hurtling to the icy mountainside below.
	The party had been just as Fox had predicted, stale and boring.  The 'big'
bash was being hosted by the Hardy Foundation and also as expected the
party was just an excuse to unveil some of their latest achievements.
David was doing an admirable job of pretending to be interested but Fox
knew that he was just as miserable as she was.  The only thing that would
be interesting tonight would be when David made his speech concerning his
new endeavour into the field of archeology.  Ever since the gargoyles made
their live appearance on television the entire city was asking questions
about them.  "What are they like?", "How long have they been around?" and
"can anything hurt them?" were just a few of the more popular ones.  Though
Goliath or Hudson could probably tell David everything but he didn't want
to be connected to the gargoyles officially just yet.  "I wonder what Mrs.
Hardy would have said if David had shown up here with Goliath and Elisa?"
thought Fox with a grin as she got up to escort David to the podium.  Fox
stumbled as the feeling of dread that she felt back at the tower shot
through her, except this time it was ten times worse.  Her body felt as
though it were being filled with thousands of volts of electricity with
more on the way.  David caught her by the arm and it was a good thing to
because at the moment she wasn't sure she would be able to stand on her
own.  "What's wrong?"asked David as he brought her slowly down into her
chair.  At first she wasn't able to speak at all, her mouth was forming the
words but no sound was coming out.  It was if she had forgotten how to
speak but at the same time knew how.  "Alright, nod once for home and twice
for a hospital" said Xanatos with an obvious look of concern on his face.
Though it was shaky Fox was able to nod once and no sooner did she make her
choice known then David helped her to her feet and helped her to the exit.
"Is Mrs.Xanatos alright Mr.Xanatos?"asked the announcer who hadn't left his
spot by the door.  David didn't answer the man, all he did was give a "what
kind of a question is that" look and continued to help her toward the door.
As she slowly began to regain control of her legs she couldn'thelp but
feel as though these were her last moments on earth.  She hoped that she
was wrong and that the bad feeling was just the food but she knew it
wasn't.
	"Are you all right sisters?" asked Luna as she looked around to find her
sisters.  The others seemed to be none the worse for wear but as she caught
sight of what was left of the mountain she knew that they wouldn't be that
way for long.  "Oh they're all right now dear Luna, but soon no one will be
right at all" bellowed a sinister voice above her.  Luna searched for the
source of the voice and found it almost immediately.  Hovering a few feet
off the rocky ground stood Loki, wearing traditional Norse armour and a
sword in one hand.  All of the Weird sisters knew that they must act now or
they may never get another chance.  Quickly teleporting next to each other
the Sisters rose from the snow covered ground for a final assault.  Loki
seemed oblivious to this attack and was simply floating in front of them
with a look of boredom on his face.  "Go ahead Weird Sisters, do your
worst!" said Loki with a sly grin on his face.  "Your eternal prison have
you escaped, to reek havoc at a fast rate, with fury high and great
disdain, we give you now great agony and pain" chanted the Sisters and with
amazing resiliency an array of energy charged down at the arrogant god.
For the next few seconds the sisters strained to unload all they could upon
their enemy, hoping that it  would be enough.  Unfortunately like all
batteries of power even the Weird Sisters have their limits.  With one
final grunt of energy the barrage of magic came to a halt and the sisters
slowly floated to the cold snow below.  Luna groaned as she tried to get to
her feet, she wasn't in the best of shape.  Looking at her sisters Seline
and Phoebe she could see that they were in pretty much in the same shape as
she was.  She hoped that they had accomplished their mission because she
was virtually dry of Avalonic magic.  Sadly her heart sank as a loud
resounding laugh filled the air.  Turning to find the source she gazed at
ground zero of their attack and saw Loki standing defiantly at them.  "Nice
try ladies but no cigar" , gloated the god of evil, "but as a reward for
such a valiant effort I shall let you sleep...forever!"  Almost immediately
Loki unleashed his powers upon the three sisters and all three screamed
with pain.  Luna struggled to fight the volley of magic but it was no use.
Suddenly the pain went away and the world began to grow dark.  The last
thing Luna heard was Loki saying "well if I'm going to reign supreme I'd
best see what progress man has made over the past millennia".  Then the
darkness enveloped her and all thought came to a stop.
	"They have failed beloved" said Oberon as he gazed down at the moonlit
courtyard.  "Yes and now we must act quickly to pick up where we left off a
millennia ago, we must stop Loki" , said Titania in a serious tone, "the
only question is how, the Weird Sisters were by far our most skillful
operatives."  For a while it seemed that Oberon wouldn't answer but as she
saw him turn toward her Titania knew that he had formulated a plan of
action if not the beginnings of one.  "Not true my queen, there is one
among our children who has proven himself to be most skillfull in matters
of importance" said Oberon as he walked toward Titania's mirror(or a
reasonable facsimile).  "You mean Puck don't you?"asked Titania as Oberon
gazed into the mirror, "I'm surprised that you would consider him after he
opposed you in your attempt to retrieve Alexander."  "It is true that I
don't appreciate the insubordination but aside from that he is our only
option" , said Oberon, "Loki will no doubt be monitoring the waters
connecting Avalon to the earth realm, we cannot risk revealing anything he
could find useful."  "I assume this means that you have a plan to stop
Loki" , said Titania as she walked to her husbands side, "There's no way
that Puck can handle Loki all by himself, he's not even at full strength."
"I am aware of this and am going to take the appropriate steps to insure
that he gets the help he needs"said Oberon and he began the incantation to
communicate with Puck.  All the while he did this, Titania still couldn't
help but wonder what Oberon meant by appropriate steps.
	  Goliath enjoyed these night flights, even though he knew that it wasn't
for pleasure but for protection.  This didn't dullen his profound
contentness he felt when he flew with Elisa.  Flying with her was so much
like flying with Demona had been a millennia ago.  Goliath let a slight
grin show as he remembered how Elisa's transformation had taken place the
first time.  The second and more permanent one had been less amusing but in
a way Goliath had found it rather ironic that he owed Demona a favour.  It
was thanks to her theft of the sphere that Elisa had been transformed into
a gargoyle again.  When the noble leader noticed Elisa staring at him he
returned her gaze  with a smile and shifted his thoughts to more
professional topics.  Patrol hadn't been eventful tonight, only two
muggings and a robbery.  Goliath had decided to let Elisa handle the
muggings, she needed a bit of practice.  The past couple of nights she had
almost broken one muggers jaw and cracked another's ribs.  Tonight, though
slower than a regular night, had gone surprisingly well.  Elisa had stopped
three muggers and the worst of the injuries had been a bruised rib or two.
"I think I'm finally getting used to the added strength but I think that
the last mugger will be in the hospital for at least a day or so" said
Elisa as she began her descent to a nearby rooftop.  "I wouldn't worry to
much, he probably got less then he deserved" said Goliath as he followed
her down from the sky.  Everything felt so right now that Elisa was a
gargoyle, it was if the entire world was finally at peace with itself.
Suddenly sounds of chaos filled the air as the sounds of cars crashing
filled the air.  It took him only a brief moment to determine where the
disturbing sounds were coming from.  "The sounds are coming from Times
square, let's check it out" said Elisa as she leaped from the rooftop and
glided away.  "Beautiful " whispered Goliath as he saw the newest member of
the clan glide off to Times Square.  She flew with such grace and agility
she looked as though she belonged in the sky.  "No time to think about
that" thought Goliath as he took off after Elisa.  As he became airborne he
couldn't help but wonder what was the cause of the disturbance.
	"Just when you think you've seen everything!" said Elisa as she came up on
Times Square.  It was like a demolition derby, cars were everywhere and
people were running for their lives.  Looking at the kind of damage that
was done to the cars Elisa thought that they had been hit by a rhino.  Her
mouth dropped when she located the centre of the disturbance, she couldn't
believe what she was seeing.  Standing midst the rubble and destruction was
a man who looked like he belonged in a history book.  He was fairly tall,
medium build, and a face almost exactly like Jackal's(from the Pack).  The
only difference was the jaw line was slightly different and his hair was
red rather than brown.  He was wearing what looked to be Viking armour,
kind of like the kind that Goliath had worn when he had used the eye of
Odin except much fancier.  He looked more like a king rather than a
warrior.  Knowing full well that she would be foolish to rush into an
unknown situation like this Elisa landed above the big screen Sony
television to observe her enemy.  For a while he didn't do anything, he
simply stood there looking at the devastation.  Goliath soon landed next to
her and seemed as puzzled as she was at the mysterious figure.  "Any idea
who that is?" asked Elisa, never taking her eyes off of the Viking.  "No,
but judging from the debris that surrounds him I think it's safe to say
that he is powerful and definitely malevolent"said Goliath as he studied
his prey on the street below.  "No kidding but just how powerful is he and
can we stop him ourselves?" asked Elisa with a look of concern on her face.
Elisa had seen her share of strange people, she had seen everything from a
smooth gangster to an all powerful god named Oberon.  All of them dangerous
in their own way and most of them she didn't like one little bit.  "I'm
going to find out, you stay up here as back up in case things take a turn
for the worse"said Goliath and before Elisa could breath a word or protest
the leader of the clan took off down toward the strange Norse figure on the
street below.  "Be careful Goliath" mumbled Elisa with a hint of worry in
her voice.  She cared for Goliath, how much she wasn't quite sure but she
knew she didn't want to find out in battle.
	"Hahaha, what magnificent changes man has made in the past millennia!"
laughed Loki as he gazed upon the devastation around him.  He had
originally come to this city to pay his old pal Puck a visit but when he
saw the fabulous wonders the city had to offer he decided that Puck could
wait.  Such new sights and sounds he had beheld since he had arrived.
Chariots of metal and glass, castles as high as the mortal eye could see
and such bright and wonderful lights.  "A city of wonders is this" , said
Loki as he gazed upon his surroundings, "Truly more magnificent than Avalon
ever was".  "I am pleased to see that you're enjoying it" , said a deep
voice behind him, "but you needn't make such a mess to enjoy what New York
has to offer".  Loki turned and was surprised to see a gargoyle land behind
him, it had been a while since he had seen one of them.  "True but I care
not what happens to the mortals and their contraptions" , said Loki in his
usual omnipotent tone, "besides it was not I who started the confrontation
but they."  The large gargoyle seemed to be taken a bit aback by this show
of arrogance, he was probably used to doing the exact same thing to others.
