AVALON MISTS: A momentary escape from reality.
Issue #6
First Released: Wednesday, March 26, 1996


****Fanfic****

"Face Value"
--MaryK (starr@nando.net) 

Part #4


****
Chapter IV
****
	Mulder slowly sat up in the hotel bed, shaking a few sunflower seeds out of 
his hair, before glancing over at his partner, who was lying still, with a 
horrible case of morning-hair.
	He gave an evil grin and slowly edged towards his suitcase, where he pulled 
out a small Polaroid camera that he'd insisted bringing in case they would 
need hard evidence. He pulled up the flash, aimed...
	"Mulder!" Scully yelped angrily, snapping awake as the flash momentarily 
blinded her. He laughed and ran for the bathroom, the camera forgotten on 
the floor, the developing photo in one hand.
	"Mulder?! I'm going to count to three, and you better be out of there with 
that picture or I'll....I'll break the door in!"
	"Hey, Scully, I'm indecent!" He yelped, then started laughing. "It's 
developing." He said in a singsong tone. Scully growled.
	"Great shades of the wild women!" Mulder laughed, his voice echoing even in 
the small room.
	"Oh, yeah? Well, let's just see what I can find in your suitcase, shall we?"
There was a silence from inside the bathroom.
	"I thought so." she said, moving over to the already unzipped bag.
	"Wait a minute, Scully, now you're getting personal."
	"Superman underwear?"
	"Scully, the door's jammed! This isn't fair play!"
	"--and *batman*?"
	"I'm telling Skinner! This is going to be a great X-file--the morning-hair 
conspiracy."
	"I bet the birds around here really love sunflower seeds."
	"You're *dead*, Dana."

