Volume #35: "The Army of the Night"
There's a party raging somewhere in the world
You've got to serve your country, gotta service your girl
You're all enlisted in the Armies of the Night! -- from "Everything Louder than
Everything Else" (J. Steinman), performed by Meat Loaf.
They were wrong.
Small pebbles began rolling away from the apex of the rubble pile. Suddenly, a blue hand found purchase into the night air, pushing more shattered masonry away, until a hole had been made, one wide enough to allow Demona through. She climbed fully out of the hole she now had dug, standing on wobbly legs and surveying the damage around her.
It bubbled deep from within her. And could not help but be let out. Her eyes glowed as she cocked her head back into the night, her scream evolving into a savage roar.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"
She would soon prove them oh so wrong.
Demona closed her eyes, crossing her arms before her and focusing her energies into herself, concentrating the magical energy around her as much as she could handle. Her face crossed in pain and anger combined, as she gritted her teeth and grunted her command.
"Return!"
As soon as she had forced out the word, an outline shimmered before her, ultimately forming into the giant hybrid Thorn. She was battered and bruised, but otherwise alive.
=What happened?=
Demona's eyes had not stopped glowing. "Rosanna and the Clan. That's what happened. We must return to the mother ship, now."
Thorn nodded curtly, escorting her mistress up the side of a nearby convenient building and launching themselves into the night air.
"How is it possible? She had a whole building fall on her!"
Lexington narrowed his eyes, allowing his cybernetic upgrades help him. "Demona?"
Pontiac nodded. "And someone who looks a lot like Thorn."
Lex suddenly growled. "Demona I know is immortal. Whatever the cause for Thorn, we've got to tell Rosanna. She'll definitely want to know."
Rosanna had risen to her feet in shock upon hearing the news. Lexington and Pontiac nodded.
"Looks like they may be going back to regroup for something. Something big."
Rosanna nodded. "I see."
David Xanatos, having just walked into the room, nodded. "So we'll have to come up with something bigger, then, won't we Rosanna?"
"Exactly." She came around the desk toward the older man. "I hope when the time comes, Alexander is ready."
The elder Xanatos nodded. "So do I."
Beth snapped him out of his study. "You said he's done this before? Did he need this much preparation?"
Owen shook his head. "He only summoned individuals last time. This will be summoning a throng. It takes a lot of purification, whereas a simple incantation by the Puck had done the job the first time."
Owen finally approached the young man, his eyes only half-seeing as he remained in his self-purifying trance. "Remember, Alexander. You have done this before ... you can do it again."
The Puck had long ago given up trying to entertain the young man Alexander, who seemed more focused on his lessons than ever. He knew, when it was lesson time, the young man was straight to business.
That didn't stop Puck from trying to lighten the mood, though.
"So, you wanna learn interdimensional teleportation, eh?" Puck hung himself upside down, almost nose to nose with his charge. "D'you have any idea how difficult it's gonna be?"
"I'm ready for any challenge, teacher. I want to learn it."
Puck sighed. "Oh, all right. Here, watch and learn." The fae trickster hung himself just hovering off the ground, closing his eyes and focusing his energies. With a voice as deep as the ages, he began his incantation.
A typically Puckish grin came across the fae's face as he opened his eyes, allowing his eldritch energies passage into the center of the room. When the lights cleared, though, there was a third person in the room.
It was a tall Asian woman, in a fighting stance. Almost too late, she stopped herself from letting fly with three throwing blades she held between her fingers. Now realizing she was in ... a teenager's bedroom? ... she relaxed a bit, then became a bit more annoyed.
"Oh great, now what the hell happened?!"
Alexander started grinning, simply from seeing the outfit this woman was wearing ... a tight spandex aerobic outfit with a bare midriff, and a leather jacket. Her tight shirt sported the image of a yin-yan impaled by a knife. She wore a dagger on her right leg, a headband with a similarly colored yin-yan, and long, pointed jade earrings.
And a badge on her coat.
"Like it, Alex?"
Alex could only grin wider. The woman turned around, seeing a strange man floating in the air behind her, and immediately reached for her dagger, putting it up to Puck's throat.
"All right, magic man, where am I and what did you do with that poor girl?!"
Puck started sweating slightly. But only slightly ... a quick snap of his fingers, and the woman was gone.
