This story takes place a 6 months after the events in "Angels in the Night". John Castaway is in prison, and somehow has managed to convince the courts he deserves a parole hearing. Don’t ask me how, he just did. Anyway, the Quarrymen are desperate to have their leader back and the new leader has hatched a plan that will be set in motion if Castaway doesn’t receive his parole.

Desperate Men, Desperate Measures

(Part One)

By: Devin Staack

The 747 circled for half an hour before coming in for it’s landing at Laguardia National Airport. Its passengers were eager to disembark, because each of them had sensed something malicious on the plane, but didn’t know why. They just wanted off and away from the strange feeling. One passenger, however, didn’t seem to be in such a hurry. He had spiky blond hair and icy blue eyes, eyes so light in color they made him look like a madman. In some ways, he was.

He traveled as Kyle Margath, successful businessman and professional hunter. Unknown to any but him, he was Nightstalker, the most infamous bounty hunter the world had ever known. Even he had forgotten his real name, hence the alias. In some ways he was glad, because he knew the person he had been would be horrified at what he had become.

"Ah, New York. It’s great to be back, employed, and after some of the most interesting creatures in the world."

A man in a blue pinstripe business suit came in to view, headed directly for Kyle.

"Mr. Margath? Ah, good. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Derrek Valin, acting CEO of the Castaway Corporation. I’m very glad that I was able to hire you on such short notice. If you’ll just come with me, we’ll tie the loose ends of your contract up and you can begin your work."

Margot Yale, the assistant DA for New York City, and until recently, one of many New Yorkers with strong anti-gargoyle prejudices, decided that for a change, she would walk home from her offices at the Precinct. Crime was at an unusually low rate for the Big Apple, something she attributed to the gargoyles and their roles as guardians of the night. She strolled through Central Park at ease, believing that nothing would or could happen to her.

"’Scuse me, but aren’t you Margot Yale, the assistant DA?"

A male voice from behind startled her from her thoughts, and she spun, just a little frightened.

"Y-yes I am," she stammered. Her face turned pale as she looked at the man who had startled her. He had raised a gun of some sort out of nowhere before she had finished saying "Yes". She dropped her purse and put her hands in the air.

"I suppose you want my money, my jewels, and everything else of value I have on me, correct?"

"Nope. Just you."

And with that, he fired. She felt something hit her neck, and was vaguely aware that she was falling before blackness claimed her.

The man with the tranquilizer gun snorted in disgust. "He said this was going to be difficult. If this is difficult, I don’t want to know what easy would be like."

"You know Broadway, it’s nice to not have to worry about those psycho Quarrymen anymore. Since we busted Castaway, they haven’t been doing much of anything lately," said Lexington as he, Broadway and Brooklyn glided above the city on patrol.

"Yeah, it is nice. Another plus is the fact that the humans aren’t afraid of us anymore," he replied.

"You mean most of them, anyway. There are still a few," Brooklyn broke in, not trying to disguise his disillusionment with life.

"Look, Brook, just because you think your life sucks doesn’t mean you get to try and bring us down, too," Broadway retorted, just a little annoyed with his brother.

"Hey, I’ve got a right to be in the dumps. I’ve been refused by the two females who appealed to me the most, and one of them is nuts about YOU. I’m also the one who gets to take over if Goliath ever kicks the bucket," he snapped.

"Shut up, both of you. We’ve got trouble!" Lexington shouted, pointing down to a dimly lit alleyway.

"Huh, and I thought this was a nice residential neighborhood," Broadway quipped.

"Let’s go!" Brooklyn yelled, sounding a little happy at the prospect of making someone’s life more miserable than his.

The trio dove towards the city street, heading for what looked like a mugging.

"Okay, dirtballs, let the lady go and we won’t turn you into little splotches of goo on the pavement!" this was Broadway, letting a combination of anger and annoyance into his voice that he knew scared criminal slime like these two.

