All the characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyright Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of Spacebabie

by: Spacebabie

Email: spacebabie@hotmail.com

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Remainders

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"I will listen,and maybe stay with you and see If I truly fit with your clan."~Gawain(Belonging)

"She looks like you. She’s a cougar mutate too, but more tawny in color and she has red hair like me."~Winter

"I can’t wait to hold her."

"Never thought I’d ever get Ozzed."

"Where is our daughter?"~Fang

"She’s in Alturas, California. I already told Maggie. She said they will be making a expedition."~Winter(Cleanup)

"Nae, I never would wish this upon anyone. Part of our fight is to make sure no one else will suffer, like I and a few other poor souls have."~Jon Canmore(Humiliation)

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Only the briefest hint of autumn had reached the northern part of the Golden state. The tints of cinnamon red, honey gold and deep tan had stained the edges and tips of the leaves of some of the trees. Gentle and cool breezes blew through the changing foliage, making the not quite dead leaves rustle.

The breeze was refreshing to Reggie Leahs. It was cooler than the more than welcome summer breezes that briefly cooled the skin during scorching summers, but it was far cry from the slight chilly breezes of a New York fall. While the wind felt good blowing through hair the same reddish color as what some of the leaves are turning it did not bring a smile to his face. Things have been too solemn for him and the rest of his family. The attack on Wyvern was a disaster and a few weeks later the whole nation was in mourning.

He thumbed through the mail as he walked back to the large house. There were a few bills, a check, and a letter from Seneca. Reggie tucked the rest of the mail under his arm as he opened the white evenlope and pulled out the folded letter. It was the second from the girl since the terrorist attacks.

"Hey Felicia we have another letter from Seneca," Reggie tried to make his voice sound cheerful. "She doing well. She donated blood for the first time." He entered the kitchen expecting to see the young woman rummaging through the cub boards, looking for a snack. She seemed to have been snacking more than a pot head recently. " Felicia?"

"Living room," the distant mumbling came out sounding like "lemon womb" but Reggie knew what she meant.

Reggie entered the living room or relaxing room while still reading the letter. "She is still worried about mid terms, but we know she can handle it and she wants to know what to dress up for Halloween."

"Uh-huh."

"You don’t have any ideas?" he lowered the letter and he looked up at her. He was taken a back. Felicia had been looking a bit on the sloppy side recently but she had never appeared that bad before. Her feet were naked save for a pair of pea green bunny slipper. The rest of her was covered in a dirty flannel robe. Her lavender hair looked like an oily birds nest, sticking out everywhere. She hadn’t dyed it in a while. Light brown crowned the top of her head before evolving into a lavender frizz. More oil coated her forehead and her pale face was covered in pink blotches and blackheads. Bits of chocolate decorated the corners of her mouth.

"No ideas," she pulled the large pillow to her chest. Her tear soaked eyes were glued to screen as the image of Tower Two crumbled to the ground. "All those fire fighters that went to help." She squeezed her lids shut.

"Jesus not again. You need to stop watching this. It’s making you even more depressed."

"I can’t help it. They keep showing it."

"Yes you can help it," Reggie walked over to the coffee table and picked up the remote. "You can either switch it to another channel other than CNN or Fox News," He aimed the remote at the screen and pressed the off button. "Or you can turn it off." He straightened up at the sound of her sigh. "I know you are feeling a great loss."

"No you don’t." Her sweaty fingers sank deeper into the pillow corners. "You don’t even love anyone. You don’t understand, maybe you would if you lost your hard drive and subscription to Playboy."

"That’s not true," he set the mail down next to the remote. "I know you are expecting and I want you to think of the baby. This depression is not doing it a lot of good. Jeremy wouldn’t want to see you depressed." He gently pulled the pillow out from her grasp. "I’m going to prepare dinner in an hour after I do some house work. I’ll cook you anything you want but you have to do something for me."

She stared at him with tear filled eyes. "Anything for dinner?"

"Anything."

"And anything for dessert?" He nodded. "What do I have to do."

"I want you to get of these dirty cloths and take a bath. I want you to wash, condition and brush you hair and after you are dried off I want you to change into a nice clean outfit. I will wash your robe and bunnies with the rest of the laundry."

"Okay. I want oven fried chicken."

"Chicken?" Reggie blinked and smiled. "Are you sure you want something simple?"

She nodded. "With crinkle cut fries and turnips."

"Turnips?"

"Peeled and boiled and mashed with cinnamon and sugar mixed in, and a salad on the side."

"What type of salad?"

"Just the kind with lettuce, carrots, radishes, tomatoes and cucumbers."

"Okay we already have the chicken, carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, and few kinds of dressing. I just need to get the fries, Shake and Bake, turnips, radishes and cucumbers. What about croutons or bacon bits?"

"Just dressing and croutons."

"What about dessert?"

"Apple pie."

He smiled . "Again that’s easy. I’ll just go and visit my favorite baker, Mrs. Smith. I’ll also pick up some Ready Whip."

"I want the kind that comes in a tub."

"Okay. I’m going to make a quick list. I think we also need detergent and where are you going?" He turned back to face her as she stood up from the couch.

"Spring has awaken from her nap." She walked down the hallway heading for the nursery.

"How do you know?"

"I don’t know. I just do."

Reggie shrugged. "Already has that maternal instinct." He scrambled back to the kitchen and pulled out a scrap piece of paper. He wrote down the things he planned on getting for a dinner plus a few things they needed including more Pedialite for Spring. He decided to write down a number 2 next to the Shake and Bake. He had plenty of chicken but he wanted to make sure enough would be baked to feed two humans, a mutate toddler and two gargoyles.

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Reggie didn’t think he would need a sweater when he left the house. It was only a quarter to five and he won’t be that long at the store. He patted his pockets to make sure he had both his wallet and his keys before he headed for his Lexus.

Reggie did not notice the small probe resting on the roof of the house. The small metallic soda can shaped device separated on it’s metal hinges to let the glass lens peek through . It had recently found it’s location and it immediately began to film the man as he entered his car, only pausing to snap a few still photos of him.

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The probe sent the images on a signal to satellite that bounced the feed across the country down into the computer owned by Jerry. The weregoyle had been watching the program all day. Xanatos had launched the probe the night before, sending it to the exact location Winter had given them. It was Lexington’s idea to use the program to connect the probe with one of the satellites before they launched the probe.

The images of Reggie entering his car were not the first, but they were the best. The footage of the human returning were not as clear and it was mostly of the man’s back, but the new images had a clear shot of the man’s face. Jerry had immutably called Xanatos and told him the good news who in turn went to wait for Lexington to wake up.

The small olive colored gargoyle was exstatic when he learned of the news and raced into the computer room followed by Rayne. "Have you done a photo match up?" Lexington asked the second he saw the footage.

"Not yet," Jerry rubbed his arms. He was still feeling the sting from the transformation. "If you want to do then be my guest."

The smile on Lex’s face spread even further. He slid into Jerry’s chair and typed up a few commands. "Let me pull up the facial match program." A black screen surrounded by metallic sliver border and glowing green buttons took up most of the screen. "Now I just need a few pictures of Reggie," he typed a few more keys. "And then cut out the recent picture we have here. Then we paste them over." Two different photos of the man they were looking for appeared next to each. A few more keys were pressed and images were pasted over each other and aligned. A glowing green 100 % appeared next to the pasted images. "It’s obvious we have a match."

"What’s phase two?" Rayne asked while she cloaked her dragonfly shaped wings.

"The next step is to inform Goliath and the clan," Xanatos replied. "We are going to work on preparing a trip to California.

"We better make sure the probe stays hidden." Rayne pointed out. "If they discover it’s location then they will most likely try to leave."

The mahogany gargoyle approached the computer. "I’ll make sure it doesn’t get spotted."