****

	Elisa rewoke that morning with the smell of smoke in the air.
	"wHa?" she mumbled, running a hand over her hair, realizing she was lying 
in her own bed, the blanket from her couch wrapped tightly around her
shoulders. Goliath appeared in the doorway, a smoking pan in one hand. One of
Elisa's stained potholders was wrapped around the handle, one that she
admittedly couldn't remember ever getting.
	"Sorry. I tried to make breakfast." he said, "I guess I should have waited."
	"Mmhm." she mumbled, trying to catch the trailing wisps of a wonderful dream
she'd had last night. She just remembered that Goliath had actually smiled.
Comedy club? Ah, well. She sat up in the bed, pushing the blanket aside as
she moved over to look at the smoking substance stuck to the bottom of the
pan.
	"Eggs?"
	"Once."
	She nodded, half-asleep, and walked into the kitchen and took an
almost-empty carton of milk from the door, emptying the rest into two glasses
and taking a sip from her own.
	"Did you ever get to sleep?" she asked, realizing that they were both 
wearing the same things they'd been wearing the day before.
	"I...believe I did. My arm has healed." he added with a more optimistic 
tone. Elisa's eyebrows went together as a confused look settled onto her
face..
	"Hmm. I meant you'd just *feel* better, sleep doesn't really.." she glanced
over at his upper arm. The wound had completely disappeared, except for a 
small tell-tale scar and the hole in the sleeve of the turtleneck.
	"It seems I've retained a few of my talents." he said, then abruptly pulled 
off the turtleneck to get a closer look.
	"Jalapena! Goliath, you can't *do* that!"
	"What?" he asked, glancing up from his scrutiny of the scar the bullet had 
left.
	"I know you're used to walking around in next to nothing, but not in *my* 
apartment, got it? If someone walked in right now..."
	"Oh." he said, and a grin broke out on his face as he pulled the
long-sleeved shirt back over his head. "*Oh*"
	He started laughing, and Elisa scowled at him.
	"I apologize." he said, biting his lip to stifle his laughter, then his 
face straightened. "I realize I don't act a very convincing human."
	"Don't worry about it." *Whoa! If anything you're convincing* she thought, 
"You'll be back to normal as soon as we can get rid of those agents."
	"Hopefully." he said in a grave tone, the smile dying.
	"Hey, don't worry about it. You make a very handsome human, in my opinion."
	"And you were a beautiful gargoyle."
	"Yeah. We just need a middle ground." Elisa mumbled, then smiled over at 
him. "It could have been worse--he could have made me into a gargoyle and
we'd both be left PO'd."
	Goliath nodded, taking a drink from the glass that Elisa had offered to him.
	"So how are we going to get rid of the FBI?" She asked. Goliath shrugged, 
then glanced at the door as there was a knock from outside. The pair
exchanged startled glances.
	"Hide in the bedroom." Elisa whispered, "I don't want to take any chances
with anyone finding you out."
Goliath complied, and Elisa pulled on her usual red jacket over the T-shirt
she'd been wearing since two days before, then moved over to answer the door.
	"Derek! What are you doing here? And during the day, too! Hurry up, get in 
here." He stepped in, and Elisa slammed the door shut behind him.
	"Sorry Elisa, but your friends' clan is minus a leader. Word got around, 
and I wondered if you knew." He said, moving away from the door.
	"Goliath! It's okay, it's just my brother."
	Derek gave her a questioning look, and amused smile forming on the feline
face.
	"Don't even *think* it." Elisa warned, as Goliath emerged from the bedroom. 
	Derek's wicked smile grew larger at the location he'd appeared from, until 
the sunlight shone on his face.
	"Hello! what the heck happened to *him*?"
	"Loki did."
	"You mean, the trickster..?"
	"Mmhm."
	"Strange. Well, sis, as long as you're all okay..." he said,  turning to 
the door.
	"Hey, Derek, wait. Do you think you could help us with a pair of FBI 
agents? We need to either get rid of them or find out what exactly they want
from the clan. Do you think you can do that for me?"
	"Anything for a close relative. But why can't you just ask Matt to check 
the files?"
	"Because he has to worry about keeping his job. Thanks, little brother."
	"You owe me *big* for this one. Extra to keep me from talking about *this*."
He said, the in-joke grin growing again as he looked from her face to
Goliath's changed one.
	"Do and I'll arrest you for trespassing under the city, buster."
	"Agh, truce! I'll see you later, you two."
	Elisa smiled, closing the door behind him, then turned to Goliath.
	"You know, if my guess is right, Hudson and Bronx will be at that door 
before we ever get through breakfast."
	There was a knock at the door.
	"Or maybe sooner." she added, pulling the door open again to reveal the 
changed pair. Bronx rushed in to greet Goliath, and Hudson smiled at Elisa.
	"Saw your brother in the hallway." Elisa nodded, as if to say 'old news'.
	"How Goliath handling this?" he asked under his breath.
	"Pretty well, I guess. He had some trouble getting to sleep....got shot. 
It's weird though, because his arm was healed when he woke up."
	Goliath looked up from petting the now-Saint Bernard.
	"I have a feeling I'm being talked about." He said with a questioning 
smile. "Your arm." Elisa said, indicating the location on her own. "I was
just telling Hudson about that healing thing that you did."
	"Oh."
	They stared at each other for a moment, then Bronx crashed into Elisa's 
bedroom, snapping them both out of it.