"I’d like to see you try, monsters!" the one in the lead retorted as he drew a vicious looking laser rifle from it’s holster on his hip. His draw was blindingly fast, and the trio of brothers knew immediately that these were no common thugs.

"Evasive! Now!" Brooklyn shouted, already begging to change his flight path. Broadway also evaded, but Lex caught a blast from the rifle full in the face. He screamed, and then plummeted to the ground, clutching his face. Broadway dove after him, and managed to catch the smaller gargoyle before he smashed into the pavement at a speed that would have turned him to jelly.

Brooklyn screamed, a full-throated roar of gargoyle outrage, and his eyes started glowing with an inner fire. Normally, this made crooks flee in terror. It didn’t work. In fact, it didn’t even seem to faze the human with the laser. Nor did the other mugger and the lady flinch. ‘Dummies! Great! We’ve been suckered into a trap!’

"Is the big wed demon gawgoyle gonna huwt me now?" asked the armed man, in a little kiddie voice.

"I’m gonna do worse than that, bub!" Brooklyn retorted as he flipped and came down with a kick aimed at the thug’s head.

The thug snapped off a well aimed, if hasty, shot at Brooklyn’s head. He ducked to the side to dodge the bolt—and was only partially successful. He felt the bolt graze his head, right ear and right horn as it burned its way past. He felt his hair catch on fire from the heat, and then it was past. In it’s wake was searing pain, blistered skin, the smell of scorched flesh and hair, and a horrible ringing in his ears. Suddenly, his vision went nuts, and instead of one armed thug, there were three, and all of them were trying to dodge him in the same direction. He aimed for the one in the middle and prayed. He was rewarded with feeling his clawed foot slam into the backpedaling man’s chest. The man went down, and Brooklyn decided to keep him that way. He pinned the man to the ground with his foot, while he shook his head to try and clear his vision and get the ringing to stop.

Pain blossomed from the foot on the man’s chest as he sunk a wicked looking dagger into Brooklyn’s foot and twisted the blade. He felt a bone snap and tendons give way under the razor sharp blade of the dagger. The man twisted the dagger again so the cutting edge of the blade was facing Brooklyn’s leg and sliced with all his might up his instep. Brooklyn screamed, this time in pain, as the blade sliced his foot almost in two. He yanked his foot away from the man and felt the blade slice through his flesh between his first and second toes. He was rewarded with hearing a pop and a scream as he dislocated the man’s arm. Through the haze of pain, he saw Broadway pounce on the man and thought the fight was over. He sighed with relief and crumpled to the ground, unconscious from the pain and blood loss.

"First, you shoot my little brother in the face with your laser, and then you slice my other brother’s foot in half. You’re gonna pay big for that, you pile of trash!!!" Broadway screamed as he heaved the man into an alley wall.

Through gritted teeth, the man stood and said "Not tonight, monster. Not tonight," as he aimed his laser rifle and squeezed off five shots.

The first punched a hole in Broadway’s left wing. The second slammed into his left shoulder. The third caught him right in the chest. The fourth hit his right shoulder, and the fifth hit his right wing, punching a hole in that. The man re-holstered his rifle and ran off into the night, clutching his dislocated arm to his chest. Broadway went over to try and help Brooklyn, but found he couldn’t move his arms because of the pain. Gently, he pushed Brooklyn over towards a dumpster with his feet. He gritted his teeth, and then used his arms to lift Brooklyn’s injured foot up on the side of the dumpster so the red gargoyle didn’t bleed to death before dawn. Then he too succumbed to oblivion from the pain of his injuries.

Lexington awoke in darkness. The first thing he noticed was the pain. His face felt like it had been ripped off, leaving the bloody muscles and bones exposed for all the world to see. Then he noticed that he couldn’t see any light creeping in through his closed eyelids. ‘No biggie,’ he thought. ‘I’m in an alley, and they aren’t known for being well lit.’ He opened his eyes and saw—absolutely nothing. His world was complete darkness, and he felt panic claw at his heart. ‘I’m blind! I’m BLIND! No! No! This can’t be happening to me!’ He let out a low moan, a moan of frustration and pain and anger. Then he heard a voice.

