GARGOYLES: Re-Awakening

Battle Lines: 2

Xanatos was hovering above the chaos taking place in his castle. If he had had the time, he would have been kicking himself for allowing Demona to get the better of him. Who had she managed to get to embed the code that gave her control of his steel clan? How had she been able to pull this small conspiracy off underneath his nose?

As it was, he did not have time to dwell on this. What mattered now was getting back control. As he surveyed the scene, he saw that the Gargoyles and the uninvited humans—this detective Maza was becoming far too meddlesome for his liking, something that required remedying—were holding their ground, but it was not at all clear for how long. He had built his machines well, Xanatos knew, and they would not be easily destroyed. The Gargoyles had the strength, as Goliath had shown, but only if they could get the machines in a vulnerable position. As for the police, their bullets would prove useless.

There was only one sensible thing to do. He flew over to the top of the tower and landed. Quickly, he headed down the staircase, into the great hall, and straight to the wall where he hit the panel that opened his secret compartment. Inside, he tapped another panel that folded down, revealing a small keyboard and a computer screen. It accessed the server that ran the artificial intelligence that was controlling the steel clan. He brought up the termination sequence and began to enter the code.

Before he could finish he was suddenly struck in the side of the head. The blow sent him sprawling. Before he knew what was happening, Demona had leapt on top of him and driven her talons into his breast plate. With a yank and a growl, she ripped out the inner circuitry. The suit went dead and suddenly Goliath felt himself pinned to the ground. The metal exoskeleton was locked in a rigid position and he could not force it to move. He stared at Demona with piercing eyes.

"You'll pay for this betrayal," he said.

"Do not speak to me of betrayal," Demona said back, coldly.

"I would have treated you as an equal," Xanatos said. "We could have ruled this city, maybe even more together."

Demona laughed, a chilling, dismissive laugh that unsettled Xanatos more than was his custom.

"I have heard such offers before," Demona said. "What would your famous poet call it? 'The milk of human kindness?'"

Demona looked far away as she said it, and Xanatos did not understand what she meant, but there was little time to consider. Demona broke her gaze and turned. She headed to his secret compartment and, with the jab of a Talon, pressed a button which opened, revealing a large and very old book: The Grimorum Arcanorum. Demona reached in and removed it. She looked as if she was recovering a long lost heirloom, like it was a reminder of a past relative.

"The only words that matter, Xanatos, are contained in this book. They will take me back and I will stop the human treachery at the source." She turned and looked at him. "Who knows," she smirked. "Maybe you will never be born."

"No."

The word seemed to echo throughout the great hall. Demona gave a slight shake of her head.

"Oh, Goliath," she said. "Always the martyr to your sentimentality." She turned to face him. "Look at this human before you. You would protect him, even as he builds an army in your image in order to wage war on his own people, to subdue them to his whim?"

Goliath had entered unnoticed at the far end of the great hall. He looked gravely at her, but did not immediately reply. Instead, he moved slowly toward her, never breaking his hold on her with his eyes.

"Xanatos must answer to his own conscience, Demona, as we must answer to ours."

"My conscience is clear!" Demona cried, anger flashing in her eyes.

"Is it?" Goliath asked, slowly, heavily. "I have seen the things that your conscience must reckon with."

Demona's eyebrows narrowed.

"What do you mean?" she said.

Goliath continued to move slowly toward her, piercing into her with his gaze.

"It was you, Demona. You who betrayed us to the invaders. You who condemned us to stone—our brethren to dust."

Demona took a step back, as if faced with a ghost.

"That is not true!" she cried.

Goliath did not waver.

"Demona," he began. "Can you not see? Your hatred for the humans has grown so large that it encompasses us all. Do you not realize that all the damage, all the destruction, all of the pain you have endured is a spell in which you are the prime ingredient?"

Demona's face began to twist in anguish. She was battling between anger and despair.

"No!" She cried. "You do not know what you speak. You can not know!"

As much as it pained him, Goliath knew the time had come to act. While he had hoped his words might finally bring Demona back, he saw that the reality was she was too far gone. She would rather hide her culpability and continue down the path she had chosen than reckon with the painful truth. Perhaps, one day, she would be able to come to grips with all that had happened to her, but today was not that day. While she was momentarily saddled with the anguish of his words Goliath took his chance. With a sudden swish of his tail he knocked the Grimorum from her hands. At the same instant he grabbed her arms and with a quick pivot, hurled her against the opposite wall. She slammed into it full force and with a groan, slumped to the ground. Goliath was pained. He looked at her, devastated.

"Goliath, we need to take control while we have the chance," Xanatos said, matter of factly. His voice pulled Goliath back into the moment. "Do you see the computer screen and keyboard?"

Goliath turned and looked at it.

"That controls the central computer that makes the Steel Clan work. You can shut it down. Go to the panel and hit the enter key. Then input the following code: X07..."

Goliath turned briskly, walked straight to the computer terminal and with a violent thrust smashed the terminal into a smoldering heap. He then reached in with both talons and ripped the monitor out of the wall. He tossed it at Xanatos' feet.

Xanatos looked at Goliath with his eyebrows slightly raised.

"Well," he said. "I suppose that is also effective."

Goliath approached Xanatos and hovered above him with narrowed eyes and a harsh grimace.

"I do not know how, Xanatos, but you will answer for your part in this."

He reached down and grabbed Xanatos by the collar, pulling him close to his glaring eyes. But before anything more could be said they both felt a cold breeze blow across their faces. Goliath turned to see a wide open window next to where Demona had landed. She was gone.