"No matter who started it there was no need for such destruction" , said
the gargoyle as he began to approach, "and though you did not intend to do
harm you must answer to the proper authorities."  Loki could not help but
laugh at this comment, this gargoyle obviously didn't know what he was up
against.  "You jest well for your kind beast but I'm afraid I have no
intention of answering to anybody" , said Loki jovially, "I, Loki the god
of evil, answers to none but himself".  The winged beast obviously didn't
like this for his eyes lit up like the street lights above.  "And I am
afraid that I cannot allow a being of your strength to run around loose"
growled the gargoyle.  "And who's going to stop me, you?!" asked Loki
sarcastically.  Now was a perfect time to see if the gargoyle race had
developed as much as the humans had.  With a loud battle cry the gargoyle
charged towards him, fists intent on tearing him limb from limb.  With
little more than a smirk and a flick of his fingers Loki became intangible
and the gargoyle flew right through him.  A crash sounded as the gargoyle
came in contact with a demolished car behind Loki.  "Is that your best shot
gargoyle" , asked the evil god in a mocking tone, "It seems that things
haven't changed in the past thousand years, you beasts are still as
pathetic as ever."  This mental jab worked exactly as the dark god had
planned, the lavender being was furious now and thus would be prone to more
mistakes.  "I'm a compassionate god despite my reputation so I'll let you
take one good shot at me" , gibed the armoured being, "better make it a
good one beast!"  With a shrill cry that was loud enough to send ripples of
sound back into the past the gargoyle flew towards him like the proverbial
bat out of hell.  To this you would expect the dark god to at least blink
or show some signs of being impressed but instead all he did was smile as
the gargantuan being unleased his full fury.  "This should be interesting"
thought the dark god as he watched the display of anger.
	"I'd hate to be that viking right now!" said Elisa as she watched from her
perch high above the battleground.  Goliath was none to pleased about that
little ghost routine a few minutes ago and was intent on making his next
attack connect.  From where she was sitting she couldn't really make out
what the Viking had to say put it was clear from the expression on his face
that he was definitely arrogant and sure of himself.  "Well that state of
mind won't last long when Goliath gets a hold of him" thought Elisa as she
saw the Viking make some sort of challenge to Goliath.  With earth
shattering power Goliath launched himself at the man.  Elisa braced herself
to hear the humans cries of pain but the only cries of pain that came to
her ears were those belonging to Goliath.  The spinster gargoyle watched in
disbelief as she saw the Viking deliver a surprisingly quick uppercut to
Goliath's jaw that sent him flying onto the back of a damaged car.  "Enough
of the bystander routine, time to get involved" muttered Elisa as she took
off from her seat on the rooftop.  As she got closer to the Viking she
noticed that he seemed to be chanting something just under his breath.
Suddenly a slab of steel flew off the back of a pick-up truck and wrapped
around her like a python(with  no relation to Monty Python).  Elisa tried
to break free of the shining restraint but it was no use, it had obviously
been made stronger by the Viking.  "Well, well, what do we have here" said
the Viking as he seemed to guide the metal around her towards him.  He
gazed at Elisa for a moment, as an archeologist would a rare find, seeming
to be quite interested.  Not wanting the tin plated butthead to get any
ideas Elisa let out a furious growl as her eyes became a bright red.  "Now,
now, my dear, I won't have any more of that inhospitable treatment"said the
Viking and he began to chant once more.  Slowly a dark purplish mist flowed
from the man's mouth and danced over to Elisa.  Trying harder than ever to
free herself from the bonds Elisa twisted her body in every natural(and
sometimes unnatural)way.  Amidst her struggling Elisa could feel the
magical vapour caress the surface of her skin and slowly all life in her
body began to disappear.  "No, can't let him do this, won't let him"
thought Elisa as she struggled to keep moving.  "Oh quit fighting it, that
other gargoyle tried to resist me and look how he wound up" , said the
Viking in a sly tone, "None can resist the power of Loki, least of all some
gargoyle vixen".  For a moment Elisa almost believed what he said, little
did she know that she was about to get the surprise of her life.
	Goliath wasn't feeling at all good at present, though he was surprised
that he was feeling anything at the moment.  He had come at Loki with
everything he had in him and not only did he not connect but he got knocked
ten feet away onto the top of a car.  His body was definitely in bad shape
after the counterattack that his foe dealt him especially his jaw.  Not
since his first confrontation with Oberon had Goliath been dealt such a
blow.  As he tried to get up the roof of the car wrapped around him and
chained him to the ground.  Goliath strained to be liberated from his metal
bindings but found that it was useless.  Searching for his adversary
Goliath saw that Elisa had entered the foray but was faring at present as
well as he had.  Loki had chained her in much the same way that he had done
to him.  The very sight of seeing Elisa in mortal danger made Goliath
redouble his efforts but for every piece of metal he tore through another
sheet took its place.  "Elisampmmph" roared the noble gargoyle as he tried
to wrench free but his mouth was quickly covered with the metal bumper from
a nearby car.  As he tried to break free he saw a purplish mist crawl from
the mouth of Loki and slide towards Elisa who was seemingly in a panicy
state.  Redoubling his efforts Goliath cynically began to tear away at the
metal around him.  As the mist began to surround Elisa Goliath could see
her limbs slowly become limp and lifeless.  Remembering what had happened
during the confrontation with the hunters Goliath could only stare as the
vapour spread over the matron gargoyle's body.  Just as Goliath thought
that he would never see Elisa's beautiful smile ever again he noticed that
something mysterious was happening tothe vapour surrounding the feminine
gargoyle form.  At first it seemed to be slowly sinking into Elisa's body
but now it seemed to be getting sucked into her body like dirt going into a
vacuum.  Goliath was mystified by this occurrence and apparently Loki
didn't know what was going on either.
	"By the hair of Baldur, what's this" gasped Loki as he saw his magical
spell being drawn into the body of the female gargoyle.  This was most
definitely not a part of his plan and he didn't like that.  Chanting a more
powerful spell Loki redoubled his efforts to control the flow of magic and
prevent it from being sucked up into the gargoyle's body.  He was at a loss
to explain it but as far as he could tell the more magic he used to confine
her the faster it got drawn in.  As he tried to discover the cause of this
he noticed that the colour of her eyes was beginning to change.  What once
was a bright scarlet red was now a light green and was growing in
brightness every second.  "I am not certain what is causing this but I will
not let this gargoyle defeat me!" ,  exclaimed Loki as his hands became
enveloped in a mist of magic, " I will destroy her".  With a look of anger
covering his red face the angry god erupted with power and concentrated all
of his current power on the mysterious gargoyle.  Try as he may the god of
immorality didn't have any more effect then he had before.  As he took a
moment to rest his powers he noticed that the glow in her eyes had spread
and was now encompassing her entire body.  The glow that came from her skin
pulsated like a heartbeat, being dim at one moment then brighter a few
seconds later.  As Loki watched he noticed that the time interval between
the dimming and brightening decreased at a phenomenal rate.  Soon the god
of evil could barely detect the difference.  As the change appeared to grow
to a climax Loki decided to try once more to thrash this witch and repair
his smeared reputation.  Chanting now louder then ever before an orb of
energy appeared above him, lightning like bolts of energy flashing from the
surface in every direction.  "I will defeat you sorceress, you cannot
defeat me"yelled the Viking as he prepared to strike.  Unfortunately he
would not get to deliver this blow for just as he was about to throw the
ball of light the matron gargoyle let out a grating cry and a wave of
energy erupted from her body.  So powerful was the wave that it knocked
Loki clean off his feat and cleared the ground of debris for 8 whole feet.
Straining to suppress his astonishment Loki got to his feet just in time to
see the now free gargoyle vixen drop to the ground.  "It looks as though I
will have to wait a while before starting my conquest, at least until I
learn more about this gargoyle"said Loki and with that he disappeared.  In
the distance the sounds of sirens and ambulances could be heard.
	With one last hopeful try Goliath broke fee of his metal bonds.
"Apparently Loki's magic dissipates if he leaves the area"thought the noble
leader of the Wyvern gargoyle clan.  Goliath was not quite sure what had
just happened but one thing he did know is that he had to get Elisa away
from here before the police here.  When the officers arrived they would
want to know how such destruction came about and it would not do the
gargoyle race any good if the police found two gargoyles midst the rubble.
Slowly getting to his feet he looked around for any sign of Loki but he was
nowhere to be found.  The sounds of the approaching sirens told him that he
had best save such questions for once they got back to the castle.  Picking
up Elisa's limp body Goliath leaped up onto a wrecked car and with a single
leap became airborne.  A few minutes later Goliath was high up in the air
and many blocks away from Times Square.  Still, it would be a few minutes
before they arrived at the castle which would give Goliath ample time to
ponder what happened.  At first it appeared that Loki was casting some sort
of energy draining spell on Elisa but at the last second it apparently
backfired as the magic began to be drawn into her body like metal to a
magnet.  Loki didn't like that and had tried to destroy her by focusing
more of his magic but that only made the magic flow into Elisa faster.
Then just when Loki was a about to try for a third time, all the energy
that was stored in her body simply exploded outwards.  "Must have been a
very powerful blow indeed, it was powerful enough to knock Loki from his
feet when I could not so much as cause him to take a step back" thought
Goliath.  He knew that this was going to be important in Loki's defeat but
in order for it to be useful Elisa had to know how to control it.  Since he
was not a experienced sorcerer there was only one person whom Goliath knew
who could help.  Puck.
	It had taken them a bit longer than expected but they had finally home and
Fox for one was glad.  The feeling she had felt so profoundly at the party
had almost completely dissipated and she once again had full use of her
legs.  David was not as confident of her motor skills, for he helped her
all the way to her room.  "Now you're sure you feel alright now?" asked
David in a obviously concerned tone.  "Yes I'm sure, now  stop worrying and
get us something to drink!" , exclaimed Fox in a false tone of annoyance,
"Oh and have Owen come down and join us I have a few questions I would like
answered"  David came to a halt halfway to the door and gave her a
questioning look.  "Damn, I shouldn't have said that" thought Jenine
Xanatos.  They rarely asked Owen to join them for anything unless it was
for an official reason.  "Is there some special reason why you wish him to
join us?" asked David with one eyebrow cocked.  With a sigh of defeat
decided that she might as well explain everything.  "I think the sensation
that I felt at the party might have to do with my 'unusual' heritage" said
Fox in obvious reference to her mother Anastasia Renard A.K.A Titania,
queen of the third race.  At once David understood and continued out the
door and out of sight.  He returned a few minutes later with Owen right
behind him carrying a bottle of apple cider(they had quit drinking alcohol
after the baby was born).  "You wished to speak with me Mrs.Xanatos" said
Owen in his common neutral tone.  "Not exactly, it's Puck whom I wish to
speak with" , said Fox as she pored herself a glass of cider, "I have a few
questions I would like answered."  No sooner did she finish the sentence
than Owen, in a whirl of magical energy, changed into the playful trickster
Puck.  Not saying a word Puck floated over to the tray of glasses and cider
and began to pour himself a glass.  "Ask away Fox, I am at your service
both as the playful Puck as well as the stiff looking Owen" said the
trickster as he sat himself in an antique chair across from Fox.  "Earlier
this evening I got felt a profound sense of dread, so powerful that until
we were halfway home I couldn't talk or walk" , explained the tattooed
redhead, "it was unlike anything I had ever felt before in my life so I was
wondering if it had to do with my 'magical' parentage."  "You sure it
wasn't just the food, the chiefs at those parties know little or nothing
about fine cuisine?" asked the comical dark elf.  Neither Fox nor David
replied to this question, they only stared at Puck with a I-highly-doubt-it
look and a frown.  "Yeesh, not a funny bone in either one of you!" , said
Puck with a frown, "as a matter of fact I do know what that feeling is and
you're not going to like it."  Walking over to the television Puck turned
it on and a geographical view of the Kjolen Mountains appeared.  "I assume
that you're somewhat familiar with Norse mythology and the sort so I don't
need to explain the story of Loki" , said Puck as an area of the mountains
changed to a bright yellow, "Well what you felt was him breaking out of his
supposed 'eternal' prison."  Fox couldn't say a thing, she knew the story
well enough to know that this bit of news was not a good thing.  "Just how
did Loki get loose in the first place?"asked David as he put on his usual
worried frown.  "Well to explain that I have to tell you how he got there
in thefirst place" , said Puck as he sipped a bit of the cider from his
glass, "you better get comfy this may take a while."