"Hello? Is anybody there?"

The voice sounded familiar. Could it be?

"Jeffrey, is that you?" Lex called out weakly.

"Yes, it is. Is that you, Lexington?"

"Yeah, I’m in the corner of this alley, in the back by a wall, I think. Jeffrey, I can’t see!"

"Hold on kid, we’re coming!"

He heard the slow, ponderous tapping of Jeffrey’s cane as he and his seeing-eye dog Colleen slowly made their way towards him. He heard the dog snuffling at the pavement, trying to find Lexington’s scent. Then he noticed a new pain, one that was blossoming from his toes.

"Ouch! Hey, Jeffrey, you’re standing on my toes!"

"Sorry. Well, glad to know I, er, we, that is, found you. I didn’t know you were so sensitive. I figured your hide was as tough as the concrete you’re sitting on."

"Yeah, well, just help me up, will you? Wait, never mind. Step on my toes again, but not very hard. That way I can find your leg and try and stand myself up."

He felt pressure on his toes, and then groped with his hands and found a pants leg. He felt Jeffrey’s hand over his, and he pushed himself up as Jeffrey pulled. His head spun, and he staggered unsteadily for a few seconds before his balance returned.

"You didn’t happen to step on anybody else on your way over did you?"

"No, I didn’t. Why?"

"Because I was here with Broadway and Brooklyn earlier, and they wouldn’t have just left me here," Lex replied, worry creeping into his voice.

Just then they heard a low moan coming from a dumpster to Lexington’s left.

"That sounds like Brooklyn, and he sounds hurt!" Lexington exclaimed, his voice a combination of worry and relief.

"Come on, Colleen, lead us to Brooklyn."

"Talk about the blind leading the blind."

"Lexington? Is that you?" Brooklyn asked weakly.

"Yeah, it’s me, and Jeffrey’s with me. What happened?"

"First, help me up. Why the heck is my foot propped up on this dumpster?" he asked, to no one in particular.

"Uh, Brooklyn, you’ll have to help yourself up. I can’t see. That laser blast must have damaged my eyes. I think I’m blind."

"Great. Just great. As if we don’t have enough troubles. Now I go and get someone under my command blinded because I was incompetent."

They heard Brooklyn struggle to his feet, and then were nearly deafened when he roared in pain and collapsed to the ground. They thought they could hear him sobbing.

"Brooklyn, what is it?" Jeffrey and Lexington asked in unison.

"My…foot," he gasped out "the…thug who shot you…sliced it up…with a knife!" He finished his sentence and broke down crying in pain.

"Well, this should be interesting. Brooklyn, stand back up and lean on me. We’ll get you back to my place, and we’ll try to fix you up. Lex, hang on to my hand."

They began a slow procession across the street to Jeffrey’s little estate. Brooklyn convulsed in pain every time they took a step, and Lex thought he could hear blood spattering on the ground behind them. It was hard for him to tell, though, over Brooklyn’s sobs of pain.

"Hey, guys! Wait up!" The voice was weak, but recognizable as Broadway.

"Well isn’t this just a happy family reunion," Jeffrey said, a little surprised at Broadway’s sudden appearance.

"Here Jeffrey, let me help," he said as he came by Brooklyn’s side.

"Okay, buddy, lean on me. I’ll help you to Jeffrey’s place."

Wordlessly, Brooklyn shifted a little of his weight over to Broadway, and they quickened their pace. Soon they were inside and all seated on one piece or another of Jeffrey’s furniture. Brooklyn was laid out on the couch, his injured foot propped up on the arm of the couch, while Broadway described the injuries and Jeffrey and Lexington, the ones with the medical knowledge were trying to decide what to do.

"It looks like a couple of bones are broken, and a tendon got cut. I don’t think we can do much for him here. We need to get him to a hospital!"

