FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

It was a cold winter night in New York City. The alley was dark and dirty, not that there was any other kind. Still, this one somehow seemed worse than most. The few lights that would have illuminated it were long ago smashed. The trash was overflowing out of the dumpsters and caked to the walls and edges of the narrow street. The wind was biting at Maggie's cheeks as she did her best to pull the tattered lightweight jacket closer to keep the cold at bay. At least the freezing temperatures kept the stink down. The only light and heat in the area was a small fire started in a metal trash can with a couple hobo's standing around it.

The blond woman stopped peaking around a corner looking at the alley so she could talk to the old man standing in the shadows. It was a little hard to make out details, but she could tell he didn't belong in a place like this. He was well dressed in a long gray trench coat and a clean looking white scarf. “I'm not like these others. I haven't been in New York long. This is only a temporary setback." Maggie said somewhat nervously.

The old man took a step forward, giving her a quick look over. She noticed him doing this, but unlike some other guys she had met, he didn't seem to be judging her in any sexual way. No, he just seemed to be trying to figure out if she would be useful. She was dirty and tired looking, not particularly strong or attractive. Though taking into account how she was living, she seemed to be slightly above the usual riffraff he was used to seeing in places like this. All in all, she was perfect for what he needed. "Of course, I can see that you're not like these others. As it happens, I need a temporary assistant. Easy work, pays well, and it has much nicer surroundings than these." He said gesturing towards the homeless huddled around the fire with his cane.

“What would I have to do?" Maggie asked, unable to hide the hopefulness in her voice.

The old man grinned. “Oh, not too much. I just need you for some, uh, experiments." The younger woman seemed to be a bit confused. “My hands you see, they aren't as steady as they use to be." He added after seeing her reaction. With her fully on board, he escorted her to the waiting limousine and opened the door for her. Once inside he sat opposite of her, not seeming to want to get too close. He made a formal introduction to her and gave her a few details about himself, including his name, Dr. Sevarius.

Half an hour later they arrived at what was a fairly small building given the area. It was only a few stories high with large, illuminated lettering on the top of the building that read "GEN-U-TECH." Once inside the building Dr. Sevarius lead her through a few corridors to her room. He had explained on the way over that as far as anyone else was concerned, she wasn't technically working for him. After all the scientific community wouldn't approve of him hiring some random person off the street. However, if he were to get an official assistant then he would have to disclose his physical condition to the world, and his pride wouldn't allow that. Because of that she'll be paid cash and will have to stay on the grounds. He didn't have to deal with a paper trail because of an apartment. She had tried to get some specifics of what he was working on but he kept evading the question. "We can discuss that tomorrow once you've had a good night's rest. I'll have some new, more appropriate clothes delivered to your room. Can't have you walking around like that in a sterile environment." He said gesturing to her. Then seemingly realizing how much of an ass he was being, he tried to make up for it. "Forgive me, where are my manors. I'm talking about business while I'm sure you're still trying to get your head wrapped around everything. Not to mention, I'm betting you're famished."

"Well, now that you mention it, it has been quite a while since I had a decent meal," Maggie said trying to downplay how hungry she really was.

Sevarius held up his hands. "Say no more, I will have dinner delivered to your room within the hour. In the meantime, I'll have some coffee sent to you. Please make yourself at home." The doctor said opening the door to her room.

The place was pretty sparse, but she wasn't surprised. After where she'd spent the last couple weeks, a clean bed, a basic chair, and a small bathroom with a tiny shower seemed like heaven. She was thinking about how good it would feel to get all the sweat and grime washed off her when she heard a knock at the door. When she opened it, she didn't see anyone but did find a tray with a couple cups and a pot of coffee. Deciding she needed a little bit of a boost before taking a shower, she quickly poured herself a cup and gulped it down. It tasted a little strong, but she didn't really think anything about it. A few minutes later she was feeling extremely sleepy and couldn't stay on her feet.

What happened next wasn't entirely clear to Maggie. It was all a jumble. She remembered being pushed through the halls in a wheelchair. Then she was strapped onto a table with some sort of IV containing a strange colored liquid dripping down into a tube attached to her arm. Finally, she woke up in a small padded room with one wall that seemed to be a mirror. Her body felt strange. When she looked down she found her arms were covered in fur. Her whole body was. Her legs and feet had changed. It seemed like she had an extra joint in them that made it hard for her to stand. When she tried something was heavy on her back and was throwing her off even more than the new legs. She turned her head and was horrified to see large black leathery wings coming out of her back. Shocked, she lost her concentration and began to fall down. She tried to use her arms to maintain balance but in her panic, her wings also opened and flapped awkwardly slapping against the glass and padding as she struggled to control muscles she never had before. She fell to the floor and her eyes began to well up as she looked at herself for the first time in the mirror. She had been turned into some monstrous combination of a cat and a bat. She wanted to burst out into tears but forced herself to stop, turning her horror and self-pity into rage. She clenched her fist tight enough that her new claws drew blood, but she didn't care. She lashed out pounding her fists against the mirrored wall, smearing blood against it in the process. No matter how hard she hit it no cracks formed. It barely even flexed under her beating. Gradually she tired herself out and stopped. It's not like it mattered anyway. Even if she managed to break it, she still wouldn't be able to get away. Not with her body like this. She would need to learn how it worked and what it was capable of. At the same time, she'd need to somehow hide it from anyone who was watching her.

Over the next few months, she did just that. She quickly discovered and broke the first camera inside her cell within a day of finding it. When they took her out to do some tests she didn't struggle much. She knew there would be little point. She needed to bide her time. When they returned her to the cell, she found a glass-domed camera had replaced the previous one. She couldn't break this one, but she was able to easily enough coat the glass so that it would completely or at least mostly obscure it's vision. It was a constant back and forth battle, with her seemingly winning some minor victories. To anyone watching her, she only seemed to really fight back in small ways and was mostly concerned about her privacy.

She only explored what her body could do when she was fairly certain she was alone. Early on she learned that her hearing was greatly heightened. In the night when it was mostly silent, she could easily hear when the security guard entered the room outside her cell. The thick one-way mirror may have kept out sounds for a normal human, but she could tell whenever there was someone outside watching her. She had no doubt that there was a camera outside her cell that was recording her as well, but she couldn't do anything about that other than try and make it harder to tell what she was doing. So whenever she could, she practiced or exercised with her back to the mirror. After she learned how to manipulate her wings, she would flare them out so that they covered as much of the glass as possible.