"Whoa, that was close ... she likes to use a lot of iron in that knife of hers." Another big grin appeared on the Puck's face, having migrated there from Alexander's upon the woman's disappearance.
"Okay, what was the point of bringing my favorite comic book character to life?"
"The point, m'boy," began Puck, "is that you can draw guests from any plane of reality. Even a fictional world is a plane of reality, my friend, for what one person considers fiction, his creation certainly considers fact."
Puck came back down to the ground. "You try it. Remember that movie we saw the other night? I seem to recall you took a liking to that pilot ..."
"Puuuuck!" Alexander blushed.
"No need to be shy, Alex. 'Sonly natural." Puck pulled Alexander into the middle of the room. "You try it. Try to draw her from the movie into the real world."
"Okay, I'll try." Alexander focused himself, as Puck had taught him. Taking a deep breath, he looked up into the ceiling and began an incantation of his own.
The energy flew out of Alexander, focusing into another female outline near a far wall of the room. The outline finally took better form, into a taller, blonde woman in a flightsuit.
"How can this be ..." She turned to face Alexander and Puck. "Where am I? If this is some kind of Qu'lanth trick ..."
"No tricks, Commander. And you don't know how much of a thrill it is for me to meet you." Alexander approached her, hand extended. "Alexander Xanatos."
Hesitantly, the woman accepted the handshake. "Krystle Jacobs. Nice to meet you, Alexander. Sorry if I seem a bit rude, but I've been fighting a really hard war."
"I know all about it."
Puck loudly yawned. "If you don't mind, Alex, I'd like to get on with the lesson, here."
"Huh? Oh, yeah ..." He turned back to Cdr. Jacobs. "Sorry to cut this so short, but I'm in the middle of my lessons."
Krystle raised an eyebrow. "What kind of lesson?"
Puck winked, grinning. "Magic." With that, a snap of his fingers and Krystle Jacobs was gone.
"Okay, I get it."
"You do, huh?" Puck leaned himself up against a wall. "Prove it, then. Summon someone blindly."
Alexander blinked. "Blindly?"
"You heard me, Alex. Someone at random. From any plane, pick one. To give ya a hint, though, it helps if you have a particular template on who you want before casting."
Alexander nearly nodded again when he noticed a gargoyle walking along the passage behind Puck. Impulsively, he rushed into the doorway, calling out to the walker.
"Hey, Rosanna! Wanna see something cool?"
Rosanna turned around. Normally, she didn't take interest in Alexander's magic lessons, and in fact had been warned by both of her parents to steer clear of them (no doubt because the last time one of them had interfered, Elisa had wound up as part of the filling of a giant pie), she couldn't resist the call of coolness.
"Lead the way, Alex."
Rosanna jogged into the room behind Alexander, heeding Puck's warning to keep behind him. After making sure she was clear, Puck turned to his student and nodded slowly.
Alexander smiled, raising his arms, his focus newly in place, and closing his eyes.
More eldritch energies formed around Alexander, finally coalescing within the teenage boy. The magic light suddenly shot itself out of Alex and toward the center of the room.
Rosanna stood behind the Puck, spellbound, as the spell produced results. Results that she liked, for the newcomer ...
... was a gargoyle. The light faded to reveal a tall, green, beaked gargess, in garb similar to that which Brooklyn chose to wear nowadays. She looked around the room, sensing familiarity.
"Hmm ... Castle Wyvern. Interesting." She turned around and looked at Alexander, Puck and Rosanna. "Alexander Xanatos ... well, you're sure different than mine, aren't you?"
Alexander's eyes went wide. "There's more of me?"
Puck nodded. "It is always possible to have multiple copies of one person on multiple planes ... but no one plane usually has multiple copies of one person, Alex."
"The Puck ... don't tell me I've walked in on one of your infamous magic lessons."
Puck grinned. "Sadly, yes, you have, stranger."
The gargess stroked her chin, suddenly noticing the younger gargess standing behind Puck. "Well, here at least is one person I don't know." The gargess extended her arm to Rosanna. "Greetings, young one. I'm Eddie, leader of Clan Winslow."
Rosanna looked up at the gargess. Now she came fully out from behind the Puck, clasping Eddie's arm warrior-style. "I'm Rosanna, of Clan Manhattan."
