Change of Face - part 4
Loose Ends
by: Cat
CatK@buffymail.com
or
kirk_cathy@hotmail.com
Disclaimer: I don't own gargoyles, I don't make a profit from gargoyles, so please don't sue me. Any original characters are
property of me, and if you wish to use them, please ask first. Also, this story won't make much sense unless you read parts 1 - 3 first.
You have been warned, now, on with the story.
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Change of Face - part 4: Loose Ends
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I awoke with a start, minutes before sunset; the dream fading away
into the depths of my mind.
**********
He watched her wake up from her sleep, noting the changes she had undergone hours before.
"What an interesting development." he eyed the monitors suspiciously. "But Sevarius couldn't have messed up ~that~ badly. I wonder..."
**********
"Well, I'm glad to see you're awake."
I sat up and turned towards the source of the voice, finding myself face to face with David Xanatos, the billionaire familiar to
everyone, due to his brief stay in jail, and the resulting media frenzy. ~And here I am dressed in a shredded outfit~, the result of
my impromptu change.
He held his hand out to me, "I'm David Xanatos, and you are...?" he raised a questioning eyebrow.
"Catherine Kirk," I replied automatically. Then reality came crashing back when my newly formed tail twitched into my field of vision. ~Perhaps a more fitting name may be in order,~ I thought.
"Call me Cat." I found my childhood nickname fitting. I smiled, revealing an impressive set of fangs.
"Well, Cat," he returned my smile. "Allow me to be the first to officially welcome you to Castle Wyvern." When I didn't take his offered hand, he lowered it, slowly. "Well," he recovered, "I'm sure you'd like to be there when the gargoyles wake up. Follow me."
He turned and began walking through the castle.
I followed him through the castle halls, and up a flight of winding stairs. We came out into the castle courtyard, where seven stone gargoyles could be seen perching on the edge of the battlements. The sun was only moments away from setting.
I watched as the sun dipped below the horizon, leaving a trail of colour. Finally, it was dark. It began with a massive cracking noise, then seven loud roars echoed across the courtyard as the gargoyles burst free from their stone shells.
Brooklyn turned around and saw me standing there. He hopped down from his perch and walked towards me.
"Hey," he said. "Glad to see you're feeling better."
The rest of the gargoyles came up behind Brooklyn.
"Brooklyn," a purple female addressed him, "Aren't you going to introduce us to your friend."
Brooklyn seemed to turn a darker shade of red, I could tell he was blushing.
"Um, of course." he stammered. "This is--"
"Cat." I cut in, "Just Cat." I gave him small smile as Brooklyn
looked back at me.
"Well Cat" a large purple gargoyle greeted me. "I am Goliath, leader
of this clan."
I looked up at him, he was ~big~.
"Goliath," Brooklyn asked, "Can Cat be part of our clan?" he shot me
a hopeful look.
Goliath seemed to think this over for a few moments. Finally, "Of course. Cat, we would be honored to have you as part of this clan."
~Wow~. I thought about it. I had no one to miss me, no friends or relatives. I obviously couldn't go back to my job. I came to the only logical conclusion.
"I would be very grateful to be a part of your clan."
Brooklyn leapt up and let out a whop of joy. Then introductions began in earnest.
**********
A half hour, six new friends, and a meal later, I realized something that had been nagging at the back of my mind from the moment I woke
up.
"Shade!" I suddenly yelled, causing all seven gargoyles to jump in surprise.
"What?" Lexington asked me.
"Shade, my cat. She's been locked in my apartment since yesterday
with no one to look after her or feed her. I've got to go get her." I looked pleadingly at Brooklyn. "Please?"
"Goliath..." he started.
"Yes Brooklyn, take Cat to her apartment to retrieve this Shade."
"Thanks." Brooklyn practically ran out the door, dragging me behind him.
We came out to the courtyard.
"Here," Brooklyn said, "is where you get your first gliding lesson."
"My what?"
"Gliding lesson, using your wings."
"How does it work?" I asked.
"Well, first, you come stand over here." he hopped up onto the castle wall, and pointed to a spot next to him. "Next, spread your wings.
Like this." he spread his wings wide to demonstrate. I climbed up
next to him, and spread my wings. "Here," he said, "Take my hand."
I placed my five fingers into his four.
