Chapter 1

The midnight to eight shift at the police evidence warehouse is the most boring shift of all, most of the time. Tonight it would be a little different for officer Sutton, and his partner.

"Wait. Did you hear something?"

Officer Sutton looked at his young partner. "It was either a rat, or this old building creaking and groaning."

"It sounded like a scratching noise."

"Then it was definitely a rat."

"Don't you think we should check it out?"

"There isn't anything in this place that anyone would want to steal, or could understand anyway."

"Why not?"

"Back where you think you heard the noise is the stuff that was taken from Gene-U-Tech." Explained Sutton. "It's all scientific equipment that looks like it came off the bridge of the Starship Enterprise."

"Well, wouldn't that stuff be worth money? I mean at least someone could sell computer parts or chips... those are worth a lot these days."

"All right kid, we'll go check it out. It'll break up all this fun and excitement we have every night."

The two officers turned on their mag-lites, and headed towards the far end of the warehouse.

<Am I alive?> he thought. He felt strange. It was dark, and it felt like he was floating in water. <No, not water it feels different... thicker.> The was a slight humming sound all around him, and it seemed to be growing fainter by the moment. <Wherever I am, it feels small> he thought as he moved his hands round in the confined space. <The walls feel totally smooth, like glass.> The humming had stopped now. <I've got to get out of here!> He started scratching at the walls around him in order to find a way out. Each moment that passed, his terror of being trapped in this tiny space grew! <Get me the hell out of here!> his mind screamed!

"I tell you it's coming from over here."

"You sure?" asked Sutton.

"Yup. Sounded like it was coming from in here", he said while pointing to a large crate. "I thought that I heard a hum from here too."

"A hum?"

"You know, like an electrical hum. But it's gone now."

"I still think it's a rat. It probably gnawed its way inside the crate. I'll have to request for an exterminator to come out here again, and spray this place good."

"Now I don't hear anything."

"See what did I tell you. Come on lets head back to the office and get something to eat."

They were halfway back when they heard a loud crash, as if something exploded! They ran back the way they had come and found the large crate that had been the object of their discussion broken open, and a very strange looking device inside that had been shattered. Both of them drew their pistols, and Sutton used his radio to summon back up.

"I guess you were right kid, someone is in here with us after all."

The pair began to carefully search the area for the intruder.

His heart was hammering inside his chest, as he pressed himself further against the far wall. The two men with guns were getting closer! <I'm free!> he thought. <But if they find me I won't be for very long!> He froze as a beam from one of their flashlights focused on him. <I'm dead!> But then the beam moved on along the wall, away from him. <What the hell just happened? There was know way he could have NOT seen me!> Taking only a moment to wonder at why he hadn't been caught he moved away from the two men, and not finding a convenient exit he made on of his own. Taking a moment to savor the night sky above him he ran towards the fence and jumped, and panicked when he came down much slower than he should have. Looking down at moon-lit shadow he could see why... he had a pair of wings! "Just what the hell happened to me?" he whispered. The voice was weak, but familiar to him. His throat was sore from being unused and he was terribly thirsty. "I wonder if there's any place around here where I can get a drink?" Getting his bearings from a street sign, he headed to the park while staying in the shadows.

<This is going to look real good in the morning paper> Elisa thought as she pulled up in front of the evidence warehouse. <I can just see the headline now... Police Force Can't Protect Their Own Property.> As she parked her car she saw that her partner had already arrived, and was headed in her direction. "Hi Matt. What did the perps get away with?"

"Not a thing as we can tell. And I don't think that anyone broke in"

"What do you mean?"

"Follow me." He lead Elisa around the corner of the warehouse, and to a very large hole in the side of the building. "Notice anything strange?"

Elisa studied the hole for a moment, looking for any tire marks or signs on the ground and then it clicked. "All of the debris is on the outside!"

"Right," said the tall detective as he stepped thru the hole. "Now come and look at this."

She followed Matt, and looked down on the floor where he was shining his flashlight at a large puddle.

