Dragon wings and shiny things
By Aris Merquoni (flamester@hotmail.com)

Gargoyles and related characters belong to Buena Vista and Disney. Carl 
Corey, Brandon Corey, Corwin, Brand, Amber, Chaos, the Pattern and the 
Jewel of Judgment belong to Roger Zelazny. Basically, if it ain't 
Gargoyles, it's Zelazny's.

*Subliminal message: BUY ZELAZNY BOOKS! BUY ALL OF THEM! NOW!*

This happens after The Gathering and before Turf, in an alternate universe. 

-=#Introduction#=-

The introduction is always written last. Don't ask me why, it just is.

For those of you wondering whether this is the full-length epic series that 
I've been hyping, my answer is no. *That* is much longer. You're lucky to 
get away with seven chapters, here.

Now, the credits... Thank you everyone on #tjab and #barney (You know who 
you are ;)), especially Patrick Stewart(I am *not* the bald guy!), who 
proofread much of this. Anyway, the rest of you loonies helped out too, so 
thanks.

Another big thanks to Merlin Missy, who shoed me that huge crossovers *are* 
possible, and they can read well, too. :) Thanks to Jewel Faulkner, for 
giving me this idea (I can just hear her say, 'say *what?!*), indirectly, 
of course. :) Thanks to the rest of the authors on gargoyles-fans.org as 
well, such as (I can't very well list *all* of you, can I?) Christi Smith 
Hayden, Leva Mevis, and Christine Morgan... you all are my inspiration. Big 
thankees. :)

This story is on both my page (http://shadowtouched.sandwich.net/) and 
gargoyles-fans.org - if you're on one, go to the other. :)

Anyway, I've used up my quota of plugs for the evening... which means that 
I have to start on wordwrapping. Enjoy the story. :)

-=Chapter 1=-

"Freeze."

The man turned around, grinning. "Oh, I'm afraid I can't do that," he said.

Detective Matthew Bluestone reflexively tightened his grip on the gun at 
the sound. "Well, find a way to freeze, or I'll shoot." His fingers 
tightened on the trigger as he held the aim on the other man. Truthfully, 
he hadn't expected to find anyone here... even though it had been the next 
likely target in a series of robberies from jewelry stores, private 
collections, and museums.

The red-haired thief's grin widened. "Sorry," he said, "but I just found 
what I'm looking for, so I'll be off now." He waved his hand. Matt pulled 
the trigger twice, and there were two almost silent hisses as four 
miniature tranquilizer darts flew out of the nozzle and hit the man dead 
center of his neck. Two would probably have done the job, but the detective 
didn't want to take any chances.

Matt lowered the gun. "Sorry, bud," he said as the man crumpled to the 
floor, "but I can't let you go quite yet."

-=#=-

"Hey, Matt." said Elisa as her partner walked into the station later that 
night, almost at the end of their shift. She barely glanced up from the 
paperwork she was studying. Not really interested, she asked anyway, "how'd 
it go? Did you catch that ruby thief?"

Elisa listened with a semi-deaf ear as Matt went over his expedition. 
"Caught and bagged. Name's Brandon Corey. The tranq gun worked great, by 
the way." David Xanatos had given the gun to him when he had heard that the 
thief had killed two fully armed cops trying to nab him alive, and Matt was 
glad he had it.

"Great! Now you're stuck with the paperwork." Elisa smiled at him as he 
groaned.

"Yeah. But first would you help me carry these," he indicated the 
confiscated rubies, "down to the vault? That's where Chavez wants me to put 
them."

"Sure." Said Elisa, pushing herself up from her desk and stretching. She 
grabbed one of the heavy bags of gems on the desk while Matt got the other. 
"Lead the way."

The vault was actually a collection of safes inside a safe. Elisa and Matt 
found two empty ones and pushed the bags in. There was a slight ripping 
sound from the bag Matt was holding, and both detectives watched as rubies 
scattered over the floor. Each was about the size of a large marble, some 
larger than others. They made quite an interesting pattern of light as they 
scattered across the floor. Matt grinned sheepishly at his partner. "Oops."

"Ugh!" Said Elisa in mock anger as she helped him scoop up the fallen 
rubies from the floor. "You're no help."

"Yeah, I know." He flashed her a quick grin which she answered with a 
glare. Looking down at one of the gems he was holding, Matt stopped 
suddenly. "Hey, what's this?"

"A ruby, most likely." Said Elisa sarcastically, busy tying the neck of the 
bag to hold the gems.

Ignoring her tone of voice, Matt continued, "no, it's just that all the 
other ones are flawless. This one has something, a crack or something in 
it, and-"

Elisa looked up in time to see the flash of light that came from the stone. 
Matt threw his hand over his eyes as he was knocked backwards by - 
*something*. In a second, Elisa was at his side.

"Matt! You okay?" She asked, shaking his shoulders.

"Yeah, I'm fine!" He said, pushing her off and sitting up. "I just, the 
pattern, inside the ruby, it looked like, like a maze, and I wanted to try 
to follow it, and then there was this flash of light." He noticed that she 
was still looking at him. "What?"

"Matt," she said slowly, "Your eyes are glowing red."

"Huh?" he asked, blinking. Now that he noticed it, there *was* sort of a 
reddish tint to everything, but it was fading quickly.

Elisa continued, "it's fading now, but I think that ruby was magic."

They looked down at the stone in Matt's hand. It was glowing, slightly.

"Elisa," said Matt slowly, then caught himself before he could agree with 
her. He continued instead with, "let's finish cleaning up this mess." Elisa 
glanced at him with an odd expression on her face, but nodded.

They finished cleaning up the spilled gems without comment, but Elisa made 
Matt keep the magic (Magic? Matt feared for his partner's sanity at times, 
and this was one of them.) one with him. "If somebody knows we've found it, 
they'd probably look for me, first. If it's with you, they won't find it." 
She glared at him, but he could see genuine worry in her eyes.

He shrugged and shoved the offending ruby into his pocket. "Okay, if it 
means that much to you, I'll keep it with me. But if nothing happens, *you* 
explain to Chavez why I made off with some of the evidence."

"Done. I'm going up to see the guys before I head home. Wanna come?" She 
asked as they made their way back through the hallways.

Not really wanting to intrude, Matt avoided it. "Nah, I'm going straight 
home. I'm beat." Now that he mentioned it, he *was* really tired. He had to 
stifle a yawn as he waved goodbye to his partner, leaving the station. 
*Funny, I wasn't this tired before...*

Trying to shrug off the sudden fatigue, he started up his car and drove 
home more by instinct than by conscious thought. When he got home, he was 
too tired to do much more than lock the door, take his coat off and flop 
into bed.

The ruby in his coat pocket still glowed.

-=#=-

Matt woke, blearily wiping sleep from his eyes. The first thing he noticed 
was he was still dead tired. the second was that he had an *intolerable* 
itch... right... He reached back, noticing he hadn't changed out of his 
normal clothes last night, and scratched at the itching spot between his 
shoulderblades. Of course, this only made it itch more... He ripped the 
shirt off and tried to itch The One Spot You Can't Scratch. Finally he gave 
up, laying back down and falling thankfully asleep.

It seemed like only moments later when his alarm went off. Groaning at the 
incessant beeping, he rolled out of bed and flipped off the annoying 
machine. Running a hand through his hair, he wandered into the kitchen to 
fix himself some coffee. Who cared if it was instant? He needed caffeine.

Heat the water, pour in the crystals, stir. Drink. Wash, rinse, repeat.

As the life-giving heat rushed through his body and more sensations began 
to percolate his sleep-fuzzed brain, Matt dimly noticed his back was in 
what would have been extreme pain had he been awake enough to feel it. In 
fact, now that he was awake, it was starting to hurt even more. Grumbling, 
he stumbled to the bathroom to hunt for aspirin.

Hunting through the medicine in the drawer below his sink, Matt didn't look 
up until he decided that he must have stashed the painkillers behind the 
mirror. He reached up and rested a hand on the latch, his gaze following.

He stood there for a second, then shook his head in disbelief. "Naah." He 
opened the cabinet and swiped the bottle of aspirin from the shelf. Closing 
the cabinet, he caught his reflection again. It hadn't changed.

Sprouting from his back was a pair of wings. *Red* wings. Gargoyle wings. 
He looked down at his coffee, frowning, then back at his reflection, before 
pouring the steaming liquid down the sink. Carefully keeping his eyes on 
his reflection, he filled the cup with water and swallowed some with the 
painkillers. Then he closed his eyes and counted to ten. When he opened 
them, the wings were still there. So, seeing as there was no other course 
of action, Matt did the only thing a sane adult would do in the situation. 
He freaked out.

"Oh my God. Wings." He said, staring at his reflection in disbelief, his 
hands clamping on the edge of the sink to stop himself from shaking, and 
the coffee cup hanging precariously by one finger. "No- no way. I don't 
believe this." He stared at the mirror, trying to convince himself that it 
wasn't true, that the reflected image wasn't his. It didn't work.

Half an hour later he sat staring at his bedroom mirror, a cup with the 
remains of a third serving of coffee in his hand. His sense of humor was 
trying to come up with something to relieve his shock, and was failing by a 
long shot. "This can't be happening." He repeated. "Wings. Arrrgh!"

He was nearly scared out of his wits when the phone rang. He answered it, 
though with a lot of hesitation. "This is Matt," he said into the receiver, 
voice shaking a bit.

"Matt?" Said Elisa on the other end. Oh, no. He had to work... he couldn't 
go in. Arrgh! "Do you want me to pick you up?" She continued.

"Uh, Elisa," he hedged, "I can't come in today."

"What? What's wrong?" She asked, worried.

"Uh," he said, trying to think of something plausible, and not coming up 
with anything that would convince *Elisa*, of all people. "Uh, why don't 
you come over here. It's, ah,"

"Okay. I'm headed there right now. Don't freak out on me!" Matt swallowed. 
She had picked up on his stress, all right. Probably a good thing he hadn't 
tried to lie to her.

"Okay. I'll just, I'll wait." He hung up, shaking. What was going on? He 
had wings. Arrgh!

He shivered, then wrapped himself in his trenchcoat. He sat there, 
shivering, until Elisa called him from the door.

He went to unlock it and peered out. Elisa was standing there, a concerned 
expression on her face. "Uh, come in. I've, look." He said, pulling her 
through the door. "I woke up, just half an hour ago, and, oh, hell. Look." 
He said, and pulled off the trenchcoat to *show* her his predicament.

"Woah." She said. She closed the door and locked it, then went around to 
his back. "Well," she said, looking him over.

"See?"

"Yeah." She replied. "Red wings. The same color as your hair, in fact."

He snorted. "Yeah." There didn't seem to be anything else to say. He 
shuddered again.

"Look, you're going through shock. Sit down." She aimed him at his bed. He 
sat. "Now, turn that way and let me look." He obligingly turned away from 
her and she sat down behind him, looking his wings over.

He felt *extremely* uncomfortable. He was being examined, like some 
experiment. Even though it was his partner and good friend, he still felt 
like a lab rat. He could see why the gargoyles didn't want to be studied 
'in the name of science'. 

He wondered just how hypocritical he'd been during his search for UFO's, 
aliens, and other 'neat stuff'.

Then Elisa ran her finger along the joint where wing met skin, and he had 
to suck in a breath at the tingling sensation. The *good* sensation. "Uh, 
Elisa?" He asked.

"Don't worry, I won't do that again," she said, amused. "That's a very 
sensitive area on gargoyles, and I wanted to test your reflexes." He could 
hear the smirk in her voice, and briefly wondered where she had come up 
with *that* bit of information.

"Ah," he said. He *hated* being examined. His doctor had once threatened to 
tie him down after he had broken his leg... Matt had wanted to run out, 
without the cast. He chuckled at the memory as Elisa traced the bone 
structure of his wings with her fingers.

