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: LadyAndromeda@smstars.zzn.com

Reviews can be found athttp://pub17.ezboard.com/bgargoylesx

Feedback is not only welcome but greatly appreciated.

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Resurrection

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The kitchen of Castle Wyvern contained a couple large refrigerators and a walk in freezer, both fully stocked with a variety of meats, fruits, vegetables, different kind of bread, dairy, cold beverages and condiments. The pantries and cupboards were filled with non perishable items and containers of flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and a motley supply of spices.

Those plus every kind of cooking tool imaginable could help even the most clueless around the kitchen create something for dinner, but even with everything he could possibly need Broadway still didn’t know what to cook.

"Don’t tell me," he grabbed his plump face and lowered his head. He wasn’t alone. Angela was standing right next to him leaning against his stomache.

Angela placed an arm across his shoulders. "I’m afraid so."

The corpulent gargoyles hands left his face and clenched in frustration. "It’s not supposed to happen."

"I’m sure it happens to a lot of guys."

"It can happen to them but not me. I’m not supposed to get cooking block."

Brooklyn snorted as he walked past them, heading towards the refrigerator. "Are you two rehearsing a play?"

"Brooklyn!" Angela snapped. The lavander female pulled away from her love to glare at the second in command.

"What?" He opened the door and pulled out a bottle of root beer. "You can cut the mellow drama in here with a knife."

"You don’t know how hard it is for him." She gave her mate a small kiss on the cheek. "I know what it would be like if I had artist block."

"He could go read a few cook books or watch a few cooking shows to get inspired," Brooklyn suggested. "Lex could help him search for a few recipes on the Internet."

The lavender gargoyle smiled. "Those are good ideas. What do you think my love?"

"I’m thinking about our hungry clan," Broadway sobbed. "I can’t cook for them."

"And knowing my rookery brother he would act like he would be dying from hunger," Angela mused.

"That you have to admit is pure mellow drama," the second in command chuckled . "I’m not worried about dinner. In fact you are looking at cucumber gargoyle."

"Don’t mention food," Broadway groaned.

"Cucumber gargoyle?" Angela stared at him strangely.

"As in cool as a cucumber," the beaked gargoyle gave a thumbs up and smiled. "You keep forgetting Owen is also quite and established chef.

"We keep taking the poor man for granted." Angela gave her mate a few gentle pats on the shoulders. "See my love. Owen will cook."

"Actually I was going to take a break for tonight," Owen said. His presence’s caused the three gargoyles to nearly jump. no one had noticed the tall blond man when he had enterd the kitchen. The stiff blond man held a phone in his hand. "I was going to order pizza for the clan."

"Like I said Owen will take care of it," Brooklyn grinned. "And how could anyone not want pizza?"

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The answer to the second in commands question came from Hudson. When he heard about Owen ordering out for dinner he raised his hand and cleared his throat. "Can I possible have something else? I donna care t’ much fer pizza."

"I would like somethine else too," Demona spoke up. She noticed the shocked espressosn of the other’s faces but she ignored them all. All except for her mate’s. "I know you think it’s strange Matt, but I never quite taken a liken to it, not New York version, traditional Italian, or even Chicago style."

"Too each his or her own." Matt just shrugged his golden shoulders.

"I can order the pasta bucket and a few calzones for you two instead," Owen dialed the numbers. "As well as ask for breadsticks and tiramisu. I need for everyone to tell me what they want on their pizza. I believe Marle wants the vegetarian and both Broadway and Mercutio could share the works."

"He knows us so well," the red web winged gargoyle said before resuming his passed out on the floor routine. The youth from Avalon had been feigning starvation for over an hour with his limbs spread out as far they would allow.

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Gloria and Rayne shared some of Marle’s pizza since the two of them didn’t care what was on as long as it contained mushrooms and olives. Matt and Goliath shared the one that had nothing but meat: pepperoni, chicken, burger, sausage, bacon and Canadian bacon. Frank and Angela both enjoyed chicken and broccoli, Brooklyn, Lex, and Elisa divided up the pepperoni, pepper and jalapeno pizza. Jerry and Gloria’s was one half sausage and pineapple. Both Charlie and Alex shared pasta with Hudson and Demona used a fork and knife to eat her calzone. The rest of the human residences took a few slices from various pie’s

Coldfire watched as the clan enjoyed their dinner. She wasn’t sure she would enjoy the flat pie like food’s persay. They seemed to be very strange with the long gooey trails that stretch between bites and the remaining parts of the slice looked a bit disgusting. She did have to admit that it was clever for the humans to place their meats, cheeses and vegetables on a single piece of bread. It would be quick to eat for soldiers heading for battle.

"If I were still flesh and blood I would probably be eating what our teacher and sister are enjoying," she tried to get her voice box to sigh. The noodles saturated in rich red sauce did look good and so did the golden brown breadsticks, but the one thing that made her miss being able to eat the most was the sight of the bowls containing the dessert, rich cake like pastries covered in a foamy cream and sweet sauce. "To be alive again." She couldn’t talk with anyone about how she felt. No one knew what it was like to be trapped in a machine, no one except her mate.

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She found her mate in the library. The dry gray stone and shiny metal cyborg sat in the large black vevlet covered chair in the back of the room with a large leather bound book open in his talons. He was a lot like their clan leader. Both of them enjoyed to find a place to be alone and read a good book.

"Is that a good book?" Coldfire asked as soon as she found him amonst the maze of tall book filled shelves.

The gargoyle cyborg raised his white mane’d head, despite his body true gargoyle parts remaining stone his hair had turned soft and living, flowing in the breeze. "Yes it is," He shifted his hands on the cover revealing the title of the book written in gold: Frankenstein. "It’s about a human scientist who builds a man from different corpses and brings it to life with lightening." He placed a piece of bronze leather stitched with red cord to mark his place. "A story I can relate to."

"A story we can relate to," Coldfire corrected. "Remember your stone parts contain some of me."

"And some of our brother," Coldstone bitterly added. "Created to work for Xanatos and assist our sister in her petty vengeance when it was her fault we were massacred in the first place!" His snarl faded into a sigh. "She could at least warned us, or ask us to follow her to her hiding place."

The robot with horns curled over the back of her head nodded her head."She was about to do that shortly before the Dark Dawn. She recently told me she was afraid we would question her authority."

"So instead she left us to die, and instead of letting us rest in peace she brought us back in this." He indicated his body. The robotic eye lit up crimson. He held out his hands before him, studing where the metal ended and the stone began.

Coldfire nodded, despite her lack of lungs she raised her torso and head out her chest along with her voice box sighing."It was nice to feel and breath again when we loaned the bodies of Broadway and Angela. I almost wished we glided into the park to smell the flowers or found something to eat. The various meals in this city are extremly tempting."

"I do regret not doing that."

"To be flesh again instead of a robot and," the light in her eyes flickered as she tried to remember the exact words the clan called her mate. "A cyborg."

"Exactly."

Her last words stirred up a memory stored in her haunted spirt and the wired memory storage."By the dragon a cyborg. Two of the clan’s enemies are cyborgs."

"The ones called Jackal and Hyena," his voice took on a tone of disgust. "They actually wanted to be like that."

"They are flesh and steel, not stone and steel. Your body was created with magic and science. Perhaps magic can turn your stone parts into flesh."

"To smell the flowers growing in the courtyard garden" his voice softed into a wistful breath, "to taste some of the fine cooking by Broadway that the clan raves about, to be able to actually feel your metal skin." He ran his finger down her metallic hair. "I would love for that to happen ,but what about you?"