Finally, she felt that she was ready to try and escape. All she needed was a good opportunity. By now, she had pretty much stopped resisting the lab workers and guards all together when they were escorting her or doing tests. It was paying off, they were starting to relax around her without even realizing it. One night a guard was flirting with one of the lab technicians, not paying too much attention to what Maggie was doing. Without warning, she lashed out catching the armed guard in the face. Even though he was wearing a helmet with a shatter resistant visor she smashed through it with ease, breaking his nose and knocking him out. The lab assistant barely had time to utter a curse of surprise before she grabbed her by the shirt and tossed her across the room with a dull thud as she hit the wall. The second lab assistant, unfortunately, had enough time to hit the alarm forcing Maggie to make a mad dash for the door. She ran through the hallways looking for an exit. She could hear the guards climbing the stairs. She only had a few seconds to make a decision. She saw a window she recognized from when Sevarius had first shown her around. It was on the second floor of the building, but she guessed or at least hoped that her new body and wings could handle the fall. She threw herself into the glass, crashing through it escaping into the night.

Now that she was outside she had no idea what to do or where to go. She hadn't really thought that far ahead. It's not as though she had very many options. She didn't know anyone in the city. Even if she did, how would she approach them? They'd freak out. Same thing with the police. She was ironically in the same position as when Sevarius found her, forced into dirty alleys. Only this time she had to pray no one noticed her.

A 5' 6" tall lioness with bat wings is a hard thing to miss. Even though she did her best to find an alley devoid of people, she was sure a few had seen her. She just hadn't expected to be drawing attention from the sky. The silhouette Maggie cast was quite distinctive. In fact, as far as the red gargoyle gliding above the city knew, it could only be one thing. “Hey look," Brooklyn said to the rotund gargoyle beside him.

“Do you think it's Demona?" Broadway asked, given the slender outline of the body and the shape of the wings.

"Let's find out," Brooklyn responded in an angry tone making it clear that he still held a grudge when it came to the female gargoyle that had betrayed and used him. The two quickly descended into the alley ready for a fight.

Both the gargoyles and Maggie were surprised when they saw each other. Broadway was mainly confused that there could be any gargoyle-like creatures in the city they hadn't already encountered. Brooklyn wasn't nearly as questioning about the situation. Instead, he was immediately taken with the woman in front of him. He barely even noticed that she was wearing a filthy tattered green outfit, or that she was quite mangy with dirty hair and clumped fur.

Maggie wasn't handling the situation as well as the gargoyles. She wasn't merely confused or surprised, she was scared. “Gah, stay away from me!" She yelled in terror as she instinctively backed away from them.

“No, don't be afraid. We won't hurt you." Brooklyn said in the most calming way he could. Unfortunately being a demonic looking red creature that descended out of the sky with glowing white eyes didn't help put her at ease. Even hearing normal words spoken in a disarming tone did little to help.

Before anyone could try and figure out what was going on the alley was suddenly lit up by cascading red and blue lights from what appeared to be a pair of ambulances. Half a dozen people in white lab coats got out of the vehicles, each armed with unusual looking rifles or pistols. The six worked their way down the alley and stopped when they saw the three. "What do we do, there's only suppose to be one of them?" One asks as the one in the front cocks his rifle. "Tranq them all, let the doc sort them out."

The gargoyles were quick to react to the armed group. They didn't know the group was after Maggie, but the mere fact that paramedics aren't supposed to be armed was enough of a tip-off that nothing good was about to go down. The red gargoyle dove for cover, grabbing Maggie as he went. The two landed behind a dumpster just as several darts pinged off of it. Broadway likewise ducked behind some full trash cans. Maggie gave a small tug of her arm to pull away from the monster, but then stopped short. Those goons had to be from Gen-U-Tech but they were shooting at all of them. That meant that whatever these things were, at least they weren't made by the doctor. She wondered if they be better or worse than going back to the doctor and getting locked up again?

Maggie made her decision. “Please, help me." She asked in a pleading voice to the red gargoyle.

It was music to Brooklyn's ears. "Don't worry, I'll keep you safe." He said, giving her a smile that was only slightly unsettling to the cat girl. He peeked over the top of the dumpster right as another series of darts hit above their heads, making both reflexively duck. "Okay, I think I have a plan. Help me push this thing toward them. Once they see the dumpster barreling down on them they'll have to get out of the way. While they're recovering we'll run for the ambulance and jump from it to the roof." Maggie nodded her head in understanding. The two put their whole body into pushing the heavy thing. For a moment it seemed like it wouldn't budge, then the rusty wheels started to move. Meanwhile, Broadway picked up a full trashcan and hurls it at a pair who aren't in the way of the dumpster, knocking them flat on their backs. The lumbering mass gained speed, careening towards the parked ambulances forcing several of the goons to dive out of the way. A few moments later it smashed into the side of the blocky vehicle. Broadway was a little closer to the ambulances and was able to jump on top of the closest one's roof first, making a large dent as he landed. A moment later he launched himself upwards and towards the side of the nearby building. His talons easily penetrated the concrete wall, allowing the heavyset gargoyle to climb the rest of the way to the roof.

As Maggie and Brooklyn ran towards the ambulance, she saw Broadway make his jump. After seeing him crawling up the sheer wall she realized that there was no way for her to make it to the top. "I don't think I can make it too the roof as he did." The feline woman said in a panicked voice to the red gargoyle.

“I'll give you a boost, do you think that'll work?" Brooklyn asked, doing his best to think fast.

Maggie looked up to the large turquoise figure waving at the two of them, making sure they could see him. “Yeah, that'll probably work." She said as Brooklyn got on the roof of the vehicle. He bent down and put his hands together into a cup for her to step on. She put her right foot in his hands, a little unsteady and nervous as she did so.

“Okay, I'm going to lift hard on the count of three." The red gargoyle said in warning. She nodded and he started to count. On, “three," he lifted with all his strength throwing her into the air. She still didn't get quite enough height to be able to land on top of the roof, but it looked like she'd just be able to grab onto the edge. Luckily she didn't even need to do that as Broadway was able to grab hold of her outstretched arm and pull her in.

Brooklyn followed immediately after her, jumping onto the wall and crawling his way upward. Unfortunately the time it took to help Maggie gave one of the armed thugs enough time to collect himself and get a few shots off at the red monster. Only one struck, but the tranquilizer was designed to take down a horse so one would be enough. Fortunately for Brooklyn, he was already almost to the roof and it'd take a little time before the effects took hold. He barely noticed getting hit, only feeling a slight prick. The only thing he did notice was that the last few feet to the top was a little bit harder than he had expected and was more than happy to accept a helping hand from Broadway and the lovely cat woman.

Once on the roof, Maggie noticed the dart sticking out of his shoulder. "Are you okay?" She asks for the first time seemingly not completely terrified of him. He reached back and pulled the dart out, tossing it to the ground like it was nothing. Then he tried to act like a tough guy and playoff getting shot. "I'm fine, it's just a scratch." He slurred out.