"Well, it's odd." She said finally. "They look a lot like a gargoyle's 
wings, but they're not."

"Why not?" He asked, trying to glance over his shoulder to find out what 
she was talking about.

"Well, you've got four pieces of webbing, not three. And you only have one 
'wing finger,' not three. And the wing joint, here," she traced it with her 
finger, "looks more like a human wrist than a gargoyle wing joint. But 
that's just offhand."

"Gee," he said disgustedly, "I've been turned into a half-gargoyle."

"It sure seems that way." She agreed, standing up. "I'll go in and tell 
Chavez you're sick. You stay here and try to cope with this." She turned 
towards the door, then paused. "Uh, Matt? Do you know what caused this?"

"No." He said flatly.

She turned back to him. "Because I think it might have been that ruby."

He thought it over. Hard. And decided to rethink his thoughts about magic. 
"That would make sense." Magic, gargoyles... gee, maybe one day a yeti 
would show up in his living room.

Elisa nodded and turned back to the door. "I'll tell Goliath. And I'll see 
if I can entice one of the trio or Angela to come down and keep you 
company. That way you'll at least have someone to talk to."

"Thanks, Elisa." He said, relived. "I - thanks."

"No problem." She said, leaving the apartment.

He sighed as he heard the door close and automatically lock. Then he pulled 
his trenchcoat around his shoulders, careful not to snag it on his wings.

"Wings." He repeated. "I don't believe it."

-=#=-

Elisa took the stairs to the clock tower two at a time, as fast as she 
could. She made it to the balcony in time to see the sun slip beneath the 
horizon and the gargoyles awaken.

"Goliath," she called, before anyone could leave, "I need to talk to 
everyone."

"What is it, Elisa?" he asked, stepping down into the snow beside her.

She sighed. "Matt," she said. "He, he has a big problem."

"What's wrong?" asked Angela, worried.

Elisa smirked slightly, without emotion. "He woke up tonight with wings." 
The clan stared at her in shocked amazement.

"Woah," said Brooklyn.

"Woah is right, lad," agreed Hudson. "What happened to him?"

"We think that it's this ruby we found," she said, suddenly agitated as she 
thought the whole thing through. "It did something to him when we were 
putting it away last night, and this might be the consequences. Oh, I never 
should have insisted he take it with him!" She balled her hands into fists 
at her side.

Goliath reached out and rested a hand on her shoulder. "It's not your 
fault," he reassured her. "You could not know that there would be this kind 
of effect... you were just trying to keep a potentially dangerous artifact 
safe."  Trying to let him reassure her, Elisa looked up into his eyes and 
nodded. His voice helped, the deep velvety voice that had so scared her 
when they had first met -

"What exactly did it look like?" asked Brooklyn, jerking both of them back 
to the present.

Elisa blinked off the half-formed memory and tried to remember. "It was a 
bright red ruby, about yea big," she replied, making a circle with her 
thumb and forefinger. "It was a pendant on a golden chain with a simple 
setting, and Matt said he saw a sort of pattern in it."

"Hmm." Brooklyn searched his memory for all of the history he had been 
drilled on, all the mysterious magical artifacts he had either learned 
about as a hachling at Wyvern or seen with his own eyes. "Can't think of 
anything offhand." He shrugged in defeat, wishing for a better picture of 
the talisman.

"Well, I was really going to ask one or two of you to go down and make sure 
he's all right. You know, stay around there, give him some company. This 
was a big shock, and he was not in the best of conditions when I left." 
Elisa involuntarily glanced out at the city, shivering.

"I'll go," said Angela quickly, resting a hand on Elisa's shoulder. Goliath 
had backed up against his instinct, which was to wrap Elisa in his wings, 
to protect her from the hurt if such a thing could be done physically.

"Me too," echoed Brooklyn. "I want a look at that ruby, besides." Elisa saw 
Broadway and Lex roll their eyes, and was pretty sure Angela noticed it 
too.

"Thanks," Elisa said, relieved, and shelved her concern about the trio's 
behavior. Angela had talked to them before, and could do so again, should 
the need arise. She turned back to the door. "I'm going to report in, and 
to tell Chavez that Matt's sick. I guess I'll see you later."

"Good-bye, Elisa." Said Goliath. Brooklyn and Angela waved and launched 
themselves out across the city.

-=#=-

Matt lay down on his bed, shivering, then shifted positions. He had found 
out the hard way that it hurt like hell to lie on your wings, especially 
when they were tucked up in a cramped position. He finally sat back up on 
the edge of his bed, facing the kitchen and the short hallway to the closet 
and the bathroom.

It had been about half an hour since Elisa had left. An hour fifteen 
minutes since he had woken up and found he had grown wings. Since Elisa had 
seen the wings too, it must not have just been the coffee.

"Wings, arrrgh. Coffee, arrrgh. I need to get some non-instant." Matt said, 
his sense of humor finally starting to kick in. His weak laughter cut off 
when he heard a knock on his balcony door... balcony door? Matt 
involuntarily reached for his gun as he glanced at the closed curtains 
covering the sliding glass before his brain caught up. "Oh, right, the 
gargoyles. Wake up, Matt," he told himself, standing up and heading for the 
door.

A blast of cold winter air prompted Matt to tighten the coat around himself 
as he opened the door. Brooklyn and Angela were outside, and he motioned 
them in before closing the door again and flipping the heater on high.

"Uh, Elisa told us about your, um, predicament." Said Brooklyn, 
unconsciously wiping his snow covered feet on the carpet. Matt decided not 
to worry about it.

"Yeah," Matt agreed. "It, ah, uh,"

"Here. Sit down." Angela pushed him down on the bed and pulled off his 
coat. "You're cramping yourself."

He hadn't realized it, but his wings *had* been cramped in the coat. 
Unconsciously he stretched them out.

"Well, you've got a large enough wingspan to carry your weight," said 
Brooklyn thoughtfully.

"Uh, yeah, I guess," he said, shivering not entirely from the cold.

"You cold? It doesn't seem like any of your shirts would fit," said Angela.

"No, they don't." Said Matt, chuckling. He wrapped his wings around 
himself, but that left his back open to the freezing air not quite combated 
by the heater. Gargoyles didn't feel cold, he remembered.

"Let's see." Brooklyn started digging through his shirt drawer. He pulled 
out something relatively clean and pressed it over Matt's back, measuring 
for wing holes. Then, with the tip of one claw, he tore two parallel cuts in 
the fabric. "Try this."

Matt spent fifteen minutes trying to figure out how to get it on without 
either tearing it or breaking something, and they ended up going through 
five shirts, but he finally found something to wear. Brooklyn 'fixed' about 
seven more, then stopped. "If we do find a way to get rid of your wings, 
and if you want to, we don't want to wreck all of your shirts" he said.

"Yeah," Matt replied. He seemed to be saying that a lot, lately.

"So where's that ruby thing?" Brooklyn asked, piling the shirts back in the 
drawer.

"The cursed ruby thing? In my pocket." He pulled the glowing gemstone out 
and handed it to Brooklyn.

"Hmm." Brooklyn mulled over the stone while Angela carefully examined 
Matt's wings. Angela's examination was somehow not as hard to endure as 
Elisa's had been, and he relaxed.

"I've seen this somewhere, but I don't know where." Brooklyn said finally.

"Let me see." Said Angela. Brooklyn came around the bed and handed the 
pendant over. Angela gasped when she saw it.

"That's the pendant that the man was wearing!" She said.

"What man?" Asked Matt, slightly turning so he could look at the pendant as 
well. It hadn't stopped glowing, and he could still see the scratches of 
the pattern on the inside. He quickly averted his gaze, not wanting 
something *else* to happen.

"It was a stranger - on Avalon!" Angela continued.

"What?" Asked Brooklyn, surprised. Matt was slightly taken aback as well. 
From what Elisa had told him, Avalon wasn't readily accessible... an island 
in more than the traditional sense.

"He said his name was Corwin, and he asked if he was in Avalon. Princess 
Katharine told him yes, he was, and he said 'Not my Avalon, though'. Then he 
left. We never learned anything more about him, but he was wearing that 
pendant!"

"Hmm." Matt said, wondering if this was in any way important. Anything 
about the ruby was useful, he decided. "How did he leave? In one of those 
boats that Elisa complained about?"

"He rode off on his horse, and when he was a fair distance away he seemed 
to shimmer, then was gone," Angela replied, still staring at the glowing 
stone.

Matt thought about the thief he had gotten the stone off of, Brandon 
Corey... "Shimmer, then disappear. I confiscated this from a ruby thief who 
had been notoriously hard to catch. Morgan said he swore he had him, but he 
just 'shimmered out'. Maybe there's some connection!" An improbable one, he 
reminded himself, but with magic anything was possible.

Now *he* was using magic as an excuse. *Guess I'd better check my own 
sanity.*

"Corwin." Said Brooklyn thoughtfully. "That was the name of one of the 
nobles at one of the dinners we were allowed to, before we came here. He 
wasn't wearing the pendant, though."

"Hmm. Interesting." Matt started pacing. "What did he look like?" He could 
sense that this was important, somehow... he kept glancing back at the 
ruby, as if he could gain some answers just through observation of the 
stone itself.

"Black hair, and green eyes." Said Brooklyn. "He wore a black cloak with 
the throat clasp in the shape of a silver rose. I remember asking him about 
it, and he said it was his symbol."

"That's the Corwin that I saw." Said Angela, nodding. "He was wearing black 
and silver, and he had a sword. He had the same clasp on his cloak." She 
finally tore her eyes from the jewel. Matt met her questioning gaze and 
shook his head slightly.

"No, that's not the thief." He said. "This guy had red hair, though he had 
green eyes." He remembered the laughter, and something else in those 
eyes... the guy was insane. The way he laughed, and the way he moved; by 
Matt's standards, the man was either clinically insane or *way* too 
overconfident. Probably both.

"A relative?" Asked Angela.

Matt stopped. "You know, I'll bet that's it." He snapped his fingers. "And 
he'd have to be a descendant. I'll go down to the station and look up 
genealogy records for this Brandon Corey, and-"

"Matt," said Brooklyn, putting a hand on the human's shoulder before he 
could dash out the door.

"What?"

"You're sick."

"Huh?" Matt turned to the gargoyle. Brooklyn was smirking, slightly.

"Elisa told Chavez that you're home sick with the flu."

"Why would she- oh." Matt sighed as he remembered, and sat back down on the 
bed. "Oh, yeah." He twitched one of his wings experimentally, then 
shuddered slightly at the odd feeling.

"Ah, yes." Said Brooklyn, nodding sagely. "But just tell Elisa what's going 
on and she'll look it up."

"Yeah, you're right." Agreed Matt. "And when I've waited for a while to get 
over the 'flu', I'll go back in and tie up anything else that's left." He'd 
find out what was going on, come Hell or high water. And if he could get 
rid of the wings in the bargain, it'd be that much better.

"See! we can make this work." Said Angela. "Now, Brooklyn, do you think 
that you can teach me one of those card games that you and Lex were 
playing?"

Matt grinned, in a *much* better mood than he had been a while ago. "Five-
card draw, anyone?"

-=Chapter 2=-

"Are you *sure* this is a good idea?"

Matt tugged the trenchcoat tighter around himself. "No, but I can't stand 
another day cramped inside my apartment. Even with Angela and Brooklyn to 
keep me company." Every night since the first, Angela and Brooklyn had 
stayed with Matt, keeping him company and improving his poker skills.

"All right." Elisa shrugged. "We check in, then go out. There are a few 
murder cases that Chavez wants us to look at, and not much paperwork." She 
glared at him. "You owe me big time for that."