"I don’t know if there is a way for me to get my body back, but at least there is some hope for you."

He wrapped an arm around her middle. "It would not be fair for me to be able to enjoy life with out you."

"I know, but after all the gifts you have given me." She slipped out of her mates arms and double backed the way that she came. Her mate may believe in all or nothing but knowing that she can help and not doing it would eat up at her soul.

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The golden robot found the immortal gargoyle heading back from the dining hall towards the nursery. The ensouled robot stepped in front of her sister. "You live here, yet you don’t go on the patrols."

"Interesting way of greeting me sister," Demona frowed."Why should I risk my life to help those who would call me a monster?" She asked non chalant.

"Even if Goliath ordered you?"

"He might ask me but he knows my answer."

"And he wouldn’t dare try to throw you out for disobeying his orders?"

"Exactly," Demona hissed. "He knows that I live here, but I’m not part of the clan and unless he wants to risk the wrath of my mate and my daughter he better not throw me out."

"I could get into a discussion that some of the humans the clan had saved became their friends and by not going out on patrol you are being cooped up inside like a prisoner but I won’t."

"Very good sister. I am not a prisoner, I can come and go as I please," Demona tried to walk around her. but the golden robot blocked her path. "You are in my way."

"I need you to do me a favor."

Demona gave her rookery sister a strange look wondering why would a gargoyle spirit trapped in a robot’s body would need her for anything. "You want me?"

"I need a sorceress, the same sorceress who summoned me, my love and our treacherous brother from our eternal rest and placed them into that creation called Coldstone."

"What would you like me to do?"

"Turn the stone parts in my mate’s body into flesh and blood." Coldfire’s voice pleaded.

Demona blinked at the request, her cold eyes warming up with concern with a flicker of her eyelids."There may be some complication to that spell."

The robot’s pleading tone shifted to anger. She lashed out and grabbed the gargoyle by her shoulders. "You owe me."

"The complications are the cybernetic parts." Demona tried to be calm, but her body trembled, not by wrath but becasue of a shiver of guilt. "Those robotic parts are grafted onto stone and when Xanatos and I combined our forces of science and magic the needed electricity coursed magicaly through the stone. When it becomes flesh the cybernetics might not work as before."

Coldfire relaxed her grip on her sister. "I see. Then that means we also need Xanatos to help us out."

The crimson maned gargoyle nodded. "I’ll lead you to him after I play a game with my son." Her mood lightened seveal watts to a pleased happyness before she entered the nursery.

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Owen was not guarding the door to Xanatos’s office. It didn’t matter to Demona. She would have stormed passed the little trouble maker if he was positioned in fornt of the office door with his arms crossed and his normal dull expression staring holes through her chest.

She didn’t know if he was in the office either, but would soon learn.The immortal took the direct approach in finding out by barging in. The multi billionaire was at his desk, his phone was positioned between his hand and the side of his face. Demona marched right up to him, followed by Coldfire "Xanatos I need your help."

"Hold on a moment," Xanatos placed a hand over the reciever. "Hello Demona, its so nice when you come into my office for a chat."

"I’m not here for a chat," Demona barked. "I am here because I need your help for a spell."

"Sister," Coldfire placed her hand on the gargoyle’s arm. "He can’t talk to us right now."

The red head stepped back and waited for Xanatos to finish talking. She impatienctly glared at the human while drumming the end of tail against the carpet. If anyone would step up to her and ask her to demonstrate some form of patience she would lash out at them with her talons.

When Xanatos hung up the phone he could have sworn he heard Demona give out an impatient sigh. "Now what can I help you with?"

"If the stone in coldstone’s body was turned to flesh would the cybernetic parts still work?" The question came out in a heartbeat.

"I may have to look into that," Xanatos replied after a pregnant pause. "Although I doubt the stone in your rookery brother will become alive anytime soon." He placed his fingers against the top of his desk. "May I ask what brought this question on?"

Demona turned her head to look at her sister briefly. "Coldfire wants me to make Coldstone into a cyborge like Jackal and Hyena. Flesh and steel."

"I see," Xanatos’s forehead wrinkled. "What if there was a way to take a stone sample from Coldstone and turn it into flesh. Then we use the DNA to create a new pure biological body."

"The idea had never came to my mind," Demona blinked.

"Nor my mind," Colder added. "It would be the greatest gift for him."

The wheels in Xanatos’s head were still churning. "Of course parts of Coldfire’s original body make up Coldstone too, we could also make a clone of her." His eyes shifted towards both gargoyle and robot. "That is if she would really want to."

"To have a living body," Coldfire’s voice sounded distant. "I want to do it. I want to be truly alive instead of this state of waking dead."

"Go and tell Coldstone," Xanatos instructed. "Demona and I’ll work out the details." He picked up his phone and began dialing a number.

"Details?" Demona asked as soon as her rookery sister had left the room. "What kind of details?

"We have to know when will the right time to place the souls in their new bodies. We don’t want it to be too early, or too late."

She nodded while bringing up a talon to her chine, right under her lips. "I will need some rune stones. What will you be doing?"

"I’ll will be calling my father-in-laws business. I need to temporary hire someone."

"Are you sure he won’t accuse you of stealing his employees?"

"She will only be working on this assignment."

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After careful research and Renard’s recomendation Xanatos selected Dr. Pearl Callahan. She had graduated from Yale medical school with a PH.D in Bio Engineering and a M.A in Neruology. Renard had her on Cyberbiotics payroll for five years.

Xanatos scheduled for Dr. Pearl Callahan to begin work on the clone bodies for the cold duo as soon as possible. She would be arriving at the castle a few days later, enough time for Demona to order two of her clear green chambers to be transported to the Eryie lab and for her order of rune stones to be sent from the shop to Wyvern. The cost was extra because of how she requested them

The gargoyles were a bit concerned about how Dr. Callahan would take them. Xanatos assured them she was a card carrying member of P.I.T.

Dr. Callahan turned out to be tall woman with mocha hued skin, dark hair cut short to frame her face in curls, and large doe like eyes. She gave Xanatos a warm smile when she entered the Eeyrie lab. "I finally get to meet the David Xanatos."

"It looks like everything Renard has said about me wasn’t bad," Xanatos smiled back.

"He has bad mouthed you in the past," Callahan smirked. "He also mentioned that you are a good father, and from what Ruby tells me I can see that it is true."

"Ruby?" Xanatos raised an eye brow.

"My daughter, she’s in Ms Audrey Pomfour’s class."

"Your name is Pearl and hers is Ruby?"

Callahan shrugged. "It’s been going on since my great grandmother. My mother’s name is Topaz."

"I see," Xanatos pointed at the rows of computers. "This will be your laboratory’s computer work station." He pointed at the tables topped with beakers, test tubes, vials and petri dishes. There were a few people walking around dressed in white lab coats. "This will be your medical team."

Callahan took it all in and nodded her head. "You have quite a set up in this building alone." She turned around and saw the large clear greenish-yellow chambers. Two scientists were setting up what looked like electrodes, long tubes and wires in one of them. "and these must be where you want me to grow these clones?"

"That is precise," Xanatos pointed at the two doctors working around the one chamber. "Those two are setting up the wires that will monitor the heart rate and brain activity of the developing creatures. That one large face mask will slip over their faces and provide them with enough oxygen . They will have special tubes that will feed them and removed their wastes."