"You don't sound fine," Broadway said rolling his eyes at his rookery brother's manly display. The larger gargoyle turned to the woman they had just met. "I think it'll take a few minutes before they figure out how to get up here. Should be enough time to figure out what to do. I'm Broadway by the way. The tough guy over there is Brooklyn. What's your name?"

“Oh, my name is Maggie." The strange cat bat hybrid said a little stiffly.

“Well Maggie, don't take this the wrong way, but am I right in assuming you don't know how to use your wings?" Broadway asked as he tried to figure out what to do next.

The feline blushed, though in the dark and through her fur it was basically impossible to notice. “Oh, not really. I can control them a little bit, but I've never tried to use them to fly."

"Hmm, that might make this a bit harder. I can't carry both of you but maybe I could help you glide. Then I would only need to carry Brooklyn." Broadway said which irritated the red gargoyle who was quite adamant that he didn't need any help. His argument was undercut somewhat by his worsening slur. Broadway ignored his brother's bravado. "Okay then, how about I just help both of you to glide. We probably can't get too far, but at least we can put some distance between us and those jerks."

The three made a small jump onto an adjacent building's fire escape and made their way to it's taller roof. There, Broadway hopped up on the ledge and prepared to leap off. Brooklyn joined him, but nearly fell over the edge, only stopped by the larger gargoyle grabbing hold of the back of his belt and pulling him back. Maggie was a bit more hesitant to join the two but forced herself after a few seconds. “So is there any tips you can give me for how to do this?" She asked as she did her best to not look straight down at the streets below.

"Uh, well we kind of just learn naturally. Hmm, we should be high enough up. Open your wings and try to feel the airflow over them. Angle them so that you are catching more of the wind on the underside of your wings. Try shifting them around slightly until you feel your body being pulled upward. Don't worry, there won't actually be enough wind right here to lift you off the roof."Broadway said, doing his best to explain something he took for granted.

Maggie did as instructed an within a couple of minutes was able to feel the wind trying to pull her upwards. It was a strange sensation. Kind of like how an umbrella would pull at its user on a windy day. "Okay, I think I'm as ready as I'm ever going to be." She said to Broadway.

The heavyset gargoyle held out his and she took it. He took Brooklyn's hand too, despite the red gargoyle grumbling about it. All three jumped off the building together. Immediately the trio was off balance. Brooklyn was effectively drunk but at least he could mostly still glide competently. Maggie, on the other hand, was pulling the other two down on one side, forcing them to fight against an unintended turn. Still, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. She was catching a decent about of air under her wings so she wasn't purely dead weight, and within a couple of minutes, she had improved quite a bit. She still wasn't anywhere near good enough to do it on her own, but with assistance, she was no longer too much of a hindrance. Brooklyn, on the other hand, was only getting worse. It was clear that the three would need to land, and soon or else he was going to pass out in the air. "Hey, do you think you can make it to Elisa's place?" Brooklyn muttered something utterly incomprehensible in response. "Okay, I'll take that as a yes," Broadway said tightening his grip on the red gargoyles wrist.

“Who's Elisa?" Maggie asked as Broadway started a gentle bank to the right that was slow enough for Maggie and Brooklyn to handle.

Once they were fully turned and headed in the right direction Broadway responded. “Elisa Maza, she's a friend, a human one I mean. She's also a detective so maybe she'll be able to help you. I just hope she's home cus that's our only option at this point."

~~***~~

Elisa was heating herself up a frozen dinner in the microwave when she heard a series of light thuds on her balcony. She rolled her head, cracking her neck as she groggily made her way towards the sliding door. "Guy's I just got off a double shift and I really need to get some sleep. Can you come back..." She stopped mid-sentence when she pulled back the curtain. Brooklyn was nearly unconscious and slumping, supported by Broadway and a strange gargoyle-like woman. "What happened?" Elisa asked opening the door and helping Broadway get Brooklyn over to the couch.

Broadway explained what had happened in the alleyway while Elisa got Brooklyn a glass of water. She gave it to him, telling him to drink it in the hope that some of the drugs would get flushed out of his system. At the very least it would help him from getting dehydrated. After the larger gargoyle was done talking she turned to the unknown woman standing awkwardly towards the corner of the room. Elisa could tell that she was uncomfortable, perhaps even scared. She couldn't blame the feline woman for acting that way. She'd been chased, shot at, and who knows what else.

“Maggie, that's your name right?" Elisa asked the furry woman, who nodded in response. “Can you tell me what happened to you?"

The feline woman thought about it for a minute, unsure of what to say. "There was this old guy, Dr. Sevarius, he works for Gen-U-Tech," she started. "He found me living on the street and lured me in with promises of money and a place to live. I know it sounded too good to be true but... I was just so desperate." Maggie put her hand in her head for a moment feeling ashamed and angry at how stupid she had acted. "I'm not really sure what exactly he did to me or why. Basically what you can see is everything I know about what they turned me into. I have wings and I can glide kind of like they can I guess." She said gesturing towards the gargoyles. " I guess I'm stronger than I was before. I have better hearing and I can see easier at night. Outside of that, I'm not sure there's much more I can tell you." A moment later she remembered the Gen-U-Tech bracelet that they had put on her. She took it off and handed it over to the detective. "Here, I don't know if this will help. I think it may have some medical information or something. They always scanned it before doing tests on me."

Elisa took the bracelet from Maggie and looked at it. It was ridged fairly thick metal with raised text of the company's name on one side. In the "U" there appeared to be a small yellow light. "Hmm, there could be a tracking device inside this." Elisa said before adding, "I wonder if I have something that can block the signal.", She walked into the kitchen, opening a cabinet and pulling out a lockbox she used to keep her pistol in. She looked up and saw the worried expression on Maggie's face. "If it is a tracking device, it's probably only short range. You are probably already out of the range they could track you, but putting it in here should block the signal just in case." Elisa said, putting the feline at ease. It wasn't strictly true, it would make the signal harder to detect but the rest of what she said was just assumptions. Still, it was the best she could do at the moment.

After locking up the bracelet, Elisa looked over at Brooklyn. He was passed out on the couch softly snoring. Elisa's cat had jumped up on his lap and was currently using it as a bed. She looked back at Broadway and Maggie. She believed everything that the cat woman said, however, she still preferred to err on the side of caution. Broadway could take Maggie back to the clock tower. She'd be safe there, but Elisa wasn't sure how well the woman would cope with the gargoyles and then being all alone during the day. Plus, there was always a chance this was an elaborate trap to figure out where the gargoyles slept. "Broadway, you should take Brooklyn back home and tell Goliath what's happened."

“But what if those guys show up here Elisa? Don't you think I should stay?" Broadway asked.