	Oberon smiled as he watched the confrontation between the gargoyles and
Loki.  He seemed especially pleased when the display of Elisa's new ability
was revealed and when Loki fell to the ground dazed.  "You find something
amusing in this my lord?" inquired Titania as she approached him.  "Not
amusing my dear simply interesting and potentially useful" , replied Oberon
as he watched the mirror's replay of the encounter, "Elisa Maza, it seems,
has acquired a rather unique skill."  It took only one viewing for Titania
to discover what he meant and as soon as she did a smile similar to his own
formed across her face.  "Ahhh, I see what you mean and agree that this
could be useful in the battle to come" said Titania as she touched the
surface of the mirror and the image of the battle disappeared.  "Yes but
that is only if the mortal learns to control this newfound ability" , said
Oberon as he rose from his throne and walked over to Titania, "It would do
as much harm as it would good if she went into battle this inexperienced."
Though he felt his own smile fade from his face he noticed that Titania's
did not falter in the slightest.  "Oh but she shall learn how to control it
husband"said Titania from her chair, "Puck will take care of that little
problem as soon as soon as he learns of her 'ability'."  "I hope so because
she will most definitely be a key member in the group I am assembling to be
the first line of defence against Loki" said Oberon.  "Group?  Before you
had said that you had recruited only  Puck" inquired Titania once again,
"who else have you recruited behind my back?"  "I have recruited the only
two beings at hand who stand the slightest chance at aiding Puck against
against Loki" , he said with a look of sadness showing slightly on his
face, "though I fear they are just as inexperienced as Maza is."  At first
Titania didn't appear to know what he meant but when a look of shock and
fear came across her face he knew that she knew what he meant.  "Not Fox
and Alexander!  They have barely any magic to speak of and Alexander is
just a child!" , exclaimed Titania as she grasped Oberon's hand, "surely
there are other beings with magical powers who you could use!"  "Perhaps my
love but there is barely enough time to act at all" , said the lord of the
third race, "I know you care for them more than anything else and I do as
well but there is no other option."  Titania didn't say a word, the tear
rolling down her cheek was enough to voice how she felt.  "I will go and
inform Puck of the plan and will inform him to protect Fox and her son
above all else" , said Oberon, "with a bit of luck it will all turn out for
the better." He had hoped that it would cheer up his wife but it only
seemed to cause even more sorrow.  He left her to gather herself and went
to prepare the rest of the children in case the first wave failed.  He
didn't want to talk to Puck until the last moment, for even though he is
the most powerful being in existence he is still within the reach of
emotion.
	Once again Elisa felt herself in the same void of consciousness as she had
been in a few nights ago.  It wasn't exactly the same for instead of a
formless black void it seemed more like a re-enacment of what had happened
a few minutes ago.  That meant that chances are she wasn't dead, otherwise
it wouldn't be taking so long and she would have seen more of her life than
this.  The last thing she remembered was the viking casting a spell on her
for the second time and the pain in her body slowly increasing.  For some
reason he was upset by something and she guessed that it was because things
weren't going according to plan.  While he was chanting the third
incantation she could feel her body throbbing with agony, whatever had gone
wrong with the first spell was getting worse.  From then on in things got
fuzzy, all she could remember for sure was that she had screamed as loud as
she could and then blacked out.  As the scene played overand over Elisa
could almost hear what the viking was chanting.  "Dormiatus, mortalux
regatay, supernubis agrukem exricayy" he was apparently chanting.  Whatever
that meant it didn't sound like anything she wanted to experience.  Then
something strange happened to the replay, it began to fade away and in its
place was Goliath's concerned face looking down at her.  Along with that
the normal sensationless feeling that she felt in the void no longer
existed.  "Elisa how do you feel?" asked the lavender gargoyle.  Elisa
wasn't sure whether or not she was still in the void but she guessed that
since she was feeling like road kill at the moment she was awake.
"Miserable, what happened?" she asked in a barely audible voice.  "That is
precisely what I would like to know"said Goliath as he apparently was
landing.  As she looked around she saw that they were back at the castle,
she must have been out only a few minutes since it only took around ten
minutes as the gargoyle flies to get to Times Square.  When Goliath stepped
off let her down Elisa collapsed to the ground almost immediately.  "Looks
like your going to have to carry me in, my legs don't seem to want to
co-operate" said Elisa in sly tone of voice as she looked up at Goliath.
The seven foot gargoyle only smiled as he scooped her up off the ground and
walked down the steps.  "I wonder how we're going to explain this to the
others"thought Elisa with a grin.  One way or another she knew that they
would find out soon.
	"...And that is roughly the basic jist of it.  Not exactly a pretty
picture is it!?" asked Puck rhetorically.  Both Xanatos' just looked at him
with a "you-have-got-to-be-kidding" look on their faces.  It was obvious
that they were scared stupid, otherwise they would be  asking him questions
two at a time.  Fox was the first to speak, not surprising since they were
talking about family business.  "So what exactly do we do?" she asked as
she poured what was left of the cider into her glass.  "You don't do
anything, this is Oberon's business" , said Puck as he shifted back into
Owen Burnett, "besides Loki has more power that anything you could
comprehend."  "Well then what does Oberon plan to do about it?"asked
Xanatos.  "I am not quite sure but I'm sure that what ever it is it's a
dousy" replied Owen.  The truth is, he really wanted to know what Oberon
had planned because he had a sneaky feeling that it would have something to
do with him.  Oh he didn't mind being the centre of the mom and dad's plans
but he preferred being notified of the situation beforehand.  As he opened
the door he could hear the gargoyles talking up a storm in the main hall.
"Sir I believe that something has come up concerning the gargoyles" , said
Owen with a slight frown, "it may be wise to investigate."  Xanatos seemed
to be as interested as he was at the level of noise coming from the main
hall.  "Well what are you two waiting for let's go see what the commotion
is all about!" , exclaimed Fox as she walked past the two businessmen out
the door, "we could use something to get our mind off all this Loki
business!"  All either Xanatos or Owen could do was stare at the redhead in
amazement.  Not waiting a moment more they both left the room and followed
the finely dressed female down the hallway.  Unfortunately for them they
were about to find out that Loki was all they were going to hear about for
the rest of the night.
	"So let me get this straight, some guy in a metal viking outfit beat the
tar out of Goliath and then when he came to you, you kicked his can" said
Brooklyn with a confused look on his face.  Elisa could tell that everyone
in the room was a bit confounded and she couldn't blame them.  The thought
of her being able to handle somebody that could throw Goliath around like a
rag doll was not exactly a common thing.  "What was the name of this viking
creep Goliath?" asked Lexington as he looked at the computer screen in
front of him.  "He called himself Loki" said Goliath as he walked over to
the computer at the glass desk.  "O.k, lets see what this CD-ROM
encyclopedia has on him" said Lex(ington) curiously as he typed he name
into the computer.  It took a while for the computer to bring up all the
info so that pretty much told Elisa that whoever Loki was he was definitely
popular.  Then Elisa saw Goliath's face do something that she had only seen
done in the most dire of moments, a sombre, almost depressed frown fell
across his face.  This did not bode well as she watch him slowly turn away
from the computer.  "It appears that this Loki is one of the most evil
beings in history and that his appearance here means that the end is near"
said Goliath in a low serious tone.  "What do you mean father?" asked
Angela in a cracked voice.  "According to legend, Loki long ago sought to
rule both the earth realm and the mystical realms but was eventually
stopped and imprisoned" , spoke Goliath as he looked down onto the face of
his only daughter, "but it is said that some believed that he would someday
escape and that the following war would destroy this world"  To this news
almost everyone gave a look of fear and sorrow, all but Hudson seemed upset
by this bit of wisdom.  Finally with a frown and a growl of disappointment
Hudson stood up and shook his head.  "What are ye all so upset about, who
cares what the blasted computer says" , exclaimed Hudson dramatically,
"that thing also says that Oberon was undefeatable but we almost did and I
think that this Loki is no different."  If raising everyones spirits was
Hudson's goal Elisa was sure that he had achieved it.  Everyone, even
Goliath seemed to feel better at this.  "Hudson's right, we can't just sit
here and worry ourselves to an early grave!" , exclaimed Elisa, "I for one
would rather die fighting then hiding in some corner waiting for the end of
the world!"  Before anyone else could voice their opinions the doors at the
back of the room opened and in walked the Xanatos party led by Fox.  "Now
what's all this commotion about 'end of the world' and 'die fighting'
about?" asked Fox with her hands on her hips.
	Fox was happy as a clam to get out of that room and that discussion.  All
that talk about 'the end of the world' didn't agree with her in the least.
When she had heard all the talking that the gargoyles were doing she though
it was a godsend.  Whatever crisis they were currently facing had to be
better then all this Loki talk that Owen/Puck had been dishing out.  As Fox
drew closer to the doorway of the main hall she felt a twinge of deja vu
sink to her stomach as the words of the conversation became clearer.  She
couldn't make out what had been said before but when she heard Maza say
'rather die fighting' and 'end of the world' she knew that they were
talking about the same thing as what she had just struggled to escape from.
Pressing the button to activate the electronic doors she prepared herself
for more of the doom and gloom talk she had experienced for the last half
hour.  "Now what's all this commotion about 'end of the world' and 'die
fighting' about?" asked Fox with her hands on her hips.  "Goliath and I
just had one weird fight down in Times Square with some dark god calling
himself Loki" explained Maza as she turned to face the doorway.  Fox
brought her hand to her forehead and let out a sigh of frustration.
"What's wrong?" asked Maza.  "I think it would be best if I explain Maza"
said a particularly cheerful voice from behind Fox.  Out from the shadow of
her evening dress floated a comically smiling Puck.
	"So I hear you've met my old friend Loki" said the floating trickster.
"You know that creep?!" exclaimed Maza in her usual cop tone of voice.