Dr. Callahan only watched them set up the chamber for am minute before she noticed activity around the second one. A woman resembling Dominique Destine was wrapping a long cord with several different stones connected to it around the base of the chamber. The doctor turned back to stare at the other one and noticed it also had stones.

"May I ask what is she doing?" Dr. Callahan asked, pointing at the crimson maned female.

Xanatos had thought of the answer to the question hours before the Dr. had even arrived. "She’s just merely placing a few Celtic runes around the chambers. It’s sort of a religious ritual, like saying a prayer before an operation."

"I see," she walked around the tables. "I don’t want to step on anyone’s religion. They don’t seem to be causing any harm." She picked up few laboratory clip boards and a deep blue binder containing Sevarius’s lab notes.

Xanatos glanced at his watch. "I’ll have the two DNA samples after sundown. Will that be enough time?"

Dr. Callahan thumbed through the binder of Sevarius’s cloning notes. "By that time we will have both chambers operational and full of the amniotic solution it will be after sundown. We will be ready." Her small mouth pulled back into a smile.

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The billionair and hte gargoyle sorceress. had waited until after the clan had gone on patrol, leaving their meeting room practically empty save for Bronx and Cagney. The gargoyle beast and cat flopped on the floor and watched the whole process.

Xanatos stood patiently holding onto two clear vials topped with gray rubber caps. He watched as both Demona and Coldfire walked around Coldstone trying to remember which part was whose.

Demona’s eyes lingered on both of his hands for the longest time. "The left one is smaller than the right." She pointed at the set of talons she was speaking of, "a bit more feminine like mine." She turned to the golden robot. "What do you think sister?"

"Let me see your hand my love," Coldfire held out her own hand against the one in question. Her cold metallic palm pressed against the bottom of his and her fingers lined up with his own fingers also. "A perfect fit."

"We found one of hers?" Xanatos asked.

"Right here," Coldstone held out his left hand. The billionaire took the blade of his pocket knife and brought the edge his palm, scraping off a few thin stone savings into the vial with the white marked Coldfire in blue ink.

"I’m glad you aren’t feeling any pain," Xanatos said.

"I don’t feel anything!" The cyborg growled.

Xanatos ignored his outburst. "Now which part of him does we need."

Both females first thought of using a sample form his horn, but Demona thought better of it. While there was a thin layer of skin covering the bones there still wasn’t enough.

"What about my face?" Coldstone suggested.

"That would be the obvious choice," Demona tapped her lower lip. "We could take a few from the bottom of his chin."

The human removed the cap to his vial. "Just like getting a shave. Hold still for me." The cyborge raised his head, giving Xanatos enough room to take a few shavings from his stone chin. "That should do it." He placed the cap back on. "Demona I believe it is your turn."

The immortal pulled out a slip of slighter tattered paper, yellowed with age. "Are you sure this scientist is competent and can be trusted?"

"She was taught by Sevarius himself and she has the same amount of morals as Coldfire." He handed her the two vials. Demona took them into her own hand and read the words on the old paper.

Coldfire watched with great interest. She knew plenty of Latin, but not enough to completely decipher the spell being performed. She picked up "stone to skin", and "from cold to life." The vials in her sister’s hand did glow with a blazing gold luminance, blinding out the dark gray stone contained within the glass.

Demona felt the tight burning feeling form within her chest as she spoke the words of the spell. The last words vibrated through her chest and left an echo in her ears.Sshe glanced at the vials and immediately felt a twinge of nausea. Instead of stone each vial contained a gloppy mess of skin and blood. "It worked," she said and handed the vials over to Xanatos.

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Dr. Callahan was not waiting by the door of the lab when Xanatos entered. She stood in front of the chambers, surrounded by members of her team.

A passing scientist noticed the billionaire standing in the doorway. "I’ll take these to her." He reached out for the vials.

Xanatos stepped past him. "I would rather give these to her myself." He walked straight up to Dr. Callahan. "Good evening Doctor."

Callahan looked up semi surprised. "You can call me Pearl, Mr. Xanatos. Those are the vials?" She eyed the clar tubes in his hands, the organic mush at the bottom sloshed around with every slight movement

"Yes they are," Xanatos nodded. "I’ll call you Pearl when you call me David."

"Fair enough," she chuckled and took the vials from his hands. "Everything here is ready. Once we have placed the DNA into the chambers we’ll call you."

"Glad you are temporarily part of the team."

Dr. Callahan took the tubes over to one of the lab tables. She handed one of them to one of her assistants. "The protein solution." She was handed a different vial of a clear liquid and poured it into the vial marked Coldstone and waited until it took on a purple hue. "Take this and put into the chamber marked Coldstone." She handed it to another member of her team.

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The image of the two activated chambers appeared in the surveillance video on the screen in Xanatos’s office. The runestones were easily seen.

"As you can see the rune stones Demona strung up are right here," Xanatos tapped the images of the runes surrounding the bottom of the tanks on the screen. "When the bodies are ready for the souls to be placed they will give off a bright glow." He turned around and gave a satisfied smile to his guests. Both members of the Cold Duo were there along with Goliath, Angela, Matt and Mercutio. The web wing from Avalon was curious about the whole process.

"I also have a rune that I shall carry with me at all times," Demona held up a stone similar to the ones in the video hanging from small chain around her neck. "When the others go off so will this one."

Goliath stared at the rune. "What if we don’t get there in time?" He was skeptical about the whole idea. "Two new souls could already be in there."

The immortal narrowed her eyes."You have always been a fool," the azure female’s tone indicated the she did not appreciate Goliath’s doubt of her sorcery skills. "The runes will prevent that from happening."

"I knew you would have it all figured out." Matt cradled her face in his large talons and turned his head to give Goliath a disapointed stare. "Have a little faith once in a while."

"I am appreciative of what you are doing sister," Coldfire said and nodded at Xanatos. "At what you are both doing."

Xanato’s trademark smirk formed. "I am glad to be of service. I have to admit it’s good to be working with Demona again."

Demona brushed her knuckles against the browridge of her mate before she broke away from his embrace. "Almost like old times."

"This almost scares me," Goliath frowned.

Angela glared at her father. "They are not working against the clan, but for it."

Mercutio who had been surprisingly quiet the whole time raised his hand. "I do have a question. I have seen these other clones before and they look exactly like their original parents except their coloring is different. Would these new bodies be different colored as well?"

"That would seem most likely," Xanatos said. "They might also have a slightly different features. Brentwood has a different tail than Lexington."

"And their eyes would be different too," Matt added. "Coldstone’s are going to be red and Coldfire will have purple eyes."

"My eyes will light up like a female’s?" Coldstone asked He shrugged after several heads nodded. "It’ doesn’t matter."

"Purple eyes," Coldfire’s voice sounded faint. "I always did like color of heather."

"We better tell the rest of the clan the good news," Goliath led them out of the room, silently hoping the plan does work.

________________________________________________________________________

Coldfire stared out of one of the castle window sand up at the stars above. As always they were breathtaking for her to behold. A thousand years ago she would have never had imagined they were like the sun, each one burning with great heat millions of miles away. "Gargoyles can not see the sun itself, but they can look at hundreds of suns."

"I didn’t know they were really large orbs of burning gas until I arrived in New York."

Coldfire turned at the sound of Angela’s voice. She was followed by Cecilia and Mercutio. "You have arrived."

"We came as you requested," the slate gray female closed the door behind them and caped her yellowish green wings.