"Now," he began, "Jump!" He leapt from the castle dragging me after him.
After a few minutes of unsteady gliding, and much yelling at him for scaring me so, we were well on our way.
**********
By the time we reached my apartment, I was quite a good glider. We landed by my balcony door, and I peered through the darkness.
"Something's wrong." I told Brooklyn. "When I left, I had the kitchen light on for Shade."
Brooklyn gave me a worried look. "Maybe this isn't such a good
idea..." he trailed off as I reached for the balcony door handle.
The door slid silently aside, revealing a seemingly empty apartment.
"That's odd," I said. "I could've sworn I left this locked."
Cautiously I entered the apartment with Brooklyn was right on my
tail.
A black blur came shooting out of nowhere. One minute I was searching the darkness of my apartment, the next I was flat on my back, wrestling something just slightly smaller than Bronx. Hot, moist
breath plastered my fur to my face as I tried to keep this ~thing~
off my neck.
**********
He laughed as he watched the girl grapple with the beast.
"Ah, yes, this definitely has amusing possibilities."
**********
A flash of red and Brooklyn had thrown the thing across the room,
where it landed on its feet, and turned to charge me again.
However, instead of charging me, it simply stood there, looking us over, looking for a weakness to exploit.
"What is it?" Brooklyn asked.
"I'm not sure." I responded
[What do you want?] The voice seemed to come from everywhere, yet nowhere. It was feminine, but strong, like it came from a person
used to getting her own way.
"Did you hear that?" I asked Brooklyn.
"Hear what?"
[I don't want him to hear me, just you.] I realized the voice was echoing in my mind.
"What's it waiting for?" Brooklyn asked. The creature's gaze settled
on Brooklyn.
[For an answer.] I heard, and I could tell from the shocked look on Brooklyn's face that he had heard it too.
I fixed the creature with an evil glare. "What I want is my business, this is ~my~ apartment. And for that matter, what have you done with
my cat, Shade?"
The creature seemed to be trying to burn a hole in me with its eyes. [What do you know of Shade? Who ~are~ you?]
"I'm Catherine Kirk, this is my apartment, and no over grown pussy
cat is gonna keep me out!" That's when it hit me. Like an anvil
falling out of the sky, the realization struck me, hard and fast.
"Shade, is that you?" Slowly, cautiously, the creature flowed
forward. Inch by inch it came closer, until it was standing in a
patch of light streaming in from the open door. There it stopped, on display, glaring at us, as though daring us to disapprove.
The creature standing before me bore a striking resemblance to Shade, if Shade had been as large as a tiger. Covered completely in black
fur, claws retracted for stealth, she stood, her blue eyes staring at me in confusion, tail whipping back and forth.
The horrible creature which had previously attacked me was now
nothing more than a house cat, true, a house cat the size of Bronx,
but still a cat.
Brooklyn gaped at me. "This is your cat? Whatcha been feeding it?" he grinned.
Shade drew close [Catherine?] the voice was barely a whisper in my mind.
I held out my hand, "It's me."
Shade sniffed my outstretched paw [It is you!] a joyous laughing sounded in my head. [What happened to you?] Shade asked me.
"It's a long story, but never mind me, what happened to you?"
[I'm not quite sure,] Shade said, [It all happened around noon yesterday...]
**********
YESTERDAY, SHADE'S POINT OF VIEW
I was basking in a pool of sunshine that was coming in through the window. I shook suddenly, feeling a draft, so I got up and headed
over to the balcony doors. There, suspended as if by magic, was a
man. He was dressed oddly in red and purple clothes, with hair
covering his head, nearly obscuring his long, pointed ears.
"Hello kitty," he said. "I'm here to make sure a friend of yours can fulfill her destiny. Big Daddy Oberon says if I get this right, I get one night free to be myself."
I looked at him. "Meow?"
He floated down to my level. "Hmm...well, if you are going be a help
to anyone, I'm going to have to make a few improvements."
He floated into the middle of the apartment, keeping his eyes on me
the whole time.
"Lemme see...how does that spell go? Ah, yes..."
"Cat the shade of darkest night,
you must be able to win the fight.
To strike the evil a deadly blow,
I bid you now, grow, grow, grow!"
I felt strange for a few minutes, as though I were receiving a mild shock. When the feeling stopped, it seemed to me as though the man
were smaller somehow.
