GARGOYLES: Re-Awakening

Understanding: 1

Elisa pushed herself free from Goliath, who did not try to stop her. She stumbled backward and came crashing onto her rear end on a crate. She could only stare for the time being. The dreamlike feeling of the whole thing was gone now. She'd been practically in Goliath's arms and there was no denying that he was real, and no pretending he was a fake. There was also no pretending that she had any semblance of control over the situation. All the guards were down now.

"I guess you're not from around here," she said.

Goliath raised an eyebrow. "No," he said.

Elisa hadn't really expected him to get it, she had merely grasped at anything to alleviate the anxiety. She dropped her head into her hands and ran them through her hair. Goliath sensed her feelings.

"Please," he said. "You need not fear us. On the contrary—we are here to ask you to help us."

Elisa looked up. "Us?" She asked.

"Aye, lassie," came a voice from her right. The elder stepped out from behind the boxes. Elisa jumped in her seat. She looked incredulously between the two of them, her eyes darting back and forth.

"There's two of you?!" She said. Her mind was swimming again.

"Seven, actually," The elder said.

Elisa let out a small 'oh' and leaned back. She felt faint. This was real, though, and she needed to pull herself together and start getting answers. There would be time to go to pieces later.

"Ok, ok, ok," she said. "Alright dammit, fine. Fine. Go ahead, tell me who you are and what the hell you're doing here and...just start at the beginning. And fair warning, you've got about two minutes before I completely freak out!"

Goliath and the Elder looked at one another.

"One thousand years ago we were frozen in stone by magic. We were awoken here by David Xanatos shortly before our encounter with you at the castle," Goliath said.

There was silence. Elisa looked between the two.

"That's it?" She said. "That's your idea of an explanation?"

"Those are the pertinent facts," Goliath said, expressionlessly.

"Good lord, what are you for crying out loud!" Elisa cried. "And what are you talking about magic. And wait, hold on a second, how in God's name does Xanatos get into this picture? How did he wake you up or whatever?"

"We are Gargoyles," Goliath said. "We protect—that is our nature. I do not know how we were frozen in stone. The castle was under attack. Somehow, the attackers were able to get to us while we slept and use sorcery to hold us in our stone state. I presume they then robbed the castle. Xanatos found out about us through one of our clan who managed to escape and live to this time. Demona is her name. She told him that to break the spell, the castle must rise above the clouds."

Again there was silence. He was efficient, Elisa thought. Only the pertinent facts. Normally, that would arouse her suspicions, but in this case her gut was telling her that this was, however strange, the unvarnished truth.

"What's this about stone?" she asked.

"It's how we sleep," The elder said. "We are stone by day, warriors by night."

Elisa ran her hands through her hair again. It was a lot to absorb. Too much, in fact, but maybe the sheer onslaught of insanity was, ironically, keeping her from focusing long enough to realize just how crazy it was. "And what are your names?" She asked.

"I am Goliath."

"I have no name," the elder said.

"No name?" Elisa asked.

"No need for one," was the curt response.

"Why do Goliath and...Demona was it? Why do they have names?" She asked.

"We were named by the humans," Goliath answered. "I do not know why. You humans do many things that defy explanation."

Elisa smiled. I can't argue with that, she thought to herself.

"Alright," she continued. "I suppose the million other questions I have can wait. What, exactly, do you want with me?"

It was the moment of truth for Goliath. He had never before in his life needed to trust a human. There were those he had trusted, of course, but that was not the same as needing them. In his former life, having trustworthy humans was an asset, not a necessity. Here, in this situation, he knew there was no way to sort out their predicament without the help of someone who knew the world they were now in—and it couldn't be any of the people he'd met so far. It couldn't be Demona, either.

"We need an ally," he started. "We are lost, and those who would light our way can not be trusted. This Xanatos—we owe our lives to him, but he is planning something, something he is unwilling to fully reveal to us."

Elisa looked at him. Goliath cast a nervous glance at the elder, then took a tiny step forward.

"We are strangers in this world. We do not understand it's alliances. We do not know who holds power, and who would usurp it. We do not know from whom we must defend the castle, our home. And we are part of something we do not understand." Goliath glanced at the elder again, looking for objection—there was none. "Since awakening," he continued, "we have battled. First at the castle, then at a fortress in the sky, then at our castle's former land."

"Whoa, hold on," Elisa interjected. "You brought down the Flying Fortress!"

"Yes," Goliath answered.

Elisa was aghast. She was also starting to get a vague outline in her mind. The armored truck heist, the destruction of the Flying Fortress, Xanatos and Cyberbiotics, and these Gargoyles. It was all connected.

"Do you realize that you are responsible for the single largest incident of corporate sabotage in the history of this nation!" Elisa said, incredulously.

Goliath only looked at her.

"Of course you don't," she said to herself. "I suppose I can't arrest you anyway, can I?"

Elisa stood up and paced in a small circle. "What about this Demona? You said she escaped, was able to live to this time. What do you mean?"

"I have no explanation. What she has said..." Goliath paused for a moment, then continued. "I am not certain that she is revealing everything. This is why we need you. We are caught in something we do not understand, and we have no way to explore it."

Elisa tapped her fingers against her leg. "Ya," she said. "I'm getting the picture." She paced some more. She wandered a few steps away from Goliath and the elder and saw, under the moonlight of one of the windows, her assailants. They were bound with plastic ties, the ones that were used to keep boxes secured to wooden pallets. They were out cold, but breathing. These creatures could have easily killed them, she realized, but there they were, alive. Elisa thought about the crash of the Flying Fortress. There had been no fatalities. Amazingly, everyone had manage to get out. Protectors, Elisa thought. Alright, I'll go with it for now.

"Alright," she said. "I'll tell you what. For the moment, it seems we share a common problem."

Goliath raised an eyebrow.

"I've been looking at Xanatos because there have been some strange things going on." Strange was definitely an understatement, she realized. "Clearly, I had no idea. I came here because he's been doing something in this factory that doesn't make a lot of sense. Then I'm almost killed. And now you." She paused. "I think there is something really big happening here—really big." She paced again, then stopped and looked at the two in front of her.

"Listen, this is crazy, but I haven't gotten this far without taking a leap from time to time." Elisa sighed, speaking as much to herself as to them. "I'll tell you what," she said. "Let's just start small." She gestured next to Goliath.

"Open that crate."