"Thank you younger sister. If it is more comfortable for you to sit, then you may." She waited until the three of them lowered themselves onto the floor. Both females folded their legs while Mercutio stretched his legs out and he placed his hands on top of his ankles, folding his wings at the middle limb. "Three of my senses are non functioning but I can see and hear. Cecilia I have heard you play your calliope around the castle grounds before, could you play a song right here?"

The blond female reached down and fingered the white reeds bound together that hung from the cord around her neck. "What would you like me to play?"

"Anything. May it be a song you play often or a song that is close to your heart. I just want to take time to hear you play."

Cecilia raised her calliope to her mouth and blew into it. The soft notes echoing from the instrument carried a haunting melody. The young female kept her eyes closed while she played the song.

Mercutio couldn’t keep from smiling. No matter what mood he was in as soon as he his rookery sister’s music he would become instantly happy and calm. He stared at her while she continued to play and was lost in her beauty. Her golden waves contrasted with the natraul hue of skin and the way her black halter top bound breasts moved when blew each note.

Coldfire wanted to shed a tear from the beauty of the performance but her blasted robotic body wouldn’t let her. "Soon I will be able to cry."

"Pardon?" Cecilia asked.

"Nothing little sister. I just feel touched by the beauty of your music."

"Oh. Did you just wish to here my music?"

"Not at all. I wanted to talk to all of you, the children of the clan."

"Do you want to know what our lives were like on Avalon?" Angela pressed her hand to her chest.

"I would like that," Coldfire nodded. "Tell me a bit about each of your brothers and sisters."

The three young gargoyles took turns talking about their rookery siblings. The trio of wisdom that always hung around the Magus, finding ways to help him or listen to some of the stories from his library: Soloman the clan historian, Raphael became a healer, and Isoude with the love of reading.

"She helps around the kitchen cooking our meals," Mercutio piped up before all three of them continued. The flower trio who started out as three girls who played with flowers developed other interests, Marigold became a skilled warrior, Lilac studied the sea, and while Jasmine still loved to garden she was an amazing painter.

"I have seen some of your art work Angela," Coldfire said. "Are you saying that Jasmine is much better?"

"They both are equally excellent," Mercutio stated.

"Two females can paint and one can play an instrument. Do any of your other brothers and sisters have a similar unique talents?"

"Elena can sing, Barachiel can act, and Clovis can make beautiful statues and figurines out of wood and stone." Cecilia ticked each one of off her talons.

"You three have mentioned that one of your rookery has similar features to myself and my mate?"

Angela smiled. "Gabriel. He’s the leader of the Avalon Clan. He’s very brave and noble, and polite."

Cecilia chimed in. "He’s also strong, a good warrior and he’s proved to be a great leader."

"Not to mention he is absolutely dreamy." Mercutio made his voice higher and clutched his hands together and placed them next to the side of his face.

"I do have to admit Ophelia is a bit lucky to catch his eye." Cecilia smiled.

"This Ophelia," Coldfire said. "What is she like?"

"She is a kind and sweet soul." Angela answered. "She is willing to fight, even when she is injured, and like Raphael she is a healer."

"Gabriel was my first egg, meaning I can breed two more times. When I become flesh again I will be able to have more children."

"That is true," Mercutio nodded.

"When you have children you will give them names?"

"Of course," said Cecilia. "How else will they tell each other apart?"

Coldfire shook her head. "Did the princess ever tell you why she choose the names for you?"

"I was named Angela because when the princess saw me she said I looked like a tiny angel."

"Many of our brothers were named after angels," Cecilia said. "I was named after a female saint."

"Guardian Tom told me he named me Mercutio because it sounded like the most beautiful name he could think of." He blinked when he noticed his sisters giving him a strange look. "All right. I was like a harlequin when I hatched and Mercutio was a name that he felt it would fit a harlequin the most." He stood up and crossed his arms. "Are you happy?"

"You mentioned a rookery sister named Elena. Princess Elena was Katherine’s mother." She was silent for a few minutes. "Tell me more stories about your rookery."

________________________________________________________________________

Dr. Callahan’s fingers danced across the keyboard, typing up her progress report. Since she and her team first pour in the DNA into the cloning chambers there hasn’t been a glitch. The DNA took to the enzymes in the chamber and slowly the began to come together and form cells. Twenty four hours since she had begun the process tiny blobs, no bigger than a grape had formed.

"Dr. Callahan!" One of her assistants shouted.

Callahan quickly saved her work and stood up. The man was standing in front of the chamber. She ran over to his side. "Oh no," she glanced at the chambers. In a week the tiny blobs had grown into in size and were shaped like kidneys. She knew as they grew they would soon start developing limbs, but the bumps on their bodies were not the arms, legs, wings and tails would grow. The bumps were all over the large kidney shapes.

"Doctor what is going on?"

"I don’t know." She pointed at the wiring. "Check the wires." She ran to the Coldfire chamber and checked the settings. They were not tampered with. She ran to one of the tables and picked up Sevarius binder. Had he run into the same kind of problems when he first began cloning?

"They are breaking apart!"

Callahan looked up and saw the bumps separating from the main bodies in tiny balls. More bumps formed and they to budded off into small pieces. Callahan’s hands shook the binder as she watched in horror. It was like an antacid dissolving in the water and piling up on the bottom in a sludge like lump

"Dr. Callahan?"

She couldn’t move nor speak. After she was finally able to blink she replied. "Drain the tanks."

"Doctor?"

"Drain the tanks and salvage the DNA." She stomped of towards the nearest chair and sat down. "Bring me a sample."

After a few hours of tests Callahan wanted to slap the side of her head. "I can’t believe we didn’t check this. The protein chain is correct except for the last segment." She glanced at Sevarius notes again. "And we missed it here." Her copper painted fingernail touched the small yet messy writing.

"Do we need to get more DNA from the original sources?" A female assistant asked.

"We just need to take what we have. The original DNA broke apart from the protein chains that I combined with them. We just need to combine the right chains with the DNA and start over." She sighed. She did not look forward to explaining to Xanatos what had just happened.

________________________________________________________________________

Demona had a reason why Xanatos wanted to see her. There could only be one reason, and for her sister’s sake she regretted it. Stepping inside his office she saw both members of the Cold Duo waiting for her. "Please don’t tell me something went wrong with the cloning process?"

Xanatos sighed. "You are as perceptive as ever."

"What does this mean?" Coldstone placed an arm around his mate.

"It means that the developing forms were terminated and Pearl has to start all over again."

"We will have a longer wait?" Coldfire’ voice was heavy with disappointment.

"I’m afraid so."

"Can’t you hire anyone competent?" Demona snarled, her fangs gleaming in the decently lit office. A translucent red light flickered across her eyes.

Xanatos frowned at her. "Dr. Callahan is the best biogenesist employed by Cyber biotics. She learned everything from Sevarius." His frown turned into a smirk. "Meaning she is the closest to Sevarius we can get with out going to the good Dr. himself. Unless you want me to do that?" The only response he got out of the immortal was a long hiss.

"Please sister," Coldfire grabbed the gargoyle’s arm. "You did everything that you could. We just have to wait."

Demona closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. "You told me they have already started again?"

"That is correct." Xanatos replied.

"If my rookery siblings can wait, then so can I." Her talons curled into a fist. She could not look at her brother and sister in the face.

__________________________________________________________________________

The ensouled robot found her mate in his favorite conrer in the library, but did not approach him.It was not very odd for Coldstone to be pouring over numerous books in one sitting, but he was not known to call out the names of the characters.