"Yes I ran into him a millennia or more ago and he offered me a job"
replied Puck as he floated and examined the image on the screen.  "What
type of job?" asked Goliath in his usual grim, deep voice.  "Oh the usual,
the 'join me and I'll give you more power than you can imagine' job"
answered Puck in a casual frame of voice, "but it had a lousy health plan
so I turned him down."  Fox, who had taken a seat on the couch, cracked a
smile at this remark.  "Glad you like it Fox becauseif I heard right
things are going to get a bit messy around here" , indicated Puck as he
floated over towards Elisa Maza, "but let's worry about that later, I'm
more interested in hearing how you and Goliath got away from Loki, he's not
the sort to give up easily." Puck listened patiently as Maza and Goliath
told him about the little snafu at Times Square.  For the most part it was
just your usual fight but He was quite intrigued when they came to the part
where Maza began to absorb every gallon of magical energy that was thrown
at her.  "This could be quite useful indeed" , thought Puck with a grin,
"but I must learn more about Maza's 'unique' ability and since there is no
users manual on magical abilities we'll have to experiment."  After the two
gargoyles concluded their explanation and the Xanatos' questions the clever
floating changeling decided it was time to find out just what type of
abilities the gargoyle divinity had.  Wasting no time Puck zipped from the
room and when he returned a steel clan robot lumbered along behind him.
"Puck what are you doing with one of my steel clan robots?" asked Xanatos
in an annoyed and yet curious tone.  "Oh don't worry Xanatos, I'm sure you
can afford to make another one with all your millions of dollars" , said
Puck smugly as he turned to Maza, "now detective I think it would be
prudent to do a little bit of experimenting with your newfound gift."  The
feminine gargoyle seemed a bit nervous at being used as a test subject but
that was understandable.  "Do you know what happened to me?" asked Maza as
she gazed past him at the steel clan robot.  "Not completely but this
little experiment should elucidate things a bit" replied Puck as he told
the piece of tin to stay(literally), "now you'll have to trust me for
things to go smoothly."  It was obvious by her expression that the gargoyle
detective trusted him about as far as she could throw him but was willing
to do what he wanted of her.  This would definitely make things a bit
difficult but Puck wasn't worried.  "O.k, let's get started" said the dark
elf.
	Elisa wasn't sure what the floating imp was up to but she had no choice.
Whatever power she had she would have to learn how to use or it may cause
problems for her in the future.  "O.k, what do you want me to do?" she
asked in a nervous tone.  "For the moment nothing" , said the changeling,
"Now I'm going to cast a spell on you, so while I do that I want you to
think exactly what you were thinking at Times Square."  Not being in a
position to argue Elisa closed her eyes and began to think the same
thoughts of resistance she had thought while attacked by Loki.  "Peculiar
gargoyle you truly are, you who do not need a car, gone now be your black
locks, now  be as bald as wooden blocks" chanted Puck in a ghostly manner.
Instantly green streaks of light shot from his eyes and struck her in the
head.  At first the magical spell seemed to be doing what Puck had wanted
it to do, Elisa could feel her hair slowly slip away.  Then it happened,
the sensation she had felt when Loki had cast his spell on her before.
Slowly the spell he cast reversed itself and the magical emerald energy
began to seep into her skin.  It felt like her entire face was being
scraped against sandpaper, she could almost feel her skin peel away.  A few
seconds later the sensation she had felt had vanished, along with the
sandpaper pain as well.  Elisa thought that she should feel normal now but
she couldn't help feel as though her entire body was filled with some
exotic charge.  Elisa opened her eyes and was shocked when she saw that
everything was a glowing shade of green.  It was like when she got angry
and her eyes became a bright red except it was green at the moment.  "How
do you feel Elisa?" asked Goliath as he stepped toward her.  "Weird, like I
just had a major energy boost but I still feel tired" replied Elisa.
"Alright, enough of the idle chit chat you two" , said Puck sarcastically,
"Now that we know that it wasn't a fluke that you can absorb magic lets see
if that's all there is to it."  He floated over next to Elisa and placed
his head next to her shoulder.  Elisa didn't like it when the little imp
was in the room much less right next to her.  She admitted that he had
saved her big time when they had fought Demona for the sphere but that
still didn't make her anymore comfortable when he was around.  "O.k Maza
now let's see if you can rechannel the energy" , whispered Puck in a
secretive tone, "I want you to repeat exactly what I say."  Given the fact
that she didn't have much of a choice she nodded.  "Alright people lets
give her some room here" yelled Puck as he went around and pushed almost
everyone back about a foot.  When he got to Goliath he attempted to move
him but one distinct growl from the seven foot gargoyle persuaded Puck to
think again.  After he had cleared everyone back he resumed his position
next to Maza.  He nodded to Maza to prepare to begin and though she was a
bit uneasy about what he was doing she returned the nod.  "Solid form
harder than stone, you're more advanced than anything known, but now are
brown with rust, turn right now into dust" spoke the changeling as he
looked at her face to see her repeat her words.  With a bit of fear in her
stomach she repeated the words spoken by the white haired fairy and then
received a startling sensation.  The energy that she had felt in her body
was on the move and seemed to be moving towards her head.  Scared she tried
to resist the feelings in her body and force the magic she had absorbed
back to the void from which it had come.  "Don't resist it Maza, it won't
hurt you" whispered Puck into her ear.   Elisa took little comfort from the
changelings words but decided that since he was the resident expert on
magic she had best do what he said.  Ceasing her struggle caused the energy
to surge even faster and with a blinding sensation in her eyes the emerald
light shot from her eyes.  It flied from the slits of her eyes and wrapped
its sea weed like tendrils around the steel Goliath.  For a moment the
steel form seemed just the same as before but with one small huff from
Pucks lips and the robotic gargoyle crumbled and fell to the ground.
Everyone stood in awe of her newfound ability, herself included.  Only Puck
seemed least affected by her little parlour trick but he didn't really
count.  "Not bad Maza, not bad at all!" , sang the white haired Shakespeare
reject, "you might actually turn out to be my prize student if you keep
this performance up."  Maza was about to snap at the little elf but her
words were interrupted by a flash of green light from the space where the
former steel clanner had been.  A column of light had appeared in the air
and slowly took an odd form.  It slowly developed curves and sharp corners
like a mirror of some sort.  Suddenly it all clicked into place, the green
light, the mirror shaped column of light could only mean one thing.  Oberon
was about to arrive.
	The supreme ruler of Avalon was rather impressed himself when he witnessed
Detective Maza's act of sorcery.  Even though she was inexperienced to say
the least when it came to magic she had handled that basic spell with
amazing skill.  Though he trusted that Puck had helped her through the
rough parts.  The gargoyle detective would most definitely prove
instrumental in defeating Loki and whatever he had planned.  Though this
did make things a bit easier Oberon knew that he had to act quickly.  Loki
no doubt will be curious as to why his attempts to enthral the gargoyle had
failed.  If he learns about the gargoyle and her newfound abilities the
side of good would lose what small advantage it had.  Not wasting a moment
more he opened a gateway to the earth realm and watched as the green window
portal opened in front of him.  He knew that it wouldn't take long at all
for Loki to sense the ripple in the magical field separating Avalon from
the rest of the real world so he would have to explain the plan as quickly
as possible.  Time was of the essence and if he hesitated for a moment all
would suffer.  Stepping through the portal he was greeted by a room full of
awe struck faces.  "We have no time to waste, Loki will undoubtibly have
sensed my arrival and will be here quite soon" stated Oberon as he walked
over to the slowly recovering Elisa Maza.  "You my dear are the key to the
entire plan, we must insure that Detective Maza will be ready when the time
comes" declared Oberon as he took the mortal's hand.  "What do you mean
'the key'" asked Goliath as he began to approach.  "Detective Maza's
ability to rechannel mystical energies will enable our side to maintain a
stalemate with Loki" explained Oberon as he made a halting gaze at the
seven foot gargoyle, "she will be able to reroute power to any teammate who
requires it."  This seemed to cause a virtual flood of questioning gazes
from those present in the room.  For a while it seemed that nobody would
pose the obvious question but Oberon knew exactly who would be the one to
break the silence.  "What do you mean 'group' " asked Fox as she curved her
eyebrow into a skeptical shape.  "Loki is still powerful in his weakened
state, a team of four will be required to combat him successfully" stated
Oberon as he returned Fox's stare, "You, Puck, Alexander and Detective Maza
will make up that team."  "Excuse me but I'm not exactly a sorceress, I
didn't even know I had magical abilities until just a few weeks ago and
even then I was only able to do it once" exclaimed Fox in a mocking tone.
Oberon knew there would be a bit of reluctance and question from Jenine
Renard.  She had probably gotten it from Titania when she walked the earth
as Anastasia Renard.  "I have taken that into consideration and have
devised a way to deal with that problem" , explained Oberon, "there is a
magical process by which the knowledge and the instincts of a experienced
sorcerer/sorceress can be driven into the mind of a 'novice' such as
yourself."  This seemed to make Puck a bit uncomfortable and it didn't take
him more than a second or two to show it.
	"Daddy, I know that spell and I'm telling you they won't be able to
withstand it" , said Puck giving a look of concern to both Maza and Fox,
"true they have potential but their minds weren't designed to handle such a
rush of info, they're just to primitive!"  This produced an obvious icy
stare from both Fox and Elisa which even Puck was able to feel.  "Well they
are!" he said as he tried in vain to avoid their piercing gaze.  Apparently
his protest was in vain as Oberon began walking toward the two novice
sorceress'.  "I have taken that into account but can see no other
alternative" , explained Oberon in his usual high and mighty tone, "Loki
grows stronger with each passing hour, if we don't stop him soon he will be
invincible."  Sadly he had to agree with his father, Loki was bad news
enough at minimal strength.  "Why must my son be a part of this team, he is
barely able to perform any magic!" , protested Fox as she looked at Oberon,
"he wouldn't have the strength, the power to be a significant help!"
Oberon was not fazed by this in the least, given that he was able to
witness the death of the Weird Sisters and not cry why should this bother
him.  "True he has limited strength but I believe that if he inhabits the
body of one of the gargoyles, they will be able to supply the needed
strength" , replied Oberon as he looked at the clan of gargoyles.  "Then I
volunteer to be the host" rumbled the voice of the leader.  "I admire your
courage Goliath but I must say no" , said Oberon as he placed his hand on
the lavender gargoyles shoulder, "It must be someone who will be able to
keep their mind on the objective rather then the one they love."  With a
reluctant growl the tall behemoth stepped back into the crowd of gargoyles.
"If not Goliath then who, every gargoyle here would get distracted if
someone they cared for got hurt?" stated Elisa as she took a brave step in
front of Oberon and virtually got right in his face.  "The gargoyle Hudson
is the one who shall be the host" , replied Oberon as he walked over to the
elder gargoyle, "his battle experience and unique leadership style will be
adequate for the task."  The old half blind gargoyle seemed to be taken a
bit aback by this news but nevertheless stood his ground.  "I would be
honoured" Hudson said with a slight smile.  Puck knew that he was honoured
to be taking part in the battle and not being the host for Xanatos' little
kid.  "Good then let us be..." said Oberon but suddenly stopped and looked
at the windows high above the room.  "What is it?" asked Xanatos.  "Loki is
coming and coming in force" , answered Oberon as he took two steps toward
the door leading outside, "he created demons from the stone streets of the
city and is heading this way."  It didn't take long for Xanatos to act, he
already had a finger on the intercom before Oberon had finished speaking.
