Night fell over the city of New York. As the last rays of light gave up hope of penetrating the growing gloom of the darkening city, six stone statues cracked apart, giving way to the living beings inside them. Goliath stepped off his perch, his eyes dark and brooding. "Coming to get breakfast, Goliath?" Brooklyn asked.
Goliath turned slightly. "No," he said at last. "Not right now. I’ll be down in a while." The others went into the clock tower, all except for Hudson.
"What’s wrong, lad?" the aging, one-eyed gargoyle asked.
"I keep seeing things, visions, while I’m asleep." Goliath was silent again.
Hudson prodded a little. "About?"
Goliath turned to him, worry in his eyes. "Elisa."
"Go on."
"She’s falling, and I can’t get to her. I’m trapped. Then I get free, and I try, but it’s too late."
"She dies?" Goliath just nodded. "It might be just a dream, lad. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Elisa is remarkably capable of taking care of herself." Hudson put a comforting hand on Goliath’s shoulder.
Goliath straightened up and smiled. "Yes, she is, isn’t she?"
Elisa walked out onto the roof of the clock tower. "Hey, guys, what’s up?"
"Good evening, lass," Hudson said, turning to look at her. "Just enjoying the fresh air."
"Fresh air? In New York?" Elisa laughed. "That’s a joke, right?" Hudson laughed, too, then headed inside for some food.
"It’s good to see you, Elisa," Goliath said, turning his head to look at her.
She smiled up at him, lifting his right arm and putting it around her shoulders. Then she turned and looked out over the city. "It’s beautiful, isn’t it?"
"What?"
"New York. Looking out over the skyline, seeing nothing but the outlines of the buildings, you can almost forget about the problems this city has."
Goliath didn’t reply, lost in thought. Standing here with his arm around Elisa... He always remembered that fleeting moment when Elisa was a gargoyle. His hope had leaped for the sky...but then she had been changed back. He would have even stayed a human to be able to share her life.
"We can’t change it, Goliath," she said, startling him.
"How--?"
"I can see it in your face. We can’t change what we are."
"No," Goliath said finally, sighing. "We can’t change what we are."
She stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek. "C’mon, big guy. Let’s go inside and get something to eat."
The night passed, then the day. The sun descended from the sky, highlighting for a moment the six statues on the clock tower. Inside his stone shell, Goliath’s mind was whirling, his muscles tense. It was the dream again. He saw Xanatos standing a short distance away, looking at him. He called for the others, but there was no answer. Where were they? Then Elisa burst on the scene, her gun drawn. She pointed it at Xanatos, but something--it was too dark, Goliath couldn’t see--grabbed her and threw her off the roof. He shouted her name, stepping forward, but a sound came from above. He looked up to see the thick, closely woven net descending on him. He leaped backwards, trying to escape it, but couldn’t. He thrashed, enraged by Xanatos’ treachery. The ropes snapped, freeing him, and he dove over the roof of the building. Down, down he encouraged his body. Only inches from reaching Elisa’s hand, her body slammed into the sidewalk, bones shattering, including her skull. He scooped her up, demanding that she not die, but her eyes were already lifeless.
The last light faded, and the stone cracked, awakening Goliath from his dream. He sat down on his perch, chin in his hand, eyes dark. "Goliath?" Broadway said. He didn’t answer.
"Leave him be, lads," Hudson told the others. "He has some things to think about."
"Is he all right?" Brooklyn asked.
"He’ll be fine. Everything’s fine."
Goliath sat for a while, thinking. Then the slight scrape of a shoe against stone made him get up and whirl around in one smooth movement. He blinked a little, then said, "What do you want?"
Owen adjusted his wire-frame glasses. "Mr. Xanatos would like to speak with you. If you’d be so kind as to visit the castle sometime tonight?"
Goliath paused, then nodded once. Owen gave a little nod in return, then turned and walked away.
Goliath landed at the castle an hour later, Elisa in his arms. He set her gently on her feet. Xanatos walked up to them. "Goliath, I wasn’t expecting you to have company."
Goliath was silent.