Coldfire worried about his behavior and would only watch her true love from a distance, afraid that if she approached him he might lash out at her. She wondered if his current behavior had something to do with the development of their cloned bodies. The small set back that caused the first attempt to disintegrate was fixed and the bodies were now the size of their rookery sister’s son.

‘Maybe He is is just trying to absorb as much reading as he can.’ she thought. ‘His reading time will be cut short when our souls are transferred to our new bodies. Once again we will go into a stone slumber every dawn.’

"My love will you care to join me?" His voice had interrupted her thoughts. The cyborg was staring up from the book he was reading and smiled at her. "Perhaps the two of us could find something we both like."

"Are you talking about what you are reading?" The golden robot approached him. "Most of what you enjoy reading captures my interest as well."

"I’m not talking about a particular story, just the characters."

"The characters?"

"I am mainly looking at their names for inspiration." He pointed to a sheet of paper next to him. names were wrriten down, sepreated in the chatagories of male and female.. "Tell me which ones do you prefer?"

"Are they for our future children?"

"Future children?"

"I will be able to lay two more eggs."

"That thought never crossed my mind," he rubbed his chin for a few seconds. "These names will be for us."

"We already have names."

He stroked one of her metal horns and tapped the metal on his arm that concealed his lazer canon. "Those are the names of the machines we were placed in. When we vacate these bodies they will still be called Coldfire and Coldstone."

"To take on names when we are true gargoyles is not the gargoyle way." she shook her head and crossed her arms. "I will not take one."

"The rest of the clan has names, our children and other clans around the world."

"I can not accept a name."

He picked up the list. "At least let me know what you think after you hear what I have found so far: Marian, Mina, Helena, Portia-" The door flying open cut him off.

Demona raced into the room. The rune hainging from her necklace was glowing with a brilliant blue light. "It’s time." She spoke in one breath before she turned around and left the room on all fours.

_________________________________________________________________________

Alex Xanatos was waiting for them in the lab, much to the befuddlement of Dr. Callahan and the other lab coats. The four year old stood in front of the chambers staring at both the the clone bodies growing in them and at the glowing rune stones placed around the bottom of the tanks.

"Alex honey, you shouldn’t be here." Callahan’s voice was soft. "You might get hurt."

"Coldstone and Coldfire need me." The little boy answered.

Callahan had to smile at the fact the wanted to help. She knew he couldn’t really assist the tanks in any way, unless he meant the two developing clones. Was that going to be their intended names? "They appreciate your wanting to help them, but the clones are doing fine."

"I’m not talking about the clones. I’m talking about the two robot gargoyles I helped before."

Robot gargoyles? She learned from her daughter that Alex had great skill in the games involving imagination. Were the two robot gargoyles that shared the same name as the tanks and possibly the clones be his imaginary friends or was it something else. "Are these friends of yours some of your father’s robots?"

Alex shook his head. "Uh-uh. They aren’t the steel clan." He pointed at the entrance.

Callahan turned her head to stare at the direction Alex was pointing. She gasped when the three gargoyles entered. Only one was an actual gargoyle. She had seen the blue hued red-head female around the premises before, scowling at her for some reason only the creature could fathom. The other two were robotics. One was pure machine. A female gargoyle shaped robot with splits wings, horns that curled down over the top of her head and plated in golden metal. The other was male and made out of what looked like gray stone and silver and red metal.

"That’s them. His name is Coldstone," he pointed at the more male looking robot. "and her name is Colfire." His finger rested on the female.

Callahan held her hand out in front of the gargoyle. "Do you have a name? I have seen you around."

Demona stared at the doctor’s hand as if it were ebola and glared at her. "I do not give my name out to incompetent human scientists."

"Demona," Coldstone growled.

The golden robot, Coldfire lowered her head slightly. "Please forgive out sister for her rudeness. My mate and I are very grateful for all you have done."

"Thank you," Callahan sounded confused. She was not sure by why the machine would be thanking her.

"You are going to perform the spell by yourself?" Coldstone stared down at the child.

"It’s the first spell I had learned," Alex said. "Puck had made sure I memorized it by now. He feels that I should be able to do it all by myself."

"What do we need to do?"

"You stand in front of the one with your name on it and Coldfire you stand in front of yours."

The gold metal plated female stood in front of one of the large chamber like tanks and stared at the large blob inside. It was slightly smaller than Alex. The top had more of a large round bulge with two dark dots. The rest of the form had four slightly long bumps with round bublbous ti\ends. The bottom tapered off into a long point and two tiny paddle like shapes were on the back.

"Tell me when you are ready." Alex took his place between the chambers.

"We are ready," Coldfire answered.

Alex stretched his arms and closed his eyes. "For the spirit to be willing the flesh must first grow weak, just long enough for soul in flight to pass from cheek to cheek."

Dr. Callahan was about to ask Alex not to play his imaginary games in the lab and ask his friends to take him away, but she stopped cold when she saw both robots’ eyes light up and Coldstone’s jaw drop. She couldn’t exactly believe her eyes, but it appeared as if a mist exited the robots’ forms and flowards towards the chambers and passed through the glass is if it were nothing, and not just the chambers but the mist continued to the bodies developing inside. The mist ended right before the light emitting from the runes faded and both robots toppled to the ground.

"What had just happened?" Dr. Callahan kept looking form the two machines on the floor to the chambers, to Alex and back at the machines again.

"Go on Alex and tell the scientist what you done." Demona stared at Callahan with a smirk on her face.

"I placed the souls that were in Coldstone’s and Coldfire’s bodies into the bodies in the tanks." Alex explained.

"And tell her how you did it."

"I used magic."

"Magic?" Dr. Callahan blinked.

Demona did not respond to her she turned to the machines. "Coldstone activate. Coldfire activate." The eyes on both machines lit up once more and rose to their feet. "Come with me." She left the room followed by the child and the Cold Duo.

"Magic?" Dr. Callahan repeated. She stared at the robots. They were walking in a room like mechanized manner. They seemed to have been more life like before, and she did notice something when Alex "performed" his spell. She shook her head. She was working too long.

_________________________________________________________________________

It had only been a couple of days since Alex had transferred the souls the wires connected with the middles of the developing creatures. On the tank settings glowing lines formed waves and shrill beeps followed like an EKG. Three days later the breathing mask’s clamped over newly developed noses and mouths. It was the day after when Dr. Callahan noticed something was wrong.

"No," her voice was a hoarse whisper. She stared at both tank systems and monitors. His heart rate was slower than hers, and her breathing was off. She glanced up at the male creature. The rest of his body seemed fine. He had a clearly defined body with arms, wings and a tail.. His legs were the problem. They seemed limp and wave around in the fluid like noodles.

"Doctor the female’s wings are not developing," A lab assistant brought Callahan’s attention to the other tank. The female’s arms and legs seemed more sturdy and her tail hung, but wasn’t as rubbery like the male’s legs. Her wings were half the size of the males and wrinkled up like a scrunched up brown paper bag. She could never glide with them.

"Why now?" Callahan asked. Why at all? She followed the notes of her former teacher exactly. Why were they developing those problems.

"Should we terminate the bodies and start over?" Her youngest assistant asked.

"Not now. Wait until I say so." She could have had it down now, but that one female gargoyle would tear out her heart. Give her and Alex enough time for the creatures souls to be transferred back to their robot and cyborg forms. She didn’t exactly believe it herself, but Alex and the female gargoyle did.