"This is David Xanatos to all security personnel in the building, red
alert, I repeat red alert" yelled Xanatos with a distinct bridge officer
tone, " lock down all entrances and exits, arm all defensive systems and
post special forces details on all floors, let's move it people."  Good,
Xanatos's goon squad and high tech hardware should stall Loki long enough
for daddy dearest to play his hand concerning Maza and Fox.  Without a word
more Oberon made a motion in the air and a few moments later a aqua blue
mist shot into the room and entered Hudson's mouth.  The grey haired
gargoyle rocked from side to side for a moment, this wasn't uncommon when
it came to a transferal of souls.  "Let us begin" declared Oberon as he
motioned for the three mortal members of the strike team to approach him.
Reluctantly the wife of a billionaire and the two gargoyles approached the
ruler of Avalon, all with looks of fear and nervousness written on their
faces.  Oberon raised his hands high above the trio and began to chant
words that had long lost their meanings in the Latin language.  Slowly an
aura of green mist surrounded the three and the process had begun.  "Well
nothing more for me to do but sit back and watch the show" thought Puck as
he sat next to Angela on the couch.  The gargoyle promptly got off the
couch and away from the changeling funster.
	Fox couldn't understand all the strange sensations that she was feeling,
it was far to overwhelming.  Images, feelings, voices and so much more were
racing around her.  One image was that of a room in a mediaeval castle,
much like castle Wyvern.  In front of her she saw the hands of what she
assumed was an old wizard.  Just as she was about to see what the wizard
was doing the image vanished.  This state of being was like being somewhere
yet nowhere, like being awake yet asleep.  "What is all this, where am I?"
thought Fox as she tried to make sense of the whirlwind of forces that she
was circling her.  "These are the life experiences of those who have
wielded magic throughout the ages" , came a thundering voice from within
the barrage of experiences, "every mortal, male or female, since the
beginning of time."  Every wizard since the beginning of time? The
redheaded daughter of Titania could barely conceive how many that might be.
Hundreds, thousands, millions of men and women whose lives were taking up
residence in her mind.  "Can my mind possibly support all of that?!"
thought Fox.  "I do not know, I have cast this spell many times before but
never on a mortal" replied the same bellowing voice.  "What will happen to
my own memories, my own experiences?!" asked Jenine Xanatos.  "For a short
term they will become shrouded in confusion, parts of memories and habits
from other sorcerers and sorceress' will join with your own" , said the
voice, "how long these memories will remain with you after the
confrontation with Loki I do not know but I believe that Detective Maza
will have the hardest time coping."  Fox's mind suddenly shifted and her
thoughts were now of the gargoyle Maza whom she had talked with several
times since they had first met in prison a few years ago.  "Elisa must be
going through hell right now" , she thought in a distinctly concerned form,
"who knows how this memory backwash was affecting her.
	Elisa was overwhelmed by the flow of data entering her mind.  It was like
she was in a washing machine at the laundromat and it was on the spin
cycle.  Memories were flying randomly in her mind, some were her own and
others she didn't even partially recognise.  The only time she had ever
felt this way was when the sphere of Titania had changed her into a
gargoyle a few nights ago.  With the mention of the sphere she began to
wonder why the sphere had changed her into a gargoyle?  There must have
been at least a half dozen things that could have happened.  "True enough
Detective but the fact that you had been exposed to avalonic energies
beforehand influenced the effect that the sphere's magic had on you"
thundered a voice from inside her mind.  "What? Who said that? What do you
mean?" she thought as she tried to figure out who had invaded her mind.
"It is Oberon who is speaking dear Detective" , responded Oberon's loud
bellowing voice, "and in answer to your second question I believe that the
reason is simply that a build-up of energies had been summoned within the
sphere, when you interrupted Demona in the middle of her spell the energies
had to go somewhere and do something."  "Wait you're saying my body changed
into a gargoyle form because since the magic had no given purpose it simply
followed the guidelines left by Puck's original gargoyle spell!" she
thought with a hint of shock present.  "Basically yes but at the moment it
is not your form you should be concerned about" , said Oberon from the void
of her mind, "due to the exposure to the sphere the memories you are now
receiving may become permanently entrenched in your mind."  Elisa could
barely believe what she was hearing, she didn't want to believe it but she
had to.  What would this mean for her future?  Would this mean that there
would come a point where she couldn't contain anymore information and
anything beyond a certain point in her life would vanish?  "I cannot
guarantee that it will not happen Detective Maza", said Oberon's voice,
"that could happen or the knowledge you are gaining could be what
vanishes."  She hoped that it would be the latter of the two that came to
pass but she was prepared to accept the former if it happened.
	Xanatos wasn't sure what was happening with Fox, Maza and Alexander but
one thing he did know was that he wasn't just going to just sit here and
watch as god knows what is happening to his wife and son.  Quickly leaving
the room he went down a couple of floors to the main control room of
security.  The room was already alive and working, guards were posted at
the door and at the controls.  From what he could see over the shoulders of
the technicians at work he could see that the force field generator was up
and running as were the laser batteries on the roof of the castle.
Everything was going according to plan and if everything went as it did
when Oberon attacked they would have about ten to fifteen minutes before
the field went down and the hordes of stone demons were all over them.
"Status report" he ordered as he took a seat at the centre of the room and
controls.  "Radar is registering four groups of fifteen beings coming at as
from all sides, estimated time to contact is five minutes" , answer a
technician from the main control board, "Energy field is at full power,
weapons on all floors are armed and ready and all security details report
that they are ready to act the second you give the word."  "Excellent, tell
them to expect a heavily armed opponent with unusual weapons" he said as he
looked down to the laptop computer built into the chair.  "Yes sir"replied
the technician as he began typing commands into the computers.  "Well,
we're as ready as we are ever going to be" thought Xanatos as he looked at
the sixty blips on the radar display on his monitor, "I just hope its
enough."  He remembered the attack that Oberon had launched on him only a
few weeks ago and could not help believing that this one would be no
different.  The combined forces of Goliath's clan and his technology had
been enough to delay and anger the lord of the third race for a while but
only until he had calmed down and strategically looked at things.  From
there things got progressively worse, he destroyed the generators and
defeated any attempt by either the gargoyles or himself to stop him.  He
certainly hoped that things would be a bit easier with Loki then it was
with Oberon.  "Sir, t-minus sixty seconds and counting until all four
groups make contact" declared the technician with a worried look on his
face.  Xanatos couldn't blame him for feeling the way he did, truth be
known he felt the same way.
	"Hmmm it appears that Oberon chose a nice spot to appear" , thought Loki
as he and his demon horde flew and closed the distance between them and
Xanatos Enterprises tower.  He had created these minions of stone only a
few short minutes ago and at the moment he had sixty stone warriors at his
disposal.  True the destruction of the streets in this city to provide the
materials had caused considerable loss of life but this mattered little to
him.  These mortals lives were almost as worthless as the lives they led.
The only thing that they seemed to have a talent for was hard labour.  As
he got closer to the tall building he could see a transparent aura
surrounding the building from top to bottom.  "Hmmm, what's that strange
light that encloses my target" he thought.  Rather abruptly he found out as
the sound of crumbling stone filled the air.  "Halt, all rock demons halt"
yelled Loki as he accelerated towards the front of the crowd of stone
figures.  This was apparently some sort of barrier, not magical but rather
artificial in origin.  "Hmmm, it would appear as though these mortals are
not as dull as I had figured" he muttered as he tested the energy field
with his finger.  No matter, his horde of rock demons were created with
this defence in mind.  With a quick chant from his lips the remaining horde
of evil began to crumble to the ground.  Soon all that was left of them was
a pile of pebbles and rocks in small piles.  Loki could almost here the
gasps of uncertainty from within the building, the mortals wondering if the
threat was over.  "Not by a longshot mortals, not by a longshot!" he
thought as he chanted yet another incantation.  At first no visible change
could be detected but slowly the stone ground began to crackle and crumble
and begin to reform the demons.  There was no change from their previous
form, the difference was that they had reformed inside the force field and
from the screams that could be heard throughout the building they had also
reformed inside the building itself.
	Screams filled the ear of the gargoyle leader and Goliath knew that Loki
had begun his attack.  His leadership instinct told him to leave and deal
with the approaching horde but his heart was telling him to stay and guard
Elisa.  "Go on you guys, take care of those rock heads, I'll stay here and
keep an eye on the ladies" stated Puck as he tried to push him out of the
room.  Reluctantly Goliath agreed with him, as much as he wanted to do
otherwise he had to destroy Loki's demon horde now while they were of less
danger to Elisa.  Thinking of this course of action reminded him all to
well of the choice he had to make a thousand years ago.  He had to choose
between going after the Vikings that night and driving them off or wait for
them to attack again later while the castle defences were still weak.  He
had chosen the former not wanting to take the chance that any of his clan
would be killed during the day.  It had been the right choice and would
have probably have rid the clan of a potential enemy, unfortunately thanks
to the betrayal by the captain of the guards  and Demona his life was
shattered to pieces.  His clan destroyed, the survivors made stone even by
night by a magic spell and a home in ruins.  When he had asked the Magus
and Princess Katherine to care for the eggs he somehow knew that they would
keep their promise of guarding the eggs.  Any other gargoyle in his
position probably would have killed them and tried to restore the surviving
clan members himself but Goliath had decided otherwise.  He was no magician
and he didn't trust any humanto restore his comrades and maintain their
safety.  So he made the hard decision of asking the Magus to cast the same
spell on him as the one he had accidentally put on the others.  There atop
the main tower he would sleep for a thousand years until they were brought
here to America and awoken.  The rest of the clan walked out of the room
and he took up the rear of the group.  In an effort to make sure that Puck
did everything he could to keep them safe Goliath turned around at the door
to make one final statement to Puck.  "Watch over them and protect them
with your very life Puck, if I return later and find that they have been
killed due to your inaction you will envy my long dead clan" stated Goliath
in an unusually calm voice.  He trusted that his white glowing eyes were
enough to convince Puck that his threat was genuine.  His trust seemed well
founded when there came no witty remark from the mouth of Puck.  Feeling
Elisa's safety seen to he went to join the others in holding off Loki's
forces, he just hoped that Xanatos' forces were doing better then they
sounded like they were doing.
	All in all Xanatos couldn't complain about the way the battle was going.
