GARGOYLES: Re-Awakening

Remembrances: 2

Goliath followed a few steps behind Demona. All his senses were on high alert, both for guards, and for her. He found he was no longer able to predict her behavior. In the past she had been angry, possessed of a short fuse and a hot temper, but he always knew more or less what would set her off and how he could cool her down. But now...

The corridors they were in were metallic and dimly lit. They reminded Goliath of the passageways beneath the castle—for a moment, he thought of his encounter with the Prince and the Phoenix Gate—but they were of course far from the stone he was used to. The world seemed to be filled with metal now, and it felt cold and slick under his feet. Above his head were curious looking tubes, snaking along the ceiling and around the bend. Occasionally, he passed a dark, shiny spot on the wall. Goliath had never seen a computer interface, so he thought they were mirrors, which surprised him. Mirrors were expensive items, only possessed by the Prince in his time. Who was rich enough to place them on the walls at regular intervals, as if they were a mere decoration?

After several more turns, they rounded a corner and found themselves face to face with two guards protecting a door. Goliath was startled for a split second, but Demona did not hesitate. She immediately pounced forward and with a single, powerful swipe of her arm smashed the guard positioned to the right of the door so forcefully across the face that he was thrown nearly head-first into the second guard. The impact was so hard that both slammed into the wall with enough intensity to knock them both out cold.

Goliath walked up slowly next to Demona. "Overkill, was it not?" he asked.

"They live, don't they?" she replied. "Behind this door is our objective."

They looked at each other for a moment and then, without a word, simultaneously stepped back and then kicked forward, each extending a leg straight into the center of the door. The hinges sheered right off the wall and the door flew straight into the center of the room. The two Gargoyles entered and flared their wings. It was, Demona briefly felt, just like old times. There were three men in the room. One was standing at a center console, looking through a large window out into the night sky. The other two were at the edges of the room, observing various flashing lights. Goliath and Demona moved quickly. While she pivoted right, Goliath went left. Demona went straight for the head. With an outstretched arm she closed her talons around the man's face and shoved him backward against the wall. The back of his head smacked into a screen, cracking it, and he slid slowly down and came to a rest on his backside.

Goliath moved in a zig zag at his person. With a quick weave he was able to position himself to the side of the man before he could react and thus, rap a thick arm around his neck. He pulled the man tightly against him and kept him between himself and the third person, who had now turned around to face these sudden attackers.

"What in God's name..." the man started, but before he could finish Demona was on him. She grabbed his collar, lifting him off the ground while drawing an arm back, talons ready to strike.

"Demona!" Goliath yelled.

She froze and looked at him. The man in her clutches dangled helplessly, his feet several inches from the floor.

"Your violence is unnecessary," Goliath said. "We can bind them together and conclude our business undisturbed."

Demona did not immediately answer. The four of them remained frozen—Goliath with his human shield, Demona with her dangling rag-doll. Demona was thinking. She truly had underestimated the amount of change that had happened since she and Goliath last saw each other. Everything that she did was shaped by her thousand years of experience—and hatred—by her understanding of the world they currently found themselves in. Goliath's methods, by contrast, besides being driven by his formidable capacity for empathy and compassion, were tuned to situations that were a thousand years old. He had no idea how to perform a raid of this kind in this setting, with this technology and with these people. He didn't even know what their mission actually was.

As if on cue with her thoughts, the guard Goliath was holding reached a hand out and pressed a button on the console beside him. An alarm sounded and red lights began flashing. Goliath looked up with a start, and that was all Demona needed. She flung her victim at Goliath's. The two smashed together and rumpled to the floor in a heap of groans. Demona turned and grabbed a disc that was lying on the front console. She tossed it to Goliath, who caught it with a flinch. He was about to speak when Demona grabbed the chair beside her, raised it high into the air and then brought it crashing down onto the panel in front of her. Sparks and static flared, followed almost immediately by smoke. The ship lurched leftward, nearly toppling Goliath on his back. Demona then took the chair and with a violent heave, sent it crashing through the glass to the outside world. "Hurry," she cried, and then leapt out the window and into the night sky.

Goliath had no time to protest. He packed the disc she'd thrown at him into his waste-garment. He then grabbed the two men, still moaning on the floor, by their belts. Crossing the room to the third man was proving difficult. Goliath was strong, but two dazed humans were awkward to carry. With effort, he reached the third man, grabbed him by his belt and then headed for the window. Once there, he summoned all his strength, hoisted the men like luggage, jumped up onto the edge and then out into the night. Behind him, the ship veered leftward and down. After a few seconds, he heard the massive splash of sound as the ship smacked into the lake.