"It's one thing to go after someone in a secluded alley. I doubt they'll risk trying to pull something like that in a building full of people. Not to mention the kind of attention attacking a cop's place would bring. Besides, with the distance you traveled to get here they probably don't even know where to start looking for Maggie. We'll be fine." Elisa said reassuringly.

Broadway was forced to agree with her. He picked up his rookery brother and went to the balcony door. Before he left, Maggie realized that she never thanked him and Brooklyn for rescuing her. She was still a little uncomfortable talking to him but wasn't afraid at least. "Broadway, uh thank you for rescuing me."

The large gargoyle said it was no big deal, but he'll be sure to tell Brooklyn for her. Then he jumped off the banister and glided away into the night. After a moment Elisa walked into the kitchen and pulled a can of coffee out of the cabinet. “It looks like I'm not going to be getting much rest today. Do you want some coffee?"

Maggie hesitated a moment remembering the drugged coffee. “Uh, sure. I'm sorry to impose on you like this." She said watching as the detective made the coffee to be sure nothing was added to it.

Elisa gave a dismissive wave of the hand. "Don't worry about it. Helping people's my job. Besides, ever since I met those guys I've kind of gotten used to less sleep.

There was an awkward silence for a moment as neither really knew what to say, only broken by the sputtering noise from the coffee maker. “So at the risk of sounding rude and ungrateful... What are those things? Were they human once like me?"

Elisa shook her head. "No, they were never human. They're called gargoyles. A thousand years ago in Scotland, their clan was mostly destroyed. The two you met today and a few others survived but were frozen in stone for a thousand years. I met them shortly after the curse that froze them was broken. I've done what I can to help them and keep them safe. Not that they need much protection, as you've seen they're quite tough. They're not invincible though, and they're not magic. Brooklyn was affected by the tranquilizer just like any person would be." Elisa told Maggie as the coffee finished brewing.

The detective asked if the cat woman wanted any cream or sugar. Maggie declined, choosing to drink it black just to make sure that nothing could be done to it. She took the hot mug but waited to drink any of it till Elisa took a sip. "How come I've never heard of anything like them?" Maggie asked then took a drink of the bitter liquid.

"You've seen them, you know how people will react. Hell, I freaked out the first time I saw Goliath. Uh, he's their leader, you haven't met him yet. Anyway, I was so freaked out I ended up falling off the building. Needless to say, he caught me before I became street pizza. They have to keep their presence hidden. There are a few conspiracy theories out there about them, but pretty much all the details are wrong. As for as why you haven't heard about gargoyles anywhere else, I'm not sure if many others exist in the world. I think Goliath said there were other clans he knew about, but that was a long time ago. Who knows if any others survived till today." Elisa said solemnly. "That said, a few people know of the gargoyles' existence and a couple of them are quite powerful. Given how you look, I wouldn't be surprised if one of them was involved."

Maggie got an angry look on her face. “Why would anyone want to do this?" She gestured to herself.

Elisa shrugged with an apologetic look on her face. "That's the real question. I just think it's too much a coincidence that you look similar to them. I'll look into Gen-U-Tech later today if I can. See if anything comes up, but I'll have to wait till later to do that. In the meantime, we need to figure out what to do with you."

"What do you mean?" Maggie asked still a little paranoid and concerned about what the human could have in mind.

"Well, for starters I think you could use a change of clothes. You and I are close to the same size. I probably have some old clothes that you can fit in." Elisa said trying to imagine what would work well for the gargoyle-like woman.

Maggie was surprised. She hadn't thought about her clothing this entire time. She was still wearing pretty much the same thing as when she had been captured. It must be filthy and smell wretched. She couldn't tell though. Had she gotten used to it? Come to think of it, she hadn't bathed in forever. She must have looked awful. She'd been living like an animal and didn't even realize it. "I uh... that'd be nice but I'm not sure that..." Her voice was starting to quiver as she could feel her defenses crumbling. "I don't think anything can fit me now that I'm like this. These wings and legs... everything about me..." Tears started to flow down her furry cheeks. "I'm not human anymore." Finally, she couldn't hold it back any longer and began to cry.

Elisa moved over and offered Maggie some support, putting her arm around the woman and pulling her in. She does her best to let the transformed woman know that everything will be okay. It was all Elisa could do to help. After a little, while her crying subsided and the feline wiped away the remaining tears.

“Sorry about that. I thought I had somewhat come to terms with what happened to me. I guess I had just been so focused on escaping that it never really sunk in." Maggie said with a sniff.

"It's okay. I'll do everything in my power to help you. In the meantime, why don't you take a shower. You'll feel better after that. While you're doing that I'll find you something clean to wear." The dark haired woman suggested. Maggie agreed and Elisa showed her the way to the bathroom, got her a towel, then left her alone to wash off weeks of grime and relax in the shower.

Maggie enjoyed feeling the warm water raining down on her. It was wonderful, but strangely alien at the same time. Instead of the water running off her skin, she could feel her fur becoming heavy and sticking tighter to her body. Her wings provided a brand new feeling with the water running off them. She had actually been worried about them being too large and keeping her from even being able to fit in the shower. As it turned out, she actually had enough space that she could slightly flex them. After a few minutes of just letting the water run over her and relaxing she decided she should actually start washing.

Close to half an hour after Maggie entered the bathroom, she shut off the water and stepped out. Elisa had given her a towel to use to dry herself, but her fur retained so much water that she actually had to grab a second one to finish drying with. Using the drier towel, she wrapped it around herself so she could leave the room with some modesty. She found the human woman waiting for her in the living room with a few pieces of clothing laid out on the floor. "Thanks for the shower, Elisa. I may have used most of your shampoo. I have lots of hair, or uh, I guess fur and it was really dirty. Sorry."

"You're fine," Elisa said not concerned at all. "So are you feeling any better?"

"Mm-hmm, I am. I may not look human, but at least I feel a little more like one now." Maggie said.

"Good, hopefully, this will help a bit with that too." Elisa gestured to the two pieces of clothing. "I think I've found some stuff that might work for you. It might need to be modified a little bit, but hopefully nothing major. These jeans are pretty loose fitting so I think you should be able to get them on without too much trouble. Come to think of it, I think they may have actually belonged to one of my ex's from a while ago. Anyway, they may be a little short on you since your legs are longer. This is an old crop top that I wore when I was undercover a year or so ago. I think it will be low enough down on your back so that it doesn't hit your wings. As for undergarments, well... I don't think anything I own will fit you without being incredibly uncomfortable."

Maggie looked over what was laid out. The blue jeans were a bit worn and faded but looked leagues better than what she had been wearing. The top was in better condition. It was black with a gray trim. A thin but fairly strong looking strap would go around her neck. The front of the top would cover her upper body but leave her midriff exposed while the back had a couple of straps that would be hand tied to hold it as tightly as desired.

