Chapter 6

Broadway raced down the tunnel towards the main chamber, and the sounds of battle. He rounded the corner just in time to see Argent and Talon locked in combat. Maggie was trying to help Claw back to his feet, and Delilah was huddled in a corner with tears in her eyes. He launched himself at the two combatants and succeeded in seperating them for a moment. Talon raised his hand and fired an energy blast towards Argent, but he dodged out of the way and shot back with one of his own that seemed to burn with a greater intensity than Talon's. Derek barely had time to move aside before the blast struck the wall behind him, tearing a hole thru it.

"Damn it, why are you attacking us?" shouted Talon as he let loose with another blast. "We aren't your enemies!"

Argent didn't respond, he leapt high into the air and flew out of range. He maneuvered in a tight circle and dove down towards Derek but Broadway put himself in between the two of them once more, and he was knocked backwards by the force of the blow.

Maggie and Claw ran to help Broadway up, then with him joining in they tried to encircle Argent.

"Try and keep him pinned in one spot," Talon said. "Then close the circle!"

Argent looked for an opening, but finding none he acted in an instant. A blue corona formed around him, then he vanished!"

Talon and the others were confused by the unexpected event. "What the hell?" he exclaimed.

Claw looked very frightened, while Maggie voiced her frusteration. "We had him! We had him, and he just vanished? How the hell did he do that?"

"Lex said it he does it the same way you fire electrical bursts," said Broadway. "I don't know if he can do it for very long though."

"Great!" snarled Talon. "Everyone stay where you are, he may be invisible, but he can't leave the circle."

Claw suddenly flew backwards from and unseen blow, and was too dazed to keep himself from being lifted into the air and thrown into a nearby wall... knocking him unconscious.

Talon felt a blow to his mid section and then to his head. <Why isn't he firing any blasts or shocking me when he strikes?> he wondered as he tried to fight back against his un-seen foe before the answer finally hit him. "He can't fire electrical bursts while he's invisible!" He shouted at the others. "Try and tackle him while he's fighting with me!"

Maggie fired of a short burst at where she estimated that Argent was, and was rewarded by seeing him once more for an instant as the blast struck. Broadway leaped at the spot where he had seen Argent briefly reappear, but he was no longer there.

"We can't keep this up much longer," Talon said while picking himself back up. "He's wearing us down!"

A crash from above, and a roar signaled the arrival of Goliath along with the rest of the clan.

"I don't think we have to wait," Broadway yelled while pointing up. "The cavalry has arrived!"

Goliath and the other gargoyles spread out while Xanatos and Fox hovered in midair. Elisa and Lex dragged Claw over to the corner where Delilah was still crying. After checking on Claw, they tried to comfort Delilah.

"He lied to me!" she cried. "He lied to me and wanted to be my friend just to get at Talon and the others!"

Elisa dried Delilah's tears. "No... he didn't lie to you. He's doing this because he doesn't have a choice."

Delilah looked up at Elisa. "I don't understand."

"He has a computer chip in his head," Lex explained. "He was programmed by Sevarius to hunt down Derek and the other Mutates and capture them."

Goliath went over and spoke with Derek. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," said Derek. "Claw took a pretty hard hit, and Maggie seems to be OK." He scanned the chamber. "He's vanished again. We've traded a few hits, and he can fire electic bursts like we can... but he doesn't use them while he's invisible."

"That makes sense," Lex said. "He's probably using most of his internal energy to maintain his invisiblity."

"So what do we do now?" Brooklyn asked. He has to be in here just waiting to get at Derek, Maggie, and Claw."

"All of you spread out," Goliath ordered. "Cover all the exits to this chamber. I don't want him getting outside." As the Gargoyles took up positions at the exits Goliath turned to Xanatos who was still hovering with Fox. "Can your machines find Argent?"

Xanatos landed near Goliath. "It's possible. His invisibility field may hide him from a normal scan or even radar... but we might be able to pick him on an infra-red sweep. We'll track him by his own body heat."

"I'll do an aerial scan from here," said Fox. "You do the ground scan."

"Every one be ready. The moment Xanatos or Fox locates Argent he may try to break out of the chamber," Goliath instructed the others. "Elisa... stay near Delilah."

Xanatos and Fox started their scan of the chamber.

"I've got something," Xanatos said. There... over by those pillars." He pointed to the far side of the room.

"Can your weapons stun Argent, without harming him?" Goliath asked.

"At the lowest settings they might be able to," Xanatos answered. "But what happens if they don't stop him, or if he tries to break out of the chamber?"