"Excellent," Xanatos nodded. "You three work on it and I’ll go inform Goliath on the news we found the remainders of Thailog’s clan."

The pixie like gargoyle approached the computer. "I hope I’m not crowding anyone."

"It’s never a crowd when you are near," Lex pulled his hand away from the keyboard to run his talons through her snowy white locks. She reproached with a gently brushing of her knuckles against his brow ridges.

"Does anyone have any other suggestions?" Jerry asked. The end of his tail twitched slightly at the sight of the two gargoyle mates displaying affection. He wanted to run his own claws through Gloria’s chocolate colored locks and feel her soft lips against his mouth.

"Just one," Rayne said. "There is the fact that we won’t be throwing everyone there into a cage. There’s a mutate child."

"Fang’s daughter," Lexington whispered. "We have to let him know."

"I think the Xanatos’s have their numbers," Jerry said as he positioned himself in front of the keyboard. He shrank the image of the screen match up and typed the command for the probe to hide better from Reggie.

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Brown furry hands grabbed onto the overhanging Olympic rings and held on. The cougar mutate gritted his teeth as he pulled himself up, bringing his body into contact with the rings then relaxing his muscles until he hung. He pulled himself up again, grunting until he touched the rings to his chest and relaxed.

From his floor mat Harry watched the mutate continue in his pull ups for a brief second before he bent his knees and crossed his arms against his chest. As he sat up he watched the two gargoyle members continue in their sparing. Both the dun gray ishimuran gargoyle and the emerald green youth from Avalon fought with paper fans. Harry felt like it wasn’t a particularly power full weapon, but for the sake of training they were useful.

Yama brought down the splayed fans down onto the younger male and folded them just as they were about to come into contact with Gawain’s. His wood and paper weapons came just an inch short from striking the others. Yama veered to the left, giving him enough room to spin around and strike Gawain’ws fans. The wooden frames met with a loud clack, and the weapon in Gawain’s right hand flew from his talons.

Gawain’s dark eyes widened slightly before he swung a upper thrust back at Yama, only to have the other gargoyle block his attack. From under his pronged tiara like browridge Gawain narrowed his eyes and pulled his fan away. He nearly forgot Yama’s other fan and steered his weapon to the right a split second too late. Yama’s fan struck his hand in a sharp blow, causing him to drop the wooden weapon.

The stinging of the wound inflicted by the fan was small competed to the powerful strike of being defeated. Gawain caped his large wings and sat down near where Harry was exercising.

"This is not for me." Gawain sighed.

Yama raised a brew ridge. "Do not give up. You are new at learning Bishudo."

"I don’t think it likes me."

Yama did not join in the snickering shared by the human and mutate. He did not know if Gawain was joking or not. His stoic expression lightened slightly when he saw Gawain’s sheepish smile. "Bushido likes everyone, but it is strict. In order for their to be an agreement you must try to understand it."

"How?" Gawain brushed a few stray white bangs from hanging over his eyes.

"With practice." Yama held out a hand before Gawain.

"I have practiced for weeks and I still don’t understand." Gawain grabbed onto the other gargoyle.

Yama pulled him up to his feet. "You must understand this will take time. I studied Bushido all my life and you have only just begun."

"I guess your right. I have been training in my warrior skills since I was twenty four years out of the egg. When I first tried to use a sword I fell forward because of the weight."

"You see, now I’m sure if I tried some of the lessons you grew up with then I may end up tripping over everything." What followed his response was a loud slam from outside, like a human body striking the door, followed by a muffled grunt.

"Who is there?" Harry stood straight up.

"It’s me," the voice on the other side belonged to Vinnie.

"What was that crash?" Fang dropped from the rings and folded his bat like wings.

"That was, uh me. I kind of tripped."

Once again Yama ignored the muffled laugh between Dingo and Fang. "Are you hurt?"

"I’ve been worse. Can I come in?"

"We’re decent," Fang grunted.

The door to the room opened and Vinnie dressed in a casual button down blue cotton shirt and black semi dress slacks slipped inside. "I got great news for you guys."

"Do the others know?" Dingo asked. Both Robyn and Vahril were in the room next door training while Matrix provided music and McKinley either slept or watched.

"Not yet, I figured it would be better if I told you first since Fang was here. I just received a phone call from Mrs. Xanatos. They have found where Fang’s daughter is located."

Fang’s normally smug expression shifted to a wide a grin. The mutate leaped into the air and clapped his hands together. "Yes!" He pressed his hands together and closed his eyes. "Thank you lord.Thank you lord." The last words were whisperedwhile the mutate felt moisture developing in his eyes.

"They just found out where they are?" Gawain asked while wagging his cactus like tail. "They haven’t moved have they?"

Vinnie blinked his eyes in confusion. "You mean from California? Yeah They are still there."

"We could have been there already," Fang snapped. His joy was replied by bitterness. "But I know you wanted to make sure they were still in the same spot. We just wasted a lot of time by doing nothing."

Dingo turned up his nose in a feral snarl. "Now you see here!" He stomped over to the mutate. "If we went to California and they were not there we would have not only wasted time but also fuel, and fuel costs money."

"They could have sent the probe back when we were in New York last month." Fang glared into Dingo’s eyes.

"It was not complete yet," Harry hissed, sending flecks of saliva from his mouth to Fang’s nose.

The mutate breathed in deep loud breaths. "They could have sent it while we were returning from the city."

"You are an idiot. We returned home just before the terrorist attacka." He pushed Fang away from him.

The mutate growled and stepped forward. His hands were raised and his claws were out stretched. "You son of a bitch. You don’t-"

A gray gargoyle paw fastened around his wrist. "This must come to an end." Yama stared into Fang’s face and held up his other hand to keep Dingo at bay. "The important thing is we found where Spring is."

Fang sighed and allowed his hand to relax. "You are right." he pulled his hand free and turned to Vinnie. "Now let’s go get her!"

"We can’t." Vinnie shook his head. "Not until we get things cleared with the U.S military. We don’t want to arouse suspicion."

The cougar mutate balled his fists and cringed. "How long is that going to take?"

"A day at most."

"I don’t think I can wait that long."

Yama placed a hand on his shoulder. "I understand your pain. We will wait with you. Do you want to tell the others?"

Fang could not feel his voice. All he could do was nod.

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The words were unintelligible to the large round ears of Ursa, but the sweet and soft voice was heavenly as it carried the soothing song. The bear like gargoyle entered the nursery and noticed the pale pink Chinese gargoyle crooning in front of her egg. She figured the musical words were in Chinese. Chi Lin’s musical voice did not stop even as the honey colored British gargoyle approached her. She only looked up after she finished her song.

"Now that is a lovely tune." Ursa said softly.

The other female nodded her spiral horn topped head. "It is a song the clan mothers sang to the hatchlings when they need to be calmed."

A smile formed on Ursa’s muzzle "I do not think your child really needs to be calmed." Ursa glanced back at the large lavender egg. The three ghostly pale spots have darkened a tint and two more very faint spots have appeared

"It will be only eight more years till my child hatches." Chi Lin smiled. "I need to practice."

"I think you will have plenty of time, and for what I heard you do not need any more practice."

The Chinese gargoyle’s cheeks turned red as she lowered her head demuringly. "I do not know why I sing then. Maybe it is because we are going through hard times."

The smiles had faded from both of them. Ursa lowered her head and sighed. "I wish Reggie let me continued to fight." Tears burned her cornea as her voice choked up "They took my Vlad, my love."

"Reggie saved you." She reached out to the other female but didn’t touch her. She just let her hands hover over her arms.

"I wanted vengeance." A bright red flare flashed across her eyes.

"It is good you didn’t get want you wanted, or tried to get what you wanted. You could have been killed or locked in a cage."

"He would want me to be free."

Chi Lin relaxed her hand on Ursa’s arm. "That is correct. I am sorry."