"Right." Matt smirked as Elisa pulled up to the station. Matt shifted his 
shoulders uncomfortably in the heavy coat, the only way he could keep his 
wings from being seen. He felt more cramped than he had ever felt in his 
entire life, but he didn't want to give himself away.

They got inside and headed for Capt. Chavez's office, avoiding the 'welcome 
back' and 'hope you're feeling better' remarks from the other officers. 
Matt was genuinely relieved when Maria Chavez let them in to the office, 
away from the crowd.

"Ah, Maza and Bluestone. You feeling better, Matt?" Asked Chavez as she led 
them into her office. Matt and Elisa exchanged a glance.

"Yeah, much better. That and I couldn't stand to be cooped up in the 
apartment any longer." He replied with a grin, straining to seem 
nonchalant. It seemed to work.

"Yes. Well, I have a few cases here..." Matt listened intently, glad to be 
back on the job.

-=#=-

Brooklyn and Angela waited for Matt and Elisa to come out of the station. 
They had deemed themselves "Matt Patrol", to Lex and Broadway's general 
laughter, and, unbeknownst to Angela, their remarks of jealousy. Brooklyn 
shook those thoughts out of his head. He was 2nd in command, and it was his 
duty to look over Matt, a friend of the clan if not part of the clan 
itself.

Angela spotted Elisa and Matt getting into their car and nudged her 
companion. Brooklyn nodded, slipped on his headset, and took to the air.

"Hey, guys. Do you read me?" It was Elisa, on the radio.

"Yep. We're following you. Does Matt have a microphone?" Asked Brooklyn 
into his headset.

"Yes, I do." Said Matt. "We're headed to Central Park, there's been a 
murder and Chavez wants us to check the scene for any evidence."

"Got it." Said Angela. "Right behind you." She grinned at Brooklyn and he 
felt a warm thrill go through him. This duty had more than one advantage.

-=#=-

"Well, that was a waste." Said Matt disgustedly.

There was nothing, absolutely nothing, at the site. The police barriers had 
kept it free of vandals, but there was nothing that could clue them in to 
the killer. Not even the murder weapon remained, although the wounds on the 
victim implied it had been a knife. It wasn't a pretty sight.

"Agreed. You go look around for a few minutes to see if there's anything 
nearby, and I'll finish off here." Said Elisa, motioning away from the 
crowd of people looking over the site.

Matt nodded his thanks and wandered off along a path, scouting for anything 
unusual. Once he was out of sight of the crowd he relaxed and stretched. 
Even without taking off his coat he managed to feel a lot better and less 
cramped. Then he went back to hunting down clues.

He stopped when he heard someone behind him. Several someones. He spun 
around to come face to face with Tony Draycon and a small amount of his 
gang. He cursed silently.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Matt Bluestone. What a pleasant surprise." 
Said Draycon. His tone suddenly changed to become as hard as steel. "Hand 
over your gun. Butt-first, now."

Matt reached into his re-rigged shoulder sling and came out with both of 
his guns, his police standard issue and the two-barreled tranq gun that 
David Xanatos had given him. The last thing he wanted was one of Draycon's 
men frisking him for weapons.

"Now take the mike and crush it."

Matt sighed. There went any chance of calling for help. He de-attached the 
tiny transmitter from his collar and dropped it, then crushed it under his 
heel. Hopefully the sounds already transmitted would alert the others... a 
vain hope, but it gave him some courage.

"Now, Bluestone, you come with us." He looked at the weapons in his hand. 
"Nice guns, by the way. Where'd you get this one?" He held up the 
tranquilizer.

"Do I need to tell you?"

Draycon laughed. "No, not really. We'll just beat it out of you."

"How long do I have to decide?"

"We'll let you know." He laughed again. The laugh was starting to grate on 
Matt's nerves.

"Well, what if I RUN!" He yelled, spinning off and heading in a new 
direction. He could hear the startled cries of Draycon's gang and his 
shouted orders to follow and capture him.

He ran as fast as he could, hearing the muffled pounding of feet behind 
him. Just when he thought it was safe, he got out of the trees-

And he was facing a 30' drop into a small lake. Not something he really 
fancied. He heard Draycon's men behind him, and knew that this was it.

"Well, to answer your question, Bluestone," said Draycon, "If you run, it's 
over right now."

He turned to face them. To surrender. He was about to raise up his hands-

But then he remembered a trump card that he could play. A slow smile spread 
across his face. "Well, it may be over," he said, "But I'm still moving."

As fast as he could he ripped off his coat, turned, jumped, and spread his 
wings.

As Matt sped across the lake he could hear Tony Draycon's startled curses, 
then his shouted orders. But he was already out of range, and soon, out of 
sight.

Matt instinctively turned his wings to slow himself, then dropped onto the 
ground from a few feet up. He didn't land *too* badly, all things 
considered, but it hurt all the same.

A jogger in a faded gray sweatsuit ran up the path, glanced at Matt, and 
hurriedly turned around and started back the way he had come, not even 
sparing a glance. Matt stared after him for a second before standing up 
and brushing off his pants. He could have swore he'd seen that guy 
somewhere before, but he couldn't quite place it.

He hurriedly pulled on his trenchcoat as he heard the sound of wings above 
him, and looked up as Brooklyn and Angela landed beside him with a lot more 
grace and a lot less bruising.

Brooklyn smirked. "Nice landing."

"Y-yeah." Matt said, glancing back in the direction of the lake. "Oh, my."

"C'mon. Elisa's waiting." Said Angela, pulling him along. He followed 
mutely.

-=#=-

Elisa tapped her fingers against the door of her car. She had finished up 
five minutes ago, and worse, Brooklyn had lost track of Matt. "See anything 
yet?" She asked into the small microphone.

"No, nothing- oh, hang on. I see him." Said Brooklyn.

"Where is he?" She asked.

"He's being followed by, by, Hell. That's Draycon."

"Where is he, Brooklyn?"

"He's over by that small lake. The one with the waterfall. He's cornered, 
and-"

Brooklyn broke off. Elisa could faintly hear him chuckling. "What?" She 
asked irritably.

"Oh, I'll get him and he can tell you. I think he'd like to tell you by 
himself, anyway." The connection broke.

"Brooklyn," she said into the dead mike, "When you get back, I'm going to - 
oh, whatever." She smiled, not able to be too mad at him for long. "I 
wonder what Matt did this time?"

-=#=-

Matt stumbled along, in semi-shock. He had just *flown* across the lake to 
escape. He couldn't believe it. Flying? This was too odd. He had *wings*. 
Why shouldn't he fly? Oh, damn it all. He couldn't think about it. Didn't 
want to think about it.

He looked up as they reached Elisa's car. Elisa got out and rushed over to 
him. "Oh, no. You're going into shock again. What did you do this time?"

He gave her a half-smile, more from reflex than any conscious desire to make 
a humorous comment. "I flew."

She blinked. "Well, so? You've got wings."

Matt dropped the smile. It didn't fit, anyway. "No, you don't understand." 
He sighed. "I jumped, off of the waterfall, and I flew. Across the lake. 
Away from Draycon."

She smiled, trying to be lighthearted about the subject. "Any self-
respecting gargoyle would do the same thing."

He stared at her blankly. "You don't get it, do you?" His voice was 
strained. "I'm not a gargoyle. I'm human. I don't particularly want to *be* 
a gargoyle. And humans," he slowed down, "don't... have... wings."

Elisa looked into Matt's eyes. He was scared. Scared of what was happening. 
"All right. Come on. We'll head back to your apartment and talk about it 
there."

"Okay." He said, then sighed. "I- okay. That's great." He allowed Elisa to 
lead him into her car.

"*You* could deal with having wings." He said as she started the car up. "I 
can't."

"You're going to have to deal with it, though." Elisa pointed out as she 
pulled onto the road. "Not me." 

"Yeah." Matt sighed again. "I wish none of this had happened."

"Look." Elisa turned a corner with more force than necessary. "You may not 
like it. But the fact is, you have to deal with it. You have wings, and you 
just *flew* away from certain _pain_ at the hands of Draycon and his men. 
If he had found out by searching you, do you think you would have had the 
chance to fly like that?"

"No." He said. "But, but that's not what scares me. I know I want to stay 
human. But after flying like that..." he sighed again. "I don't know how 
long I'm going to want to stay."

"*Matt*." Said Elisa with a hard edge to her voice. "You are human, and 
you're staying human. As long as that's what you want, that's what you'll 
stay."

"But I'm not sure that I'm going to want that after- after-"

"So what are you going to do? Go to Sevarious and ask him to change you 
into a gargoyle, fully? You're a human being, Matt. It's just the wings 
that make you different."

"Yeah. Different."

"Matt, you've got it better than the gargoyles. They have to spend half the 
day as stone statues. They also can't go out and *talk* to people. They 
can't get jobs, other than being a nightly patrol, much as that helps. 
You're human in a human world. They're not. Don't think that one day you're 
going to give up your human life because you can fly."

"It's not giving up humanity that bothers me. It's how I think of myself. 
I'm afraid that one day I'm going to wake up and forget that I'm human."

There was a long silence.

"Matt," said Elisa, but this time her voice was gentle. "If that's all 
you're afraid of, I won't let you forget."

-=Chapter 3=-
(Turf and The Reckoning happen. I don't think this should make too much of 
a difference on those eps. I'm also counting on a *long* break before 
Hunter's Moon. As in, four chapter's worth.)

"Bluestone."

Matt turned to see Captain Chavez, looking faintly puzzled and irritated at 
the same time. Mentally, he groaned. "Yes, Captain?"

"Could you come into my office for a second? There's something I'd like to 
ask you." She gestured with her head.

"Sure." He shrugged and followed her into the small room, hoping that 
nothing was wrong.

When they were inside, Chavez closed and locked the door. Matt raised an 
eyebrow at that. The police captain nearly never used the lock on her door. 
Something about morale and wanting to be accessible.

Chavez turned back to him, her face displaying annoyance, confusion, and 
just plain bewilderment. He *had* done something wrong. "Bluestone, 
something's been bothering you for the past few weeks. Ever since you 
brought in that ruby thief you've been fidgeting and flighty, and you never 
stick around to do paperwork. Yesterday you nearly dragged Elisa out of the 
station. What's going on?"

"Ah," he said intelligently. The last thing he needed was for the police 
captain to get wise to his... problem. "It's, ah, well, a personal 
problem."

"Do you need time off? This is worrying me, Bluestone. You and Maza are the 
best team we have right now. Is it family, or what?"

"Ah, well, it's not really..." Matt started counting floor tiles, and got 
up to thirty-five before Maria spoke again.

"Matt, this is a secure room. No bugs, no recorders. I want to know what's 
bothering you. It's affecting your performance."

He sighed and sat down, running a hand through his hair before finally 
meeting her eyes. "Do you really want to know?"

Chavez sat down behind her desk, resting her arms on the wood. "Yes."

He took off his coat. "This is what has been bothering me for the past few 
weeks." He said, jerking a thumb at his half-spread wings.

Chavez sat back in her seat, her eyes open as wide as he had ever seen 
them. "My God."

He slipped his trenchcoat back on, sighing. "Exactly." He grimaced and went 
back to counting floor tiles. He got up to forty-seven before she replied.

"How- how the hell..."

He looked up and shrugged. "I don't know."

"Can I see?" She asked, rising out of her seat.

"Sure." He said, shrugging off the coat again. Chavez came around behind 
him and reached out a hand to touch the fragile membrane. He sighed as his 
superior satisfied herself that his wings *were* real, not just a figment 
of mass hallucination.

"I don't believe it." She said, running her fingers along the curve of his 
wing.

"I had much the same opinion when I first saw my reflection." He said. "Uh, 
could you stop that?" He asked, slightly jerking away when her fingers 
moved close to the edge of his wing, where it joined his back.

"Sorry," she said, jerking her hand back with a trace of a guilty flush. 
"It's just- I never expected-"

"Neither did I." He pulled his trenchcoat on, pulling the material tight. 
"Is there anything else?"