	"Bronx! Bad dog! Bad, bad....Not you again." Bronx had cornered one of 
the FBI agents in Elisa's closet. Fox again.
	"Down!" he said, backing up against the hangers of clothes.
	"Hey, Bronx! C'mere." Elisa commanded, kneeling in the doorway and clapping
her hands together. The huge dog ran over, leaving the agent to straighten 
his perpetual trenchcoat.
	"What are *you* doing here?" Elisa accused, handing the dog over to Hudson, 
who led Bronx away from their conversation.
 	"The window was open. I thought I'd drop by." He said, his voice flat.
	"Since when can the FBI do that sort of thing without a warrant? Look, Mr. 
Big-shot, this is *my* apartment, and right now, you're trespassing, got it?"
"I've got a warrant." The agent said levelly, "But I didn't come here to 
search your apartment."
	"You could have fooled me."
	"I just want to know what you know about the gargoyles. That's it. Or, I 
could just search your apartment and see what I can find. Which would you
prefer?"
	Elisa scowled, glancing over her shoulder at Goliath, whose hands were 
clenched into fists by his sides. *Not someone you'd want to meet in a dark 
alley* Elisa reflected, and guessed the agent was probably thinking the same 
thing.
	"Why do you want to know about them? What would information on the gargoyles
be worth to you?"
	"Look, Ms Maza, I work in a investigative department of the FBI called the
X-files. Me and my partner always end up getting the paranormal leftovers
that the other agents leave behind, and I thought it would be worth it to
investigate our open file on the gargoyles." He stopped and gave her a 
short smile, breaking the professional facade for a few seconds. "Have you 
ever stopped to think that these gargoyles might be aliens? Two years ago,
strange sightings start to occur in your city. I'm not going to start a media
circus: I just wanted to learn a few secrets."
	"But first, we would have to know we can trust you." Goliath said, after 
patiently listening to Mulder's ramblings. "-and we trust no one. Good-bye,
Mr. Mulder."
	Mulder flashed a rebellious glance at the transformed gargoyle, then shook 
his head.
	"I have a warrant from the Federal Bureau of Investigation to search your 
apartment, Miss Maza. I'm sorry I have to do this." he said, his tone almost 
questioning as he ended his sentence. He walked into the living room and
turned on the screen to Elisa's computer.
	"You can't do that." Goliath growled from beside him. Mulder ignored him.
	"Goliath, this is legal. You smash him now and we'll be shut into jail for 
a *long* time." Elisa whispered.
Mulder listened in, wincing slightly.	 	*Let's hope she's *really*
convincing* He thought, not looking forward to being attacked by someone a
good three inches taller than he, and one heckuva lot angrier. Goliath was
nodding 
affirmatively when there was another knock at the door.
Elisa groaned. *Who is it *now*?*
	"Watch this guy for me, will you?" she asked Goliath, who nodded. Mulder 
started looking visibly nervous as he tapped away at the keyboard.  Elisa 
walked over to the door, past where Hudson was sitting on her couch with
Bronx, and pulled it open.
	"Derek!"
	The agent glanced up at her outburst, then moved away from the computer and
down the short hallway.
	"Get out!"
	"Just real quick--those agents are legit! I remember a story I heard about 
them--"
	"Who is that?" Mulder asked, passing the couch where Hudson was still 
sitting, an interested look on his face. Elisa slammed the door shut. *Sorry 
Derek* she thought.
	"My landlady."
	"Can I talk to her?"
	"Oh, no! She's in curlers and all; wait a few minutes so she can get herself
together. Wait--I'll go tell her you want to talk to her."
	"I'll come with you." Mulder said as Elisa pulled the door open.
	"No you won't. The search warrant only goes for my apartment. Your nose 
stays out of my business from there on, got it?"
	Hudson chuckled from behind them. The agent nodded gravely, frowning. Elisa 
gave him an untrusting smile and stepped out into the hallway, where her
brother was still standing, looking startled.
	"You're *crazy*, coming up here at daytime! Get out of here!"
	"Okay, but one thing: you can trust the agents, just don't tell them *too* 
much, got it?"
	"Mm. I don't think I'll trust them until the day Lexington swears off 
computers."
   	"I think I got your point." Derek said. "Like you said, I've got to go. 
I'll see you tonight, Elisa."
	"Clock tower. I'll meet you there."
He nodded and left down the hallway, pulling the hood of his cape farther 
over his face. Elisa pulled the door back open to come face-to-face with 
agent Mulder.
	"I think I need my hearing checked." he muttered, a conspirational look on 
his face, "Sounded to me like you won't trust me until I either save your 
life or promise to leave your apartment."
	"You're right." Elisa said, walking past him, "You need your hearing 
checked. That was my brother--he said I should trust you." she said, walking 
back to her computer. Mulder followed.
	"Derek Maza. I think I've heard that name before...."
	"He disappeared a while ago.  Let's not get into that, shall we Mr. Mulder?"
she said, turning to face him.
	"Your call."
	"Okay. I say you meet with us tonight at the base of the clocktower, half 
an hour after sunset, and I'll explain as much as I can."
	The agent nodded. "Thank you, Ms Maza. Tonight, then."
	Elisa nodded, and walked back to the door to usher him out. She pushed the 
door closed, then leaned back against it, letting out a deep sigh.
	"Yech. If I have to face *anyone* else today..." she moaned, slumping 
against the door. Goliath smiled.