"Thank you, I am sorry you lost Thailog." She pulled the other gargoyle into a en embrace. "We are both hurting." She buried her muzzle into Chi Lin’s silk top.

The pink gargoyle gently pat the top of Ursa’s strawberry blond mane as she shook with each sob. "I feel you are hurting even more than me."

"You are not even crying." Ursa mumbled into the fabric. She lifted her head stared into Chi Lin’s moist eyes. "There are tears but they are not rolling down your cheeks."

"I am grieving."

Ursa pulled away. "You are not grieving as much as me."

"You are not being fair."

"You are right I am not." She brushed a few tears from her eyes. "You would be crying as much as me if your real mate was dead."

Chi lin blinked at the accusation before she closed her parted lips and nodded. "You are correct. I do feel Thailog is alive. He is out there somewhere where he can stay hidden and heal." Her eyes darted to the London gargoyle and blinked at the image of the other female shaking her head. "What?"

"I was talking about your true love. The one you wanted to breed with."

"Who are you talking about?"

Ursa smiled coyly. "Do not play stupid. You know I’m talking about Hunter."

"That is over two years ago. I have completely forgotten about him."

"That is not true. You still think about him and still talk about him when you think you are alone."

"Whether I talk about him or not is not the point. The point is I am Thailog’s mate and I love him."

"If that half breed entered this room you would be in his arms like that." She snapped her fingers at the last word.

"Gargoyles mate for life." Chi Lin’s voice was low.

Ursa tilted her head. "Then tell me this if years pass and Thailog does not return and Hunter decided the human lover he chose was not right and came here would you go to him?" She smiled when Chi Lin was silent for a few seconds. "I thought so."

A string of indistinguishable Chinese words flew out of Chi Lin’s mouth as the young mother rushed for Ursa. The bear like gargoyle grabbed her wrists. Chi Lin’s eyes burned crimson as she snarled.

"Don’t do anything stupid." Ursa warned. "You may be a powerful warrior, but I’m stronger and you don’t want to rob your child of you by fighting me for a foolish reason."

"You have insulted my honor." The Chinese gargoyle growled.

"If I apologize will you stand down?" The other female nodded. "Good, I’m sorry I insulted your honor." She felt Chi Lin relax before she recessed her hold.

The ruby light faded from Chi Lin eyes as the wail from one of the cribs brought both gargoyles focus to Spring. The golden cougar cub like muate was standing in the middle of her crib. Her little hands clutched the railing as she cried for her mother.

"Oh Spring," Ursa’s voice shifted to a honey sweet tone. "I’m sorry. We didn’t meant to wake you." She ran to the cupboard full of baby supplies while Chi lin picked the child from her crib and tried to comfort her.

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The small plush toy did not cost Lorrie that much. Only five dollars at the side walk style boutique set up by the misguided organization called P.I.T. Jon told her to buy the one that would look the most like an average gargoyle and she bought a bright red one with bat shaped wings, a plain tail and devil like horns. Jon took the stuffed animal and tied string around it’s neck. He pulled on the string while hiding behind an end table.

Jon did not have to pull for too long before his two year old toddled up the slowly moving plush with a large bright orange plastic baseball bat that looked more like a milk container to the weregoyle. Colin was still wearing the tan pajamas with the repeated pattern of baseballs, bats and mitts. The top part of the sleeping ensemble had long cuts put in for the little quaterling’s wings.

Colin continued to follow the stuffed toy for a few feet before he brought the plastic bat down on top of the soft body. One strike was not enough for the toddler. He lifted the bat back up and brought it down twice more.

"That is enough son," Jon slowly rose to his feet. "Ye killed it."

Colin frowned at the toy before he stared back up at his father and smiled. "I killed it."

"Aye, Ye’re a hunter."

"I’m a hunter." Colin raised his arms. "I’m a hunter!"

Jon’s heart felt like it had wings. Pride twinkled across his blue eyes. "That is my son." He swiped up the quaterling and pulled his child close to his chest. "My son."

"Dada," Colin hugged his father. "I love you dada."

"I love ye." Jon closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. He blinked them open when he heard the unmistakable click from a camera shutter.

"Mama took a picture." Colin pointed at his mother who was just lowering the Polaroid.

Lorrie set the camera down onto the table and waved the developing photo around. "I’m sorry but I just couldn’t resist taking a picture of the moment."

"Next time someone takes a picture of us," Jon began as he placed Colin on the floor. "I want ye to be in it."

Lorrie ran a hand through her dark burgundy hair and smiled at the image in her hand. "It came out great." She looked up to smile at him. "Is the hunting lesson over?"

"I think it’s over for now." Jon stretched. "Are ye ready?"

"I’m ready but our son is not. I have to get him dressed and make sure he washes his face and brushes his teeth. Are you ready?"

"Aye."

"Are you going dressed like that?" Lorrie pointed at her husband. Jon was dressed in comfortable bright red T-shirt and dark blue denim pants with slightly faded knees.

Jon raised his eyebrows. "What is wrong with this? I’m just going to an outside rally."

"Don’t you usually wear suits?"

"Not anymore," Jon nodded. "I’m going to be wearing my armor. It’s na verra comfortable under that armor when ye wear a suit."

"That is true." She placed a kiss on his cheek. "Are you sure about tonight?"

"I feel it is about time."

"As long as you are comfortable." She turned away and walked to her son’s room. "Come on Colin we are going to visit your Uncle Jason and Your Aunt Christine. Let’s get dressed and brushy teethy."

"Don’t wanna brushy teethy." Colin whined from his room. "Wanna stay here."

"You want to see your baby cousin."

Jon reached for the keys to the car. "Ye will give them my love and tell them I’ll see Hunter next time." He placed the keys into his pocket and shook his head. Why did his brother settle on that name for his nephew? He will probably ask him nother time since he was jsut going to drop Lorrieand Colin off.

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Pain filled cries rattled through Elisa’s bedroom as it penetrated the detective’s ear drum. Elisa held her daughter in her arms and tried to rock back and forth trying to get Rebecca to go to sleep. Shortly after midnight the slight purple halfling began whimpering and rubbing her right ear. Her whimpering had escalated into crying. Both Elisa and Goliath carried the infant into the medical ward and asked one of the doctors to take a look at her. The hafling was diagnosed with a simple ear ache and was given a small bottle of medicine and a dropper. Elisa tried keep her daughter still while she placed a few drops into her large pointed ear but Rebecca would not stop tossing and turning.

"Rebecca please go to sleep," Elisa whispered. "If you go to sleep you will heal." She rocked a little faster while gently patting Re between her elegant pterodactyl shaped wings.

The only other sound came from the play pen. A healthy Rowan was playing with the Fisher Price activity center haning over the pen. He pushed soft buttons and turned dials creating squeaks, rattles and the chiming of bells. He paused when he heard someone enter the room.

"Oh-we!" Rowan squealed as the stiff blond assistant of Xanatos approach Elisa.

Elisa did not pause in her rocking as she stared up at the majordomo. "Is there something wrong?"

Owen shook his head. "I am here to off you some asisstance."

"Assistance?" Elisa blinked as her rocking slowed into a smooth gait.

"Allow me to take the twins into the nursery. I’ll watch them."

She shook her head. "You do to much. You cook, you clean, you assist Xanatos and you watch over Alex."

"I will not be the only one watching over them. Jam, Kitty, Frank and Fox will aid me"

"It does sound like what Goliath would say about the clan raising the hatchlings as a whole instead of individualy." She paused in the chair. "No, I don’t think I can."

"I’m not asking you to let me raise them completly. I am just offering an alternative. You look extemly tired. You shouldn’t be awake all day and all night."

"I don’t know."

"You have been wanting to return to work during the day with Matt."