"No, not really."

"All right." He let himself out to Maria's mutterings of disbelief.

Elisa snagged him in the hallway. "What did Chavez want to talk to you 
for?"

He sighed. "She wanted to know about my little 'problem'."

Elisa raised an eyebrow in a thoughtful expression. "And what did you do?"

"I showed her."

*That* got Elisa's full attention. "What?" She asked, spinning to face him.

"What did you want me to do?" He shrugged. "She's insistent. Besides, it's 
my problem, my life."

She sighed. "Yeah, you're right." They continued down the hall, nudging 
past other officers. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"I've been, I've been watching over you like a hawk. Intruding, when it's 
not my place to." Elisa sighed and thrust her hands into the pockets of her 
jacket.

"Hey, you were worried."

"Still am," she corrected, looking up at him with a slight glare.

"Correction: you *are* worried. It's no big deal."

"If you say so." She shook her head. "Shall we go? Chavez wants us to 
patrol Central Park."

"Sure."

-=#=-
(Some time later, in central park)

"Hello there!"

Matt turned in surprise as a man came striding purposely toward him. He had 
black hair and bright green eyes, and was wearing a silver-gray jacket and 
black jeans.

"Yes?" Matt asked.

"I was wondering if you knew where I could find the police station. I'm 
looking to see if a... relative of mine was caught doing anything, well, 
suspicious."

Matt nodded, something putting him on edge. The eyes, where had he seen 
those eyes before... "Well, who am I talking to?"

"Carl Corey." Corey. Carl Corey. *Brandon* Corey!

"Matt Bluestone." They shook hands. Matt volunteered information, hoping to 
get a response.

"I'm a detective, but I do some police work. I brought in a *Brandon* Corey 
some time ago." He got a response all right, full attention. Although, Carl 
looked faintly amused at something.

"And what was he doing?" He asked. There was something else odd. The 
responses, the eyes, those could be explained. But the color scheme... he 
had the faintest glimmering of an idea, but couldn't really tell what it 
was yet.

"Thievery. Especially ruby pendants." Matt answered. Maybe he'd get more 
information, something to tell him about the ruby, and something to tell 
him about the man he was speaking to.

Carl's reaction to Matt's statement was to throw back his head and laugh. 
As he did, Matt caught a glimpse of a silver rose at his throat, under his 
jacket.

A silver rose... A symbol... Something clicked.

"Corwin?" He asked., hoping for a response... not knowing what to expect, 
but knowing that he had to find out.

The man stopped laughing. He stared at Matt curiously.

"Who wants to know?" There was mistrust in his voice, and simple curiosity, 
but it was as if the man had gone under a complete personality change with 
that one word.

"I'm still the same person, but I have a friend who was on Avalon when you 
passed through there." Matt was gambling... if this guy was a mage, a fae, 
or someone who didn't like people knowing who he was, Matt knew he was in 
big trouble.

"Ah, sweet Avalon." Carl - no, Corwin - mused. "Yes, I did come through 
this shadow, didn't I."

In that instant, Matt made a decision. "I have something you might want," 
he told Corwin, hoping he was right. His string of hypotheses had been 
right so far, and one more risk wouldn't hurt. The payoff would likely be 
more than the risk, anyway.

"And what is that?" Corwin raised an eyebrow.

Matt held up the pendant. It was still in his coat pocket, after all this 
time, and it still glowed. He held his breath and waited for a response.

Corwin reached out for it. Matt let him take it. "What is it?" Matt asked.

The other man gave the information freely. "The Jewel of Judgment, The Eye 
of Chaos. Eye of the Serpent, Jewel of the Unicorn, whatever you want to 
call it. It's powerful."

"Does it do Polymorphing?" If not, Matt had been wrong all along about the 
wings, and this stranger might not be able to help him...

Corwin looked up from his intense study of the ruby. "Not to my knowledge. 
Why?" Matt cursed inwardly, but didn't give up all hope. There was still a 
chance, and it was too much of a coincidence.

"I confiscated it from Brandon Corey - your brother, I presume?"

Corwin chuckled. "Yes, Brand is my brother, although I don't see why he 
picked *my* name to use. We're not on very good terms."

Matt nodded, not fully understanding but willing to let it pass. "Ah. Well, 
I confiscated it, but since it was glowing my partner - we're both into 
magic, the real stuff - wanted me to take it home. When I woke up, I had 
wings."

"Hmm. I haven't heard of it doing anything like that," Corwin mused. "Did 
you do anything to it?"

"Well, I saw this sort of scratch in the center, and I was trying to see 
what it was - It was like a maze, and I tried to follow it - "

"And you're not dead?" Corwin asked, looking up suddenly in astonishment.

"Hmm?" Matt blinked, trying to figure out what he had said to put the other 
man on edge.

"What you saw was the Primal Pattern. Only the royal family can follow it. 
If you tried, I'm surprised it didn't kill you."

"Well, I was shot out of it." Matt paused. "Can you *possibly* do anything 
about getting rid of these wings?"

"Sorry." Corwin shrugged and Matt's hopes deflated. "I don't know anything 
about shapeshifting, and I'm in the middle of sort of a family war. I 
really wish I could help."

"Yeah." Said Matt dejectedly. Corwin smiled, then passed him a pack of 
paper money. "Good luck."

"You too." Corwin said as he walked off and disappeared into the trees. 
Matt followed him with his eyes, then gave up. He shoved the money into his 
pocket, planning to give it to the gargoyles or some charity. He started 
walking to where he said he'd meet Elisa.

There was a loud hiss, and something struck his leg. He looked down to see 
a tranquilizer dart protruding from his pants. He reached down to pull it 
out, but his vision was already growing dark.

Somebody stood over him as he crumpled. "Sevarious will be pleased. No 
fight." The figure said.

He blacked out.

-=Chapter 4=-

When Matt woke up, he was in a lab.

He couldn't *see* that he was in a lab, as he was facing a blank wall. But 
his coat had been taken off and his wings stretched out to full span, not 
to mention that he was chained to the wall he was facing. Add that to what 
he had heard from his assailant...

"Ah, the frequent flyer has woken up, I see."

He knew that voice. "Sevarious? Anton Sevarious?"

A chuckle. "Very good, detective. I see you're sporting a new look."

Suspicions confirmed: he was in a lab. Matt pulled at one of the chains. 
"It wasn't my idea."

"Of *course* not." Sevarious said in a faked tone of consolation. Matt 
continued pulling, to no avail. Then something flicked up and down his 
back, in the sensitive area next to his wings.

"Gaah-" he said, more of an exhalation than a word.

"Oh, you like that, do you?" Asked Sevarious. The pressure came again, 
causing him to inhale sharply.

"This is tourture."

"This is *interesting*. I think I'll leave you alone and see how you're 
affected."

"Ahh-" He turned his head slightly and caught a glimpse of the mad doctor 
leaving the room. "Damn." He swore, trying to ignore the odd form of 
tourture that was not to be ignored. 

-=#=-

Brooklyn landed back on the clock tower balcony. "No sign of Matt, but look 
what I found in Central Park." He held out something toward Elisa, who took 
it. The object was a tranquilizer dart, larger than normal darts, longer. 
It had an unfamiliar logo on it. Turning it to the light, she could just 
make out lettering.

"Gen., Gen." She read aloud.

"Gen. Gen.? General Genetics?" Asked Lex. All eyes turned to the small 
gargoyle, who flinched from the attention.

"What do you know of General Genetics?" Asked Elisa. Egad, she thought, I'm 
starting to sound like Goliath with my choice of expressions.

"I found a site for them on the Internet. They're located near the old Gen-
U-Tech building. They're making cures for various genetic diseases, or so 
it said." Lex frowned.

"Sounds like a front," Brooklyn sneered. "General Genetics? Come on. What 
kind of a name is *that?*"

"Whoever they are, they're taking test subjects. Illegally." Snapped Elisa. 
"If Matt's there..." She trailed off. a sudden dread settling in the pit of 
her stomach. Geneticists had not proven to be the best friends of the 
gargoyles in the past.

"If Matt's there, we're going to get him out. If he's not, we'll find out 
what's going on." Said Brooklyn, turning to leap onto the rail. "Angela, 
you coming?"

"I'm going with you." Said Lex. "You may need help getting into their 
computers."

"Right," Brooklyn responded. "Do you remember exactly where that building 
was located?"

"Um, no," said Lex slowly, "But I'm sure I could find it if I looked."

"Then let's go *now*, so we have time to search for it," said Angela. 
Brooklyn nodded, and the three leapt out into the night.

-=#=-

Matt turned his head as the door opened. Sevarious came in, carrying a 
needle and a container of *something*. Matt hissed as the torture machine - 
that's what it had to be - pressed against his back again, and Sevarious 
laughed, before flicking the machine off. He filled the needle with the 
clear liquid and waved it Matt's face.

"This, my friend, is Hypatholix." He said, grinning at Matt's displeasure. 
"It heightens sensory input to the point of absolute torture."

Matt nearly growled at the geneticist. "You're insane. How the hell can 
your sick twisted mind reason this to be helpful?"

Sevarious laughed. "You, my friend detective, are no longer human, so it 
doesn't count if my actions are for good or for - "

"I *am* human."

The geneticist smirked, matching Matt's dark glare with an amused glance. 
"With those wings? I think not." He pressed the needle to Matt's arm and 
injected the clear solution. Matt felt a burning sensation swim through his 
body as the drug took nearly immediate effect.

"Now, we just need a few more things here... I've always wanted to test the 
hallucinogenic properties of this *intriguing* substance on a human... 
you'll do in a pinch." Sevarious moved out of Matt's field of view, and the 
chained detective could hear him snapping pieces of equipment together. 
Some sort of metal strap was placed on his head, the cool metal seeming to 
dig into his skin. He heard a soft 'click.'

Suddenly, he was somewhere else. Dizzying twisting free-fall, the world 
seemed to bend, to twist, to curve... and with the drug, every twist and 
turn tore at his mind and his sense of reality, flipping him upside-down 
and tearing him apart.

Sevarious chuckled and made a reminder to thank that 'Brandon Corey' for 
the wonderful gadget as he left the room.

-=#=-

"There it is!" Said Lex, pointing. The building had a gray exterior, and no 
outside lights, but it had several windows and air ducts.

Brooklyn motioned for them to arrow towards the roof. They landed silently 
in the snow by one of the main air vents, and dispatched the two guards 
nearly as silently. Leaving the unconscious guards, they unscrewed the 
covering from the vent and quietly crept in.

A few meters down the duct Lex leaned back to whisper in Brooklyn's ear, 
"We should head for a computer or security room. Then I can hack in and 
find out where they're keeping him."

"*If* he's here." said Brooklyn. "I sincerely hope that he's really just 
taken an unauthorized vacation to deal with the stress." Lex nodded, 
doubtfully.

After a time they came to the end of the duct, a vent looking down into an 
empty room. There was a computer in one corner. Angela carefully removed 
the grate and they climbed down, and Lex ran over to the computer and 
flipped it on.

"Hmm." he said. "I need a password. Fortunately, I brought *this*." He 
slipped a disk into the drive.

"What's that?" Brooklyn asked. Numbers and letters scrolled by in the 
password box.

"This is, ah, a program algorithm that is guaranteed to get you the right 
password in five minutes or less." Lex said, watching the screen.

"Huh?" Asked Brooklyn. "I thought that kind of stuff is illegal."

Lex turned away from Brooklyn's gaze. "Well, if you want to be technical, 
so are we."

Brooklyn rolled his eyes as the computer emitted a soft 'beep'. Lexington 
turned to it and called up a directory.

"Hmm..." he said. Brooklyn looked over his shoulder at the scrolling list 
of data.