"Oh, well. I suppose Detective Maza can hear what I have to say, too." Xanatos stopped.
"So say it," Goliath said after a moment.
"Come back to the castle. That’s all I want. I regret having caused trouble with you."
"I will think about it," Goliath said, and lifted Elisa into his arms again. He swooped off the edge of the wall and into the air, heading back toward the clock tower.
"I don’t trust him, Goliath."
"Neither do I, Elisa, but we should at least take the chance. If we can go back to the castle..."
"The castle’s not as important as your lives!" Elisa cried.
"Elisa, the castle is our home. We are happiest there."
"And you could be destroyed there, too. You can’t defend yourselves during the day!"
They landed at the clock tower, and Elisa wiggled out of Goliath’s grasp. "Xanatos is not known for giving something without wanting something in return. He’s got something up his sleeve, and you’re falling right into his trap."
"Elisa--" Goliath began, but she turned away and walked out of the clock tower.
The next night, the gargoyles flew to the castle, Brooklyn and Broadway carrying Bronx between them. Xanatos was waiting. "You came, I’m so glad." He motioned, and lights came on, illuminating the group of robot gargoyles behind him. Xanatos smiled. "It’s so much easier this way."
Goliath leaped toward Xanatos, eyes white with fury, but he was swatted away by one of the robots. The other robots captured the others before they could go to his aid.
"Xanatos!" Goliath bellowed, springing to his feet. "You have betrayed us!"
Xanatos shrugged. "I don’t like having problems. I get rid of them any way I can."
Elisa suddenly came running through a door. "Your time is up, Xanatos!" She lifted her gun and aimed it at him.
"Elisa!" Goliath shouted, but it was too late. A massive steel hand came down on her shoulder, picked her up, and tossed her off the roof as if she were trash.
The sound of pulley wheels squealing, and Goliath looked up to see a net falling toward him. It was attached to a crane that Owen was controlling. Goliath shifted his weight backward, as if he was going to jump that direction, and watched the net sway backwards. He forced himself to wait.
At the last second, he leaped forward instead of backward, clearing the edge of the castle wall in one massive jump. He let himself drop like a stone, falling faster and faster each second. He and Elisa sighted each other at the same moment, and she stretched her hands toward him. Goliath came closer every moment, but the ground was racing upwards at a deadly pace.
Fingers brushed, then held. It was a tenuous grasp, but Goliath didn’t waste any time, opening his wings and swooping back into the sky. Elisa’s heels lightly scraped the sidewalk as they lifted away.
She was shaking as he pulled her up into his arms and held her closely. "Oh my God," she kept saying, staring off into the air. "Oh my God, oh my God."
"Elisa?"
At the sound of his voice, she blinked and looked up at him. "Goliath," she said. The tremors in her body subsided, and she smiled at him.
"You were right, Elisa."
"Aren’t I always?" She laughed at the look on his face. "Let’s go get the others."
As Goliath turned and soared back to the castle, Elisa pulled a gun out of a holster at her ankle.
Xanatos looked up as they landed, and as he was caught motionless in surprise at seeing Elisa, she pointed her gun at him and fired. Xanatos hit the ground heavily. Goliath, with a roar of rage, leaped on the first robot and tore its head off, freeing Hudson, who helped Goliath free Brooklyn.
As each gargoyle was freed by his friends, their attack on the gargoyle robots became fiercer. Within a short moment, the robots were little more than scraps. Goliath walked over to Elisa, who still had her gun pointed at Xanatos, who lay unmoving where he had fallen. "Elisa, let’s go home."
Elisa relaxed, and turned her head to smile at Goliath. "Yeah, let’s."
The gargoyles soared off into the night, back to their clock tower home.
"They’re gone, Mr. Xanatos. And left quite a mess to be cleaned up."
Xanatos opened his eyes and sat up. A hole in his shirt marked the place where he had been shot, but the redness around it was merely stage blood. He was otherwise unhurt. "Ruined my good shirt, too," he said, taking it off and revealing the heavy bulletproof vest underneath. He stood up and looked in the direction of the clock tower. "This isn’t finished yet," he said. "Not by far."
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