"I have. I like working with Cross, but I do miss being with Matt. You do watch them when I’m at work at night." He pushed his glasses up his nose as he nodded. She glanced at the playpen. Rowan was holding onto his tail by the middle while he kept spinning the pastel green dial of the toy. "I guess I can." She felt Re’s body had become cooler, but what was more noticable was the infants silence. She stared down at her stone daughter in her arms. "I guess I’ll get some sleep my self. The sudden cry from the play pen erased her smile. "I guess not."

"You go to sleep," Owen turned to the crying halfling and picked him up. With his arms wrapped around his child he turned back to look at Elisa who was setting the stone form of Rebecca onto the floor.

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Xanatos placed the phone back into it’s cradle. He didn’t turn around when he heard the click of the door opening and closing. "Everything is secure Owen. We have the go ahead from national airways we need. Now all we have to do is finalize the plan and fill up the ship."

"I’m not Owen." Xanatos sat up abruptly at the sound of Kitty’s voice.

"Kitty?" Xanatos spun his chair around. The young wife of his assistant appeared with Matt. "I wasn’t quite expecting you."

Kitty’s plump lips pulled into a smile. She was dressed more casually than usual with pants that had pastel satin like patches on the knees. "I knew you were really expecting Owen, but he was busy. So everything is all set?"

"We have the official go ahead. If any one reports a large airship they will see the Xanatos logo on the side an know that it is not up to anything."

"Unless they know of what you have done in the past," Matt pointed out. He paused for a few seconds before held up his hands in a defensive pose. "Just kidding."

Kitty gave him a slight jab in the shoulder with her elbow. "That wasn’t funny."

"Now, now." Xanatos wagged his finger. "The detective does have a bit of a point and in a way it was funny. Anytime is the right time for a bit of humor." Xanatos had to blink at what he said. "I’m telling you this?"

Kitty shurgged. "I don’t know why I’m feeling a little off like that." She reached up to the soft eleastic holding her beige hair that was caramel dark at the roots and almost white at the ends in a ponytail. "I think my body chemistry is off due to the baby."

"This is going to be an interesting child."

She nodded. "But right now we need to discuss our invasion plans."

"Invasion?" Matt raised his eyebrows.

She shrugged. "I guess it’s that part of me that’s alien. I don’t know what else to call it."

"I was going to call it operation sweep and capture," Xanatos said. "Did Owen tell you how many robots are ready?"

"He says there are over a hundred, but he thinks the most we will need will be twenty and the least would be five."

"Lets round it to somewhere around the middle," Xanatos rubbed his goatee. "We’ll make it ten."

"Ten sounds good."

"I’m going to see how many weregoyles will want to join us," Matt offered. "You can include me on the list of the recovery team."

"Recovery," Kitty whispered and smacked her forehead. "Why didn’t I think of that?"

The detective tapped her shoulder. "It’s okay."

"We also need to figure out which of the clan will want to join us," Xanatos said.

"We are going to need Goliath and Lexington."

"We are going to need more, I suppose we’ll just ask as soon as they have awaken."

Kitty glanced at her watch. "Sunset will be in an hour. "I’m going to check on the ship and see if all the supplies we are going to need have been loaded." She gave the men one final smile before leaving the room.

Matt blanked before speaking. "Why is she being so hard on herself?"

"It might be because of the early stage of pregnancy she is in," Xanatos shrugged. "When Fox was pregnant with Alex for the first few months she had a perfectionist streak. There is also the alien DNA. We don’t know how she may act in the future."

__________________________________________________________________________

The bright and warm light of the fading sun sliced in through the venetian green blinds of the old furniture store. Jon Canmore glanced out through the blinds and knew he could not hold out for much longer.

"Water," Jon spoke suddenly. His throat felt dry and his mouth craved fluid. He spun around when he saw a flash of dark red at the corner of his eyes. "Lorrie, don’t ye move." Jon motioned his wife. "When ye visit the meetings ye are a guest and guests donae have to do anything."

"Are you sure?" Lorrie asked. She waited for her husband to nod before she sat back down next to her son. In addition to the long coat Colin wore to cover his wings he wore a knit cap to conceal his pointed ears.

A glass of water was waiting for Jon at the Podium. Buck had filled a glass and held it out to his leader. "Here you go sir."

"Thank you," Jon accepted this glass and took a long gulp. His drinking slowed when he heard a few coughs from his audience. "I like to welcome everyone to tonights meeting." Jon set his glass down and shifted into his fakeEnglish accent. The owners of the store were part of the Quarrymen Support group and allowed to Jon to set up his meeting there. Every foldable chair in the room were filled. Lorrie and Colin were in front with the mother in a chair and Colin on the floor next to her, scribbling around in his coloring books.

"I know not all of you are members of the Quarrymen. I know some of you are still thinking of joining, some of you are related to members and some of you are perfectly happy with being part of the QSG team. It does not matter which you are a part of, what does matter is that we are united against our fight against the enemy."

"I have a question!" A arm shot up in the middle of the faces like a shark fin poking through the waves.

"Yes?" Jon nodded and took another sip from his glass.

"How can we, QSG members, be able to assist in this fight. We are not the fighters. We are the supporters."

"What you do not understand is supporting is part of the fight. You are showing those who are still neutral and undecided that you feel we are doing what is right. You are showing the media that not everyone is against us and more importantly you are showing those who are misguided where you stand. You can convince them to come over to our side."

A hand with the Quarryman logo tattooed on the back raised. "What happened to everyone who does not agree with us being our enemy?"

"That was before I realized who our so called enemy was. There are some who are somewhat close to us who support P.I.T. and think the gargoyles are not demonic beasts. These people are our mailmen, our dentists, our cousins. They are friends of our siblings, relatives of our clergymen. The are our in-laws, and our neighbors and they can not be our enemy."

"Love they neighbor!" Someone shouted out. "I understand."

"Exactly," Jon pointed at the audience and walked back to the windows. "This is back to the point I’m trying to make. We are trying to protect everyone, even those who are misguided." He grabbed the cords and pulled the first blinds shut. "Those beasts are trying to get to us but not just by trying to destroy us. They want to change us and make them into their own."

"They want to turn us into gargoyles?" Someone asked.

Jon closed the last of the blinds. "In a way. The sorceress of their kind, The Demon, developed a kind of potion or mutagen. It causes humans to turn into gargoyles at night. These unfortunate souls are called Weregoyles. They are doomed to be gargoyles from dusk to dawn and return to their proper human form at dawn." He closed his eyes and sighed. "and I am one of them."

"What?" several people near the front asked. People behind them whispered to ask what Canmore had just said.

"How many of you have read the tabloids and know the rumor about me being a weregoyle?" Half the audience raised their hands. "How many of you believe it?" Most of the hands went down. "It is true."

"He’s kidding right?" Another person in the audience asked.

Jon turned to face Roscoe, Mrs. Duchamp, Lucious and Cal, the only two members of the quarrymen he knew that knew his secret. He remembered when Roscoe wanted to kill him when he first learned of Jon’s condition and hoped the rest of the audience would be more like the other three. Through their hoods Jon could see their eyes illuminated with pity. "I wish to say I was kidding, but I’m not." He pulled off the top part of his armor. He wore his black shirt underneath it. "I’m about to change." He smiled at Lorrie as he pulled off his leg armor.

"Give him room," Lucious said as he gently pulled Jon towards the back wall. The Quarryman had only seen his leader transform once and wasn’t sure how much space he was going to need.

Jon glanced up to thank him but cringed as the pain shot through him over and doubled over. He heard the whispers from his audience wondering what was going on. From what heard he could tell some people felt he was just putting on a show. His eyes widened as he felt the familiar pain of wings push through his skin and tear through the flesh. Whispers changed to gasps and screams as they grew to their full span. He felt his hands and feet writhe into talons and his ears grow larger and pointed.