"No!" Brooklyn hissed. "We can’t go there. There are probably Quarrymen still working at the hospitals, and we couldn’t fight them off they way we are."

"Brooklyn, listen to reason," Jeffrey said, his voice calm and even. "You probably wouldn’t last until sunrise from what Broadway has told us. I’m calling 911. You all need medical attention, because this room reeks of burned meat."

"He’s right, you know," said Lexington.

"Yeah. Fine. Call," said Brooklyn, defeated. He convulsed as another wave of pain slammed into him. "You got…any Tylenol…or something?" he hissed through clenched teeth.

"Sorry, but that stuff thins the blood, and would make you bleed even worse. Broadway, tie up his ankle so we can slow the blood flow," said Jeffrey as he picked up his phone.

"Uh, shouldn’t I bandage his foot?" Broadway asked, confused.

"No. By slowing the blood flow, he won’t lose as much, and besides, we’d probably injure him worse by bandaging his foot," said Lexington, his blind eyes wide and staring blankly ahead.

"Hello 911? Yes, I need an ambulance out here right away. I’ve got three…friends who are hurt badly and need immediate assistance…"

The gargoyles drowned him out as he recited his address and the other information the dispatcher needed to get to them. Lexington sat on the floor near Brooklyn as Broadway tide a tourniquet around his ankle.

"Lex, could you close your eyes? They’re really freakin’ me out. They never blink, they just stay wide-eyed and staring and wander aimlessly around the room," said Broadway.

"Sure, if you’ll tell me what the heck happened out there."

Broadway and Brooklyn retold him all the events of the fight, so that by the time the ambulance arrived, he knew that they had stumbled into a trap, and that the one who attacked them was no mean thug.

Three EMTs burst through the door. "Where are your friends, mister?" they heard one ask.

"In the living room. Let me show you," they heard Jeffrey say.

In walked the EMTs, and all of them stopped and gasped.

"Gargoyles! This should be interesting," said the one in the lead. "All right, what’s the problem?" he asked as he came over by Lexington.

All three gargoyles answered as one, and the EMTs moved in to examine and prep their charges for transport.

"I got hit in the face with a laser blast, and I can’t see. How bad did I get burned?"

"I…got hit by a laser…too, in the head. I think…I’ve got a…concussion…and my foot’s…been slashed in half."

"I got hit by five laser blasts, and I can’t move my arms, and I’m having trouble breathing."

"Burnetts, get a stretcher in here for devil boy, and don’t forget some burn creams and IVs. Wallace, start examining blue boy while I work on tiny over here."

"Right," his assistants answered and immediately set about their assigned tasks.

"Well, you’ve got mostly second-degree burns on your face, and I don’t see too much damage to your eyes. It may just be temporary blindness. St. Mary’s, this is EMT unit 112. Prep the emergency room to receive burn victims. Get every expert on humanoid anatomy you have down there. We’re brining in gargoyles."

"Where are Brooklyn and the others? It’s almost dawn!"

"Lad, I’m sure they’re all right, and if not, they’ve found themselves a spot ta hunker doon in ‘til sunrise. Dinna worry. They can take care o’ themselves, I’m sure."

"I hope you are right, old friend."

"Mr. Goliath, Mr. Hudson, I’ve a telephone call from you. He says he’s a friend of yours."

The two gargoyles spun at the voice, which belonged to Xanatos’ assistant, Owen.

"Give me the phone!" said Goliath, anxious for news of his charges.

"Hello, Goliath. It’s Jeffrey. Your friends and I are at the hospital. They were lured into a trap by an unidentified attacker…" he was interrupted.

"WHAT!?! How are they? What happened? How did you find them? Where are you?"

"Calm down, laddie. He’ll tell ye all ye need ta know," urged Hudson.

"Brooklyn was most seriously hurt, Lexington was temporarily blinded, and Broadway had been hit by a bunch of laser bolts. All are expected to make full recoveries, and once dawn rolls around, they’ll be taken to where the police keep injured suspects, under guard, so you won’t need to worry about the Quarrymen."