****

	Loki's white-haired partner greeted him with a wide smile as he stumbled 
into the kitchen.
	"Things are looking up. One of the agents has already forgotten the search 
for the gargoyles, and the other plans to resolve it tonight. We are in
luck."
	"Not so loud." Louis mumbled, holding his hand up to his head.
	"It seems I was correct about the hangover, also." She gloated, handing him 
a suit jacket.
	"Be quiet." He growled, taking the jacket.

****
Chapter V
****

	"Half an hour to sunset." Elisa said. A shadow crossed her face.
	"What is it?" Goliath asked, walking forward to the base of the tower.
	"I'm not sure this is going to work." she said, casting an unsure glance 
over her shoulder as she shoved her hands into the pockets of her usual 
leather jacket. "What if one of them gets here too early--or maybe too late?"
	"Don't worry about it." Goliath said, placing one hand on her shoulder. 
Elisa smiled, nodding.
	"You're probably right. Do you want to wait inside?"
	"Yes. It will be good to see my clan again, even if it is not as myself."
Elisa nodded at this, then led the way to the door at the base of the tower, 
Goliath following behind her.

*****

	Dana Scully sighed. She'd heard this line one time too many.
	"Mulder, I know you want to do this alone, but I'm coming with you, like it 
or not."
	"Scully, all I'm doing is finding information. I'm not going onto 
government property to investigate insects, I'm going into a clocktower to 
get answers."
	"You still don't know if you can trust this woman to tell you the truth. 
Mulder, at least let me wait in the car." she said with an anxious smile.
"Just in case."
	"Just in case." Her partner agreed, retrieving her gun from a locked drawer 
of the hotel's nightstand.
	"If this doesn't turn out to be just a friendly discussion." He said, giving
her the gun. "Wait for me."
	Scully nodded, then followed him out of the hotel door, climbing into the 
passenger's side of their rental car. She handed Mulder the keys, and they 
drove away from the hotel towards the lighted tower in the distance.


They pulled up to the curb, cutting the lights as they reflected off the 
first-story windows of the police station.
Mulder stepped out of the car, Scully behind him.
	"Wait here." He whispered to her, and she nodded, one hand close to her 
gun. Mulder approached the doorway they had stepped through only a night 
before, and wondered who the figures had been that had led he and his partner
up this stairway in the first place.
	He reached up to pull down an attic-like staircase from the roof, and 
mounted the wooden stairway to again enter the dusty location of the morning 
before. That couldn't have been more than twelve hours ago, but the stone
loft had changed considerably. The year's worth of dust had disappeared, and
the large area looked more....inhabited.
	Mulder frowned and reached one hand down to check for his gun, then brought 
it out to check the clip. This place was making him nervous, and the legends 
of the seven-foot gargoyles kept flitting through his mind.
	A shadow moved in the edges of his vision, and he turned, his gun out ahead 
of him in the dusky light left by the setting sun.
	"Who's there?"
A figure emerged from the shadows, hands up in mock-surrender.
	"Ms. Maza. You're early." Mulder said, lowering his gun.

****

Elisa stood at the base of the tower, watching the sun set.
	"Are you *sure* this is going to work?" She moaned. Derek exchanged looks 
with Goliath, then smiled over at her.
	"Trust me, things couldn't turn out better than they will tonight."
	"I just have to check." Elisa said, "I don't trust this."
	She opened the doorway at the base of the tower and sprinted up the stairway

inside, leaving the two others to follow behind.

*****

	"I could say the same for you, Agent Mulder." The female officer said 
suspiciously, walking across the wide loft towards the stairway. "Can we take
this downstairs?" She questioned.
	"I'd rather wait for sunset, if you don't mind." Mulder said, walking in 
the direction of the stone staircase that led to the clockface. Elisa
scowled, but followed the agent's lead, moving towards the stairway.
	"Stop right there!" Both Mulder and Elisa turned to see a figure standing 
by the staircase that led to below.
	"Freeze, Louis!" Elisa smiled and moved her hands under her coat. The 
figure moved closer, and Mulder did a double take as he saw the face. Another
Elisa Maza? But...
	"I said STOP!" the newcomer shouted, and waved the gun. "Come back down 
here, away from the doorway." she glanced over at the confused FBI agent.
"Looks like you couldn't wait." she said, then turned back to the double. "A
little ironic, Louis, I guess things don't turn out the way you'd want them
after all."
	"She's crazy." Mulder's original said, drawing out an identical gun. 	
"Excuse me, Mr. Mulder, I'll join you on your ledge in a minute."
	"I don't think so!" Mulder cast a worried glance in the direction of the 
open staircase as his partner emerged from below, her gun held at chest-level
and shifting between the identical Mazas.
	"Now, unless one of you can give me a good reason not to shoot you now, I'd 
say you should both drop your guns. DROP THEM!"
	"Have a cow." the original Maza muttered, a secretive smile on her face. 
The second Maza dropped her weapon and kicked it towards the agent, her 
other doing the same.
	"Now, move away from the doorway and come down here. Keep your hands where 
I can see them." Scully continued.
The pair did so, Mulder's Maza falling in step behind the second Maza. He 
shook his head, wondering if he was hallucinating, then looked back up. The 
pair were standing a few feet away from Scully, one with a blank stare and 
the other with a wide smile at a secret joke.
	Suddenly, there was the sound of falling gravel and a chorus of roars from 
the balcony outside. Scully's gun went off, the bullet grazing the closest 
Maza's side. She doubled over as if the bullet had shot her in the stomach, 
then she...changed. The next thing Mulder knew, he was staring into
the face of a gargoyle.
	"Don't let him trick you, he's a shape-changer!"
	The blue-purple gargoyle stood, spreading his wings menacingly in the wide
loft.
	"It won't work, Elisa, they've already figured us out. We might as well--"
The gargoyle grimaced, clenching one hand over the injury on his side.
	"Agent Mulder, if you're going to believe *anything*  I say, believe this. 
This person is a shape-changer, not a gargoyle. He turned my friend into a 
human, and unless you want first-hand experience on what it would be like to 
be a gargoyle, I think you should tell your partner to get her gun away from 
me."
	Mulder nodded at his partner, who sighed and reluctantly lowered the gun. 
Elisa walked up to the grimacing gargoyle, the knowledge that he could easily
take an arm off clouding her rational thinking. Two more figures appeared
from below as she started talking with the former-copy.
"Thailog?" Goliath's voice questioned, and Elisa turned, relieved to see a
friendly face.
	"No, Loki."
	Mulder's eyes lit up at this, and his partner frowned and elbowed him in the