"One week. It took that long for Alexander to manage to learn the return spell. We decided to thank Eddie by letting her keep her memories of this plane."
He turned to Alexander once more, still deep in his trance. "If we wish to thank the ones we bring here this time, I think we should let them forget this plane."
"SAMSON!"
No reply greeted her call. She called him louder, but no response.
"Where is that kid?"
=I cannot say, my mistress, for I don't know.=
"Of course you wouldn't, Thorn. Come, help me find him."
Thorn narrowed her eyes down the passage, then saw the outline. "I think he's down there."
Demona looked in the same direction, then started running faster to the end of the passage, where Samson sat curled in a ball, shuddering.
"Samson? My grandson, what's wrong?" Demona crouched down closer to her grandson, suddenly backing away as he took her hand. His own hand was now much more wrinkled, and when he turned his face to her, he was obviously much older. He looked almost as old as Demona was.
"Grandmother ... I ... could not ... would not take her ..."
"Who? Thorn?" Demona's gaze turned back to Thorn.
=Don't blame me, I tried!=
"Cannot ... be with her ... can't leave Ari ..."
Demona's eyes widened. Perhaps he was breaking free of the spell. This would lead to disaster if she were to lose his allegiance.
"Come, Samson. We're going to help you, both myself and Thorn. Come."
Demona helped her massive grandson to his feet, supporting him as they all walked toward the ship's medlab. Absently, a recent hatchling started following them.
"How's it going, Aunt Beth?"
"Rosanna, come on in. We're almost ready."
Rosanna came in, followed closely behind by Lina, clutching to her carrying pouch which held her stone from Avalon. But as soon as she came to within sight line of Alexander, it began to burn her hand.
"Oww! What's going on?"
Beth looked back at Lina. "The concentrated magic in this room is affecting the stone, overcharging it. It'll burn for a while, but you'll recover. You'll have to, if we're going to win, Lina."
Lina nodded. "Okay." She turned her attention back to where Alexander remained in intense meditation.
"We might have to move up the schedule," Rosanna finally broke the silence. "It seems the blue bitch survived the UN bombing."
Beth nodded. "And if she goes back to the mother ship, there's no telling how many reinforcements the Rokkans have left, right?"
Rosanna nodded gravely. Beth turned to Owen, still attending to Alexander. "Think he's ready?"
Owen looked at her, as deadpan as ever. "I do not think he is, yet."
"+But I have to be.+"
The echoing voice, as deep as a chasm, filled the room with the power of the sheer magic wielded by the owner, Alexander. He looked up at last, toward his teacher.
"+Owen, my friend and teacher ... Rosanna, my sister in arms ... if I do not survive this effort, remember me well, okay?+"
Rosanna couldn't help but worry about him. As long as she had lived, Alex had always been like an older brother to her, the one she never had. She resisted the burning sensation she felt all over her body, embracing him warmly.
"Save our lives, Alex. I believe in you."
Alex nodded, turning to Owen. Nearly for the first time in his life, Owen's face showed worry. Finally, he could not hold his composure any longer, hugging the younger mage.
"Do us proud, Alex. You will always be my favorite student."
Alex chuckled, nearly making the entire room shake. "+Your only.+" He smiled with confidence. "+You all can count on me.+"
"It's too late, I can't help him. Magic will only sustain him for so long."
Thorn looked at her. =Then what do we do?=
Demona's face showed her obvious pain. "We can't let him suffer like this."
"Would you prefer for him to suffer at the hands of the Clan, then?"
"Or would you like your revenge?"
"We can help you, Demona."
Three familiar sounding voices snapped Demona's attention away from her patient. She turned slowly, finally seeing them standing behind her.
The Weird Sisters.
"You! What are you doing here?"
They approached her with purpose. "Why, we've been here the whole time."
"Observing you."
"Waiting for our moment to make our presence known."
Demona growled. "What do you want of me now? Haven't I suffered enough to suit your whims?!"
Thorn looked upon the scene with disbelief, as the Sisters appeared to her as three Rokkan militiawomen, but the way they hounded Demona screamed insubordination.
"But this time our goals are complementary."
"You seek a world free of humans."
"As do we."
Suddenly, the tone of the Sisters' conversation took a welcome turn for the immortal blue gargess. "Never thought the Children of Oberon had genocide in them."
