Chapter 4

Lexington brought up the progress report of the decoding for the second disc on the screen with a few touches on the keyboard.

"How does it look?" asked Argent, while looking over Lex's shoulder.

"Pretty good. It's run thru most of the binary code permutations... and is narrowing it's choices at the moment."

Argent looked puzzled. "Can you explain that in English?"

Lex smiled. "What that means is that the computer has run through about a few hundred-thousand variations of the encoding sequences in it's memory... and has now narrowed the choices to only a few hundred."

"How long is that going to take?"

"With the speed of this system and it's main-frame... maybe a few more hours. It would be faster if I had access to the computer that was inside the machine you were inside."

"Why?"

"The computer was probably encoding the data directly on to the first disc that was monitoring your vital signs. The memory chips must have the base code still on them. If I had the chips I could break the code much faster."

Goliath, Elisa and the others had come into the main hall as Lex was explaining to Argent about the decoding process. Elisa came up beside him at the terminal. "I remembered what you said last night about wanting to get a look at the machine that Argent escaped from. Captain Chavez had it brought over this morning. The boys down in the police lab couldn't make head or tails of it so I convinced her that Xanatos's tech boys might have better luck."

"Neat!" Lex grabbed his portable computer and tool kit. "Wanna come down to the lab with me Argent?"

"No," he said with a slight tremor. "I really have no desire to see that thing ever again."

Lex nodded in understanding and sprinted to the elevator, eager to get down to the lab.

"Father, everyone, look who's come to visit." Angela stepped into the room, followed a short distance by what looked to be another female gargoyle who stooped just outside the doorway.

Goliath faced the open doorway. "Come in Delilah. You are welcome in our home." He turned back to Argent. "Argent, this is Delilah. She is a member of Elisa's brother Derek's clan."

Argent halted in mid-stride when she came into the light.

Goliath continued with the introductions. "Delilah, this is Argent, a friend to our clan and a guest here in the castle."

"Pleased to meet you Argent," she said with a smile.

Argent stood unmoving for a moment, then did a quick double take... looking at Delilah, then at Elisa, and back at Delilah again. She had Elisa's face, and spoke with her voice... but there all similarities stopped. She was slightly taller than Elisa, with darker tan colored skin. Her hair and wings were white, and her eyes were dusky brown. <She can't can't look like that by accident.> he thought. <And she can't be Goliath and Elisa's daughter... she's too old. Or can she be?>

Elisa saw the puzzled look on Argent's face, and stepped closer to Delilah. "I don't have to be a detective to know what you're thinking. We look alike because Delilah is a clone that was created from my DNA and another female gargoyle by Dr. Sevarius for Thailog."

"But why?" he asked, still looking at the two of them.

Delilah spoke before Eilsa could. "Thailog created me to be his... companion. He created clones of the others gargoyles to be his clan. After he and Demona fought, and seemingly died in a fire we had nowhere else to go. Talon took us in, and made us part of his clan."

"Talon?"

"That's the name that Derek's given himself," explained Elisa. "But I still call him Derek."

Argent stepped forward and shook Delilah's hand. "I'm glad to meet you to, for a moment I thought..."

"Thought what?" she asked.

"Well." He glanced sidelong at Elisa and Goliath. "That you might be someone's other daughter."

Elisa smirked, and Goliath raised an eyebrow... but neither of them said anything. Delilah on the otherhand looked confused for a moment, then when she figured it out... she blushed.

"But then I realized that you were too old, so I'm glad Elisa cleared up that little mystery for me." Argent turned to Goliath. "So what do you normally do at night?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

"We patrol the city, and try to keep others from harm. It is part of a gargoyle's nature to protect," Goliath explained. "We go out in small groups while some stay behind to watch over the castle."

"It's mine and Broadway's night to patrol, how would you and Delilah like to come with us?" asked Angela.

"Yeah, come one!" urged Broadway. "It'll be fun. Besides you need more practice flying."

Argent grinned. "Alright I'll come along. If that's OK with Delilah, after all she came to visit you."

"Oh I don't mind!" said Delilah. "I don't get out very often."