"Well," he said, "My work here is done, enjoy." He began floating towards the window. Half way there he stopped and turned around. "By the way, besides making you a ~lot~ bigger, I gave you a few
surprises, which you'll discover, in time." A bright flash of
green light, and he was gone.
**********
Shade finished her story and looked at us expectantly. Brooklyn
looked thoughtful. I was baffled, something about the story seemed familiar.
"How strange..." I trailed off as I heard a noise. It sounded like a group of people were running up the stairs outside. Shade's ears flicked back as she too heard the noise.
[Someone's coming.] she stated.
"Brooklyn, we'd better go."
"Hmm? Go?" he said in a soft voice. "Oh, go. Ya, we'd better get
outta here."
We headed towards the balcony. As we neared it, there was a loud banging, then a loud crash as the front door to the apartment was smashed in.
Several men with guns ran through the doorway.
"There's the creature!" one of them yelled. "Shoot her!"
Five or six of the men began firing energy weapons at us.
Brooklyn yelled at me, "Go!"
"What about Shade?" I yelled back, "She can't glide!"
"I've got her. Go!" he pushed me off the balcony, scooped Shade up in
a bear hug, and dove off the building. We glided of into the safety
of the night.
**********
ONE HOUR LATER, GEN-U-TECH LABORATORIES
"How could you fail?" Sevarius demanded of his mercenaries. "All you had to do was get the girl, and bring her back here." He stopped in front of their leader, "Is that so much to ask?"
"Sir, she jumped off the building. We thought it best not to pursue."
"She WHAT!?!" Sevarius screamed at the man.
"She appears to have changed into a gargoyle sir. She jumped off the building and glided away. The other gargoyle was still with her, as well as what appeared to be a black tiger."
~So,~ Sevarius thought, ~he was right~. "You are dismissed."
"Yes sir." The mercenaries filed out of the room, leaving Sevarius alone in his spacious office.
"So, she escaped you again, did she." A deep voice filled the room,
and began chuckling.
At the centre of the room, light seemed to flee as a dark figure
slowly appeared.
"You were right." Sevarius addressed the figure. "She mutated into
some form of gargoyle."
"Of course I was right." The figure had now completely formed at the centre of the room. Individual features could not be discerned, only
a general man-shape. Light seemed to avoid the shape, while all the darkness and shadows of the room swarmed towards it. "I'm always right."
"Well then, how do you propose I capture her? This phenomena must be studied." Sevarius said.
The dark creature began laughing, a horrible frightening laugh. A
laugh which could reduce the bravest warrior to a weeping child. A laugh which had driven men to the brink of insanity, and further.
"You fool." the figure said. "You cannot hope to capture her. She is unique. In all the multiverse, she is the only one. There is no
other Catherine Kirk, she is the keeper of destiny's flame, the
saviour of the defenseless. She is a traveller."
"A What?"
"A traveler. The defender of the weak and innocent. She is that which evil men fear. She cannot be captured and caged like some animal."
The figure paused n his litany. "Have you video records of her
escape?"
"Of course." Sevarius replied, "What kind of scientist would I be if
I didn't keep track of my subjects?"
The dark figure moved towards Sevarius's desk. "Show me the segment where you shot her."
Sevarius typed a few commands and the video came up on the computer screen. Together they watched in silence as the screen replayed the events of a few nights past. On the screen a miniature Sevarius
pulled the trigger on his miniature gun.
"Freeze it." the dark figure ordered. "Now play it forward frame by frame."
Slowly the scene unfolded. As the bullet reached the point halfway between Sevarius and Catherine, for exactly one frame, there was a flash of dark green light.
"Magic." The word hung in the air between them. "But the question
is, whose magic?"
It was clear at that point that the dark figure was thinking, and talking only to himself. He moved away from the computer, back
towards the centre of the room, the darkness dissipating back into
the corners of the room. He continued talking to himself even as his form was dissolving.
"It was too dark for fay magic, and the wrong colour for humans. But I've seen that colour somewhere before..." The words trailed off as the figure disappeared.
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To Be Concluded...
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Stay tuned for the final chapter titled--Destiny's beginning. Send comments to Cat at CatK@buffymail.com or at kirk_cathy@hotmail.com