The soldiers on each floor were standing up fairly well against Loki's
forces.  He had been a bit nervous when he had seen the rock demons simply
crumble to the ground a few minutes ago but when they reappeared the
nervousness vanished. True the others probably were thinking the exact
opposite way but that was to be expected.  They had wanted the rock
warriors of Loki to stay rubble on the street but not him.  If that had
happened it meant that Loki was just going to make things more difficult.
At the moment the stone demons were about as much a threat as any other
vicious animal on earth.  As long as the soldiers kept their wits about
them and didn't freak they could hold them back and perhaps defeat them.
"What is the status of the invading party?" he asked as he took separate
glances at separate video screens and viewing the carnage.  "So far they
are staying even with our people sir" , answered a technician to his right,
"all details were taken briefly by surprise  by the change in enemy tactics
but have since recovered and evened things up."  This was good, with both
forces in stalemate it should give Oberon enough time to complete his spell
and put his plan into action.  He still wasn't comfortable with the fact
that Fox would be going up against Loki.  She barely had any magic in her
to speak of, the only time he had seen her exhibit any magic was when
Oberon almost made off with his son.  Even then it had been a one shot
deal, she had only been able to create one burst of magic and that had been
barely enough to knock Oberon through the bedroom wall and off his feet.
Since then her magical powers seemed to have dissipated completely.  To
even think her to be in the same league as Loki was a sure sign of how
desperate Oberon was for help.  "Well I think that it's safe to say that
Loki has met his match" he thought.  A loud explosion from the lower levels
shattered that thought in a hurry.  "What the hell was that!?" exclaimed
Xanatos as he gripped the edge of his seat to keep from falling off.  "The
enemy must have gotten past the men on the generator level and taken a few
generators out" , answered the technician as he scrambled to get into his
seat and assess the situation, "yep, generators one through three have been
destroyed and the remaining three in the basement have been damaged."  "Are
the back-up generators working?"he asked eagerly.  "Yes but according to
what internal sensors still operational there is a large contingent of
enemy forces heading directly for them"replied the technician in a obvious
tone of fear.  Suddenly the visage of fear that had been on the face of the
technician changed and he was now brandishing a wide smile.  "What are you
smiling about?" Xanatos asked.  "Take a look for yourself sir" replied the
technician as he apparently brought video feed from the security camera in
the generators sector.  On the main screen wasa sight that he had never
expected to be so happy to see.  Goliath and the other gargoyles were
tearing into the demons like they were standing still.  Goliath himself was
taking out two or more out at a time all by himself.  "Go get 'em Goliath"
muttered Xanatos as a broad smile creeped across his bearded face.
	From what Goliath could tell they were managing to keep the stone demons
at bay but one could only guess as to how long.  He and the rest of the
clan were almost through with the group they had intercepted near the
auxiliary generators.  "Nice guess Lexs, thinking that they'd come here one
way or the other" complemented Brooklyn as he ripped his talons through the
gut of another demon.  "Not really, Loki probably wants to be the one to
deep six Oberon himself" , replied Lex as he dodged a punch by the demon
that he was fighting, "In order to do that he would have to take out the
force field and all the other defences."  Goliath agreed with what
Lexington had said but he couldn't feel a bit disappointed.  Surely Loki
knew that Xanatos had the technology and manpower to deal with such
primitive magics.  Why had he not made them more powerful or plentiful or
both?  As he had almost gotten cut by the demons claws he decided to put
such thought aside for the time being.  Grabbing two of the demons by the
throat he smashed their heads together and the bodies went limp and fell to
the ground.  By the time he had finished the two, the others had finished
the remaining few who had been missed by his blows.  "Well that wraps
things up here" said Broadway triumphantly as he kicked the half shattered
head of a demon around.  Frowning he looked at the shattered remains of
their defeated foes, feeling that something just wasn't right.  "Not by a
longshot I'm afraid" , came Xanatos' voice from a nearby speaker, "there
are still a few more on the lower floors to be dealt with and don't forget
Loki is still waiting outside."  Goliath sighed and motioned for the others
to follow him to the stairs a few feet down the hall.  At the mention of
Loki still being around he couldn't help but feel they were being set-up
somehow.  Loki was supposedly a being of great power and genius and yet
they were defeating him with a fair amount of ease.  Either the god of evil
wasn't all the legends said he was or Loki had something more sinister in
store for them.  He just hope that Xanatos' defence systems can compensate
for the lack of magic.
	Things seemed to be going their way and that just made Xanatos all the
more worried.  He never felt comfortable with an easy win, even the
slightest bit of ease seemed a sign of deceit on the enemies side.  With
the gargoyles help they had managed to push Loki's forces back down to the
bottom three floors and away from Oberon and the others.  Keeping a sharp
eye on the sensors for each floor he noticed that most of the upper floor
cameras and motion detectors had been damaged and were no longer
transmitting.  That meant that if Loki transported more of his stone
warriors onto those upper floors that they wouldn't know about it until
they were just a few floors below the main hall where Fox and the rest
were.  That didn't sit well with him so he decided that he would let the
employees here deal with coordinating the security forces.  Xanatos decided
that in case Loki was setting them up for something he would see to it
himself that those plans were foiled.  He still had the iron steel clan
armour from the little skirmish with Oberon and had outfitted it with iron
blades on each wrist.  He had made the change from lasers to blades mostly
because the lasers had had little effect on Oberon aside from knocking him
off his feet.  Though he couldn't deny that a small part of him wanted to
use the blades for the close quarters feeling that came with it.  With the
battle armour and blades he felt as though he were a shining knight.  Not
dwelling on the fantasy for another moment he got up from his chair and
left the room.  It took him a while to arrive at the storage area for him
armour but when his eyes set on thedark grey exterior of the gargoyle
armour he knew it was worth it.  Five minutes later he clicked the final
piece of his suit on and was ready to take on anything that Loki sent at
him.  At face value it didn't look like much more than a fancy set of
armour but inside the small shafts of his iron wrists were twin blades,
each three feet long and one inch wide and a half an inch thick in the
middle.  Pointy stickers like those could do some serious damage if they
connected in the right place.  Suddenly he received a message from the main
control room via his miniature radio in the helmet.  "Loki has left his
previous position and is moving up towards Castle Wyvern" said the
digitised voice.  Damn, he was right, it had all been a ruse to get them
away from Oberon.
	Puck had been relatively bored since the others had left the room,
watching the four statue like figures in the centre of the room.  He had
considered dressing them up in clown outfits or something just as
humiliating but he decided that given the trouble he was in with Oberon
already he had best not push his luck any farther.  "Puck, are you there,
Puck" Rang Xanatos' voice from the intercom.  He noticed that Xanatos was
definitely upset about something and he wondered what it was.  "Puck here
mon capitane, what's up?" he asked in his usual cheerful tone.  "In a word,
Loki, as in he is at this very moment heading your way" , replied Xanatos
with the sound of his battle armour in the background, "He tricked me into
diverting the bulk of my forces to the lower floors, I'll be there in ten
minutes but by then I may be too late."  This wasn't like David, the
billionaire was used to being the one to trick others not be the one being
tricked.  "Let me guess, you want me to stall him until you get here?" , he
asked sarcastically and all he got in response was silence, "you know your
even worse than Goliath when it comes to pride, at least he express' it."
The intercom went silent and Puck figured that it was the equivalent of
Xanatos hanging up on him.  "Hmph, fine Mr.Cranky, be that way" he muttered
as he teleported himself outside the castle and right next to the energy
field.  As he looked around for signs of his foe he was surprised to find
that Loki wasn't even trying to be sneaky.  "Well I guess I'd better let
him know I'm here" , he said as he raised his hands above his head, "evil
god who wants to fight, great is the battle against the light, go back to
where you came, or face the fury of the falling flame."  He watched happily
as a virtual river of fire appeared outside the barrier and streaked like
hail down at Loki.  For a while the god of evil was not visible but he knew
where that two horned misfit was.  A whole erupted into existence as Loki
burst out of the falling field of flame, a smile clearly etched on his
face.
	"So, this is where you've decided to hang your hat this decade eh Puck"
said Loki as he brought himself level with level with the smiling
Shakespearian elf.  "Yes, well Europe was getting so boooring!" , said Puck
sarcastically, "but then you would know all about being bored, being locked
beneath the Kjolen Mountains for so long!"  Puck always did have a way with
words but then again so did he.  "True but at least I didn't stoop to
pretending to be some lowly servant" he replied mockingly.  This definitely
struck a chord with Puck was his wide grin began to falter and begin to
take on the appearance of a frown.  "Now, now Loki let's not get into
business" , said Puck with bitterness barely hidden, "You know I never mix
business with pleasure!" Just as he had expected Puck was the first to
start the fight but he was prepared to deal with whatever the little imp
had.  To the right of him a blast of Avalon magic shot towards him and
connected.  He must have teed off the little runt more than he had
imagined, he could actually feel a twinge of pain as he regained his
balance.  "Nice try Puck, you can still fire a pretty good blast" , he
bellowed as he returned to his previous place across from Puck, "Now let me
show you one of my tricks." Slowly he chanted his spell , letting the
power within him grow in his body.  Then, with one swift moment of his hand
he shot a beam of magic at a small tower on the top of the corporate tower.
Slowly it looked as though the stone tower would disintegrate but then the
true purpose of his spell took over.  As more and more of the excess
material vanished the shapes of eight duplicates of the gargoyles that had
attacked his rock demons became visible.  The look on Puck's face was
priceless, clearly the changeling was impressed with this show of magical
prowess.  It didn't last, a second later the white haired midget regained
his composure.  "You don't honestly believe that those glorified pieces of
gravel can defeat me, do you?" asked Puck as he gave Loki a
you-must-be-kidding look.  "Oh I assure you Puck, they are much more
sophisticated then those demons I created" he said as he gestured for the
changeling to look at his creations once more.  Puck did a double-take as
he saw a stream of magic energy tearing through the air towards the dark
elf.
	"This is going to hurt" was the only thing Puck could say before the wave
of magic hit him.  It struck him with the force of a two ton mack truck and
sent him hurtling through the wall of the castle.  This feeling of pain was
new to him and he most definitely didn't like it one bit.  After he dusted
himself off he flew at an amazing speed towards Loki's little wind up toy
soldiers.  "Back so soon?" , said Loki as a goblet of wine vanished from
his hand, "I though you would have given up after that blow."  "Oh, it'll
take more than that little trickle of power to send me running" he said in
an obvious tone of anger.  "Oh and what would it take?" asked the Norse god
with a smirk spanning his face.  "Something like this and I'll use your
rocky friends there as the targets!" , exclaimed Puck, "Rocky beings made
of stone, it is time for you to atone, may my power do as it must, and
crumble you all into piles of dust!"  Green light zoomed from his mouth and
eyes and no sooner did it leave then the stone clan of gargoyles crumbled
to the ground.  At this sight Loki merely raised an eyebrow in reply, which
was pretty funny with the get up he had on.  "Hahaha, you should see
yourself Loki, you look so stupid Hahahaha" , he sputtered out as he began
to laugh out of control.  This seemed to peeve the dark god off greatly for
his eyes began to glow a bright, fiery red.  Obviously Loki didn't take
well at all to being laughed at.  "You dare to laugh at me" , roared Loki
as he clenched his fists tightly at his waist, "No one laughs at Loki, the
supreme god of evil!"  "Uh-oh, I think I may have gone a tad too far with
the laughing bit" he thought as he looked at the energy building up around
the hands of the Viking god.  "Taste the power of Loki unleashed" yelled
the god of evil as he shoved his fist clenched hands towards Puck.  With
unimaginable strength Loki blasted through the force field as though it
were nothing. Not only  that but it continued on its path and stuck Puck
square in the gut, sending him streaking towards the castle and though two
or more walls.  As the comical changeling regained his senses he saw Loki
flying swiftly toward him.  "I hope Xanatos won't take all this out of my
weekly pay" , thought Puck as he prepared for the fight of his life, "that
could get quite expensive!"