“Do you want me to go into the other room while you change?" Elisa asked.

The cat woman thought about it for a moment. "If you don't mind, I'd like you to stay. I think I might need your help since it's the first time I've gotten dressed since I was changed." Elisa agreed of course, so Maggie grabbed the jeans. She released the towel and was a little embarrassed to be completely naked in front of a stranger. Of course, there wasn't a lot to see since she now had fur covering her body. Though now that she was changing clothes she realized that her rear and breasts did seem to be a little larger since the transformation. She struggled to get the jeans over her unique feline foot and had to sit down to get a better angle on it. Eventually, she managed to get one pant leg fully over her left foot. Getting her right leg in was much easier and she was able to pull the pants up to her waist. It was a little loose, but nothing a belt wouldn't fix. The top was easier to get on, but she needed Elisa's help to tie it around her back. It wasn't that she couldn't have done it by herself, but she didn't quite have total wing control yet so they kept getting in the way.

After she was fully dressed, Maggie went into Elisa's room so she could see herself in the mirror. It was still strange to see the lioness-like body. For the first time, she wasn't completely disgusted by it. Maybe it was because she was finally free, or maybe it was because she was clean and no longer looked so much like a mangy animal. "Do you think I'll ever be able to go back to normal?" She asked Elisa while looking at herself.

Elisa ran her hand through her hair. “I'd love to be able to say yes, but the truth is I don't have a clue what's been done to you. Even if we're able to nail the guy that did this to you, it may not be reversible. I hope it can be, but... I wouldn't expect any quick fixes. I would hate for you to get your hopes dashed."

Maggie put her hand against the mirror, feeling it's cold surface. “You're right." She said in a dull voice. A moment passed and she took a deep breath. “Well, if the gargoyles can live in the city without anyone catching on I guess I can too. I don't suppose any of them will be dropping by during the day. It'd be a bit to easy to see them I take it."

“They can't come during the day. As soon as the sun rises they turn to stone." Elisa said with a hint of disappointment in her voice.

“Seriously?" Maggie asked with wide eyes. “That's... different"

Elisa gave a small laugh. "Yeah, that's one way to put it." Elisa yawned. "I think I'm going to try and get a few hours of sleep then head over to Gen-U-Tech around noon. Hopefully, I'll get there about the time the guard is going on break for lunch. Do you think you'll be fine by yourself for the few hours while I'm out?"

"Oh, of course, I'll be fine. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to keep you up." Maggie said sheepishly.

“Stop that, you don't need to apologize for anything. Just make yourself comfortable." Elisa replied.

