GARGOYLES: Re-Awakening

Updraft: 3

The Elder and Goliath headed down the stone staircase and into the Great Hall, where Xanatos was seated at his desk. Goliath scanned the room, half expecting to see some evidence of his presence there with Elisa, but there was none. He pushed the thought from his mind so as not to appear suspicious in Xanatos' presence.

"Gentlemen. Gargoyles," Xanatos hesitated. "What exactly should I call you?"

Goliath said nothing. After a silence, the Elder spoke. "We've no use for names lad; not then, not now," he said.

"And yet Goliath and Demona have names," Xanatos replied.

The Elder waved his hand. "Because you humans can't abide a thing yeh can't label. What is it you've asked us here about? Not names, I hope?"

Xanatos smiked. "No, not names. I've asked you here because I have the information I needed. I know how to get into the Cyberbiotics lab and retrieve the Phoenix Gate. Where is Demona?"

"Gettin' some air," the Elder replied. "You can tell us what yeh know and we'll pass it along. Yeh needn't worry about us."

Xanatos sat. He was unhappy with that answer, but then again, he was rarely pleased by Demona's behavior. He did not have time to dwell on it.

"As I mentioned, Cyberbiotics has a facility on Roosevelt Island, here in Manhattan. The thing about Manhattan is, you can't build anything without following codes. Unless you happen to be me."

Again, there was silence from the Gargoyles.

"We really do need to work on your senses of humor," Xanatos said. "The facility is connected to the city sewer systems installed on the island, meaning that the laboratory areas are in close proximity to them. There is of course security equipment down there, but that is easily hacked. They don't tend to rely on that. What they rely on is the two gates they have installed leading to the areas adjacent to the laboratories. These gates are reinforced and of course monitored. For a normal person, it would take several minutes to get through both, even with explosives. Essentially, they slow you down enough for them to react. The two of you will be able to rip them right off their hinges and get into position quicker than they can respond."

"In what position?" Goliath asked.

"Once you are through the two gates, you'll come to an area that runs alongside the underground laboratory. You will plant a special explosive—one that will blow only inward toward the laboratory; a little piece of Xanatos Enterprise tech. Once you are inside the gate will be inside a storage locker. Again, it will be short work for your strength. Then you escape the way you came. Simple." Xanatos let it sink in. "Questions, gentlemen?"

"One," the Elder said. "What is a sewer?"

Xanatos leaned back on his desk. "Forgive me, I sometimes forget you come from a different time. It is a waste disposal system. It won't be pleasant, but it won't be terrible. People go down there all the time. Think of it as tonight's adventure in the big city!"

"No," Goliath said.

"As I said, Goliath, a sense of humor..."

"It will not be tonight," Goliath responded.

Xanatos looked at Goliath, then at Owen, then back to Goliath.

"What are you talking about?" He asked.

"We will go tomorrow night," Goliath said.

"I really..." Xanatos began, but was immediately interrupted.

"You can not complete this task without us, correct?" Goliath asked.

"No," Xanatos replied, in a tone that communicated dissatisfaction.

"Then we will decide when we risk ourselves," Goliath said. With that, he turned and walked up the stairs. The Elder followed without a word.

Once they were out of site, Xanatos frowned. It did not matter that Goliath was delaying the mission, in fact, it worked better for him since he knew why. He simply did not like being dictated to and then cut-off. He collected himself though, turned to Owen and flashed a smirk.

— —

Matt was watching Elisa. She was at her desk, pretending to catch up on old paper work. He was trying to see, if he watched long enough, some aspect of her appearance that might tell him what to do. Just as he was considering standing up and marching over to her to demand they talk this thing out, she rose and walked to him.

"Take a walk?" She asked.

He tossed his pen on his desk and stood up. Elisa turned and Matt followed her out the building. Once in front of the building, they moved a few steps to the side and Elisa began to speak.

"I know I haven't been a very good partner," Elisa began. Then she hesitated. She had had a vague plan about what to say, but now that she had started, it seemed wholly impractical. She wanted to trust Matt, but she couldn't yet. More than that, she didn't want to pull him into something that might ruin his career if things went sideways. She wasn't willing to take on that responsibility.

"Listen," she continued. "I don't expect you to understand being shut out like this. And when this is all over, if you want a new partner, I'll understand. For now, I just can't risk bringing you in on this. And not because of you, but because I don't even know where this is going. I don't want to be responsible for ending your career before it even gets going. My last partner almost did that to me and the truth is, I hated him too much for it to turn around and do it to you."

Matt was surprised by the emotions that flooded out of her as she spoke. When she had gotten to the last bit about her partner, she had turned away. As soon as she had finished, she had walked to her car and gotten in before Matt could even respond.

That changed everything for him. Now he knew what he was going to do.