"Try experiments," he suggested grimly. Lex nodded and pulled up the 
collection of files. 

"Ah, there!" Brooklyn pointed at a file marked 'Bluestone'. It was dated 
that evening. Lex clicked it open and a list of stats rolled up.

"Name: Matt Bluestone. That's him." Lex read more of the file. "They've 
shot him with this drug called Hypatholix. It's meant to heighten sensory 
input. It hyper-tunes your nerves and sharpens your concentration. I hear 
jet pilots sometimes use it, except the stuff gives you hallucinations." He 
paused. "Ah, lesse. He's in block 7-D." The gargoyle shut off the computer. 
"Let's get him out."

-=#=-

There was a click, and the real world reformed around him.

"I think we'll do something different, now," came Sevarious' voice from the 
edge of Matt's vision. The chained detective panted, drawing as much air 
into his lungs as was possible and trying to get a sense of reality, the 
reality that had just been denied him by some combination of drugs and 
machinery. Licking his dry lips, Matt strained to see over his shoulder, 
but the movement caused sharp jabs of flaming agony in the muscles of his 
neck. his whole body seemed to be on fire, the drug pumping through his 
system irritating each nerve ending on his skin. He tried not to think 
about it, tried to focus on something else, but the irritation - pain where 
his wrists were being cut by the shackles - kept intruding on his 
consciousness.

Matt could faintly hear the geneticist fiddling with the machine behind 
him. A few wire leads were clipped to his wings, his arms, his legs. More 
pain for him to recognize. *Wires,* he tried to think through the cotton 
stuffing in his mind. *What do wires--*

The thought was cut off as electricity flowed through the wires with a 
slight buzzing, sending jets of pain through the contact points. His 
already tortured body was suddenly on fire, being pulled apart, burning, 
dissolving - it felt as if every cell in his body was going in a different 
direction, sending ungodly amounts of pain to his mind. A high, pained 
scream filled the air, and it took him a few seconds to realize it was his 
own.

The current cut off with a snap, and the sudden absence of pain was in a 
way as shocking as the pain itself had been.

"Oh, yes. Much better. Drugs and Simulated Stimuli are good, but there's 
nothing like raw pain. I think I'll wait and watch," Sevarious said. Matt 
paid him no attention as he tried to combat the pain. The blessed release 
from the electric shock did not last long, as the current came on again 
after thirty seconds. Thirty on, thirty off. Pain, pain turning his vision 
red, pain tearing up and down his body, pain-

"RRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

-=#=-

"Shh! Did you hear that?"

The three gargoyles froze at Lex's remark. In less than a minute, their 
keen hearing picked up a sound that they had all heard before, a sound that 
none of them had wanted to hear again. A human scream.

"Matt," said Angela softly, a note of panic in her voice. Brooklyn nodded, 
snarling slightly.

"Let's go. Fast," said Lexington, already running up the hallway. Angela 
and Brooklyn followed him.

They heard the scream again before they found the right door. Brooklyn tore 
it open, and they were faced with the torture scene. Matt was chained to 
the side wall, electricity coursing through his body. And off to the 
side...

"Sevarious?" murmured Lex quietly. Angela took one look and growled. The 
growl turned into a full-fledged roar as she sprang at the geneticist, eyes 
glowing ruby red.

Sevarious had time to glance up as the angry gargoyle pounced on him. He 
didn't stand a chance. Angela drove him to the ground and banged his head 
against the floor, knocking him out and leaving bloody claw marks on his 
chest.

Lexington had meanwhile dismantled the machine that was electrocuting Matt. 
Brooklyn pulled open the chains and Matt slumped to the floor, shuddering 
in shock.

Angela turned from the limp geneticist. "Matt!" She cried, running over and 
helping him up. The human's eyes were unfocused, and he could barely 
support himself. Angela noticed his trenchcoat on a nearby table, and she 
wrapped it around his shoulders.

"Brooklyn, help me carry him back to his apartment." She said, supporting 
Matt as he stumbled to the door.

"What about Sevarious?" Asked Lexington. Angela spared him a glance.

"Tie him up and call Elisa to come and pick him up." Said Brooklyn. Lex 
nodded and made makeshift handcuffs out of the wrecked equipment and the 
chains.

It took them almost fifteen minutes to get to the roof by a longer route, 
but it was easier than dragging Matt up the air ducts. Angela opted for the 
job of carrying Matt home, and Lexington, as the fastest flyer, sped off to 
the tower directly.

Matt was in somewhat better shape when they got back to his apartment. He 
was, at least, aware enough to find the keys to the lock on the balcony 
door. "Never thought I'd use these." he muttered as they stepped inside.

Once inside, Matt collapsed into a chair. "Oh, my God." He said, shaking. 
"Oh, God." Brooklyn laid a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Sleep it off." Said Angela. "You probably feel awful. We'll watch out for 
you." Matt nodded, trudged over to his bed and fell asleep face down.

In what seemed like only a few minutes, there came a frantic tapping at the 
balcony door. Brooklyn opened it to find Lex outside.

"Come in." Said Brooklyn. "Matt's asleep."

"Good idea." Said Lexington. "I was just looking up Hypatholix at the 
tower. I have some bad news." He sighed. "The hype won't just pass out of 
his system. He needs to take a neutralizing agent, or his nervous system 
will deteriorate." Lex met Brooklyn and Angela's gazes. "He'll die if we 
don't get it to him in six hours."

-=Chapter 5=-

"Matt."

The voice came from the edge of his consciousness. All he was aware of was 
an incredible pain, an ache all through his body, a pulsing flood of pain. 
Something told him that it shouldn't hurt this much, that something was 
wrong.

"Matt, wake up."

The voice... something told him to listen to the voice. He needed to 
move... but he knew it would hurt more. He drifted back off to sleep, a 
cool dreamless sleep without the pain...

-=#=-

"He's out. I can't wake him up." Said Angela. She reached out to shake 
Matt's shoulder, then thought better of it. "He's not responding to 
anything."

"Great." Said Lexington sarcastically. "Goliath's hunting down Renard, to 
see if he has anything. In the meantime, we've got to wake him up, to try 
something to slow down the breakdown."

"How can we stop it?" Asked Angela quickly.

"Well, it can be slowed by flushing the drugs out... The web page suggested 
a hot shower and plenty of fluids." Lex said, thinking back to the 
pharmaceutical web page he had lifted the data off of. "We might be able to 
raise the time to seven hours."

Angela nodded. "Anything else?" She asked.

"Not much until we can get the neutralizer - Nephylproxin." Lex glanced at 
Angela curiously, but she was tending to Matt. He shook his head, sure he 
didn't see what he was seeing. He looked at Brooklyn, who was also 
expressing only concern for his friend.

*Stand too close to the trees, you don't see the forest*, the human saying 
came to Lex's mind. He could possibly pass off Angela's ministrations as 
those of a caring friend, but from the way she took her time, made certain 
of every bit of comfort, and stayed, hoping, working, you couldn't just 
pass all of that off as simple friendship. And Brooklyn didn't see a bit of 
it.

-=#=-

Goliath and Broadway sailed along the wind currents away from Cyberbiotics. 
Renard hadn't carried any stock of Nephylproxin, though he had searched his 
entire stock. Goliath sighed as they headed homeward with the bad news.

He turned when he felt Broadway's hand on his arm. "There's one more 
place." The younger gargoyle said.

"Where would that be?" Asked Goliath, who was almost willing to try walking 
into hell to find a cure.

In response, Broadway pointed to the castle on the horizon. Castle Wyvern.

Home of David Xanatos. *Almost* walking into hell. But what can you do?

"All right." Said Goliath. "It's our last real chance."

-=#=-

"Wake *up*, Matt!" Angela said into the comatose human's ear. He stirred a 
bit, but fell back asleep. She turned to Brooklyn. "What else can I do? 
He's not waking up!"

"Well, we could try splashing water in his face." Said Lex.

Angela looked from Matt to Lexington, thinking. "Well, we need to get him 
awake," she said, "and this sure isn't working. We'll try that."

-=#=-

David Xanatos, billionaire, ex-con, and new father, looked up from his 
intense study of the skyline as the two gargoyles landed.

"Xanatos," began Goliath without introduction. "As much as it pains me to 
admit it, we need your help."

"What can I do for you?" he asked, mentally ticking off a bullet on the 
"favors owed" list.

"We need a supply of a drug called Nephylproxin. It is a neutralizer for a 
drug called Hypatholix." Briefly, David wondered how long it had taken 
Goliath to memorize the names of the two drugs.

"See, Matt was captured by Sevarious, who pumped him full of this Hype 
stuff and tortured him, from what Lex tells," said Broadway. The billionaire 
nodded.

"I'll see what I can do," he said. He turned around. Owen was, as always, 
standing only a few inches behind him. "Owen, do we have a supply of 
Nephylproxin?"

"I will see, sir. One moment." The fey-turned-human turned sharply to re-
enter the castle.

David turned back to reassure the gargoyles. "If we don't have any on hand, 
I'll order some from one of my warehouses. Now, what would Sevarious want 
with Detective Bluestone?" he asked, trying to get to the heart of the 
matter.

The two exchanged glances. David briefly wondered what secret the gargoyles 
had that they were keeping from him, but controlled himself. He didn't need 
to know. Yet. "Why does Sevarious do all of the things he does? Why does he 
experiment on living intelligent beings? He's insane," said Goliath 
finally.

"How did he get the resources?" asked David. "Don't get me wrong, I want to 
take that scum down as well."

"He was operating out of a company called General Genetics," said Broadway. 
"Lex, Brooklyn and Angela got Matt out of their building about an hour 
ago."

Just then Owen came back. "Sir, we do have a supply of Nephylproxin. I am 
ordering some from the labs."

"Thank you, Owen," said David, turning back to the gargoyles. "It'll take 
just a second," he reassured the two. "If it takes longer, I'll fire the 
messenger." He smirked.

As the gargoyles settled down to wait, he took Owen aside for a bit of 
privacy. "Owen, as soon as our guests have left, get into the files for 
this General Genetics and download Matt Bluestone's file. I want to know 
exactly why Sevarious picked him out of the hundreds of others he could 
have. I don't think it's just dumb luck."

"Certainly, sir," said Owen. He checked his watch. "I believe that I shall 
see if that messenger has arrived yet," he said, louder. He left for a few 
minutes filled with attempted small talk on David's part, then returned 
back with a small white box. "These pills contain Nephylproxin. Two or 
three should be enough, four, even, but don't overdose." He paused. "Five 
is right out." He said, without a change in tone or expression. Broadway 
burst out laughing, and even David had to chuckle at the allusion to Monty 
Python. Goliath very calmly took the small box of pills.

"Thank you, Xanatos," said Goliath. It sounded as if he was struggling to 
drag the words out of a deep, dark pit.

"Oh, no problem," said David, waving it off. "I don't want Detective 
Bluestone's nervous system to burn out any more than you do."

Goliath nodded, not completely reassured despite all attempts of his host, 
and climbed up the wall of the castle. David watched as they jumped off the 
parapets and caught the wind.

The billionaire sighed. There was still one large bullet on the mental 
"favors owed" list, a favor that he wasn't sure he could repay. "Do you 
think there's any chance I can convince them to come back?" he asked Owen. 
He wasn't talking about the immediate future.

"I'm sure, sir, that you will find a way. This is their ancestral home, 
remember."

"I remember, Owen," he said, turning away from the skyline. "I remember too 
well."

-=#=-

Matt awoke to someone splashing water in his face. *Cold* water. He threw 
up his hand to shield his eyes from the next splash.

"Ahh, you're awake!" said Brooklyn with obviously false joy. "Shower time. 
Doctor's orders."

Matt tried to move, found it easier than before. His muscles still felt 
like they were on fire, though, and he stopped. "What doctor?" he asked, 
blinking the blurryness out of his vision.