His transformation had ended with his eyes blazing white and a loud roar exiting his mouth. He folded his wings across his chest as he glanced at his family. Lorrie was standing like most of the crowd. She held Colin in her arms.

"Mr. Castaway?" A young woman wearing short and tight clothing stared at him from behind her boyfriend. "Is that still you?"

Jon nodded and waited until he caught his breath to speak. "I know I seem frighting but it’s still me. They have changed my form, but they did not touch my soul."

"He can still think and reason as before," Cal added. "He’s still the same on the inside. Only his outside had changed."

"Does it always hurt when you change?" A woman in her thirties asked.

"Can you glide?"

"What does that feel like when you roar?" Several questions launched at the quarryman leader at once.

"Shut up!" Buck waved his hands around. "All of your questions will be answered. If you have a question just sit down ad raise you hand."

Jon nodded at him "Thank you. Do you have any questions?"

"Well I’m sure I speak for everyone when I ask how did this happen?"

"This happened in the fall of 1998 when I was broken free from Elumore. I was given a few weapons to hunt down and kill theDemon. I cornered her in her lab and she fought back. She pushed me down on top of a table and a beaker full of this weregoyle potion. The glass broke and cut through my skin. The potion entered my bloodstream through the wounds."

He glanced at the crowd. Many were shaking their heads and a few had tear filled eyes. "I will answer the first three questions I heard. Yes, it does hurt everytime. I can glide and have glided several times and roaring feels strange. It doesn’t hurt my throat but I can feel my voice vibrating and I can feel it in my chest." He pointed at the first hand he saw raised.

"What is it like having a tail?"

"It’s a bit of a nuisance," Jon swung his tail aound so the supple end appeared before him and his audience. "It does have it useful moments. I have used it as a whip and lashed it out at the true monsters."

"How much can you bench press?"

Jon smiled. "I never really tested my limit. I can lift a car over my head."

"Have used your claws on anyone?"

"I have inflicted many wounds to Goliath’s clan."

"Do you have any strange urges at night?"

"If you mean if my gargoyle form wants to do something evil then no. If you mean if I crave certain foods then yes. I tend to have more of an appetite when I’m a gargoyle. I also crave to feel the wind under my wings and because of my enhanced scense of smell I can tell where each location of a hot dog and pretzel vendor is located." Jon paused to sniff the air. "I can even tell which of you used lemon scented dish soap to wash your hands."

The brief laughter died down and more questions were asked. Some of them were short and simple and Jon answered them truthfully. He even tried to joke now and then. The last question that was asked was the most personal.

"You were transformed in 1998 and your son was born a year later?"

"That is correct."

"Is he affected by you altered form?"

"Yes." He caught Lorries eyes. "Go on love, take those extra cloths off him."

Lorrie pulled off Colin’s wool cap much to the toddlers disgust. Colin growled and snatched for his hat, but the crowd had already seen his gargoyle like ears. "Come on sweetie let me take off your jacket."

"No," Colin shook his head. "My jacket."

"Do it for daddy." The words seemed to have a calming effect. Colin relaxed long enough for his mother to pull of his large coat. He stretched out his tan wings and gave them a gently rustle.

"He’s got wings," a teenager gasped.

"And he has the ears," someone else added.

"He also has fangs and his nails grow faster and longer and are stronger than a human’s." Jon added. "He’s one quarter gargoyle."

A woman brushed a few tears out of her large and sad eyes. "It’s not your fault sir. You being a weregoyle and it affecting you son is not your fault."

"Your right," Buck blurted. "Its the gargoyles fault. They did this to him."

"And they did this to others," Jon turned turned to face Mrs. Duchamp.

"They did it to my daughter," She said sadly. "And at least four others."

Jon clenched his fists "And we know they could do this to even more humans. They can sweep in over us as we walk and fire darts full of the serum at us and then our children will be part gargoyle. We can’t let that happen."

"We won’t, but what about those who are already affected?"

"They may be hard to convince to join our side, but we can not harm them. They are in the same boat as me."

Lorrie helped her son place his knit cap back on over his head despite him trying to smack her hands way and insisting he could do it himself. He may have a few gargoyle features but was mostly human and he acted mostly human.

"Mama I can do it myself," Colin insisted as he pulled the cap tight on his head, covering his eyes.

"Let me help so I can gaze at your beautiful eyes." She pulled it up until the brim covered his forhead.

"I coulda done it."

"Next time I’ll let you do it. I promise." She placed Colin infront of his coloring book and watched Jon. He finaly did it. He showed the Quarrymen his secret and she was glad they accepted the fact he was a weregoyle.

__________________________________________________________________________

She could handle the rides at the park in Coney Island, but Cecilia could not handle riding inside a large ship travling in a straight direction. She rested on her stomach on one of the long padded cushion like beds meant for the humans when they tire. Her claws dug into the beige shiny fabric and felt the soft stuffing within. She didn’t move. She felt as if she couldn’t move.

Maybe it was the speed of the ship. It was traveling faster than the roller coaster. Lexington had explained to her coasters travel at sixty miles per hour while they were traveling at hundreds of miles per hour. It could also be the fact they were miles above the clouds and she had never been that high before. She wasn’t sure.

"Little sister?" Cecilia raised her head at the sound of Desdemona’s voice. The grayish blue gargoyle entered the back room with concern shining in her purple eyes. "Are you not feeling well?"

"I think I have what the humans call motion sickness," Cecilia tried to sit up. "This is my first time in a plane."

Desdemona smiled. "This is my first time too."

"When Goliath asked for volunteers I felt it would be a honor to go with him, but look at me." She felt her stomach lurch and she flopped back down and rested on her side. "Some warrior I turned out to be."

"You used intelligence, courage and strength to fight the enemy clan. I say that makes you a great warrior. You are just suffering from a small aliment. My own mate has a similar problem. He does not like traveling on water."

"But with a new body he might not have that problem anymore."

Desdemona chuckled. "I have tried to tell him that, but he still is unconvinced. I may have to lure him onto a boat to prove my point."

"I hope that you do."

"I’ll go and see if there is a type of medicine that will help." Desdemona turned around and left the room.

The aroma of fowl frying, potatoes baking and vegetables steaming filled the air. They did not have time to have a real meal before entering the ship and Broadway volunteered to come along and cook something during the trip. Desdemona wanted to stick her head into the galley and ask how much longer it will be until dinner will be ready but decided not too. She had to find some medicine for Cecilia, but where to look? She did not know anything about this ship or where the medicine could possibly be.

Her answer came in the form of Frank. The beaked weregoyle paused when he nearly ran into the clone. "Hey there,"

"I could use your help."

Frank nodded. "Sure."

"I was just with Cecilia in the back room."

"How is she feeling? I heard she wanted to lay down for a little bit."

She looked to the motion sensor doors. "She’s feeling weak in the stomach. She says it has something to do with the movement of the ship."

"I can give you the diagnosis. "Frank snapped his talons. "She is suffering from motion sickness. What she needs is some Dramamine."

Desdemona raised her brow ridges. "And where do you suppose I can find some?"

"Probably in the medicine cabinets. Follow me."

He lead her down the ship pausing only to rub the area under his beak. "Okay where did Matt say they were located?"

"Are you sure you know where they are?"

"I think so. Matt did show me around, but that was for a brief tour."

"Perhaps we should find Matt and ask him." She folded her arms and glared at him.

"Hey, hey relax. I remember they were in the red cabinets and they were next to where we are storing half of the robots." He paused by what appeared to be a large shiny metal storage unit and pressed a button. The doors slid open and five robots greeted him with silence. "Here we go."

"I don’t see any red cabinets."

Frank glanced at the small storage areas on both sides of these robot storage. "Damn it. That must mean they are on the other side of the ship. Come on." he dropped down to all fours and raced out of the hall.

"Are you sure I shouldn’t ask Matt?" Desdemona asked as she raced behind him.