"Not genocide, Demona."
"Euthanasia."
"The humans have let the Earth decay for too long."
The sisters' voices came in unison. "It is long past time for us to put humanity out of its suffering."
Demona turned, narrowing her eyes at the three fae witches. "I have your assurances that neither the gargoyles nor the Rokkans will be touched, then."
"Of course."
"Who do you think guided the Rokkans here in the first place?"
"The agreement is made."
The sisters suddenly shuddered, a great magical disturbance alerting them to trouble. Demona felt it slightly, herself, looking to the door of the medlab.
"Something big is happening ... can you stop it?"
"Stop? No."
"Interfere?"
"Most definitely."
"Clear out, give him space." At Rosanna's words, the Clan backed away from the center of the battlement. "Okay, now ... folks, I think it's about high time we ended this invasion. And in order to do that, we have to take out the Rokkans once and for all. And that means ... getting them there."
Rosanna pointed toward the horizon, which the Rokkan mothership hovered over.
The first to bring up a doubt, though, was Griff. "How? We're painfully short on reinforcements. Unless we call on Avalon's clan, there's no way we can meet the Rokkans blow for blow."
"That is very true, Griff. Which is why Alexander is here. We're going to find reinforcements ... from everywhere."
The Clan sucked in a collective gasp. Rosanna smiled, then continued, knowing she had their full, undivided attention.
"That's right ... every time, every place, every single little plane of reality. We're going to draw our forces from other planes. That way, we will win this thing, and Earth will be ours!"
The Clan now cheered, when they once had gasped. Rosanna took that moment to walk away from Alexander, coming up next to Rain and putting an arm around his waist, in a half-embrace which Rain returned.
"All yours, Alex. Do us proud."
Alexander sucked in a great breath, focusing his now massively-collected energies within himself, closing his eyes, and beginning a slow, murmuring chant from the very center of his being.
Alexander's eyes suddenly flew open, the eldritch energies collected within him making his eyes appear brighter than any mortal light ever constructed. He focused his gaze solely on Rosanna.
The infusion of magic made it hard for the gathered Clan to keep their footing on the battlement, as Alexander finally released the rushing flood of fae magics he had been collecting like a sponge for the past few weeks ... magic that shot out into the Manhattan night, making the sky as bright as the daylight. The energy finally blossomed and mushroomed high above the Castle, even higher into space, ripping a hole through time, space, and dimensions. The flash seemed to last forever.
"My God ... what have they done?!"
The Sisters approached behind her. "Their last resort."
"They call help from other planes."
"But we can interfere."
The Sisters approached the window, their own weird magics flying out of the window, toward the massive beam centered at the very top of the Aerie building.
And just as suddenly, the magics stopped. And Alexander Fox Xanatos slumped to the stony floor of the battlement, completely spent.
Coyote and Beth were the first to his sides, helping him to at least a sitting position. His eyes were blank and vacant, his hair nearly bleached fully white by the effort.
"Did ... it work?"
Alexander's question sent everyone's eyes heavenward, scanning for their reinforcements. After a moment which seemed to drag on forever, Rosanna pointed excitedly upward.
"THERE! HE DID IT!!"
The rest of the Clan looked up at Rosanna's yell, and then started cheering once more.
Pontiac suddenly called over to the group. "Hey guys, there's more in the courtyard! He really did it!"
More of the Clan looked down in the courtyard, Surely enough, it was more populated than it ever had been ... the newcomers including many humans and one thing which made Pontiac shriek: a car.
Within the circle of the Clan, Goliath and Broadway found Lexington, Brooklyn and Angela. They came together arm-in-arm, in a warm embrace, looking to the sky.
For Goliath, it was a reason to cry. But for the first time since that horrible night nine years before, his tears were happy ones.
For at last ... at long last ... the skies over Castle Wyvern were once again filled with gargoyles.
In order, here are the characters and sources of said characters that Alexander conjured in this story's flashbacks.
Character #1: Cutup (Jasmine Chin), from "Motown Heat," an original cybercomic by Don A. Martinez.
Character #2: Commander Krystle Jacobs, from "Final Cruise," an original screenplay by Don A. Martinez.
Character #3: Eddie, the leader of Clan Winslow, from the Multiverse of Amy K. Cyrway. Thanks for letting me do the preview, Ace!