side.
	"Let's deal, Agents. If you pay no attention to this guy, we'll tell you 
about the gargoyles." Elisa said.  By now, three listening shadows had
gathered outside of the clockface. Hudson, coming up after Goliath, made a
slashing movement across his own neck. Elisa gave him a short smile and
waited for the agents' reply.
	"I've already investigated a shapeshifter. That guy's old news." Mulder 
said, giving a farewell wave with his gun. The gargoyle shifted into a more
normal appearance, that of...*Owen Burnett?* ...and hurried down the wooden
staircase, but quickly re-emerged.
	"I forgot about my debt, gargoyles. Your original forms, as promised." There

was a quick blink of light and Elisa's formerly human companions had changed 
back to their original forms. Scully swallowed nervously, and her partner 
gave an anxious smile and pocketed his gun. 
	Loki had once again disappeared into the police station, and after a few 
seconds, there were loud shouts of 	 "Freeze!"
	"Reinforcements." Mulder explained to his partner and the monstrous figures 
in front of him. "Louis Kramer has proven connections to the local drug
trade, and a not-so-known one to the Illuminati. You won't have to worry
about *him* for a while."
	"Agent Fox Mulder. I'm glad I've been given the chance to meet you." The 
blue gargoyle said solemnly with a short bow, his white-haired partner 
doing the same.
	"I am Goliath, and this is Hudson. I'm afraid Bronx is still in Elisa's 
car." He said with an upwards twist of his mouth.
	"My upholstery! You are *dead*, Tiny." she warned, then hurried towards the
stairway down, taking the steps two at a time. Mulder turned to Goliath, who 
still towered over him, now by a good foot and a half. *Still not exactly 
someone I'd want to meet in a dark alley*

*****

Scully sighed as the stumbled down the stairway, finally leaving the loft as 
the sun rose in the eastern sky.
	"What?"
	"It's amazing. How could they survive so long, even in hibernation? There
are so many medical angles that could be taken on this. What muscles allow
them to fly? Why can they only glide? Have they adapted hollow bone
structures?"
	"Can it, Dana."
	She flashed him a startled look.
	"Whatever they do, whoever they are, we've promised to keep their existence 
a secret. I'm going to honor that, and I want you to, too."
	"I know. But it's still so intruiging to know that such creatures have 
existed for thousands of years with only dark legends to explain their 
existence."
	"They *are* amazing." Mulder agreed.

****

	At the top of the wooden stairway, Elisa smiled slowly at their
conversation. Yes, her friends *were* amazing. She turned to join them in the
loft, and to explain the agents. *If anything, they're the most amazing
people I've ever known.*

****

The next night, Elisa climbed the staircase after a long talk with the 
Captain, who was still breathing down her neck for the disruption the FBI's
intervention had caused last night.
She arrived outside of the clockface just in time for sunset. The clan broke
out of their stone skins, and Elisa gasped.
	"What?" Lexington asked through a lipsticked mouth. Elisa's expression of 
surprise was replaced by an a wide smile she attempted to hide. Loki had a
sense of humor, after all.
	Each member of the clan was wearing a flowered lady's dress.

~The end

****Miscellany***

(This section will eventually have more stuff, but for now, this is all I've
had time for. And apologies to Brian -- I think I told him I was running this
a few weeks ago. I forgot.)

For stories about non-disney gargoyles in the Disney universe, Brian
Henderson runs the AGU-L listserv. Finished AGU-L fanfic is available at the
web page:
 http://www.microsys.net/personal/bhend/agu.htm 

To subscribe to the AGU-L listserv, send a message to
 BHendrsn@kirk.microsys.net  with the text: "subscribe garalt".You'll receive
an introduction -- *read* it for the basic rules and instructions. Direct any
questions to Brian at BHendrsn@kirk.microsys.net.