"Thank you, Jeffrey. Which hospital are you at? I’d like to visit and join them there, if I can make it before dawn."

"I’m at St. Mary’s, but I don’t think you’ll be able to make it before sunrise. It was my pleasure to help, Goliath. Goodbye."

"Thanks again, Jeffrey. Goodbye. Tell the others I’ll be there when at sunset today."

"Right." Jeffrey yawned, and then the phone made a click that Goliath knew to be the sign that someone had hung up.

"Thank you Owe…" Goliath began as he handed the phone back to Owen, but just as he began the sun rose and he went into his daily hibernation.

"You’re welcome, sir," replied Owen as he turned and headed back in to the castle.

No sooner had Elisa Maza entered the building than her partner, Matt Bluestone, came running up to her.

"Elisa, Margot Yale’s missing!"

"What? How do you know?"

"Her boyfriend called in last night, saying that they had a date scheduled that evening, and that Margot wasn’t home when he stopped to pick her up. In fact, he said her place didn’t look like anyone had been there since that morning."

"Any leads or anything?"

"None. Oh, we also got a report from St. Mary’s that Brooklyn, Broadway and Lexington had been admitted for treatment and then transferred to the protected treatment wing last night."

Concern for her friends flashed across her face, and that concern was very much pronounced in her voice. "What had happened, do you know?"

"I’ve got a few details. Some guy with a laser rifle staged a mugging with a pair of mannequins last night, and when they flew down to investigate, he opened up on them. Lex caught a blast in the face and was out of the fight early. Brooklyn got a concussion from a laser graze, and then when he tried pinning the guy to the ground with his foot, the guy pulled a knife and nearly sliced his foot in half with it…"

Elisa gasped at that detail. She had always thought that only lasers and bullets could hurt her friends. It was a valid assumption. After all, they could smash steel and gouge stone like it was balsa wood. She never would have guessed that their skin couldn’t have turned a steel blade.

"What about Broadway?"

"I was just getting to that. The guy walked laser fire across his upper body, hitting both wings, his shoulders, and catching him in the chest with one blast. They are all expected to make full recoveries, but the report said it was a little touch and go with Brooklyn for a while. He had lost a lot of blood, but his blood type, surprisingly, was a common type and they had more than enough to donate to him. They apparently received some charity from some of the docs that worked on them. Apparently, they saved a lot of relatives of people at St. Mary’s from that near train wreck a few months back. They consider their work a community service, and won’t charge the gargoyles for their services."

"How nice of them. Well, let’s get to work on finding some leads on Margot’s disappearance. I’ve got a hunch that this stuff all has to do with the Quarrymen."

"Funny, I had the same thoughts. Well, you know what they say: Great minds think alike."

"No they don’t. Great minds think for themselves. Let’s get going."

"How went the hunting last night, Mr. Margath?"

"Well enough, though I’m not sure that all of them will survive to see them fulfill their purpose in your plans, Mr. Valin."

"WHAT?!? I told you not to kill any of them!"

"Yes, but you also told me not to get killed. Satan was standing on me, trying to crush me, so I slashed his foot open, and he bled all over me. He fainted soon afterwards. He probably died from blood loss. I hit the giant green flying squirrel in the face with a laser blast, but I had meant to hit only his chest. The big fat blue one should survive, though. I only immobilized him."

"Satan doesn’t work for the gargoyles. Do you mean Brooklyn?"

"I don’t know. Does this Brooklyn have red skin and a pair of horns on his head?"

"Yeah, you slashed Brooklyn up. Hey, what happened to your arm?"

"My knife was still stuck in Brooklyn’s foot when he yanked it off of me as hard as he could. The blade got hung up long enough for my shoulder to get dislocated."

"Well, we’ve got medical technology here that will have you at 100% by tonight, just like the gargoyles will be."

"Good. You weren’t kidding when you said they’d be a challenge. I’ll need every limb functioning just as it should if I’m to finish my mission."