"Lex says that taking a hot shower will help flush the Hype stuff out of 
your system. And you'll need that until we can get our hands on some 
neutralizing agents." Brooklyn lightly tapped him on the shoulder, creating 
a sensation not unlike being hit in the arm with a metal pipe. Matt 
groaned. "C'mon, up!"

Gritting his teeth, Matt pushed himself to his feet and stumbled in the 
direction of the bathroom. Shutting the door, he started the water running 
while he undressed.

*Actually, I think a shower is a good idea,* he thought. *I've got so much 
grime on me I think my skin is going to be permanently coated.*

-=#=-

As they glid along, Goliath handed the package of pills to Broadway.

"You take these to Matt," he said. "I will tell Elisa that we have 
accomplished our task."

"Good idea. Elisa *will* want to know right away." Said Broadway, veering 
off slightly.

Goliath increased his speed towards the clock tower. Elisa had a right to 
know about their success, but his subconscious kept veering from the subject 
of Matt and onto other matters entirely. Finally, to stop the embarrassing 
thoughts from intruding on his flight, he thought steadfastedly of nothing 
at all.

-=#=-

Angela, Brooklyn, and Lexington sat in the middle of Matt's apartment, 
waiting for Broadway and Goliath to come with the neutralizer, or for Matt 
to come out again, or for sunrise. Basically, they were bored out of their 
skulls with worry.

Lex watched Angela closely. She seemed the most restless, pacing, tapping 
her fingers, lacing and re-lacing her fingers. Finally, without a word to 
the two males, she got up and slipped down the hall after Matt.

Brooklyn and Lex exchanged glances, and scampered to put their ears to the 
door so they could overhear what was going on inside.

-=#=-

Goliath neatly landed beside Elisa on the balcony of the clock tower. She 
turned to him with an expression of yearning hope on her face.

"Did you get it?" She asked.

"Yes, we did. Broadway is delivering it directly, but we thought you would 
like to know." He smiled at her.

"Yes!" Elisa said, throwing her arms around his neck in a hug. Startled, 
Goliath wrapped her in his arms and wings out of instinct. She snuggled up 
to his chest. He looked down in surprise.

"Elisa?" He asked.

"Oh, don't mind me, Goliath. I'm just happy that you got that Nephylproxin 
stuff." She gently, almost reluctantly lowered herself to the ground.

"Yes, so am I," he said. They turned and watched the traffic below.

"Oh, Goliath, it's more than that." She said.

He was silent for a while. "Yes, it is more, isn't it," he finally 
responded. Or was it admitted? It was such a fine line...

"You know how I feel about you, don't you?" she asked.

"And how I feel about you." The lights of the cars looked blurry and 
streaked from the height.

"Goliath," she paused. "How do you feel about me? Every time I think I 
know, something happens. The world is turning upside down."

He risked a glance at her, the same time she glanced at him. Their eyes 
met.

In hers, he saw fear, determination, and strength. In his, she saw pain, 
loyalty, courage, and love.

"I love you, Elisa." The words were out of his mouth before he realized he 
had said them.

"I love you too, Goliath."

The world seemed suspended in that one second. Neither breathed. No sound 
was heard, save the wind. Even the loud street sounds seemed dwindled to a 
buzz on the edge of the horizon.

"I've been waiting to hear you say that for a year," Elisa said finally, 
breaking the stillness.

Goliath held out his arms to her. "Elisa, my love."

It was impossible to say who started the kiss, but once it got under way it 
was more passionate and pure than any other, recorded or not. The busy 
noises of New York faded to a whisper in the cocoon of silence that was 
their love.

-=# Allright, hold here for a few seconds and stop making "aww" noises 
before you go on. Yes, I know it's a mood break, but so is the next scene. 
-AM #=-

Matt stood in the shower, letting the hot water run down his back. It did 
seem to help, soothing the pain and washing away the cold sweat.

His head snapped up as he heard the door open. He glanced around the shower 
curtain. Angela was there, closing and locking the door again. She turned 
to him.

"Uh, hi Angela." He said.

"Matt, we need to talk." She said.

He half-smiled. "This isn't really the best of times," he said. She shook 
her head.

"It's not," she started, then paused. "I mean, we *really* have to talk."

"Can it wait five minutes?" He asked.

She suddenly seemed to make a decision. She straightened up, came over to 
him, and kissed him full on the mouth.
 
He was sure his expression read somewhere between shocked and stunned, 
because that was how he felt. She pushed the curtain away and stepped into 
the shower with him, eye to eye. "I mean *REALLY* talk." She said. "I love 
you, Matt."

He swallowed. "Angela, I-"

"I know it's not the best time, with the Hype, and Sevarious and all, but I 
had to tell you. I love you. Ever since we first got a real chance to talk. 
But I knew father would never allow us, I mean, he wants me to love a man 
with wings." She smiled. "Well, I've made my choice."

Matt swallowed again. He had never guessed...

But it made sense. The extra attention, the following around, the whole 
'Matt patrol'. He had thought she was making time to get away with 
Brooklyn, but she was really making time to get away with him...

She was still standing there, waiting. An angel, a sympathetic angel...

"I- Angela..." he said, "I can't - I can't think with this stuff in my 
head. It hurts, and, and I can't trust myself. But," he paused. "But even 
now, I love you too. With all my heart."

She kissed him again.

-=#=-

Lex pressed his ear to the door, listening carefully. What he heard seemed 
to shock him, for he motioned Brooklyn to listen as well. A little 
reluctantly, Brooklyn pressed his ear up to the cool wood. He could hear 
Angela's voice, muffled by the shower and the inch of door.

"*** it's not the *** st time, with ********, but ** had to tell you. I 
love you. Ever since **********-"

Brooklyn pulled away from the door, shocked. He didn't know what to think. 
Angela... and *Matt*?

Anger, burning hot anger, was his first reaction, but it quickly passed, to 
be replaced by just a small aching feeling. The gargoyle turned down the 
hallway to the main room. Lex followed him. "I can't believe you didn't 
notice it before now." The younger gargoyle said.

Brooklyn sighed. "I can't either." He realized it, now. Every little thing, 
every little thing she does... "Excuse me," he said, turning away, "But I'd 
like to be alone for a while." He went out to the balcony and watched the 
world go by.

How could Angela go for *Matt*? He was nice, yeah, but he was... was... 
*human*.

And there, he thought, is the root of my problem. I'm prejudiced. But why 
couldn't she have chosen *me*? Brooklyn sighed. He was nice, he was fun, he 
was a gargoyle... and he loved her.

"Oh, Angela." He whispered. The words drifted on the wind, mixing with the 
general bustle of New York traffic. "I love you. I love you so much. I 
didn't realize it until now, when I find you beyond my reach. I guess I've 
loved you since I first saw you, but I had to get involved in those petty 
contests with Lex and Broadway. Maybe I could have attracted your 
attention. Maybe..." He barely noticed that he was speaking aloud. "But I 
see that you had made your mind up already. Matt. A *human*. I shouldn't be 
prejudiced, but I can't help it, it's the way I grew up. You were raised by 
humans, so I guess it isn't as... as *wrong* for you as it would feel for 
me. It's, it's just my own kinked moral sense, I guess. You probably have 
it easier relating to humans than any of us."

He rested his arms on the balcony rail, pondering. "I guess I'm sore 
because of the way life's been treating me. Bobby Quine I'm not," He said, 
invoking the name of a character from a William Gibson short story, "no 
master of hard fall and quick recovery. And now I've taken at least two 
hard falls."

He broke of his soliloquy when he heard wings above him. Broadway landed 
beside him, holding a small white box. Seeing it brightened his spirits a 
bit. Not much, but a bit.

"Is that..." He said, hoping with all his heart it was, but somehow wishing 
it wasn't.

"Yep! Had to go to Xanatos to get it, but we got it!" Broadway looked as 
cheerful as Brooklyn knew he should feel. "Goliath's telling Elisa the good 
news. So, where's Matt?"

"Taking a hot shower." Said Brooklyn, pointing back over his shoulder. "Lex 
said that'd help."

"Yeah, he looked through that web page pretty hard." Said Broadway, 
nodding. He pushed open the door and entered, and Brooklyn followed him. 
The blue gargoyle looked around for a second, noticing Angela's absence. 
"Hey, where's Angela?" he asked.

Brooklyn sighed, choking back bitter resentment that suddenly wanted to come 
to the surface of his emotions. "There's no easy way to tell you this, 
brother." He said. "Angela..."

"What happened?" Asked Broadway, shocked and worried.

"Nothing bad... at least, not from *her* perspective, I'd guess." Brooklyn 
sighed. "She's in love with Matt."

"WHAT?" Asked Broadway in a voice lower than a yell, but conveying the same 
strain and surprise.

Lex nodded. Broadway stood in shock for a few seconds before collapsing 
into a chair, which creaked under his weight. "I don't believe it." He 
said.

"Believe it," said both Lex and Brooklyn at the same time. Broadway looked 
down at the small package of pills in his hand as if he would like to crush 
it, then sighed and shook his head, tossing the box onto the bed. Brooklyn 
picked it up and started tossing it up in the air and catching it again.

Then the trio heard the shower switch off.

They exchanged glances. "I'll go," offered Brooklyn, starting off for the 
door.

-=#=-

Angela switched the water off and stepped out, handing Matt a towel. "Dry 
off. Then we can see if... if the neutralizing agent came in." She pushed 
the towel at him until he took it.

After he was relatively dry and clothed, they heard a knocking at the door. 
Matt opened it to find Brooklyn outside. "How you two lovebirds doin'?" 
asked the red gargoyle.

Matt paused in surprise and Angela pushed her way to the door. "Were you 
spying on us, Brooklyn?" She asked.

Brooklyn ran his tongue over his teeth for a second, then said, "Angela, I 
don't need to listen at people's doors to see when a girl is-"

"Answer me. Were you eavesdropping?" Angela leaned on the doorframe and 
started tapping her fingers on the wood.

"Uh..." Brooklyn looked like he would have liked the earth to swallow him 
up, which was answer enough. Angela sighed sharply, shaking her head. Matt 
tried to remain inconspicuous and ignore the throbbing pain in his head.

Brooklyn sighed. "Well, I can't say I'm thrilled..." He looked into 
Angela's eyes. "But I'm not one to begrudge you happiness." He held out a 
small white box.

Angela gasped. "Is that..." she trailed off.

Brooklyn nodded. "Broadway and Goliath got it from Xanatos a few minutes 
ago." He handed the box to Matt. "Take some. The faster, the better."

Hurriedly Matt gulped own a few of the small pills, washing them down with 
tapwater. The effects spread quickly, getting rid of the dizziness and 
pins-and-needles that he had felt ever since he had been jacked up to 
the... machine.

"It's working," he said, relieved. "It's.. it's helping."

Brooklyn smiled. "I'm glad. I wouldn't want to have had Broadway and 
Goliath beg a favor out of Xanatos for nothing."

Matt nodded and leaned against the countertop, a wave of fatigue passing 
over him. Angela put an arm around him to help him steady himself.

"I'm okay, really," he assured her. "It's just been a long night, that's 
all."

"I don't envy you," she said. "You'd better lie down."

"Great idea," said Brooklyn, making way for Matt to stumble into the 
bedroom and flop onto the bed. Angela sat down beside him, oblivious to 
Broadway's shocked expression.

"I'm fine, really." Matt said.

"Are you sure?" asked Angela as she leaned over him.

"Well..." he considered, then grinned at her sheepishly. "My back's a 
little sore."

Angela grinned back and playfully pushed him onto his stomach. "Back on 
Avalon, whenever someone pulled their wing muscles gliding, they always 
asked me for massages. I got pretty good at it," she said as she applied 
pressure to the muscles in his back. Matt sighed and relaxed under her 
fingers, dozing off a bit.