"It's settled then." Angela took Broadway by the arm, and motioned for Argent and Delilah to follow. "Maybe later on we can stop at the Labyrinth, and Delilah can introduce you to Derek and the others?"

Delilah's smile widened. "Yes, you really should meet Talon and Maggie!"

"All right, but on two conditions."

She looked at Argent. "What?"

"First of all," he said while grinning. "No making fun of how badly I fly. Second, that someone stays next to me in case I screw up and start to fall so they can catch me, I'd hate to fall on someone and hurt them."

Angela and Broadway laughed and Delilah joined in with them, much to Angela's delight. The four of them leapt from the top of the castle wall, and glided out into the night. Broadway and Angela lead the way, Argent slightly in the middle, with Delilah flying beside him.

"If you start to fall, I'll catch you," she said.

"Great! Now while they look for badguys, what would you like to talk about?"

"I don't know."

"Know any good jokes?"

"No."

"Good! Lex told me some while we were at his computer before the others came down to check on us. It seems that there was a traveling salesman..."

Angela looked back at Argent and Delilah. She noticed that they were talking, and Delilah was smiling. She banked left and tapped Broadway on the arm. "I think this is doing them a world of good."

"How do you mean?" asked Broadway

"It's getting Argent's mind off of what happened to him, and it's cheering Delilah up. Look at her, I haven't seen her smile like that since her clan turned to stone from the clone sickness and left her alone."

"Is that why she's been coming to the castle to see you?"

"Yes. Derek and the others have been nice to her, but she really needed someone to talk to." The sound of laughter brought her attention back to Delilah, and Angela was both shocked and pleased to see that both she and Argent were both having a good, long laugh.

"Looks like she also needs someone to make her smile too." said Broadway as he flew a little closer to Angela. "Sometimes that's the best thing when you're really feeling blue."

"How did you get to be so smart?" Angela asked, and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

Broadway blushed. "I can't take all the credit for that one. I heard it on a tape I made of Oprah."

One hour, and three stopped muggings later, the foursome was perched on a rooftop near mid-town.

"Is anyone hungry?" Broadway asked.

"I am, just a little," Delilah answered. "Are we going to go back to the castle?"

"No. There's a deli just a block over that makes some really great sandwiches. Brooklyn and I saved the owner from having his place burned down by some gang members who wanted protection money. He makes us snacks sometimes."

"Sounds good!" Argent said. "You going to need help bringing anything back with you?"

"I'll go with Broadway," Angela said, while standing up. "You two stay here and keep out of sight."

The two gargoyles leaped off the rooftop, and headed south leaving Argent and Delilah alone.

"So... I guess you and Angela are good friends eh?"

"Not at first. My clan and I were ordered by Thailog to kill her and the rest of Goliath's clan."

Argent looked shocked.

"But later when Thailog was defeated we learned what free-will was, and began to choose what we would and would not do. Afterwards we stayed with Talon and his clan, until the others got sick." A pained look came across her face.

"I'm sorry. Goliath and the others told me a little about what happened to them. If you don't want to talk about it, I'll understand."

"No. I want to talk about it," she said. "When the others started getting sick I was so worried, but not for the reasons that you would think. I was more worried about myself than about them!" Tears were running down her cheeks as she lifted her head up. "I was the only one who wasn't getting sick, and I was afraid that I would too. I got to the point where I couldn't even look at then anymore, and I was so ashamed for feeling that way!"

Argent reached out and took her hand, and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "That's a natural reaction. We all become afraid at times, but we have to learn to deal with it. Take me for example. I was very afraid tonight... just before you arrived."

"You were afraid?" she looked at him closely. "I can't imagine you being afraid of anything!"

"It's true though. I escaped from a machine I was sealed inside that was being held at a police warehouse. It was so small..." He shivered slightly from the memory. "It felt like it was getting smaller all the time, and I just had to get out!" He looked into her eyes. "Tonight Elisa brought that machine for Lex to examine, and he wanted me to go with him... but I just couldn't go down and see it because I was afraid I'd start to feel trapped again. I was kind of ashamed of the way I felt about it."