The rest of the day went by uneventfully. Maggie slept through most of it on the couch in the living room. When she did finally wake up it was mid-afternoon. She made herself a sandwich and drank a beer as she watched some TV. She wasn't really that interested in what she was watching but at least it kept her distracted as she waited for Elisa's return.

~~~***~~~

When night arrived the stone skin encasing the gargoyles was sent flying, raining down small pebbles onto the streets below. After the initial roar and flexing of their muscles to clear any remaining pieces of rubble, Brooklyn immediately prepared to jump off the edge and head to Elisa's place. Unfortunately, before he could leave he was stopped by Goliath. The intimidating purple gargoyle also intended to go to see Elisa and met this stranger. However, before that he wanted to Broadway to take Hudson and Bronx to the alley where they had met Maggie just in case anything else unusual happened there. That only took a few minutes, but Brooklyn was quite anxious to leave which was slightly annoying. Goliath thought highly of Brooklyn, but it was clear that the younger gargoyle was more impatient than usual and was worried that in this state his judgment might be impaired.

It only took Goliath and the red gargoyle about ten minutes to reach Elisa's apartment. The door to the balcony was left open since Elisa had been expecting them. She knew Goliath well enough, as soon as Broadway told him what happened he would want to get to the bottom of what was going on. The only reason she didn't think he'd come the previous night was how close to dawn it had been.

As soon as the two landed Maggie immediately noticed the large violet gargoyle and how he was able to clasp his wings around himself almost like a cloak. He was quite imposing, but at the same time, she wasn't afraid. Maybe it was since the other two gargoyles she met had actually been quite nice. Maybe it was what she'd heard from Elisa set her at ease. Either way, she couldn't help but notice that he carried himself quite differently from Broadway or Brooklyn. He seemed somehow more refined and confident in his stride. He seemed like the leader just by his presence. "Good evening Elisa, I'm glad to see you're doing well." Came the gargoyles deep voice. She gave him a smile, then he turned to the cat girl and moved his right hand out from under his wings, holding it out. "Hello Maggie, I'm Goliath."

Maggie reached out and shook his hand, noticing his firm grip and solid but smooth skin. “It's nice to meet you. Elisa has told me a lot about you."

"Ah, I see. Broadway and Brooklyn have likewise told me about you and the trouble you are in. Hopefully, we'll be able to help you somehow." Goliath said. Brooklyn was starting to get a little jealous of Goliath, not that there was really any reason to. He knew the older gargoyle was just being kind. Still, he was happy when the cat woman leaned to the side so she could see him better.

It was her first time really looking at the red gargoyle. The previous night she had only seen a monster, and then when things calmed down he was too out of it so she only really interacted with Broadway. It was surprising to her how different he looked from the rotund gargoyle or Goliath. He stood much more hunched over, making him look shorter than he actually was. He was much skinnier too, though he still had very well defined muscles. His face looked more alien with its long beak-like mouth and horns. It wasn't hard to see why she had been afraid of him the other night, but looking at him now, she noticed something else. His eyes didn't seem monstrous at all.

Brooklyn likewise was seeing Maggie in a whole new light. He was amazed at how much more beautiful she looked than the previous night. Her hair and fur looked completely different, and her new outfit helped accentuate her body.

“You're Brooklyn, right?" She asked as she gave him a smile.

He blushed a little without realizing it and gave her a big smile back. “Yeah, that's me."

"Last night I didn't get a chance to personally thank you for rescuing me. If you hadn't shown up I'm sure those guys would have captured me again. Thank you so much." She said.

"Oh yeah, well you know, it was no big deal. You were in trouble so I had to help." He said, trying to act nonchalant, but she could see right through it. He was nervous and clearly wanted to impress her but was trying not to be too obvious about it. It was kind of cute how out of his depths he was.

"Well, I'm glad such a nice guy was around then." She said with almost a purr that the gargoyle grin even larger. With that done, she returned to her seat and Elisa explained that she wasn't able to learn much about Gen-U-tech. She called in a favor and someone was looking into who owns the company. The research Elisa had done came up with some corporation she'd never heard up but sounded like a shell company. Currently, she was at a dead end.

“We will go have a look ourselves then. Come, we'll return to the clock tower and get Lexington. We may need his understanding of modern technology." Goliath said gesturing for Brooklyn to follow.

For a moment Maggie considered staying with Elisa and letting them handle everything, but she couldn't just stand around doing nothing. “I want to come too."

Goliath turned back around, looking down at the shorter cat woman .“I'm not sure that is wise. There's a good chance there could be a fight. It's possible they will be expecting an attack since you were able to escape." Goliath said, clearly not comfortable with her joining.

Maggie wasn't sure if he was resistant because he didn't trust her or if it was because he was trying to protect her. Either way, it didn't really matter. "I don't care. That place took everything from me. You don't know what it's like. I wasn't just betrayed, I was mutilated." She paused for a moment to collect herself and think. "Plus I'm the only person that's ever been inside there. You need me as much as I need to go. I promise I won't get in the way."

"I think she's right," Brooklyn said, backing her up.

Goliath gave he younger gargoyle a dirty look, then looked to Elisa. She gave him a subtle nod letting him know she thought it was okay. He let out a sigh. “Alright, you can come but if there's a fight leave it to us. If you get separated from us, come back here." He turned and made his way to the door. “Brooklyn, accompany her to Gen-U-Tech and make sure she stays safe."

After he left Elisa moved next to Maggie. “Now that he's gone, how good are you at flying?"

Maggie swore under her breath. “Uh, I've never actually done it by myself."

"Don't worry, I'll teach you. You were able to glide with Broadway's help last night so I'm sure you can do it." The red gargoyle said cheerfully and eager to spend some alone time with her. Maggie quickly agreed, knowing that it was the only option. He led her out to the balcony and looked around at the adjacent buildings, seeing one that's across the street and a few stories lower than where they were. "I think that should be a good starting point. Getting from here to there shouldn't be too much trouble." He held out his left arm to her. "Grab my forearm and I'll grab yours. We'll jump at the same time, but I'll let you take the lead. I'll only take over if it looks like we're going to fall or crash."

Maggie took a deep breath. "Alright, give me a few seconds to get ready," Maggie said opening her wings and trying to feel the air lifting her. After a couple of attempts, she couldn't quite get it to work like the prior night.

“There's not a strong enough air current here for that. We'll need to jump." Brooklyn said after it was clear she was having trouble.

Maggie gave him a terrified look. “Are you crazy?"

He gave her a reassuring smile. “Relax, it'll be fine. I won't let you fall."

Maggie let out an exasperated sigh, then took a deep breath. She psyched herself up for the jump, then closed her eyes and leap forward. Immediately the two began to plummet towards the ground. Her eyes shot open, the adrenaline started to surge through her body as fear threatened to seize control of her mind. She seemed to be falling for an eternity, but in reality, it was only a second or two before her wings caught the wind. The two's descent slowed, then began to turn into a climb. She couldn't believe she was doing it. It was a wonderful feeling of joy that sadly didn't last as she quickly realized that they weren't climbing quite fast enough to make the roof of the building they were aiming for. Instinctively she flapped her wings which seemed to provide a little bit of additional lift, but it still wasn't going to be enough.

Maggie started to panic again but Brooklyn didn't seem fazed. "It's fine, I got this." He took control leaning both of them back further so they would ascend quicker. To her, it seemed like they were loosing too much speed and were going to stall out, fortunately, that was exactly what the gargoyle wanted. His years of experience meant that almost all their momentum was exhausted as they reached the side of the building, allowing him to easily dig his free hand into the wall to grab hold of it. "Not bad for your first try. Do you think you can reach around and grab hold of my neck with your free hand so that you can ride on my back?"

Maggie's heart was pounding, but now that she was safe it almost seemed like fun. Kind of like a really intense roller coaster. “Yeah, just give me a sec." Maggie dug her feet into the wall to get a little bit of bracing. She couldn't drive her claws into the concrete facade like Brooklyn could, but it was enough to steady herself. She reached her left arm awkwardly around his neck. It wasn't a great grip, but it was enough that she could let go of his arm and quickly move her right arm so that it too was looped around his neck. Once she was situated he was able to climb the short way up to the roof.