"There's a trail of this stuff that goes all the way back here," said Bluestone as he lead Elisa to the back of the warehouse, stopping at a large opened crate. "It ends here."

"So what ever is was, came from inside here?"

"Yes. Look at the side of the crate."

Elisa moved her flashlight up the side of the crate and stopped when it came on a logo that she was all too familiar with. "Gene-U-Tech! That means Sevarius!" she spat.

"And it also means that anything, and I do mean anything, could have been inside that thing. The manifest says that this was labeled as a sensory deprivation tank. I guess they should have given it a closer look before locking it away," Matt said. "Hindsight... gotta love it."

"Any clue as to what was inside?"

"We found what looked like a computer port on the side, it has some data tapes that the lab boys are trying to decode. They're also trying to get an analysis of the liquid as well."

"Do me a favor. Get me a copy of those tapes. I might know someone who might be able to shed some light on just how to decode them."

Bluestone grinned. "I thought you might ask that." He reached into his coat pocket. "Partners have to anticipate each other." He handed her a pair of datatapes. "Say hi to Lex, and the others for me."

After staying in the shadows, and hiding in bushes, he finally came to a spot with a drinking fountain. After waiting and listening for any oncoming foot traffic he went over and began to quench his thirst. He looked down at the hand, his hand. It was large, and the arm it was attached to was muscular but the thing that bothered him was that is was covered in grey colored fur. <Have I always had fur?> he thought. He then realized that he couldn't even recall what he looked like. "I wonder what the rest of me looks like?" he said out loud and was surprised by his own deep rumbling voice. After he finished drinking he carefully made his way to the small lake that was nearby to study his reflection. There, by the light of the moon overhead, he saw himself for the first time as others might see him. He estimated that his height was a little over six feet. He had broad shoulders, and a deep chest. His arms and legs were muscular in appearance, although the legs seemed to canted at an odd angle near the feet making them digitgrade. He was covered in a deep grey colored fur, on turning to the side he could make out bushy tail and he could now see his wings for the first time. They were large, black, bat-like in appearance, and gave the illusion that he was taller than he really was. After flexing them a few times he kneeled down to study his face. His ears were perched high on his head, and were pointed. His muzzle came down at a pleasing angle and when he grinned he saw that his mouth was full of very white and very sharp looking teeth. His eyes were deep blue with just a hint of gold in them and he had a long, thick mane of silver-white hair on his head. He decided that all in all is was a good face and searched for a word that best described it. Lupine was the only answer he could come up with, but how he knew that was the correct word was a mystery to him.

"Help!"

The sudden scream broke his train of thought, and as the screaming continued he dashed off in its direction. As he drew closer he could hear a woman scream again, as well as the laughter of four men. <How do I know it's four?> he wondered. Suddenly strange odors assaulted his nostrils. He could scent alcohol, and something else coming from the group in front of him. His eyes saw as clear as day that there were indeed four men, and that they were just about to assault a very young looking Hispanic girl.

"Come on chica, you know you want it bad!"

"Yea little chicken. We won't hurt you, you'll get to like it I promise!"

The other two punks advanced on her. A new odor came to him, it was from the girl and somehow his mind translated it to fear.

"Come on hurry up. Grab her, and let's get this party started!"

The two closest to the girl lunged, grabbed her by the arms and pinned her to the ground. One of them stuffed a rag in her mouth o keep her from screaming anymore but before they could go any further a deep growling sound care from the bushes to the right of them.

"What the shit was that?"

"Just some stray dog man."

"Didn't sound like no dog I ever heard before."

"Well if you wanna go check it out, be my guest but you'll lose your place in line to party with the little one."

A grey blur moved into the small clearing. It grabbed one of the rapists by the shirt front and threw him against a tree ten feet away.

"Shit!"

"Man, Bobby's down!"

"God damn, what was that?"

Again the grey blur launched itself into the clearing, but this time it seemed to come from above. It grabbed two of the three remaining punks and brought them together with such force that the impact knocked them out cold.