Broadway, Brooklyn and Lex exchanged glances, then went out to wait on the 
roof.

-=Chapter 6=-

A soft "Ahem" made Goliath and Elisa look up from their kiss. Hudson was 
standing in the doorway to the tower, an amused expression on his face. 
Guiltily, they parted.

"I take it that you found..." the elder gargoyle trailed off.

"Yes, we did. In the end we asked Xanatos for the favor." Goliath growled 
the name of his old enemy, but it wasn't heartfelt. He was in too good of a 
mood to let the billionaire spoil it.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that," said Hudson, moving over to the railing of 
the balcony, Bronx sniffing at his heels. "I'm going to take Bronx out for 
a walk. Would you mind checking up on the poor lad for me? I didn't much 
like Lexington's description of the state he was in."

"No problem." Said Elisa. "We can go over there now. Right, Goliath?" she 
turned to the lavender gargoyle by her side.

"Of course," he said, taking her in his arms and leaping out across the 
city.

-=#=-

Brooklyn peered into the skylight. He knew he wasn't supposed to be 
watching them, and that they probably wanted some privacy, but he felt 
obliged to make sure Matt and Angela didn't do anything they weren't 
supposed to, or that would be unhealthy for both of them.

Yeah, right.

Angela had finished Matt's massage, and had asked for one from him, and 
then had turned around unexpectedly and kissed the human. This drove the 
message home for Brooklyn, who turned from the scene and sat on the side of 
the roof with Lex and Broadway.

"I don't believe it," said Broadway again.

"Well, they seem serious about it." Brooklyn sighed and rested his head on 
his hand. "At least, if that kiss I just saw was any indication."

"Spying, Brooklyn?" asked Lexington.

"Hah. You weren't so quick to argue when it came to listening at doors," 
came Brooklyn's retort.

"You don't seem so sad about this turn of events," said Broadway to his 
smaller rookery brother. "We're both upset, but you aren't. Why not?"

"Oh, I kinda knew I really didn't have a chance," replied Lex, his tone 
more serious. "I mean, even before she told us off, I knew it was going to 
be a contest between you two. Now, I'm kind of, you know."

"If I can't have her, nobody can, sort of thing?" asked Brooklyn snidely.

"Not really, just, oh, I dunno." Lex threw his arms up in frustration, then 
let them drop to his sides. "I guess it was just less of a shock."

They waited for a while, in silence, watching the cars pass by below.

"I wonder... if they do, y'know, I wonder if they'll bond?" asked 
Lexington. He squirmed as he felt the gazes of his rookery brothers on him. 
"I mean, just from a purely scientific perspective-"

"Lex, you can take your 'Purely scientific perspective' and shove it up-" 
Brooklyn was cut off as they heard the peculiar *whooshing* sound a 
gargoyle's wings make when braking. The trio looked up as Goliath and Elisa 
landed.

Elisa grinned at them, her arm still around Goliath's neck. "Matt and 
Angela kick you out?"

Brooklyn paused, then nodded. "Yeah." There was something bothering him...

Then he realized it. It was the way Elisa leaned ever-so-slightly against 
Goliath, the way he had his arm a bit around her, the smile she had on her 
face....

The signs that two people were in love. He had missed it before, but now, 
it was obvious as the beak on his face. He exchanged glances with Lex and 
Broadway. They had spotted it too.

He looked pointedly from one to the other. "Did you two finally figure it 
out?" he asked. Elisa and Goliath exchanged surprised glances.

"Uh..." said Elisa. The sentiment was echoed by Goliath.

Brooklyn cracked a grin. "Took you long enough."

Elisa took a hesitant breath. "You three don't... mind, do you?"

Brooklyn and the others shook their heads. "Of course not. You're part of 
the clan already, and we'd already figured it out that both of you were 
falling for each other," supplied Broadway.

Brooklyn nodded in agreement. "Besides, if-" he paused, then considered, 
then paused again and did some quick genealogy charts in his mind. His eyes 
widened. "Uh," he said as his sentence got stuck in his throat.

"What?" Asked Elisa.

"Uh," he said again as he turned to his rookery brothers, "are you guys 
thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked.

"Depends on what you're thinking," quipped Lexington.

"I'm thinking that if they're thinking what they're thinking we should be 
thinking about what I'm thinking," he replied, glancing meaningfully to 
Goliath and Elisa and the skylight.

"But what-" started Lex, then he stopped as he realized it too. "Oh, no." 
His eyes widened in an almost comical expression. "Oh, no."

"Ah," agreed Broadway. "Ah, yeah."

"What?" Asked Elisa again, more forcefully this time.

The three young gargoyles exchanged glances. "Don't look in the skylight," 
blurted Brooklyn.

"Huh?" asked both Elisa and Goliath at the same time.

"Don't." "Uh, don't." "Just... look, just..." came the hurried responses.

It was now Elisa and Goliath who exchanged glances. "What is going on 
here?" asked the leader of the small clan.

"Trust me, you're better off not knowing," said Lex, throwing his hands up 
in front of his face as if to ward off a physical assault.

Elisa sighed and meaningfully took a few steps toward the small skylight. 
Brooklyn tried to stop her, but she pushed him away. "Don't say I didn't 
warn you," he admonished as he sat back down on the edge of the roof.

Whatever Elisa saw, it made her pale three shades and caused her eyes to 
open wide enough to see reflections in them. She pulled back to sit on the 
edge of the roof with the trio.

"Woah," she said.

"What?" Asked Goliath, more puzzled than ever.

"My partner and your daughter engaged in what looked like a major make-out 
session," she said. Goliath's eyes widened in shock, having picked up 
enough human slang to piece out Elisa's meaning.

"What?!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah." Said Lexington. "They proclaimed love to one another about fifteen 
minutes before you showed up."

Elisa gave a harsh bark of laughter. "I guess he figured his chances of 
getting together with another human were slim to zip." She shook her head 
ruefully, her blue-black hair whipping in the wind.

Goliath balled his fists at his sides, then slowly unclenched them. "This 
is... an interesting development," he said, joining the others on the edge 
of the roof. "I never expected this."

It was Brooklyn's turn to utter a harsh bark of laughter, so he did. 
"Neither did any of us."

Elisa sighed and groaned at the same time, then let herself down to Matt's 
balcony and rapped on the sliding door. She made a few gestures that the 
gargoyles couldn't make out, and in a few seconds Matt and Angela came out. 
Matt looked thoroughly embarrassed, but Angela looked proud, almost 
defiant, until her father's gaze centered on her as he leaped down from the 
roof.

Goliath inclined his head towards the edge of the balcony. "Angela, follow 
me. We need to talk."

"Yes, father," said Angela. She sighed, took a few steps forward, then 
paused, a smile growing on her face. Suddenly, she whipped back around and 
grabbed Matt in a passionate embrace, kissing him deeply. Matt more by 
reflex than anything else wrapped his arms around her, and they stood, 
locked there, for several seconds before they broke it to the shocked 
stares of everyone else.

Angela gave Matt a grin. "Bye, Matt," she said, before turning and jumping 
off the balcony in the direction that Goliath had indicated.

"Bye, Angela," he replied. Goliath shook his head in disbelief and followed 
his daughter. The trio excused themselves as well, and headed off. In the 
opposite direction.

Elisa sighed as she pulled Matt back into the apartment. "I won't yell and 
scream at you," she started, "because for one I'd be damned hypocritical 
and two you've had a rough night. But let me just say I'm not ecstatic 
about this." She gave him a glare.

Matt nodded, running his fingers through his hair. "Yeah, I can see why." 
He paused. "What do you mean, hypocritical?"

"I love Goliath," she admitted. "And I told him so, before we got here."

"Hey, congrats! I was wondering when..." Matt paused. "Oh, no." He groaned 
and passed his hand over his eyes. "I'm going out with my partner's 
boyfriend's daughter."

"Next on Montel." Elisa quipped. Matt snorted.

"Wonderful. Just wonderful. Can life get any more complicated?" he wondered 
aloud.

"I sure hope not," answered Elisa as she moved to leave. Pausing with her 
hand on the door, she turned back to him. "Hey, can I borrow your car?"

-=#=-

Angela slowed down for Goliath after he launched himself off the balcony, 
and they glided together for a while in silence. Silence mainly because 
Goliath was too surprised to do much but glide.

"Well," he finally said.

"Well?" Angela echoed. "What did you want to talk about?"

Goliath opened his mouth, then closed it, trying to remember what he had 
started to say. "Angela, why?" he finally asked.

"Why?" she laughed. "Because I love him. Truly."

"I know Brooklyn, Broadway, and Lexington were bitter about your choice."

"Let them be." She executed a flawless barrel roll. "I'm in love. Besides, 
as I told them, I *do* have sixteen rookery sisters back on Avalon, and we 
met plenty of *other* female gargoyles on our world tour. I'm sure they'll 
find someone if they just look hard enough."

Goliath sighed, unable to find a flaw in her reasoning. "I guess you're 
right. Still this comes as quite a shock, with all that has happened 
recently."

Angela nodded. "I guess... I just had to tell him. I mean, if I hadn't... 
what if you hadn't found that... stuff? Matt might have..." She trailed 
off. "I had to tell him, just in case."

"I can relate to that." Answered Goliath, considering. "The feeling... of 
helplessness. That's almost the same reason I confessed my love to Elisa. I 
suddenly realized how dangerous this world is, as if I had my nose rubbed in 
that fact."

"There, you underst... You finally told her?" Angela turned to her father. 
"That's wonderful! And I guess she accepted it, because you showed up at 
Matt's apartment together. I'm so glad you two finally found each other." 
Angela gave Goliath a radiant smile, making him feel about ten times 
better.

"Yes," Goliath nodded, smiling back, "So am I."

-=#=-

"Yeah Captain, I found Matt. He was being held by a Dr. Anton Sevarious. 
You know, the geneticist? Well, he got out, and I went and picked Sevarious 
up. I think he was using that General Genetics place as a front for illegal 
drug testing. Yeah. Well... yes, it does have to do with... yeah. I really 
do think that a day or two off would help, he's really hurt from that, even 
if he's trying not to show it. Okay, I'll go down there tomorrow and look 
the place over. Thanks."

-=#=-

Angela, Brooklyn and Lex once again flew to the General Genetics research 
lab, this time following Elisa's car to the gray building. They landed on 
the roof, waiting until Elisa gave them the signal to go in.

Elisa met them at the front entrance as they dropped out of the air 
conditioning duct. "Lex, can you hack into their computer again? I want to 
check out the other 'experiment'," she spat the word out with venom enough 
to do Demona credit, "files, and I want to erase anything in Matt's file 
that has to do with, say, a new frequent-flyer program?"

The gargoyles snorted at the last. "Yeah, I can do that for you." Lex 
replied.

Elisa motioned to the lobby computer. Lex jumped into the seat and inserted 
the password-cracking disk, nodding when it once again pulled up the right 
combination of numbers/letters.

"Okay..." he muttered as he pulled up the 'experiments' folder. "There are 
a lot of files here." Lex remarked grimly.

Elisa looked over Lex's shoulder at the screen, nodding. "We have a long 
night ahead of us, guys."

-=#=-

The General Genetics building actually did contain a number of experiments 
dealing with a variety of genetic diseases. Lex copied those files onto a 
disk to be saved if he had to wipe the computer.

However, not all of the projects which Sevarious had staged had been so 
good-willed. They found several variants on the mutagen that had 
transformed Derek, and several security guards that had been test subjects. 
The men, Eric and James, tagged along behind the gargoyles, expressing 
hatred for the geneticist and listening to the gargoyles' stories. They 
thought it would be a good idea to help Derek, now Talon, in the Labyrinth, 
and the Gargoyles agreed to take them there after finishing with the 
building.