For the next half hour, they continued to make short journeys from building to building. Each one just a little further than the last. As they went Maggie became more confident in her wings and abilities. After the third building, she no longer felt like she needed to be holding Brooklyn's hand so long as he was still flying right next to her. After the sixth building, she figured out that she wasn't merely limited to gliding like Brooklyn. Flapping her wings actually provided enough lift for her entire body. That meant she didn't need to ride on his back anymore to get up the taller buildings. Something that slightly disappointed the red gargoyle. Once she learned she could fly they made quicker progress, but her lack of experience still meant her wings got tired much quicker than his. In total, it took them close to half an hour before they finally reach the Gen-U-Tech building.

"It's about time you two showed up, we've been waiting for like ten minutes," Lexington said. It was the first time Maggie had seen the short gargoyle. He too looked quite different from all the others she had seen. He was half the size of Brooklyn and his wings were completely different to, almost like a flying squirrel instead of independent like her own. She was starting to wonder if every gargoyle was entirely unique.

Brooklyn scowled at his rookery brother. “Sorry, it's my fault I was slowing us down. I'm still learning how these things work." Maggie said giving her wings a little flutter.

“Eh, it's no big deal. It's given me time to look over the place." Lexington said, making it clear he wasn't truly annoyed. He mainly just liked giving Brooklyn a hard time. “ Looks like the window is rigged up to an alarm, so we can't break in this way."

“Then we shall simply make our own entrance." Goliath bent down and slammed his fist into the roof, breaking a hole into it. Then using his immense strength he tore it open wide enough to fit through. Once inside Maggie was able to recall the parts of the building she had been in and managed to lead the group to one of the less used labs.

Inside the lab, Lexington was able to access one of the computers. "If I'm reading this right, it looks like Maggie wasn't the only experiment. I'm seeing files on at least three other 'Mutates' as the project calls them. The project looks like it combines DNA from a bat, various large cats, and electric eels then somehow merge it with human DNA. There's a lot of data here, I should copy it all down while we have the chance. Hand me one of those zip disks. The floppy disk won't be large enough." None of the gargoyles had any idea what he was talking about, so Maggie looked over the various rectangular gray disks until she found one and handed it to him. "Thank you. It looks like this will take a few minutes. I can stay here while it finishes if the rest of you want to see if you can find anything else. I think they're holding the other test subjects on the lower levels."

Goliath agreed and the rest of the group made their way deeper into the facility. Things went pretty well until they ran into a pair of security guards. The two humans were quickly disarmed and defeated, but not before one managed to drop a smoke grenade. It only took a few moments before the smoke set off the sprinkler system and the fire alarm. Escaping from the smoke, the three stumbled into another lab, surprising its occupants; Dr. Sevarius, Xanatos, and a partially mutated man. As soon as Goliath's vision cleared he spotted the well-dressed businessman. "Xanatos, I should have known!"

Maggie meanwhile couldn't care less who Xanatos was, or how he knew the gargoyles. She had tunnel vision on Sevarius. With blood lust in her eyes, she launched herself at him before Brooklyn had time to react. She slammed into the elderly man knocking the jet injector he had been holding out of his hand. The half mutated man dove for the injector, desperately trying to catch it only to fail with it smashing into the ground mere inches out of his reach. "NO!" He screamed in despair as Maggie lifted the doctor up by his throat.

“Give me one reason not to snap your neck you bastard!" Maggie hissed at him as she tightened her grip, seemingly not interested in actually giving him a chance to change her mind. Brooklyn tried to intervene, mainly to prevent Maggie from having blood on her hands rather than actually saving the man. However, before he could, a group of heavily armed security guards entered the room and started to shoot at the gargoyles.

“Stop, he has the cure. If you kill him we'll be stuck like this forever!" The dark furred man said pleadingly.

Maggie was shocked to hear that he actually had a cure, but continued to squeeze his throat for a moment before angerly pushing him away and letting go. He coughed and gasped as he rubbed his bruised throat.

At the same time, Brooklyn managed to knock out the guards that had been in his way and was relieved to see that she let him go. Since it seemed unlikely she was going to change her mind, Brooklyn quickly moved to the doors on one side of the room and pushed them shut. “We need to go. The fire department and police will be here soon." He says looking for something to jam between the handles to keep the doors shut.

“The cure better be real, for your sake." Maggie said menacingly to the doctor." Then she turned to the mutate. “You should come with us."

“No, you don't understand what's going on. I have to stay, you do too! “The dark furred man said desperately. “He's going to cure all of us."

Maggie shook her head. “I wish I could believe that, but he already lied to me and betrayed me once. There's nothing to convince me that he isn't lying again. If you really do get cured I'll gladly come back and be cured too, but if he doesn't... What's your name so I can find you?"

“Derek... Derek Maza" He said in a low voice so only she could hear.

Maggie's eyes widened and her heart sank. The pounding suddenly came on the doors as more security tried to get in. "Come, we need to leave now," Goliath said jumping onto one of the lab tables and breaking a hole in the ceiling.

Brooklyn ran over and grabbed the frozen woman's wrist and tugged her towards Goliath. “Come on, we got to go." He said, snapping her out of it. The large violet gargoyle helped Brooklyn and Maggie both get through the opening, then jumped up and began to pull himself up. Suddenly he felt a heavy weight on his legs, dragging him back down.

"No, that's my experiment. I won't let you take her." The elderly man yells at Goliath as he tries to pull him back down. Quite disgusted with this poor excuse for a human, the gargoyle gave a forceful kick sending the man flying backward allowing him to climb out unimpeded. Sevarius wasn't as lucky as he had been with Maggie. The force of the kick sent him careening into an aquarium full of electric eels which shattered on impact. The eels and water spilled out onto the floor soaking the man. Then as he tried to right himself, he mistakenly grabbed one of the eels. It reacted defensively, delivering a powerful shock to the man making him writhe in agony. Xanatos ran over to the doctor and checked his pulse, only to find him to be dead leaving Derek in despair and blaming the gargoyles for it all.

Lexington met the three on the roof and together they all made their way back to the clock tower. On the way, Maggie began to feel less sure of her decision. She didn't trust Sevarius at all, but the chance for a cure was so alluring. She could be normal again and the last few months would just be like a bad dream. Plus if she had stayed she could have kept an eye on Derek and the other Mutates. They were like she had been just a few days ago, desperate enough to take any risk. Had she just abandoned them by leaving?

“Are you okay?" Brooklyn asked, gliding up next to the feline."

Maggie was shaken out of her thoughts. “Oh, I'm not sure." An awkward moment past between the two. “That man in there, Goliath called him Xanatos, who is he?"

“Well, for starters he's the guy who initially freed us from the curse that kept us as stone. He didn't do that out of the goodness of his hard though, he did it so he could use us. He was working with another gargoyle, Demona. You haven't met her and if you're lucky you never will. The two of them had some pact or mutual goal. When Goliath started to question things they decided to try and kill us. Since then Xanatos has been a little obsessed with us. It's not that he wants to kill us. It almost seems like it's a game to him. Only thing I can say for sure is that nothing he does or says can be taken at face value. He always has a plan or ulterior motive for anything he does." Brooklyn stated coldly.

“I see... So do you think there's any chance he was actually forcing Sevarius to make a cure?" Maggie asked already knowing the answer.

Brooklyn turned his head away from her, unable to look her in the eyes. “Only if it suits him."

There wasn't much left of the night and Maggie wasn't in much of a mood to talk. She had too much on her mind. When the sun was about to rise, she watched the gargoyles climb out onto the railing and assumed terrifying poses. A few seconds later the first rays of the sun came above the horizon line and the gargoyles flesh turned to stone.

It was an amazing sight to see, but the wonder of it was lost on Maggie at the moment. She wasted no time, jumping off the building and making her way towards Elisa's place while it was still fairly dark out. When she arrived Elisa was just getting off her shift. She was surprised by the catgirls arrival. After all, until yesterday only gargoyles would come that way and it was after dawn. Elisa unlocked the door and let her in. "Were you able to find out anything?" Elisa asked as Maggie entered her apartment.