	From what Xanatos could hear Puck seemed to be dishing out as much
punishment as he was getting.  He was only one floor and a long hallway
away from the main hall where Oberon, Maza, Fox and the possessed Hudson
were standing.  He was still uncomfortable with Fox and Alexander being at
the disposal of Oberon, even if it was the right thing to do. The leader of
the third race had tried to reclaim two of the people who had Avalonic
magic coursing through their veins once before, why not do it again and
take Maza for good measure.  Goliath would never stand for that, he had
grown increasingly fond of Elisa since her transformation from a human cop
to a gargoyle warrior.  He remembered watching them when they had planned
their surgical strike on Demona in his office, they looked as if they
belonged that way.  As he reached the top of the flight of stairs the
sounds of battle became alarmingly louder.  "It's gonna take a mint and
some favours with the Illuminati to pay for the repairs" he thought with a
sigh.  He still had bills to pay for the last magical confrontation that
took place in his home.  It was a bit of a pain having to pay for such
expensive repairs but when it came to family and friends money was no
option ninety-five percent of the time.  The other times could be a bit
more troublesome but that was only because he had to borrow the money from
the Illuminati, loans you got from them were the kind that you paid back as
soon as possible.  Suddenly he heard the sound of a stone wall being
destroyed and it appeared to be coming from the next room ahead of him.
"Alright Loki, you're going to learn that nobody trashes my home without
paying" muttered as he watched as the blades in his armoured hands popped
out.  Seeing him like this you couldn't help but think that under that iron
plated helmet of his was a wide eager grin spread across his face.
	Goliath and the rest of them had been climbing the stairs to the top of
the tower since the moment that they had heard that Loki had left his
position on the ground.  He had feared the worst when he had heard this, it
seemed to be a replay of what had happened a thousand years ago.  He had
left to battle the threats to his clan and his home only to find out it had
all be a trick, a ploy to lure him away from that which he cherished most.
In a way the thought of Elisa being in mortal danger once more seemed to
scare him more than it had before with Demona.  He thought that it was
probably because the pain of losing his first love was something that had
hurt him greatly for so long, that the thought of losing it for the second
time was too great a pain to bear.  These thoughts seemed to drive him even
more, made his limbs move even faster.  Within no more than a few minutes
he became frustrated with the slow pace of the climbing of stairs and
decided to take a new approach.  "Follow me!" ordered the gladiator of a
gargoyle as he burst through the door to the next floor.  Quickly he
searched the rooms for an window, for some way to get outside so they could
use their wings.  He didn't have to look for very long, they were near the
helicopter landing pad and it took him only a few tries to find.  Charging
across the steel and concrete surface and with one powerful thrust f his
legs hurled himself out into the open air.  Looking for a sign of Loki his
attention was immediately drawn to the sounds of explosions and falling
debris from the castle.  "No not our home!" exclaimed Goliath as he pushed
his wings to flap faster.  A year ago he had been forced to take his clan
to find a new home, he had found a new home only to have that home
destroyed and now his home was in danger of being destroyed once again.  Of
all the things he had learned to tolerate this was the one chief among them
that he would not allow.  His ancestral home was all he had left of his
rookery brothers, sisters and parents.  To see that reminder lost would be
like losing a part of himself, to have a part of his soul vanish and die.
As he flew closer to the centre of the fight he could see that a great deal
of the castle had been destroyed.  As he and the other gargoyles got closer
Goliath prayed that they would be in time to stop this chaos.
	"Face it Puck, your no match for me" gloated Loki as he attacked Puck once
more.  This was getting old real fast for Puck, he was getting beaten five
ways from Tuesday and hating every minute of it.  Every time he had tried
to mount some sort of offensive Loki would just blow it to smithereens and
attack again.  "Having fun yet Puck?!" asked Loki as he sent another bolt
of energy hurtling at him.  "Always!" he replied as he barely dodge the
shot sent at him.  Dodging seemed to be the only thing keeping him alive
but it was costing him.  For every place he hid behind just meant that
place was going to be destroyed and that meant that sooner or later Loki
would spot or sense Oberon and the other magic folk.  "I hope you're almost
finished daddy because when Loki gets done with me you just might have to
mourn a son for the first time" he thought as he rolled away from another
close call.  "What's the matter Puck, run out of witty things to say?"
asked the horned half-wit as he shattered another wall.  "Of course not,
how could I possibly run out of things to say when you give me such
wonderful material to work with" , yelled Puck as he swiftly evaded another
bolt of energy, "Of course what would you know about wit after being
trapped underground for over a millennia!"  That definitely set Loki's
anger up another notch and that's just what he wanted.  The angrier Loki
got the more mistakes he made that Puck could exploit and right now he
needed all the mistakes he could get.  "Is this what you have been reduced
to Puck?!" , roared Loki as a blast of light from his eyes destroyed yet
another wall, "Running away from a fight like a coward, come back here and
fight me!"  He laughed at the Norse gods piece of advice as he went around
another bend in the hallway.  "Do you honestly believe me to take such a
stupid bit of advice, oh please?!" , he chuckled as he did a mid air
version of the splits, "but then again you never were too bright when it
came to advice!"  As he briefly looked at the face of his adversary Loki
his jaw dropped as a look of pure hatred fell over Loki's normally calm
expression.  With a guttural cry of anger from his lips Loki sent a virtual
tsunami of energy barrelling towards the awe struck form of Puck.  He
zig-zagged all over the place to try and avoid the vessel of pain behind
him but every time he looked back it was still there and gaining fast.
"Well since I can't out run it and it won't stop chasing me there is only
one logical thing to do" thought Puck as he put in one last burst of speed,
"I just hope this counts as hazard pay on my contract."  Coming to a
complete halt in front of a hallway Puck reached into his mediaeval garb
and took out a white scarf and blindfolded himself.  With one final gesture
he brought up his right hand and did the Vulcan salute from "Star Trek".  A
split second later the wave of power slammed into Puck and sent him
crashing through the wall and into the dining hall.
	"That felt so good!" thought Loki as he saw Puck's nimble form crash
through the wall under the force of the blast.  Finally that little imp had
gotten what was coming to him.  He had always hated that little wretch of
an immortal, even after a thousand years of imprisonment he was still just
as annoying as ever.  As he came upon the site of impact he noticed that
Puck's body was no longer there.  Immediately he began to look around the
room, looking for any sign of where he might be.  For a moment he thought
that the changeling had fled but then a peculiar thing happened, he felt a
small drop of water drop onto the brim of his war helmet.  Looking up he
was startled to see Puck floating above him with a jug of something in his
hands.  "Hey Loki, you look thirsty, here have some water on me!" , Puck
said as he dumped the jug of water onto Loki's face, "or on you, whatever
the case may be Hahahaha!"  Tired of Puck's endless pranks Loki wiped the
last of the water from his eyes and grabbed the vindictive changeling by
the scruff of the neck.  Of course the normally grinning dark elf struggled
to free himself from the death grip which the god of the sinful had placed
on him.  It was useless but he enjoyed watching Puck sweat for once in his
life, he had always been so arrogant he deserved to feel a bit of what he
brought upon others.  "Now , you most annoying piece of filth, before I
reduce you to nothingness how's about you tell me what Oberon has planned
for me" he asked with a cruel smile on his face.  "T-t-tempting but n-no!"
coughed out the changeling as he tried to pry the fingers of Loki apart.
Well that settled things as Loki brought his left hand back for the final
strike.  "Take your hands off my employee and prepare to meet your match!"
ordered a voice from the nearby doorway.  At first he thought that the
armoured fool was the gargoyle he had faced before, but as it came into the
light he could see that it was actually some sort of mechanical gargoyle.
	As Xanatos opened the door that led to the battle site he felt a bit of
fear clenched in his stomach.  When he looked into the room his fears were
justified when he saw Puck in a choke hold and Loki's armoured form
standing midst the rubble.  "C'mon David, you've faced everything from
common street punks to the all powerful lord of the third race" , he
thought as he clicked the locks onto his blades, "you can take this reject
from a bad history movie."  Of course this reject had just taken out one of
the most clever tricksters in history and broke out of a prison cell
designed by gods.  That wasn't exactly encouraging to think but he knew
that he couldn't let Loki sense his fear.  "Take your hands off my employee
and prepare to meet your match!" he ordered, trying to make himself sound
confident when really he was scared out of his wits.  "Who dares make
demands of Loki!?" proclaimed Loki as he threw Puck across the room and to
the floor.  "David Xanatos that's who and unless you want to go home minus
a few limbs, I suggest you leave here and don't look back!" he said as he
brought his hands into a kick boxing position.  For a few sparse moments
neither party said anything, then with a wide smile across his face Loki
roared out laughing.  "You, a puny mortal, think you can best me?!" , said
Loki pointing a finger mockingly, "Leave now mortal and I may decide to
spare your miserable life."   "Okaaay, that about does it, no body speaks
to me like that in my own place" , he thought, "Time to show this tin
plated relic how we do things in the here and now."  Clenching his fists
Xanatos watched his adversaries expression when he saw the three foot long
blades of iron pop out.  It was obvious that he was impressed, the
automatic flinch of his eyes gave that away easily.  "Not a chance Loki,
this is my home, my city and my world and if you think that for one moment
I simply going to give it up to you without a fight you are greatly
mistaken" he declared as he readied for Loki to make the first move.  "Very
well mortal, it will be good to see how man has progressed in his fighting
skills since I last saw one" , said Loki as he drew his own sword from its
sheath, "even with that armour you are no match for a warrior of my skill."
"Well then, lets see if you live up to your legend or find out that you
are just all talk and no guts" he replied as he saluted Loki with his right
blade.  With no more than a matching salute Loki attacked and so the battle
was joined, only time and fate will decide who is truly the best of the
two.
	Puck shook his head as the sound of clanging swords filled the air, for a
moment he thought that it was all in his head.  He was proven wrong when
his eyes saw Xanatos going toe to toe with Loki, and not doing that badly.