_______________________________________________________________________

The gargoyle with the azure skin looked like she was going to tear out her heart after all. Her eyes were glowing with a bright crimson light as she stomped up to her with her teeth bared. "I should have known better to trust Xanatos’s hiring."

"I have not ordered their termination yet." Dr. Callahan did not let her voice waver, but she did step back.

"If you were one of my employees I would have fired you on the first night you screwed up." She lashed at the black woman with her talons.

Little Alex jumped in between the two of them. He followed the gargoyle along with Coldfire and Coldstone. "Don’t hurt her Demona! She didn’t mean for this to happen. She tried her best."

The immortal drew back and sighed. "Besides Sevarius you are the only one who can do this." The glow in her eyes dimmed slightly. "But remember this human, like baseball you only get three strikes."

Callahan did not loose her demeanor. "Alex you can put the souls of your friends back."

Alex shook his head. "No I can’t. The spell has to have them to be willing, and I don’t know if they are willing."

"That is why they need me." Demona said. She held out her hand and began to speak in Latin.

Dr. Callahan wasn’t sure why she as the one performing the spell, nor why it was different this time. It might have had something to do with her being a gargoyle and his being human.

Just like before a mist poured out of the deformed bodies and seeped through the glass chambers. They headed straight forward the machines and slid inside their bodies, causing them to light up once again. This time the robot and cyborge did not fall onto the floor.

The being of stone and steel spoke first. "Is it over? Are we alive?" He moved his arms back and forth and scowled. "No, we are not alive. we are back in our eternal prisons."

"Brother and sister please forgive me," Demona apologized. "I had no other choice at these time." She pointed at the tanks.

Both robots stared at the chambers. At the sight of his legs and his mate’s wings Coldstone’s jaw dropped. Next to him Coldfire held up her hands."My wings," Coldfire gasped. "What happened?"

Callahan shook her head sadly. "I don’t know why it went wrong this time, but the female’s wings and lungs are malformed. The male’s heart isn’t developing correctly and his legs have no bones. I understand if you want to be placed back in those bodies and replace the deformed parts with cybernetic implants."

"No!" Coldstone barked. "Even though we will still be more alive than we are now we will still be part machine." He stared his robotic arm. "I want to be purged of all my robotic parts. What about you my love?"

"The same as you." Coldfire’s voice seemed to sigh again

Callahan nodded. "Terminate, drain the tanks and extract some of the DNA." She turned to the cold duo. "I am sorry."

"You don’t have to keep apologizing," Coldfire said. "We understand this is a difficult process."

"I am not making any more mistakes. My team and I are going to pour through the notes, read them over and over. We are going to go over them with a fine tooth comb and read then read them again." She reached or the nearest binder and opened it up. The fixing of the mistake will begin immediatly.

__________________________________________________________________________

In his office Xanatos took a sip from his coffee and amaretto mixture. He wanted to read Alex a story and then watch a late night movie with Fox. That had to wait until he and Owen finished discussing stock reports. "Brace yourself Owen. I feel Demona is about to make an entrance."

The tall blond man blinked in surprise of boss’s sudden announcement. "Why do you think that sir?"

"Because I’m not expecting her."

"Sir?"

"Whenever I’m not expecting Demona in my office she barges through. I’m not expecting her tonight."

"It is a bit contradictory."

"Past experiences Owen. I learn from past experiences." He typed up a few commands on his laptop. "There was also the report Dr. Callahan had sent."

Owen had just started to read the screen when the door to the office flew open and smacked itself against the door jam. The immortal gargoyle stormed straight up to the men.

"What did I tell you?" Xanatos smirked.

Demona paid no attention to the billionaire and stared at his assistant. "I want to speak with your boss privately."

"You heard the woman."

Owen nodded and walked towards the entrance."I’ll be right out the door in case you need me."

The gargoyle waited until he had closed the door behind him before she spoke again. "Is there a possible way you can hire a bio genesist who knows what they are doing?"

"You surprised me Demona. I was expecting you to arrive a lot sooner."

"I decided to cool down my anger with my mate. This is why I’m in a good mood."

Xanatos’s smirk changed from proud to naughty. "I should have recognized that glow." His smile faded when her eyes lit up briefly. "That glow I easily recognize." He stood up out of his chair and walked towards the window. "There is only one person who has ever cloned a gargoyle successfully, but I know you don’t want me to hire him."

"He assisted in the making of those sluts and a clone of my mate."

"Yet, he will only be here for a month."

"You want to hire him."

He approached her, not too close because that would be a death wish, but close enough. "He might be the only one who can help Coldfire and Coldstone."

She stepped away from him and turned around. After a few minutes and a deep sigh she spoke. "Hire him."

"You are certain?"

"I have to because I want to help them. I’m willing to do anything for them." She spun around with a flare in her eyes. "And if you tell Goliath what I’m about to tell you I’ll cut out your tongue! I’ll do anything because I feel guilty. I was part of the reason they died."

"This is about the fall of Wyvern?"

"There is that and," she stared and the ground and sighed, her voice heavy with sorrow. "Before the sun was about to rise that day I tried to talk with them, my rookery brother and sister. I had doubts and I wanted to warn them, but I didn’t."

"I’ll call Sevarius." Xanatos’s voice was unusually soft. He can’t remember the last time he saw Demona in this spate of remorse.

___________________________________________________________________________

The tall pale man had arrived at the Eeyrie buidling already wearing a crisp clean lab coat underneath his trenchcoat. A smug smile formed on his chisled face when he entered the labratory. "My, my, my." The arrogant voice ran out through the lab. Anton Sevarius gave each section of the lab a good look over. "Pearl, my dear you have done wonders." Arrogance shifted briefly to pride.

Brown eyes that once were sparkled with warmth had dropped several degrees to chocolate frost. Dr. Callahan gave her former mentor a soft glare. "You have taught me well." Her tone was flat.

Two young gargoyles stood in the entrance, watching the whole stand off with a sense of mystified wonder. One was a bald olive green male standing a crouch, and the other a orange white-haired female with dragonfly shaped wings standing as tall as she could. Both had the corners of their mouths twisted up in a somewhat amused smile.

"It’s kind of like Obiwan and Darth Vader," Lexington said.

Rayne nodded her head in agreement. "But the roles are in reverse." Both gargoyles were asked by Xanatos to watch over Sevarius.

The tall and pale scientist reached into his pocket and pulled out a round red striped peppermint wrapped in clear plastic. "Xanatos has called me away from Ambrosia’s payroll to solve a small problem for him." He slowly unwound the plastic as he spoke. "Now where do you keep a trash can?" He turned at one of Callahan’s assistants holding out his palm for him. "Ah thank you young man." He placed the enpty wrapper in the assitants palm before he popped the candy into his mouth. "I was a little reluctant but three things convinced me. Do you know what those things were?"

Callahan’s tone was unchanged. "I’m pretty sure money was one of them."

"Ah correct you are my dear. Money was one and the other two were cloning and chance to work with you."

Callahan did not seemed to be impressed. She shoved the large binder containing his notes in his face. "We have been following you own notes with out perfect success."

"What about your notes?" He took the binder out of her hands and opened it up.

"I keep them all on disk." She walked over to one of the tables and picked up a smaller folder. "and in here." She handed it to him.

The older scientist leaned against one the tanks as he thumbed through the loose leaf paper. A smirk formed on his face when he read to the middle. He set his binder down and picked hers up and read through it. Another smirk formed. "Just as I expected . You did follow them through."