Maggie went and sat down on the couch then rubbed her forehead. “I found out a great deal, almost none of it good." The feline gave the cushion next to her a couple of pats with her hand. “You should sit down Elisa."

Elisa got a solemn look on her face and sat down next to Maggie. “I take it there's no cure?"

“There might be one, but from what Brooklyn told me and what my gut says, it's probably fake. I assume you don't trust Xanatos any more than the gargoyles." Maggie said hoping against all odds that maybe Elisa would change her mind on the business tycoon. She didn't. If anything, Elisa had an even lower opinion of the man. “Does your brother work for him by any chance?"

“Yes, Derek. I tried to convince him it was a mistake, but the harder I pushed him to stop the more he seemed to be determined to take the job. Why, did you meet him?" She asked making Maggie turn away.

The cat woman scowled. She hated this, it wasn't fair. Everything just kept getting worse. She thought nothing could be as bad as getting turned into a monster, but now she was realizing things could always get worse. “Yes, he was at the facility with Xanatos."

“Are you saying he knew what was being done to you?" Elisa asked angerly.

Maggie shook her head. “No, Xanatos was there with him. He seemed like he was trying to help Derek. Sevarius was there too, holding a syringe. I saw him and I couldn't control myself. I didn't know what he was trying to do... No, I didn't care what he was doing. I just wanted revenge so I attacked him. I didn't realize... I didn't know it was the cure that he was trying to give." Maggie stuttered out the last sentence as tears were rolling down her face and the pit in her stomach made her want to throw up.

“Maggie, are you saying..." Elisa's eyes were wide and her face was blanched.

“It's all my fault!" Maggie sobbed out as she stood up and started to run for the balcony.

Elisa reacted quickly, grabbing the cat's hand as she went by and holding it tight to keep her from leaving. “Maggie stop. It's not your fault. You just did what anyone would do in that situation."

“But he'd be fine and back to normal if it wasn't for me." Maggie half mumbled out between sniffles.

Elisa was starting to cry too, thinking of what her brother must be going through. "You can't know that for sure. There's every chance the cure was fake or wouldn't have worked, especially if Xanatos was involved." Maggie turned back and looked at the dark haired woman, her fur stained by tears. "Derek was in that situation because of his choices. You didn't put him there, he did." Elisa said as much to Maggie as herself. Elisa was losing it just like Maggie and started to weep and before long the two ended up hugging each other as they cried.

After a long while, the pair separated. Both of them eventually tried to sleep but neither could get much rest. When it was close to evening Maggie woke up still feeling awful and exhausted. Elisa seemed to be doing a little better, but it was a facade. She was getting ready for her shift, but really she needed to talk with Goliath and the others. She needed to see her brother. She offered the cat girl a ride in her car, but Maggie was worried about getting spotted. Elisa went to the closet and got out a large hat and trench coat. "Haven't you ever seen ninja turtles, trench coats are the ultimate disguise." She said trying for some humor, but neither was really in the mood for levity.

It was almost night time when Elisa pulled into an alley close to the clock tower to let out Maggie. Elisa drove off to go park her car while Maggie looked around to make sure no one would see her. When she was sure it was clear, she took off the coat and few up the side of the building. Elisa arrived at the top a few minutes later, just in time for the gargoyles to rise from their stone slumber.

"We need to go to the castle," Elisa said to the group as soon as they were fully awake.

Goliath knew Elisa well enough that he could tell something was wrong so he didn't waste any time. He picked up the smaller human and left to confront Xanatos with Maggie, Brooklyn, and Broadway accompanying them. Along the way, Elisa and Maggie filled them in on what had happened with Derek. Though none of them were expecting to be attacked by him as they approached.

Derek, or as he called himself now "Talon," had decided to take it upon himself to lead the other mutates and try to learn how to use their new bodies. They had been outside learning to fly when he spotted Goliath and flew into a rage. He dove down towards the unsuspecting group to slam himself into the large gargoyle when he spotted that Goliath was carrying Elisa. He managed to pull out of his dive at the last second so that it was just a near collision. "You dare come here monster!" Talon yelled as he flew back up to speak with him face to face.

The other two Mutates, one with brown fur and the other which was tiger striped attacked Brooklyn and Broadway, forcing the two to split up to deal with them one on one. The tiger-like mutate went straight for the heavy set gargoyle, grabbing him and forcing them both down onto one of the towers of the castle where the proceeded to wrestle with each other. The brown furred mutate wasn't nearly as interested in a competition of strength with Brooklyn. He was happy to keep his distance and take potshots at the crimson gargoyle.

The first attack hit Brooklyn square in the shoulder. He hadn't expected something like that since it seemed like the mutate was firing electricity straight out of his hand. Even with half of his body partially numb, he managed to dodge the follow-up attacks. "What the hell is that?" He asked as even more of the electric attacks were launched at him

Maggie likewise was confused. She wasn't sure if she had the same ability. Even if she did, doing it right now wouldn't do much good. Fighting wasn't going to solve anything here.

Talon didn't seem to have the same idea. As soon as Goliath landed and put down Elisa the panther mutate sucker punched the gargoyle. Talon was large, almost as big as Goliath. Still, as far as brute strength was concerned the violet gargoyle had the edge. The two men locked hands trying to overpower the other. Slowly Talon was loosing, but he had the same ability that all the mutates did. Suddenly his arms bristled with electricity and a moment later Goliath was sent flying backward with singed skin.

Elisa put herself in between the two men. “Derek stop!" She yelled as she held out her arms to block him from easily getting around her.

“No Elisa. He's my enemy. They're all our enemies." The panther yelled back at her with a growl as he gestured to the other gargoyles.

“Don't be ridiculous, none of this is their fault. The only one here to blame is Xanatos." Elisa responded.

Maggie landed next to Elisa. “She's right, the gargoyles help keep me safe from Sevarius after he locked me up for months. If they hadn't found me I would have been recaptured for sure."

“You're wrong. If they hadn't have shown up we would have all been cured." Derek pointed his hand accusingly at Goliath. “He knew that too, that's why he killed Sevarius. He wants us to be freaks like them."

"I didn't kill anyone," Goliath said standing back up.

"Yes, you did. During your escape, you kicked a frail old man into a tank full of electric eels." Talon spat back at the gargoyle.

Elisa looked between the two men, both seeming ready to continue their fight. She moved closer to her brother. “That was just an accident. He didn't mean to hurt him let alone kill him.

"Don't defend him. Do you so badly want to blame everything on Xanatos that you won't even consider what your own brother is telling you." He yelled back at Elisa. Anger filled his body, the desire to fight rising inside of him. Elisa reached out to try and calm him down and was suddenly sent reeling from a sudden shock.

Derek was horrified to see what he'd done to his sister. "No. No!" He screamed. Goliath and Maggie both went to help Elisa who was already recovering from the shock. Talon was too ashamed of what had happened to stay though and as soon as it was clear that she was fine he jumped off the edge of the building and left along with the other Mutates. All except for Maggie who was watching them fly off.

Brooklyn and Broadway landed next to the three. Elisa pushed herself to her feet, still catching her breath. "Oh, Derek." She said tears once again forming in her eyes. Maggie looked at Elisa. She'd only known the woman for a couple days but she already considered her a friend. Then she looked at the three feline bat creatures getting smaller in the distance.

“I have to go with them. I can keep an eye on Derek for you. Plus maybe I can keep them out of trouble." Maggie said before walking to the edge of the castle.

Brooklyn was shocked and moved up next to her before she could jump. “Do you really have to go?" He asked in a soft voice.

She turned her head and smiled at him. “Didn't you say you help out people in trouble. Well, they're in more trouble then they realize. I think I might be able to help them. What would you do in my position."

The gargoyle gave an uncomfortable laugh then nodded his head. “I guess I would go."

Maggie leaned over and gave the crimson gargoyle a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you for understanding Brooklyn, and try not to be too sad. I promise I'll keep in touch." She gave him another smile then jumped off the edge of the building and soared through the air to catch up to the other Mutates.