After dusting himself for the bazzilionth time he floated to just within
range of being noticed by both combatants.  "Puck, go check on Oberon and
see if he's almost done with his idea!?" , asked Xanatos as he sidestepped
a thrust, "and get Goliath and the rest in here, I can't hold this guy off
forever!"  "As you wish mon ami, keep up the good work" he replied and with
a simple raising of an eyebrow he teleported himself into the main hall
where Oberon, Fox, Maza and Hudson/Alexander were still standing in the
grips of the spell.  "Well daddy your about to get an uninvited guest in
there" muttered Puck as he dissolved into a blue mist and entered Oberons
open mouth.  Once the transference was complete he was able to sense all
four presences and all of them seemed totally immersed in their absorption
of knowledge.  "Daddy I know you hate to be interrupted when your working
but I'm afraid you may have to rush things now" , he communicated
telepathically, "Loki has entered the building and right now even as we
think Xanatos is going mano eh mano against him."  "What?!" exclaimed Fox
mentally.  "Don't worry Fox, he's actually doing quite good but he asked me
to come here and try and speed things up a bit" , he thought as he sensed
Fox's thoughts starting to jumble all up, "and he's going to get a little
bit of help from the gargoyles as soon as I find out how long this is
expected to take."  "It is almost complete, I estimate it will take about
eight more minutes to complete the process with optimum safety" replied
Oberon.  "Alright, I'll leave you to your work and go round up the calvary"
thought Puck and with that he whisked out of Oberon's body and began
looking for Goliath.
	They had been searching the castle for Loki for only a few moments before
the building really started to fall down.  Goliath and the others had
already finished clearing the debris to the doorway when the castle began
to quake again.  Obviously Loki had met with some unexpected interference
when he had entered looking for Oberon.  "Looks like Loki met his match in
one of Xanatos' defences" said Brooklyn as he dodged a falling piece of
stone.  He agreed that something had stopped Loki's progress into the
building but he doubted that it was any automated machine.  Loki was clever
and could do things that no security system had been designed to handle,
even if it was designed by Xanatos.  Since he knew that Xanatos himself,
despite his great skill in fighting mortals, didn't have a prayer against
Loki it must be Puck that was battling the dark god of evil.  "Actually, oh
noble leader, it is Xanatos who's fighting Loki" , sang a melodious voice
from above his head, " but he can't keep things going his way forever."
Looking up he was surprised and angry to see Puck hovering against the
ceiling.  "I thought I told you to guard Elisa and the others!" he roared
angrily, with eyes blazing white.  "Hey I needed a rest and besides Xanatos
is taking care of that job" , said Puck as he brought himself to a slightly
taller elevation than Goliath, "but he didn't forget about your craving for
battle, he asked me to tell you guys and gal to join him in the dining
room."  With nothing more that needed saying Goliath took off down towards
the debris stricken hallway toward the dining hall.  As he drew closer to
the dinning hall he could hear the sound of swords as they cut through the
air and clanged together.  "Swords!  Xanatos is battling Loki with swords!"
, exclaimed Lexington as he trotted along on all fours, "I don't know
whether to be impressed or scared!"  Goliath too was impressed, Xanatos was
quite skillful in hand to hand combat against a gargoyle but against a
virtual god was definitely a shock.  Unfortunately it seemed that Xanatos'
luck had run out as the doors of the dining room ahead of Goliath was
ripped off its hinges as the armoured billionaire flew threw the air and
slammed against the stone wall.  Goliath was about to rush to help Xanatos
up when Loki appeared in the hallway.
	This mortal possessed great skill and great magic, his armour was stronger
then any the Norse men ever made.  It also made him stronger and quicker
than any warrior he had fought previously.  "I think I shall let him live,
if for no other reason then for amusement" , thought Loki as he began to
walk over to the fallen mortal's body, "more likely I shall make him my
captain of my army of warriors when Oberon is dealt with."  As he made his
way out into the hallway he sensed six other presences there and discovered
that it was that gargoyle he had fought earlier and five other gargoyle
warriors.  "Step away from Xanatos Loki, you have a more pressing problem
with us" stated the large seven foot lavender gargoyle.  The beasts subtle
threat was apparently very real as the eyes of the other gargoyles began to
glow along with his.  Doing as the gargoyle asked he took a few steps back
and allowed the armoured one he called 'Xanatos' to get up and join them.
They exchanged the usual thanks and witty remarks and a few of them
actually amused him but for the most part it was a complete snore.  Then
Puck came flying throough the hall and took his place among them.  "Puck,
how long until Oberon's little gambit is finished?" asked Xanatos as he
turned to the changeling a little bit.  "It should be completed in about
five minutes or so, we have to keep tall, dark and gruesome over there
occupied until then" replied the comical imp as he floated a few feet off
the floor.  Talk of this plan worried Loki, Oberon had crossed over from
Avalon to this place in an attempt to gain help in the coming war.
Whatever it was he would have to find some way of finding out what it was
and how he could destroy it.  He had just escaped from his millennia old
prison a few hours ago, there was no way he was going to let Oberon send
him back.  The plan obviously concerned this group of mortals more than
mere duty, did they have some personal stake in it?
	The old Xanatos luck was definitely holding out, a good thing to because
he doubted that he would have lasted another five minutes against Loki.
This Norse god was unlike any opponent he had ever had to face before.
With the others he had some feeling, some guess as to what they were going
to do next based on their overall goal.  With Loki none of that applied
because even though he had a goal he was in no real hurry to complete it
and the fact that he was a god didn't make things any easier.  "Glad to see
you could join me Goliath", he said as he checked his blades for any
significant damage but found none, "care to help me remove this unwanted
and uninvited guest from the premises?"  "Glad to." said Goliath with a
rare grin.  With the ferocity of a lion Goliath tore down the hall toward
Loki, arms all ready to be wrapped around his enemy's throat.  Just as the
rampaging gargoyle's claws were about to take the head off the grinning
viking Loki disappeared for a second and as soon as Goliath had landed on
the ground reappeared.  "Not very bright are you beast, don't tell me you
forgot our previous encounter already?!" Loki said with a sneer.  "Big
mistake!" , Xanatos thought, "If I've learned anything about Goliath it's
that you do not get him angry."  His point was proven when out of nowhere
Goliath's tail whipped out and knocked Loki to the ground.  The look on
Loki's face as he fell was definitely unparalleled in terms of its worth
and it was all the gargoyles needed to launch their attack.  They came at
him from every angle, from above, to the left, to the right and even from
below.  For a moment he lost sight of the dark god but he knew that
wouldn't last long.  "Puck, start clearing the way behind Loki" , he
ordered as he checked the power gauge under a panel on his wrist, "It's
time we moved this battle outside where the gargoyles can use their wings."
"Aye, aye sir" replied Puck with a goofy navy salute.  Xanatos watched as
he saw the changeling fly by all the carnage that was taking place on the
floor and began to drill a hole through the castle walls to the outside.
He knew that he could just as easy use Loki's body to clear the way but it
was to risky and besides he wanted to have some rocket fuel when they got
outside.  Suddenly the gargoyles were thrown against the walls of the
hallway and Xanatos knew that that was his cue.
	"Halapania!" moaned Goliath as he rubbed his bruised and beaten head.  For
a while there he actually thought that they just might defeat Loki, that
Oberon's plan might need never go into effect.  Unfortunately when he got
thrown into the stone wall of the castle he got the biggest reality check
in his life.  Loki had managed to toss all six of them away with but a
flick of his wrist and got up as though he were none the worse for wear.
"A valiant effort gargoyle but a foolish one" , stated Loki as he looked
down at him, "It took the combined strength of Titania and Oberon to
imprison me, compared to them you are nothing more than a nuisance, a fly."
"Well this fly is going to give you the biggest case of frustration you've
had a long time" declared Xanatos' digitised voice.  A second later Goliath
saw a blur of dark grey fly in front of his eyes, followed by the familiar
smoke trail of a steel clan engine.  Quickly turning his head he watched as
Xanatos flew by in his steel clan armour, clinging to Loki as he propelled
himself through a large tunnel in the castle wall.  "What does Xanatos
think he's doing?" , exclaimed Brooklyn in amazement, "If he thinks he can
take Loki and throw him around like that he has most definitely lost it!"
Paying no attention to the comment Goliath got to his feet and followed the
exhaust trail of Xanatos' jet pack.  As he ran down the shattered walls of
his ancestral home he grimaced in pain with each sight of broken stone.
This was his home, where he learned the traditions of his people, where he
experienced love, where almost all of his clan were killed and where the
betrayal of his trust in his angel had been revealed.  This place was more
important to him than anything he could think of, to see his home being
destroyed hurt him greatly.  He knew that Xanatos would rebuild after the
battle and it would look just as it had before but deep down he knew that
it wouldn't really be rebuilt.  The shattered and destroyed pieces of wood
and stone would be replaced and the debris would be destroyed.  With each
piece that was replaced meant another piece of the actual castle would be
lost, a piece of his heritage would be lost.  He shook his head in
frustration and cleared his mind of such thoughts.  If he kept wasting time
with such thoughts even more of his past would be destroyed and even more
would be lost.  It took them about three minutes to get outside and
apparently not a minute too soon.  High in the sky Goliath could see
Xanatos flying, trying desperately to dodge Loki's blasts and occasionally
return a blast.  Not wasting a moment to give orders he dove into the air
and began his ascent higher into the sky towards Loki.  Looking at the
destruction below him and the injuries the clan had already suffered he
knew that they were almost totally spent.  "I hope Oberon's gamble pays off
or else we shall not live long enough to regret it" thought Goliath as he
let out a thundering battle cry to announce his arrival.
	Elisa had never been more awe struck in all her life, she was seeing
things that no other mortal had ever seen before.  Seeing them in a way
that perhaps nobody ever would again.  Already she had seen the works of
Merlin, the mythical wizard of Camelot and many more.  She was amazed at
how many people had wielded magic over the centuries, most of them unknown
to the real world.  What impressed her even more was that her mind hadn't
exploded with all the knowledge she had absorbed already.  Over eight
hundred years of magical spells and know how had already been fed into her
mind and more was coming.  "All these spells, all this power that I now
possess, it is amazing" , she thought and then shook her head, "I better
try and keep my memories and mind separate from what Oberon is giving me,
I'm starting to sound  Macbeth."  Then her attention was drawn elsewhere,
for a moment she thought she had heard Goliath's battle cry.  That
definitely made her start feeling impatient, things must be getting bad by
now.  "Have patience Elisa, the spell is only moments away from completion"
came Oberons voice.  She hoped he was right, things wounded like they were
getting pretty rowdy out there.  No sooner did she finish that thought then
the void vanished and the familiar sight of the main hall came into focus.
Almost immediately a feeling of nausea and dizziness swept over her body
and she collapsed to her knees.  "The feeling will soon pass, then you must
go and confront Loki" , said Oberon as he offered his hand, "I sense Puck
and the others are keeping that twisted god at bay but they are beginning
to grow weary."  Elisa didn't like the sound