"Then why aren’t the clans developing properly."

"Because I didn’t write down two things." He chuckled until he saw her glare. "You see I value most of ideas as personal inventions and I prefer to keep them locked inside my mind," He tapped the side of his temple with his fingers. His smile faded when he locked his cold beady eyes with Callahans slow burning glare. "but there are also times when a mentor must give his apprentice the keys to the treasure in order for the apprentice to grow. The reason you had problems the second time was because of the solution they were suspended in and the nourishment you tube fed into their developing stomachs. You were using the fluids that were meant for human clones. The solutions the gargoyles float in require a bit more protein and the nourishment they need has more iron and calcium and less potassium."

Callahan let out a slow breath and shook her head in shame."I should have thought of that."

"Don’t trouble yourself." He turned back to the tanks. "Good they are empty. Gather your team we are going to produce the proper solution right now."

Lexington cooked his head to the side from the information he had just heard. "What was that about the apprentice must grow? It sounds like he’s been watching to many kung fu movies."

Rayne choked back on a chuckle, trying not to snort. She noticed the way her mate was looking at her. "I’m just trying to picture Sevarius attempting karate moves."

"He’d end up falling over on himself." He rose to his feet. "Are you sure you are going to be fine watching him by yourself?"

She smiled and grazed his brow ridges with the back of her knuckles. "I can take of myself and Sevarius. You go on and do that other job for Xanatos."

"I’m just going to model for him."

"Model? She raised and lwoered her brow ridges rapiddly. "May I ask for what?"

"I’m not really sure about that."

"Well now, maybe you can model for me a little later." the endd of her plain tipped tail stroked his tail.

Lexington gave her cheek a small kills before ran a few of his talons through her snowy locks and loped out of the lab.

_________________________________________________________________________

Two things were running through Elisa’s mind. the first was Demona ecstatic shout about the runes glowing again, signaling that the newly developed clones were ready for the souls inside the cold duo to be transferred to. She had hoped this time it would work, third time being the charm. If the new bodies don’t develop properly Demona would attack Sevarius instead of Callahan and in a twisted way Elisa hoped that if the immortal did go after the mad scientist she would make sure he would end up in the hospital.

The second sound was the nonstop bawling from her son. For the past three hours Rowan stared to cry and had yet to shut up since then. She held him wrapped up in a soft blanket and tried everything to get him to quiet down. She checked to see if he was hungry, or needed his diaper to changed. She felt his forehand and he didn’t feel warm. He was too young to be teething.

"Why can’t you be more like your sister?" She glanced over at Rebecca’s crib. Her daughter was blissfully sucking on her pacifier. She tried to get Rowan to suck on the tip of his tail, but it was to no avail.

She carried him to the rocking chair and sat down. "Please be quiet, please be quiet. The sun will be up soon." She sang the words to the tune of Brahm’ lullaby as she slowly rocked. A smile formed on her face when Rowan’s crying changed to whimpering. "Good you are quieting down. Derek was never like this and my mother told me neither was I. You must have inherited your colic from your aunt Beth." She smiled down at her gurgling son. "You like my singing. Little warrior in my arms. You will grow up big and strong." Her melody shifted to Twinkle Twinkle.

She leaned back into her chair a she continued to rock and sing. Rowan wasn’t bawling, but he wasn’t gurgling with happiness. His gurgling was still at the point where the littlest thing could set him off. Elisa closed her yes when she heard the soft grating and crunching of her children turning to stone. "Asleep." Except there was something different about Rowan. She could still feel the warmth of his body against her stomach and he didn’t feel stiff.

"Rowan?" Elisa stared down at her son who instantly resumed his bawling. She slowly stood up and stared at their cribs. Rebecca had turned to stone, but Rowan didn’t. "Why aren’t you stone?" She carried him out of the room and nearly bumped into Jam. Frank’s mate stepped out of her way.

"Can’t talk," Jam said and continued towards the nursery.

"Did Macy set you off?" Elisa stared at her son who was still crying. She detected a familiar odor. "Now you need changing."

Elisa carried Rowan back into her room and set him down on the changing table. Once she removed the soiled diaper and cleaned him he seemed to have calmed down a bit. "That’s good. She massaged a lit dab of pik baby lotion into his chubby cheeks and sprinkled a little talcum onto his bottom and between his legs. Only a few seconds had passed since she secured the tabs on his diaper when he his body hardened into stone.

"Finally." She breathed a sigh of relief. __________________________________________________________________________

The sweet aroma of cookiwa baking wafted out of the kitchen and through the dining hall. The fragrances caused Brooklyn’s beak to water as he stepped inside the kitchen. He spied Broadway chopping up asparagus spears in half. "Are those chocolate chip cookies baking?"

"Yeah," the portly gargoyle placed a few of the spears on the flat metal flower shaped steamer. "They are going to be dessert for tonight’s dinner."

"What are we having?"

"Spicy salmon croquets with lo mein noodles and steamed asparagus in Italian dressing."

The beaked gargoyle opened one of the fridges and pulled out a bottle of rootbeer. "Kind of a ethnic mix you have got going for you: French, Italian, Asian and an American dessert." He twisted off the cap. "Except by making the croquets spicy they sort of became Cajun."

"I guess," Broadway shrugged.

"Why aren’t you cooking the dinner first?"

"Coldstone and Coldfire are about to step out of their tanks. I want the first thing they eat to be a chocolate chip cookie."

"Why a cookie?"

A twinkle appeared in Broadway’s eye. "Remember when we first ate chocolate chip cookies?"

Brooklyn stared up at the ceiling as he tried to remember back when they were still new to the city and Broadway discovered the cookie jar, and to Owen’s chagrin, dropped it. Amongst the shards he discovered the cookies and shared them with the clan. Only Bronx didn’t seemed to mind that Broadway had picked the baked goods off the floor. Despite that one little unsanitary fact the cookies were delicious.

"They are going to enjoy it," Brooklyn smiled.

"Not if they get burnt, Broadway slipped on a oven mitt and grabbed a pot holder before he turned the oven off and opened the door. A rush of heat greeted him, making his skin feel tight. He reached inside and pulled out the metal tray, full of golden cookies with tan edges. The gooey round bits of choclate glistened like dark brown obsidian.

_________________________________________________________________________

"Drain the tanks!" Dr. Callahan shouted. She made sure she sounded professional and the overwhelming sense of joy in her heart did not leak into her voice. She turned to Sevarius. "We did it."

The red-haired scientist smiled at her. "Yes we did, and now you know how to clone a gargoyle."

Her enthusiasm dissolved to a serious tone."Don’t think I’m going to try cloning my own army. I will use the knowledge in the same fashion as I do with humans."

He rolled his eyes. "Ah yes spare parts."

"Cloning hearts and livers make it easier for those who need transplants than to have them on a waiting list."

He didn’t respond and just stared at the tanks. The liquid was nearly completely gone and the creatures were standing on their own feet. The did not stand emotionless, instead they moved their heads arms, and tails. Both of them were reaching for their oxygen masks and wires. Some of the lab assistants were tapping on the glass and telling them not to try to remove them theirselves.

"We better escort them to their showers." Sevarius pointed at the one corner of the room were the emergency shower was kept. A red umbrella shaped metal covering surrounded the shower head. Like most laboratories and science classrooms Xanatos had it installed in case someone accidentally spilled a burning chemical onto themselves.

"I’ll lead the female," Callahan said. "I don’t trust her with you."

"And you wouldn’t peak at the male’s goods?" Sevarius raised an eyebrow.