"I’m sure. If they are not here then they are going to be on the otherside. Are you sure we should be giving her this stuff? It causes drowsiness."

"Drowsiness in humans, it might not have that effect on her."

"Good point, but what if it does?"

"She could take a small nap," she chewed her lip. "You are worried she might not be alert for the upcoming battle?"

Frank slowed as the neared the second storage unit and rose to his feet. "That’s what I’m a araid of." He glanced past the large metal and saw similar cabinets as before, but they were painted bright red. "Here we are."

Desdomona rose to her feet. "I understand your concern but if even if she was too tired we still have enough able warriors."

He opened one of the red doors and searched the small shelves inside. "We don’t know what we are up against."

"Only three escaped."

"And we don’t know how many stayed behind." he closed the door in frustration and opned the second one. After pushing a few bottles around he found the Dramamine. "Found it!"

"We have plenty of capable fighters and ten members of the steel clan. They alone could take on a few rouge garoyles." She accepted the bottle form his talons. "Thank you."

"I know you know what it’s like to be a robot, but these guys don’t think. They run on programs and not intelligence and soul."

"I believe we have more than a fare chance. I wouldn’t be surprised if they will end up surrendoring." She thanked him one more for the medicne before she left the room.

_________________________________________________________________________

Financial reports were always boring to Reggie. Even when he was working for his mother he hated going over the stacks of papers calculating how much revenue the company was raking in. He would rather have underlings crunch the numbers instead and listened to the out come of their research. He wished he had employees who could do the numbers for him. Instead with the dwindled clan he was part of he had to do it himself. Even when he first joined Thailog’s group most of the accounting was done by Winter, and now she is gone. She was either dead or a prisoner of Goliath’s clan.

He took another sip from his bottled water and popped his knuckles. the sound was like a dozen tiny fire crackers. The work was tedious but it had to be done. He had bills to pay. With just the four of them they switched from protection for hire to a private investigators.

"I need a break," he mumbled. The last time he checked Felicia was in the living room watching comedies the have rented from Blockbuster. She would not check in on him while he was at work. He was able to check on his favorite adult sights without having to fear her walking in on him.

He shrank the program and clicked on the Internet icon. He’ll just glimpse a few pictures at the Hot Vixen Pinup sight, read a few sex tips from Ask Cassandra and read a few erotic letters at Silk Panties Journals. He didn’t care if it was an online version rip off of Red Shoe Diaries. Some of those letters made his pants tent.

"Come on," he grumbled as he scrolled down the rows of images. "Don’t tell me there is nothing new." He glared as he searched for names of some new women and new poses from his favorites.

He was so focused on the screen he didn’t notice the green circle at the bottom left of the screen was flashing. The light was part of the security system. It would flash when the cameras indicated something that should not be on the premises. He moved the mouse over the light and clicked on it bringing up the grainy black white image of the camera. He stared at each frame, not seeing a thing until he came to the sixth.

He wasn’t sure what it was. It looked like a soda can that was split in the center and held together by curved part of a Coke bottle. The can had feminine curves. There was also a smooth glass piece with a small bulb over it. As Reggie continued to watch he noticed the bulb was flashing and the can shaped object was moving , trying to get out of range of the cameras.

"No," he shook his head. He could not believe what he was seeing. The found their location. "The survivors. They must have told them." He should have guessed the would find their location sooner or later, but they did not have enough to pack up and leave. They had to leave now.

"Felicia!" He rose form his chair and tore through the house, raced from the office to living room and found her on the couch again dabbing the corner of her eyes with a Kleenex. He balled his hands into fists while trying to think of ways to raise her spirits.

"Oh no!" Felicia was able to get out through the long and hard laugh. Her body shook from the humor and she used the tissue to mop up the little moisture that leaked out from the corner of her eyes.

Reggie let out a deep sigh. "I’m glad to see you are enjoying yourself. Now turn of the VCR."

She dropped her tissue and looked at him. "What?"

"We have to go." He reached for the remote.

"Go where?"

He dropped the remote and took the ejected tape out of the machine. "We have been spotted. One of the security cameras picked up this little robot." He snapped open the plastic shell and placed the tape inside. "I think it was sent here by Goliath’s clan."

"So we have to leave now?"

"Yes now. We’ll return the tapes on our way out of town, now go and pack."

She raced toward her bedroom and paused in the middle of the hall. "How much should I pack?"

"No more than two bags." He raced into his room and pulled out a large suitcase from his closet. He grabbed handfuls of cloths: business suits and casual suits. T-shirts, jeans and shorts. He pushed things around and made room for his socks and underwear. He filled a small bag with his toothbrush, paste, bars of soap, his razor, aftershave, cologne, brush and comb and a bottle of Pert Plus.

He raced into his office and turned off the computer before he took stacks of folders and papers into his attaché. He sat on top of it and forced it closed before he flipped on the latches. The last thing he packed was his lap top.

Felicia was not waiting for him when he entered the foyer. "Come on Felicia. We are going to get caught." He grabbed the enarest peice of paper he could find and wrote down a note for the gargoyles.

"I can’t decide on which picture of Jeremy and I to take."

"Do you have to?"

"Yes!"

He closed his eyes and set his luggage by his feet. "I know you miss him but think about this he will want you to escape. You have to think of your child. Jeremy would not want to have you in a cage and his child raised by the enemy."

"I want a picture of him so our child will know what their father looked like."

"Just grab one."

Felicia paused when he heard the commanding voice and stared at her dresser. Which picture of Jeremy to take? One of him when he was still human? Or a picture of him after his transformation. She juggled her suitcase and grabbed one of each. A small photo of Jeremy as a human and a large framed pic of the two of them together shortly after they had arrived in Vermont. Reggie did not say she could not take two.

She clutched them to her chest as she carried her heap of luggage to the hall. She noticed the way his bluish purple eyes sparkled with a bit of annoyance. "You taking two?"

She glanced down. "It’s better than hanging around trying to decide on which to take."

Reggie sighed as he took the smaller one from her hands and slipped the strap of his lap top case over his shoulder. "You do have a point." He grabbed the handles of his suitcase and attaché.

"Wait!." She had only placed her purse strap on her shoulder. "What about the others?"

"They are still in their stone slumber. It’s awkward enough without trying to carry them."

"Sunset is only twenty minutes away."

"Twenty minutes we can’t wait. Who knows how long that robot has been around. We need to get out of here. I have already left them a note."

"What about the baby?"

"She’s asleep."

"I can’t leave her."

"We don’t have time to pack up her things. You said it yourself. Sunset is not that far away. Ursa and Chi Lin will take care of her."

"I don’t like leaving her."

"I’m sure she will be okay." He stepped outside. "Lets go."

"but?"

He turned to face her with narrowed eyes. "No buts, we are leaving now. We can’t stay. If we stay they will catch us. Do you want that?" His harsh voice caused tears to flow from her eyes. "Do you want to be locked away and have your child taken from you. Your baby will be part gargoyle and if it won’t be used as a research experiment it will be living in Wyvern, being raised by our enemy. Do you want that?"

She shook her head. "No."

"Then come with me." He turned around and didn’t care if Felicia followed or not. He stormed to the back of the car and opened the trunk. After placing his suitcases inside he stepped back to see Felicia standing there. "Good to see that you have come to your senses."

"I still don’t like doing this." Her voice was weak as she handed Reggie her luggage. "But I already lost so much. I don’t want to loose my child."

He closed the door. "You can hold on to your pictures and to the tapes." He walked to the passenger seat and held open the door. "You made the right decision."

"Then how come it feels so wrong?"

"It will feel right after we are out of her. We’ll find a hotel near the border."

She buckled herself in. "And what happens after we get a hotel."

He buckled himself in a placed the key into the ignition. "We will call Seneca."

"We are going to turn the tapes in first?"

