The Castle had been well populated for nearly a week now. Nightly patrols had continued, but somehow it seemed pointless to do them ... no Rokkan activity had taken place.

And Rosanna was starting to wonder what the point of the force was.

She stood tall on the high battlements, watching the patrols sweep over the ruined city, scanning for anything out of the ordinary. Another patrol took off from directly beneath her ... to Rosanna's relief it was the Outklaw party. She let out a deep breath ... the longer they were out of the Castle, the longer she could go without having to deal with Mauser's cracks at all of the females.

At least he had stopped being as annoying after Lina blasted him. Rosanna couldn't help but chuckle at that.

"Rosanna?" The voice behind her drew Rosanna's attention to a smaller gargess standing behind her. "My party didn't find anything."

Rosanna nodded. "Thanks, Lex. How are things with your clanmates, anyway?"

Lex Atello, leader of the MiniClan, approached the battlement. "They're a bit wary of this whole situation. It's still all very shocking to us, the devastation out there."

Rosanna nodded, understanding. "It all came as quite a shock to us, too. We were caught pretty much unawares when they struck. Even Nokkar's warning didn't prepare us ... the next night they struck."

Lex turned her attention to another patrol approaching the Castle. "Looks like Clan Austin's returning."

As promised, the patrol party alighted, landing on the battlement. The first to approach Rosanna with a report was Austin clan leader Guadalupe.

"We went around the Village, nothing. Still have yet to see those giant gargoyles you were talking about."

The smaller female hybrid behind Guadalupe approached him. "Believe me, Guad, they're here. I've read up enough on this place to know they're here."

The leader turned to her. "But we're not even sure this is the same universe we're talking about, Lisa."

"Oh it is, all right." Rosanna stopped the argument before it could start. "Go on in the Castle and rest up. We'll try again later." Guadalupe nodded, leading the rest of his party below. Rosanna sighed again, looking out toward the city again.

"They're laying in wait, Lex. Waiting for us to make our move, or let our guard down. Then they'll strike."

Clan Austin's Lisa, however, wasn't one to stick with trends. With her clan's beast Red in tow, she slowly approached the two hybrids glaring at each other.

Their silence was nearly deafening.

"Alex? I think your patrol is leaving shortly, you'd better get up there."

The warning came none too soon for Alex Wonder. Shooting one last glare at his companion Ravyn Maza, he started toward the door, wading through the collected warriors to get back to the outside. Lisa watched him leave, then turned to Ravyn.

"Okay, how long are you two going to be like this?"

The smaller hybrid female sighed, looking up at the winged newcomer. "When he quits getting so obsessive. Just because I got so friendly with another guy at that party ..."

"I read about that party, Ravyn, as well as what came before it. He really has no right to get so sanctimonious with you, he doesn't own you."

"I know, I know. I just wish he'd figure it out."

Lisa nodded, as Ravyn crouched down next to Red to pet him. "Listen, come on into the arboretum. Some of us girls are getting together for a while, try to get to know each other better."

Ravyn looked up. "Who?"

"Lots of us ... Liberty, Ariana, Eden, Kat, Pippen ..."

"I get the point." Ravyn chuckled, standing up. "Lead on."

The two women left the room, passing another group on their way out the door. Watching them exit was the blue gargoyle Wilek Nereus.

"And there go the girls. Ah well."

He was suddenly brought back to the task at hand by Mike McCoy, knocking him on the head with one of his cybernetic enhancements.

"Pay attention, guy!"

Behind Wilek, his personal assistant Miriam bristled, reaching into her coat. Wilek motioned her off before she could get violent. "At ease, Miriam."

"But sir ..."

"My fault for not paying attention. Mr. McCoy is leading our next patrol, I really ought to know where we're going to go."

Miriam nodded, pulling her hand back out of her coat, much to McCoy's relief without a weapon. "So be it, Mr. Nereus."

Wilek let out a sigh. "Crisis averted. Now, where were we?"

McCoy returned to his strategy session with his upcoming patrol party.

The tanned, beaked gargoyle Luc looked over the stone in his grasp, changing his focus alternately between it and its owner, Lina. She looked at him expectantly.

"Two months now. Demona took a piece of it. I don't know what she did with it, but all of a sudden it wouldn't work for me the way it had before."

Luc nodded. "But I think I know a way we can heal it, Lina." Looking around the room, he focused his view so that he could find any talismans of any magical origin. His scan finally brought his attention to Eden, one of the MiniClan gargoyles, entering the room.

Specifically, her necklace.

"Eden! Come over here for a sec."

Her attention caught, the blue gargess came over to where the two magicians were sitting. Luc held the stone briefly up to the artifact Eden wore as a pendant, the Dragon Gate.

"Hm ... it does seem to react better." He handed the stone back to Lina. "Hold it next to the pendant and give it a command."

Eden seemed taken aback. "What's going on?!"

"Just a little experiment. We're going to try and get this little rock of Lina's back under control."

Eden was still a bit wary. "I don't think that's such a good idea. I can't even control this thing very well yet."

"No pressure on you, Eden. It's all on me." Lina's assurance finally allowed Eden to relax. "Now, what to cast ..."

At that moment, a party returned from its patrol. As soon as the door opened, Lina started bristling.

It was the Outklaws. Mauser, in particular, drew her ire. He walked to the center of the room, looking around at the group, some of his clanmates behind him starting to snicker already.

"Oh no ..." Luc rolled his eyes.

Mauser's face lit up with malicious glee. "Well, if it isn't Little Miss Walnut Boobs."

Lina's eyes glowed. She gripped the stone tightly. "FLARE STREAM!"