"I could actually get to like this form." Eric said. He was golden with a 
leopard-spot pattern after his transformation, and swore it was better than 
being a short brunette. "It'd make my job easier." He grinned and flexed a 
few muscles in his hand, revealing a handful of long, sharp claws.

"Tell that to the wife," quipped Jim. He had been transformed from a slim 
man with black hair into a well-muscled tiger-like mutate. "I wonder if 
gliding's any fun." He mused, examining one of his rust-colored wings.

"It's great." Replied Brooklyn. "The ultimate high." He grinned as the two 
chuckled at his rather lame pun.

Lex consulted his printout. "Well, we just crashed the last one, the snake 
pen." The group shuddered. Five-foot long venomous snakes that were semi-
intelligent weren't exactly the favorite of anyone there. At least, not 
anymore. "All that's left is to crash the computer. We need to get rid of 
*all* that info, and as soon as possible."

Elisa gestured to a workstation by the wall. "There's a terminal right 
there. You have all the legit medical files?" Elisa asked.

"Here." Lex passed her a gigabyte hard disk containing all the files they 
felt were worth saving. He then went over to a terminal and systematically 
deleted the database. He then set it to reformat, cleaning the last dredges 
of info from the network. "Done." He left the reformat running. "Let's go."

-=Chapter 7=-

"Sir, I have the information downloaded from the General Genetics network, 
if you'd care to look it over."

David Xanatos looked up from the extremely boring papers littering his 
desk. "Sounds more interesting than the multi-lingual difficulties of 
transporting a few tons of copper around Asia." He remarked, accepting the 
thick sheaf of papers from his assistant. He glanced at the first few 
diagnostic sheets, flipping... flipping... boring medical data... flip, 
flip...

He paused at the X-ray. "Owen, are you sure this isn't faked?" He asked 
after a few seconds of speechlessness.

"I believe that the data is factual, sir." Owen adjusted his glasses. 
"However hard I find this to believe."

The billionaire flipped back a few pages, reading furiously. "Well, now... 
this is interesting... Very interesting." He smirked. "I do believe this 
can be used to our advantage."

Owen carefully raised one blond eyebrow. "Blackmail, sir?"

David looked up from the medical printouts. "Of course not. However, if 
Detective Bluestone knew I had this information..." he paused in thought. 
"It might help any negotiations I had with him." He smirked. "Thank you, 
Owen, that'll be all."

-=#=-

Brooklyn guided Eric and James across the sky to where he had set up a 
meeting with Talon. Eric was full of chatter, but Jim was gloomy, 
depressed. Finally Brooklyn's good will made him turn to the tiger-like 
mutate.

"Hey, James? What's up?" He asked, angling his glide so he kept pace with 
the former human. The trio wasn't going very fast, as Eric and Jim still 
had to pick up on the fine and not-so-fine points of gliding.

"Huh? Oh..." Jim started then settled back into his glide. "I was just 
thinking." He glid in silence for a while, then suddenly cried out, "why 
the hell did that ****er have to choose me? I have a life, I have a wife 
and kids, and this isn't going to help. I just realized I might never get 
to see Angie again." James' voice broke and he gritted his teeth to keep 
from crying.

*Angie?!... no, wait. Must be someone different. Someone else. Not 
Angela.* Brooklyn was silent for a few seconds. "You might be right, but 
then again, you might be able to see your family again. It worked out for 
Talon... he's really Elisa's brother, you know."

Tim looked up at the brick red gargoyle, who was flying slightly above him. 
"Really?"

Brooklyn nodded. "Really. It worked out fine, their parents know, and while 
they might not be fine with it, they've accepted it."

"Acceptance is the last stage of grief."

"No, the last stage is hope." Cut in Eric. "And you need some, friend."

Jim looked up into his fellow mutate's face, then down at the city lights 
below. "I don't know how to find hope anymore." He whispered.

-=# A day passes #=-

"Elisa?"

The detective jerked her head up at her partner's voice. They were in 
Matt's apartment, and had been going over Elisa's purge of Sevarious' labs 
until a few minutes ago. Matt had said he didn't want to hear anymore, and 
hadn't said anything else until now. Elisa couldn't blame him.

"Yeah, Matt?" she answered tentatively.

"Do you, do you.." he swallowed audibly, then started over. "Do you still 
think of me as, as human?"

"Of course." She answered quickly, then paused. "What brought this on?"

He shuddered slightly. "Something that Sevarious said."

Elisa snorted contempt. "If you want to know, I don't think of *that* 
monster as human."

He nodded. "Still... it scares me."

"Matt, you're human. You'll be human as long as you want to be thought of 
as human, at least by me."

He looked up at her, and Elisa could see the fear in his eyes. *For most of 
his life he's been searching for... freaks. Neat stuff. Now he's afraid 
that he _is_ a freak. Poetic justice? But it's so harsh...*

Matt looked down again. "Thanks," he whispered hoarsely.

"No problem." She sighed and glanced at her watch. "I've gotta go in. You 
still have a few nights off. Get some rest."

"Thanks again," Matt said as she got up to leave. "Could you-" He stopped 
and flushed, embarrassed. "Could you ask Angela to come down..."

Elisa smirked. "I don't think I could keep her away if I tried."

"Still..."

"Yeah, I'll give her the message." She grinned at him and turned to leave 
the small apartment.

-=#=-

Angela awoke with a roar, turning quickly on the rail of the balcony. Elisa 
waved to catch her attention.

"How's Matt doing?" She asked immediately after stepping down from the 
rail.

Elisa smiled at the young gargoyle comfortingly. "He's fine. A lot better. 
He wanted you to come and visit."

The young female nodded, then turned to her father. Goliath smiled at her. 
"Go, Angela. I'll take patrol tonight." She grinned her thanks before 
launching herself out over the city.

Elisa grinned at the receding shape of the young female, then sighed. 
"Well, even if Matt has time off from work, I don't. I'm on shift in five 
minutes. I'll see you all later," she said with a wave and a smile for 
Goliath as she turned to go inside.

"Good night, Elisa," Goliath called.

-=#=-

James, formerly James Stalkrisa, looked down at his apartment from the roof 
of the building next door. Talon put a comforting hand on the man's 
shoulder. "You don't have to go through with this if you don't want to," 
the leader of the mutates said.

Jim shook his head. "No, I need to do this. I've been gone long enough, and 
Angie... I want her to know I'm okay."

Talon nodded. Jim flipped open the small cellular phone that he had 
borrowed and carefully dialed in the number, taking extra care not to break 
the fragile device in his strong fingers.

After two rings, the phone was picked up. "Yes?" Angela Stalkrisa said, the 
noise of her computer humming in the background.

James swallowed. "Angie?" He asked, hoping that she would recognize his 
voice. His voice hadn't changed as much as the others' had, so maybe... 
"It's me, Jim," he said, just in case.

"*Jim?!*" His wife cried into the phone. "Where have you *been?* Where 
*are* you?"

He swallowed. "I'm someplace safe, don't worry about that," he said, trying 
to comfort her. Then, to allay any other fears, "I'm not sleeping with 
another woman, nothing like that, Angie... Angie, I love you, and wouldn't 
desert you."

James could hear her sigh of relief at the other end. "Come home, Jim, I'm 
worried about you. What happened? Why have you been gone?"

He grimaced. "It's... it's hard to explain, Angie. Call it a work-related 
accident, if you want."

"Are you in the hospital?" She asked, frantic again.

He shook his head, even though he knew she couldn't see him. "No, it's not 
like I'm injured... it's hard to explain. I'm with friends, though."

Angela sighed. "And that's all you're going to tell me."

Jim sighed as well. "I'm sorry, Angie... I *can't* tell you anything else. 
I wish I could..."

She was silent for a second. "I still love you, you know. I don't know why, 
but I do."

His heart leapt. "I love you too, Angie."

"Call me, okay?" She asked. "I don't want you just go away again..."

"I'll call, Angie, I promise." He grinned and settled back on the roof. 
"So, how have things been at work?"

-=#=-

Angela the gargoyle stood with Matt at his balcony, one wing around his 
body and an arm around his shoulders. Matt was leaning on the railing, 
talking to Angela, just talking. The words rolled over one another, 
tumbling out of his mouth like water over Niagara Falls. Every one of his 
fears, his insecurities, his feelings about the last few days, he told her. 
Finally he took a deep breath and exclaimed, "Damnit, I just want to know 
where I stand."

Angela simply held him close. "You're part of the clan, and you still have 
your life. You're not like the mutates, who have lost their whole life in 
the human's world. And I love you."

"I love you too, Angela," he said, "but..."

She silenced him with a kiss. "Don't worry," she said. And then, "have you 
tried to fly again?"

He shook his head. She smiled, and led him off the ledge.

-=#=-

There's no question about it, solo patrol is *boring*. Brooklyn wanted the 
job, though, because it gave him time to think.

*Really* think.

There was nothing to do about it, Matt was Angela's and Angela was Matt's. 
And Maggie was Talon's- that detail had been settled a while ago. And the 
only other female gargoyle for miles around was a xenophobic psychopath.

And he was alone. A*lone*! Alone with his sorrows, nobody to comfort him, 
nobody he could protect... save the city, his castle. He sighed. It looked 
like the city was going to be the only protectorate he would get.

He saw a pair of winged shapes in the distance, and flew closer for a 
better look... then veered away when he saw that it was Angela and Matt. 
Angela was holding Matt's hand to keep them both steady in the air, much as 
Goliath had when he was teaching Elisa to fly. Brooklyn chuckled as he 
remembered *that* misadventure.

He stopped chuckling as he saw another familiar winged shape approaching. 
One *too* familiar.

Demona.

He winged closer to intercept her, remembering all too well Demona's 
attitude toward humans... and didn't want to see that bad attitude directed 
at Matt... or at Angela. He didn't want Angela hurt...

Demona looked up as he buzzed her, and she snarled. "Human-lover," she 
greeted him.

"Why don't you get out of that streak?" He asked her. "It's getting old. 
And that fashion went out of style a millennium ago."

She snarled, her eyes glowing. "It seems I was wrong. I *thought* that I 
could save you from their influence, but I was wrong. Even my *daughter* 
has been corrupted by these-"

"Your daughter chooses her own path, mother," Angela called. Brooklyn's 
head snapped around, his worst fears realized. Angela was here... with 
Matt.

Demona's eyes widened at the sight of Matt flying, holding Angela's hand to 
keep balanced. "What... Angela, what is going on?"

"I've made my *decision*, mother," she replied. And then, there, she turned 
and kissed Matt, *right in front of Demona.*

The immortal warrior screamed, eyes glowing. "My own *daughter*, corrupted 
as my mate by these *humans!*" She cried. Then she screamed again and dived 
at the pair.

Matt and Angela had the sense to scatter, but Demona was more skilled than 
either of them, and went after Matt in a quick turn that Brooklyn could 
never manage. She sunk her claws into Matt's unprotected back, enjoying the 
human's cries of pain.

"MATT!!" Both Angela and Brooklyn cried. Brooklyn was the one to dive, 
wresting Matt out of Demona's grasp. Blood sprayed from her claws, getting 
in Brooklyn's eyes and blinding him, but he hung on to Matt, spreading his 
wings to keep them in the air. He blinked his eyes open, trying to see.

His vision was blurry and his eyes stung, but he could see Angela and 
Demona fighting above him, two angels of death fighting for supremacy... 
and for love. Angela struck Demona and sent her tumbling, and Brooklyn felt 
her land on his back... one hand hit his skull and jarred Matt from his 
grip...

The world went white.

-=# To be continued... #=-

Send all questions, comments, flames (such as "WHY THE HELL ARE YOU LEAVING 
ME HANGING??") to flamester@hotmail.com ... I *read* all my e-mail, even if 
I don't reply. Hope you enjoyed it, and more is on the way.