"Of course."

Felicia did not pull her eyes away from the window and watched the compound she had lived in for months slowly fade away.

___________________________________________________________________________

The two female gargoyles shook slightly as cracks formed over their bodies. Four burning red eyes glowed as they freed themselves from their shells. Their cougar like roars slowly faded.

Chi Lin paused while Ursa continued to yawn and stretch. She had only been awake for a few minutes but knew something was wrong. Her large deer like ears twitched as the rotated around trying to pick up any sound. "Where is everyone?"

Ursa turned to her and raised her brow ridges. "Hmmm?"

"I think we may be alone."

"Of course we are lone duck," The bear like gargoyle chuckled. "The humans are not waiting for us to awaken tonight."

She held up a hand and tilted her head to side. "No, I think we are completely alone."

"Don’t be ridiculous." Ursa tried to wave it off but Chi Lin did not appear to be convinced. "They are probably doing work or fixing dinner and Felicia might be watching some of those movies Reggie told her to watch to cheer up."

"My egg!" Chi Lin dropped to all fours and raced out the garage they used to roost in.Sshe exited the part of the compound that was used as a gym and headquarters to the part that was more house like. She did not see either Reggie nor Felicia as she raced through the halls, but she did hear the cry of an infant. Spring was crying and no one was looking after her.

She was instantly hit with the stench of a soiled diaper as she entered the nursery. Spring was standing up in the middle of her crib with her head thrown back and crying. "Mama, ‘licia, mama, mama."

Red filled the gargoyle’s vision. How could Felicia just abandon the child like that? Chi Lin shook her head trying to let the anger fade enough for her eyes to go back to normal. She did not want to frighten the child. "Don’t cry baby." She said as she lifted the mutate child up. "I will take care of you."

"Want mama, want ‘licia." Spring kept repeated the same words over and over as she was carried to the changing table.

"I know, but they are not here right now. Please lay down and stay still." She removed the diaper and threw into the pail before she took the scented wipe and cleaned the fuzzy bottom and chubby thighs. She rubbed a handful of powered onto the baby’s bottom before she placed a clean diaper on her. "After we get you fed we are going to give you a bath."

"No bath. You no give bath. I want ‘Licia."

"They are not here." She cradled Spring and wiped a way the tears from her cheeks.

"Licia not here? Bad people take her like mama?"

Chi Lin did not know how to answer. "I’m not sure."

She took the mutate to the kitchen and nearly ran into an angry Ursa. "Excuse me," she whispered as she stepped around the British gargoyle. "Spring is hungry."

"Well you were right." Ursa snorted. "They did end up leaving. " The car is gone and I can’t find them. I went into their rooms and well hers is a mess and his closet is nearly empty. Their bathrooms are missing toothbrushes and hair brushes."

Red briefly flashed across Chi Lin’s eyes. "They did leave us, but why?"

"I haven’t the foggiest. I’m going to try to look."

"You do that then," Chi Lin carried Spring to her high chair and placed her in. "I’m going to give you some chicken, but what kind of vegetable do you want?"

"Mama,’ Licia."

"What kind of vegetable do you want them to give you?"

Spring blinked away a few tears. "Peas."

Chi Lin thanked the child before she entered the kitchen. There were not many baby food jars left and without any humans there was no way of buying the food. The child was nearly two. Perhaps when they have run out of jars she would be able to eat adult food.

She opened the jar of peas and placed a few spoonfuls on the small plastic child dish with dividers. It wasn’t the same as the mush Spring was eating several months ago. The food was still soft, but in more solid forms. She selected some bits of the baby chicken and placed the plate into the microwave. She would add the chocolate custard after the rest of the food was cooked.

"They abandoned us to save their own hides!"

Chi Lin choose to ignore the British gargoyle’s roar and poured Spring’s special juice into her toddler cup. "The child is hungry, her rant can wait."

The other gargoyle stormed into the kitchen after Chi Lin snapped on the lid. "Would you look at this?" She held out the small note Reggie left in front of the pink gargoyle. "Well?"

Chi Lin edged past her and placed the cup on the highchair tray. She smiled at Spring as the golden tan mutate grabbed onto the cup and placed the spout like part into her mouth. "Her dinner is ready."

Ursa’s eyes softened. "I know the child needs our attention first, but did you know why the humans had left? They left because Goliath’s clan had found us and they would rather save their own skin than to wait for us."

Another red glow sparked over Chi Lin’s eyes. "And they didn’t even take Spring with them?"

"Typical humans."

Chi Lin hadn’t noticed the other gargoyle had left when she pulled Spring’s plate from the microwave she would be angry with the humans later, but feeding Spring came first. She used a small spoon and brought the warm peas to the mutate child’s mouth

She hadn’t even noticed the sound of a large airship approaching them. It was only when Ursa ran through the building yelling her head off. "They are here!"

"Who is here?" Chi Lin asked as she helped Spring eat the last of her chicken.

"The other clan," Ursa stormed towards the front door.

"What are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" Ursa turned to give her one last look. "I’m going to defend our home. You are going to stay here and protect our child."

"Our child?" She breathed the question before she knew what Ursa meant. "You can’t take them all on by yourself, we should surrender."

"Our mates went down fighting for our clan. I am not going to tarnish their memories by giving up, protect the children."

"Our clan is dead, please don’t join them."

Ursa did not acknowledge she had heard her. She raced up the stairs to the third floor and raced to one of the rooms. It was the same room she and Vlad shared when they wanted to be alone. She walked straight up tooth twin knives resting on the wall in an X shape and tore them down.

The bear like gargoyle stared out the window. There were wasn’t just one ship, but two. The one with the logo of Xanatos Enterprises had already landed while the other ship was just preparing to land beside it. She had no idea who the second ship belonged to but she knew who the first was and the thought caused her eyes to light up and her bear like muzzle to wrinkle into a snarl.

She did not know when she should exactly attack, but she didn’t want to immediately glide in and begin battling the enemy either. She kept her eyes glued onto the ship as the hatch slowly opened. She was expecting real gargoyles, not robots that looked like gargoyles. They reminded her of Coldsteel, but they were more like Thailog in design. She watched as they flew up and circled around the compound.

The time was now. She waited just as one of them flew right by the window before she quickly flung it open and brought one of the blades down on it’s metal neck, slicing the head off. A feral snarl exited her mouth as she leaped out and glided after two more of the robots. She brought the blades through their heads with one quick swing.

Her round ears picked up the sound of something aiming at her head and she turned just in time to avoid being zapped with a lazer. The beam only singed the tips of her toe talons forcing her to cringe. Her wings shifted and she glided towards the four robots that were trying to bring her down. She shoved one blade into the chest of one of the robots as another fired a lazer at her shoulder. Roaring, she threw the other blade into it’s head. She flew away from the remaining two while avoiding their lasers. she dove down before circling around and gliding behind them. With a mighty swing she sliced off their heads.

She felt another blast at her back and dropped the other knife. Her body plummeted to the ground while she stared up. Three more of the robots landed next to her. She was in pain, but she was not going to be brought down that easy. She jumped and shot her feet out, kicking the machines in the chest. It was not enough. The third robot grabbed onto her from behind. Ursa tried to throw him off her , but the other robots had grabbed on and tried to force her to the ground.

"I’m on it," the dopey and slight familiar voice echoed through Ursas mind before she felt a great weight slam against her legs, knocking the from under her. She felt even more weight on her body as she struggled to stand up.

"It’s over," the second voice was even more familiar to the bear like gargoyle. Ursa’s eyes widened as she stared up at the green gargoyle that stepped before her. "Try not to struggle." He appeared like a prince. His thick white mane flowed down his back and was kept out of his eyes by his tara like brow ridge. Golden wings were folded over his shoulders like a royal cloak.