"Unlike you I’m a happily married woman."

"I was happily married to Kara until she died." His voice was drained and bitter.

"I’m sorry." She approached the female gargoyle and took her slimy hand into hers. "This way. We are going to clean off the residue before we get you dressed.

"Thank you," the gargoyle’s voice sounded exactly like the one in the golden robot, but that could only mean that, Callahan shook her head. She believed in souls and Jesus. She did not believe in magic, or does she now?

_________________________________________________________________________

The clan waited outside of the lab for the unveiling of the cold duo’s new bodies. Most of them twitched the tips of their tails ad chewed on the bottom of their lips. Some of them like Broadway felt a pounding in their chests. The portly gargoyle held two warm cookies wrapped in a paper towel.

Goliath was asked to enter the laboratory first and had been in there for a few minutes before he emerged. "They are ready, but keep in mind they don’t look as exactly as you remember them."

"I don’t remember what they originally look like," Gloria spoke up. "do they still have their the same shape of horns and wings?"

The clan leader nodded. "They do, but those of us who lived in Scotland will remember their original coloring. Her tail has also changed slightly."

Before anyone could ask how much it changed Goliath stepped back and held the door open.

The first gargoyle that stepped out was Coldstone, or rather the living embodiment that was inside Coldstone’s body. He still had the same height and built as before. His wings were the same size and shape and his tail ended in a round ball. His horns were still the same length as before and his ears were the same fan shape. His long and pointed chin did have two small spurs on each side.

What was noticeably different was his coloring. His skin was pure ebony in color, not a dark blue that was almost black like Thailog but black like the color of his iris’s and pupils. His long flowing hair was a rich golden blond. His wings were the same shade of orange as the inside of cantaloupes and their lining was white. He was dressed like he was back in the tenth century. Bright red leather shirt like armor and a pale gray loin cloth.

His mate was also almost as unchanged as he was. Same height, build and butterfly shaped reddish brown wings with a light pink lining. Her horns curled back over her long and wavy yellow-green hair. Her bluish gray coloring was a shade lighter than Coldstone’s original shade. Her tail wasn’t the original supple plain tip. It ended in three finger like appendages.

She was dressed in a tan strapless halter, like she wore when she was originally alive, and dark green loin cloth. Silver armbands were on her wrists and gold earrings hung from her earlobes.

"What is it like being alive again?" Angela asked before everyone could find their voice.

The one who used to be Coldfire closed her purple eyes and breathed. "It’s wonderful." Stepping out of the tanks she felt the slimy goop they was floating in cling to her skin and she realized she could feel. She enjoyed every step she had taken from tank to the shower. The feel of the floor under her toes and the warm water sluicing down her skin told her she was truly alive.

She mentioned everything that she could feel, from the floor, to the water to the soft towel Dr. Callahan gave her to dry with and the woman’s body when she hugged her and saturated the collar of her lab coat with her tears. The fact she could cry again made her cry even more.

"So what are we going to call them?" Brooklyn asked. "Coldfire and Coldstone were the names of the robot and cyborge, and they are not them anymore."

"We have been talking about it," the black gargoyle pulled his mate closer to him. "Ah the feel of your hands and the scent of your hair." Her buried his nose into her wavy tresses.

"We have been going through classic stories and we found two that we feel fits us the most." She reached up to brush the back of her knuckles against his brow ridge. "There is a story by Shakespeare about two lovers who are pulled apart by an evil man named Iago."

"You are talking about Othello?" Marle asked.

"Gee, I wonder who Iago is?" Brooklyn growled, earning a comforting squeeze on the shoulder by his mate.

"I was a bit reluctant to take the name Desdemona because it is close to my sister’s name." The purple eyed female said. "but then I heard about the young trio trying to woo Angela and gave her an unwanted nickname. " She turned and smiled at the trio and Angela. "I don’t mind being called Desi."

"Before we all go to the dining hall for supper I have something for you," Broadway shuffled his feet as he handed them the two cookies he brought.

Othello pulled apart from his mate and accepted the hand baked treat. He brought it to his nose and sniffed. "It smells divine." He took a bite and his eyelids flew open. "Amazing."

Desdemona swallowed her bit before talking. "Warm and delicious.It’s wonderful to be able to taste again, and I’m glad this is the first thing I was able to eat in over a thousand years. Thank you Broadway." She smiled at Demona. "And thank you sister for this new chance of life."

________________________________________________________________________

Owen turned his eyes from the security video screen in the courtyard of the clan and turned back to his boss. "The clones have left the laboratory sir."

"They are not exactly clones Owen," Xanatos said. A remote control was in his hand.

"What of Coldstone and Coldfire?"

"They are still useful as are these." He pressed the button. A nearby panel slowly rose up revealing three new constructed robots. All three stood no taller than five feet. The round heads of the machines were perfectly smooth, with only curved arches over the large glass eyes. Thin metal wings were streatched from the writs and arms down toward the legs and ankles. "Now release the steel can robots."

Owen pulled out a different control and pressed a small bright green button. From the highest tower three of the original Goliath styled steel clan rocketed down towards the men. The three Lex robots immediately jetted off towards them. One steel clan fired off his lazer at the Lex robot. The smaller machine managed to dodge the blast before it’s tail curled over it’s back like a scorpion. A glowing flare fired off another lazer at the steel clan robot. The original model dodged the blast.

Owen kept his eyes glued to the fight and noted a certain detail. "Both robots are dodging each other’s fire, but I noticed the original models were barely dodging while the new ones have an easier time.

"Exactly," Xanatos smirked. "Watch." He pointed at two original models each with a Lex on their tail. The older models flew towards each other and broke away at the last second, and so did the Lex robots. "Now when the tables are reversed." The two Lex’s turned around and flew towards each other with the original models flying close behind. The two Lex’s managed to break away but the original models didn’t. Both robots crashed into each other.

"Look out sir," Owen dragged his boss back closer to the castle, to avoid having the mangled machines fall on top of them.

"Thank you Owen," Xanatos said once the steels touched the ground. "And now for the last demonstration." He pressed one more button. Sharp metal spokes protruded out of the flying squirrel like wings of the Lex robots with a cold metalic hiss.

The one lone member of the original models flew around trying to fire his lazer canon at the three newer robots. Two of them glided around like before but the third spun around rapidly and headed straight for the steel clan member. The spinning robot cut right through the legs of the robot while the other two Lex bots cut him into three more pieces.

Xanatos’s eyes were glued to the falling debris. "I believe the new models had passed the test."

"With flying colors sir," Owen nodded. He was prepared to explain to the clan what had happened and how to clean up the mess.

________________________________________________________________________

It was only a CD ROM disc but Felicia carried it as if it were made out of expensive crystal. she spent long hours working on the program, meeting with Thailog’s specifics. She pulled all nighters giving up bathing, eating, and even sex.

Carefully holding the disc in one hand she quickly tapped on the door to Thailog’s private room. "Thailog?" She greeted. "It’s finished."

"Come in my dear," The clone’s velvety voice greeted her. The woman with pink and purple striped hair entered the office. Thailog was sitting in front his computer. "I was just going over financial reports. We have almost met our goal."

"Here is the disk you wanted." She careful handed it to him. "If you need me I’ll either be passed out, in the bath tub or gorging on some hamburgers."

He didn’t even wait for her to leave before he brought the disk to his eyes. Another step completed. Soon, it will all come together. They could leave the small cozy loactaion and return to New York.