Left standing all alone, the remaining rapist did the only thing he could think of. Drawing a knife he grabbed the girl and held the blade to her throat. "All right man. I've heard about you guys on the tube. You gargoyles just stay the hell away from me or I'll cut her throat... I mean it!!!"

"I'm not a Gargoyle," snarled a voice from the dark. "But if you even break her skin with that blade, and draw even the smallest drop of blood, I promise you that there won't be a hole deep enough for you to crawl into that I won't find you." Stepping from the shadows he gave the punk a good look at what he was facing. "And believe me, when I'm finished you'll beg me to kill you!" He made his point by flashing him a toothy snarl. At that point something large, red, and heavy fell from the sky right onto the terrified criminal while a smaller green colored something grabbed the girl.

"That'll teach him a lesson, eh Lex?" said the large creature as he got up and produced a small piece of rope from his loincloth and tied the would be rapist's hands together.

The smaller one was more concerned with the girl. "Are you all right now? If you're hurt I can call an ambulance for you." He reached into his loincloth and pulled out a small cell-phone.

"Si. I am all right. Your friend saved me from the others before you arrived."

"Friend?" the two said while looking at the three other unconscious criminals.

"Si!" the girl said, and pointed at the figure that was now obscured by shadows. "Him!"

"Derek. Is that you?" the smaller of the two creatures, who's name he guessed was Lex from what the larger one had said. "Brooklyn, I don't think that it's Derek."

"Who ever you are come on out," said the large one.

"You aren't going to hurt the girl are you?" A voice asked from the dark.

"No. We're Gargoyles. We don't hurt people, we protect them," said the one called Lex.

"And you won't try and hurt me... will you?"

The Red one laughed. "Not after having broken up this party. We've been trying to catch these guys for a week."

"All right then," he said and stepped into the clearing once more.

"Nope. Definitely not Derek," said the red creature as he looked at the humanoid wolf with wings. "I think we'd better put in a call to the castle after we tip the cops of to our playmates here," he gestured to the four caught rapists.

"I'm on it," said the smaller one, and after telling the police that if they went to the north end of the park by the lake that they would find a present waiting for them, he made another call on the cell-phone.

"And make sure you tell that whoever comes to bring a spare loin-cloth," said the red one with a slight grin on his beaked face.

He was about to ask why, but then realized that he was standing there in front of the two creatures that called themselves gargoyles, and the girl he saved, without a stitch of clothing on. The girl giggled and blushed slightly as he flexed his wings to cover himself.

"Broadway and Angela are on the way," said the smaller of the two while putting the cell-phone away. "The police are on the way too so we should be leaving. Some cops still don't like Gargoyles."

"Right. Will you be OK here until the police arrive?" the red gargoyle asked the girl.

"Si. I will be fine. I want to thank you all for saving me. Especially you!" She smiled at the wolf-shaped stranger. "What is your name?"

He searched his memory for an answer to her question, but could find none. "I'm sorry, but if I have a name, I don't seem to be able to remember what it is." His hands made a frustrated gesture in for a moment, and then fell back to his sides.

"I'm sorry you can't tell me your name my silver hero, but gracias... muchos gracias for saving me. Vaya Condios!"

The gargoyles along with their new companion quickly left the scene, and swiftly made their way to a secluded section of the park that was far from any police that would respond the phone tip.

"Here they come!" Said the small one while pointing in the air.

Looking up, he spotted two more winged figures gliding in their direction. One was larger than the red one, but blue- green in color with larger ears. The second one made him step back into the shadows again, because it was clearly a female. She had dark hair, and was a greyish-purple in color.

"Hi guys!" Said the large new-comer as he landed with his companion. "How come we had to fly out here with a spare loin cloth?"

"I bet it's an interesting story!" said the female with a smile while tossing the garment to the red one. "One of you get a tear in yours while catching the rapists you were after and were too embarrassed to fly home over the city for a new one?"