The stone and the Dragon Gate began glowing simultaneously. A huge pillar of fire shot from Lina's hand, straight at the Outklaw leader. Two of his unfortunate clanmates, Smith and Wesson, also got caught in the streak. When it subsided, all three were coated in a thin crust of black ash.

Luc smiled. "Now that's what I call barbecue. Nice one, Lina."

Another Outklaw, Chaz, had fortunately hopped aside just as the streak had flown through. He couldn't help but grin. "The kid's got style."

Lina fumed, walking past the collapsed party and out of the room. Eden was close behind, followed by Luc. Finally rousing on the floor, Mauser looked up at his mate Monika, who had also jumped aside.

"Anybody get the number of that truck??"

Demona focused her attention solely on the task before her ... or at least tried to. The Weird Sisters' interference with the massively powerful spell from Castle Wyvern had caught her completely unawares.

But it wasn't all that unpleasant. The dwindling Rokkan forces had now been reinforced by a number of gargoyles and other creatures, ones who held the promise of being quite troublesome for the Clan. Inwardly, Demona's hopes for the near future rose.

Then she thought of Samson. He was dwindling away with each passing night ... even his stone sleep didn't seem to help him any. She hadn't really wanted to kill him, but even now, at this late point, it seemed like she had.

Her intense concentration was suddenly broken by Thorn, walking into the room slowly. Close behind her was Alcyone Sevarius, one among the many the Sisters had summoned.

=We're ready, mistress.=

Demona nodded, rising to cross the room and meet them. "All right, tell me exactly what is going to occur here."

Alcyone tried his best to keep up a steady pace next to Demona as she strode quickly down the hallway, unaware that it was in fact his very presence that made her try to get away from him. "I've done all I can with technology to preserve him, but there really is a finite limit to what technology can do in this situation. I really must complement the designer of this mutation, it's quite the masterpiece, almost something my own father would try ..."

Demona snarled. "Get on with it."

"Ah yes, of course. Anyway, when science fails, it is time for magic to step in. With the help of some of my more magically-inclined colleagues, we believe we have a solution."

The group walked through a doorway and into the ship's medlab, where the scene could not have been more hopeful for Demona. Surrounding the prone form of the increasingly-rapidly-aging Samson were a number of magic users, at their head being the Weird Sisters, who looked among themselves nervously while keeping their eye on the tall blue woman in their midst, the dark mistress Nox. Clearly, Nox had taken the lead in this attempt ... and the Sisters were not very happy about this development.

"So tell me, what's going on here?"

"I've introduced a counter-mutagen into the poor boy's system, one which when triggered by the collected magic here should start reversing his aging to a tolerable level."

Demona glared at Alcyone. Something about him unnerved her ... she was unsure what it was. "Define tolerable."

"Oh ... fifty to sixty years."

She nodded. "Excellent." She turned her attention to Nox, standing at the table's head. "Proceed."

The ambient magic level of the room intensified a hundred-fold, as Nox wordlessly led the assembled magicians into their effort. Their focused energies collected within Samson's lifeless form, levitating him a short distance off of the table as they concentrated. Finally, the targeted gargoyle settled back down on the table.

He looked much younger now. He sat up quickly, opening up his remaining natural eye and looking straight at Demona. "Grandmother."

Demona smiled. The spell was still in effect! "Welcome back, Samson. Are you ready to lead the troops?"

"I think you guys better see this!"

Coming up quickly behind her, Shadow and Skydancer were the first at her side, followed soon after by Griff.

"Good eyes, girl. It's a Rokkan patrol."

Shadow nodded. "Let's get ready to rumble." She took off, heading back toward the Castle. Griff and Skydancer, and soon Changeling had also followed her lead.

"Folks, we have to launch an offensive while they're down. So here's what we're going to do. We'll form up into eight teams, Alpha through Hotel. Each one of these teams will have a particular purpose. I'll be assigning one of my clan to captain each team ..."

"HEY!"

"It's no judgement on your abilities, Eddie. I'm sure you're capable, it's just that my clan is much more familiar with the Rokkans than any of you are. We've fought them for a year, we know their weaknesses. Now pay attention.

"Team Alpha is the command party, which I'll be leading. Our mission is to disrupt the ship's bridge and make sure nobody knows what's happening.

"Team Bravo is the stealth team, being led by Graeme, my second. Your mission is going to be to sneak an explosive on the mother ship, to disrupt their efforts even further.

"Team Charlie will be led by Ariana ... she has insisted. They will be staying behind to defend the Castle.

"Team Delta is the northern attack patrol, to be led by Lina. Their job will be to enter the ship from the north and stop any escape.

"Team Eagle is the ground unit, to be led by Rain. You'll be taking your shots from street level, and maintaining calm among the humans while we take the fight to the Rokkans.

Team Foxtrot will be led by Lexington. They are the southern attack patrol that will be stopping any Rokkan exodus southward.

"Team Golf is Mustang's team, they are the eastern patrol party. You guys are going to be watching for any Rokkan activity away from the ship.

"And finally, Team Hotel is Goliath's. Same deal, only you're the western patrol party. Keep the Rokkans from escaping, that's all we need.

"Any questions?"

She scanned the attentive leaders around her. The only one voiced came from Atlas, of the Klone Clan. "Are your people any good?"

Rosanna smirked. "My people are the best, Atlas. We'll get the job done, I promise."

The scene was suddenly disturbed by screams from all around the Castle. Lili screamed into the room in a full glide, followed closely behind by Jake and Teri Laughton.

"ROKKANS ON THE SOUTHERN WALL!"

Rosanna turned quickly to the assembled leaders. "Scramble! Let's go, people, move!" She then turned to her radio headset. "Team leaders, assemble your teams and move out! Rokkans are on the move, repeat: The Rokkans are on the move!!"

The room cleared out quickly, as the Army of the Night jumped into the fray.