"Gawain?" Ursa shifted her head to look up at the youth from Avalon. Gaiwan’s face did not contain anger or hate, nor did his eyes have the softness of sympathy. Instead they shone with pity. She was about to ask why when she felt something sharp and thin pierce her skin.

Gawain turned from the surprised gargoyle to what looked like another of the robots but had red and black coloring in addition to the silver. It only took him a second before he remembered it was Xanatos in the suit. "What did you do?" Gawain asked when he saw the small gun like weapon in Xanatos’s hand.

"I just gave her something that will calm her down," Xanatos said.

Broadway shifted on the British female’s legs. "That’s one down. We don’t know how many are left."

"Just me," everyone turned to see a pale pink gargoyle exit the compound. Her caped wings gave a better view to the long bluish black hair flowed down to her waist. Long locks were placed between her large deer like ears and curved horns that poked through the top of her head. A third horn, spiraled like a unicorn, was on her forehead. She moved gracefully on small feet ending in two toes tipped in sharp talons.

What drew everyone to the second gargoyle was not her beauty, nor because she chose surrender. They were drawn to what she carried in her arms. The cougar like infant could not have been a day over two years. Her golden tan fur was dappled with reddish brown spots on her limbs. The top of her head was crowned with bright read curls. She was dressed neatly in a pale purple dress dotted with pink and white flowers with slits cut in the back for her black bat like wings.

Chi Lin glanced at the bundle and stared back up at the crowd. "I am surrendering and I can’t put up my arms." She noticed one figure who strode forward from the crowd. A friend she thought she would never see again. The Chinese gargoyle smiled at the dark brown cougar mutate as he cloaked his own black wings. "Spring, it’s time for you to meet your dada."

"My dada?" Spring glanced at the gargoyle questionably before she turned to see the mutate approach her. She didn’t know who he was by his look, but she could tell he was a good person by his scent. "What a dada?"

"It’s like a mama, but it’s a man." Chi Lin held out Spring in front of her. "This is your dada Spring."

Fang was silent and stood unmoving for a minute before he took his daughter into his arms"Spring," Fang’s voice was barely more than a whisper. "My daughter." He felt his voice crack.

"My dada?" Spring asked.

Fang couldn’t hold it back any longer he felt his whole body shake as tears streamed down from the corners of his eyes. "You don’t know how long I’ve waited to hold you. To see you."

"Why you cry?" She reached up and stroked the tips of her fingers against his tear soaked cheeks.

"Because I love you." He pulled her closer to his chest and continued to sob with joy.

Nobody interrupted the reunion between father and daughter. The rest of Goliath’s clan and Redemption squad continued to search through the mansion looking for any clues about those who escaped, retrieving Chi Lin’s egg and seeing if there were supplies that could be useful.

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The ringing of the cordless phone nearly caused Seneca Sevarius to bite through the pencil she had in her mouth. She was trying to pull out the number clues interwoven into the word problem and the ringing cut through her concentration.

The teenager spat out the writing instrument before she picked up the receiver. "This is Seneca Sevarius, how can I help you?"

"Hey Seneca this is Reggie Leahs. We ran into a small problem. We got caught. Felicia and I had to leave the compound. I know the authorities are going to tell your father where you have been all this time."

"So I can expect a call from him soon?" Seneca asked.

"Probably. Felicia and I have to go. We call you as soon as we get settled."

"Okay, I got to finish this assignment." Seneca hung up and cursed. Her father is going to want to spend a lot of time with her to make up for what was lost and she did not have time for that. Her studies came before anything.

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The scene made Maggie’s heart melt. She wanted to call Teddy from the play room and hold him as she watched the reunion within the glass cage. The second Spring had saw her mother she fought to get out of Fangs arms and toddle up to the cage as fast her little legs would allow her.

Winter had leaped from her bed and placed her paws against the glass wall next to the door. She wanted to take her child into her arms. She couldn’t believe how much Spring had changed since she last saw her.

She stepped back to allow Talon to unlock the cage and dropped to her knees to welcome her daughter into her arms. "Oh my baby. I’m so sorry."

"Mama, mama. My mama!" Spring clutched onto her mother and cried into her top. "No, go mama."

"I didn’t want to go. Part of me wanted to stay but I had to fight. I had to be with Ocelot." The mention of her lover’s name made her eyes well up with tears.

"Mama why cry? Where Mama Ocelot?"

Winter ignored the shuffling of feet in her cell. "Mama Ocelot has gone to a place where she will never return from."

"Mama Ocelot?" Fang had entered behind their daughter and gave his former mate a strange look.

Winter slowly rocked Spring and stared back up. "What did you want me to call her? She was Spring’s parent too."

"And so am I yet she doesn’t even know who I am." Fang crossed his arms. "She didn’t even know what a father is."

"She has never seen you. I didn’t want to tell her. She would have asked when she was going to see you, and I wouldn’t have known what to tell her."

"She would have asked eventually when learned it takes a male and a female to create life. She’s going to wonder why all of her friends have daddies and she doesn’t. Where you going to tell her then? Where you prepared to answer her question of why you started a relationship with that gargoyle?"

"This is about me being bisexual isn’t it." Winter’s voice became harsher. She did not loose a single beat as she continued to rock her child to sleep.

"Not in front of our baby."

The white mutate’s eyes narrowed into a pair of golden yellow slits. "You think it’s wrong for her to know?"

"Maybe when she is old enough for school." Fang let his anger faed and sighed. "I guess this means we are never going to be a family."

"No we are not." She shook her head. "I’m glad you finally got to see her."

"You have no idea how long I dreamed of being with her."

"Two months was too long for me. I can’t even begging to imagine how much it ate you inside, but I guess I’m going to learn."

He raised his brows. "What do you mean?"

"Look at me, Fang. I can’t raise our child while in a prison. I feel it would be best if Spring went with you. It would be better for both of you. She will be raised right and you can catch up on the time that was lost."

"I want to be with her more than anything, but do you think it would be good for her to be uprooted and taken from her mother."

"No child should have to see their parent while in prison." Her eyes were pleading. "Please do this for me."

Fang picked up the sleepy toddler from Winter’s arms. He glanced at his former mate wile gently rocking his body. Her eyes still held onto the warm pleading look. He turned around to the cage’s door and saw Talon and Maggie. He knew they would help him if he asked, but he was going to have to make the decision.

__________________________________________________________________________

"Mama!" Spring shook her fists as she screeched out her mother’s name. She had tried to free herself from the liquid metal highchair that was the Matrix without any success. She had similar luck with trying to tear off her bib.

"I should have left her in the Labyrinth." Fang’s hands shook. With each wail from his daughter another crack formed on his heart. "Spring, Mama has to stay with Talon and Maggie and help them." He tried to smile while bringing the child her plate. He knew it was a lie, but she was too young to understand why her mother was in a prison.

"Want mama!"

"I’m sorry," He placed the plate on her tray. "Dada will give you din din now."

"No dada!" She threw the plate onto the floor. "Want mama."

"Will you do it for uncle Gawain?" The newest member of the team entered with a child’s cup in his talons. It was the same cup they took from the compound.

Spring’s bawling slowed as Gawain neared her. "Ga-wan? I want mama."

"I’m sorry little one, mama can’t come, but we will visit her soon."

"We’ll visit mama soon," Fang smiled. "I promise." He knew the director would give him some vacation time for that since Vinnie had told him the Director was a family man.

"Ga-wan got juice?" Spring pointed at the cup in the gargoyle’s hand. "My sippy cup!"

The gargoyle smiled. "Yes, it’s your sippy cup." He handed the container to the mutate toddler and smiled at Fang. "I’ll help you, until she gets to know and trust you."

"Thanks man." Fang lowered himself to clean up the mess on the floor. He’ll heat up some more food and with Gawain near him then Spring might eat. He wanted to be a good father and knew it won’t be easy, and the first part was already over.