Victims

Angela walked through the tunnels of the Labyrinth back to the entrance way, reading her new fantasy novel as she did. She realized what a bad idea this was when she walked smack into a pillar. /Well, who do you think you are?/ She mentally scolded herself. /Belle from /Beauty and the Beast?/ /You have to pay attention down here!/ Angela dogeared the page she stopped at and examined on of the walls. There were scratches in the walls that would look like meaningless grafiti to a newcomer, but someone familiar with the Labyrinth knew them as directions.

A tic-tac-toe with an O in the upper-left corner. That meant the exit was north-west. Angela headed that direction. She thought of Erin and Benny. She had been the one that took them to the Labyrinth to start with.

She had been out on patrol one night, about a month after she first came to Manhatten, when she heard a little girl's voice scream "Help me! This ain't my daddy!" Angela banked in midair towards the scream. Below her in a nearly empty parking lot, a man was trying to drag a girl who couldn't be more than ten to a van while a boy about seven years pounded his tiny fists into him to no avail.

"C'mon, sweetie, I'll take real good care of ya." the man crooned.

"Let my sister go!" the little boy demanded. The man answered by backhanding him hard enough for him to fall down.

Angela's blood boiled with rage at the sight. "Get away from them, you bastard!" she screamed as she tackled the man. "Do you like little girls, you filthy pervert?" she growled menacingly as she held him down and stared into his terrified face. "Do you think you can handle a big girl like me?" She knew her eyes must be glowing red.

"P-please don't kill me!" the man begged, nearly hyperventilating with fear.

A spineless coward, just as she knew he would be. She stood and picked him up, dangling him a good foot or so off the ground. "Be glad these children are watching." she told him. "Or I would tear out your black heart and show it to you!"

"Do it anyway!" the boy said enthusiastically. "That would be so cool!"

Angela ripped open the back door of the van. "Hey! What do you think you're...." the man started.

"Shut up." she told him. She looked about the interior for something she could use. There was a crowbar peaking out from under some carelessly tossed magazines. As she picked up the tool, she saw just what kind of magazines they were. "Oh, you are sick!" she said, twisting the crowbar around his hands as makeshift cuffs. She noticed the camera equipment in the van. She had a good idea what sort of pictures were taken by this man. She had seen a report on /Nightwatch/ about pedophilia and had an uncomfortable talk with Elisa when she asked what the word meant. "I'm half tempted to burn this garbage, but it will serve as great evidence for when the police come for you!" She tossed him into the ruined van. "Make yourself comfy! It might be for the last time."

Angela turned her attention to the children. The girl was standing between between her and the boy. "Don't you dare try an' eat us!" The girl said with an angry stomp of her foot.

Angela couldn't help but laugh. Suddenly, she remembered a funny song she heard on the radio. "I wouldn't eat you, cuz you're so tough." she sang, shaking a finger at her.

"It's the One Eyed, One Horned, Flyin' Purple People Eater, Erin!" the boy laughed.

"One out of five." Angela corrected.

"Nuh-uh!" The boy stopped hiding behind his sister. "You can fly! I saw ya!"

"Yah-huh!" Angela responded, kneeling to his level. "I don't fly, I glide. So there." She stuck her tongue out at him, then crossed her arms and looked away saucily.

The boy took a step closer. "Are you real?" he asked.

"Don't get too close, Benny!" his sister scolded.

"I'm as real as you are." Angela said, extending a hand for Benny to touch and discover how real she was. "My name is Angela. What's your sister's name, Benny?"

"Erin." he said with a smile.

"Well, Erin and Benny, you seem awful young to be out here by yourselves. Where are your parents?"

"Mommy's sick again." Benny said saddly.

"She ain't sick!" Erin snapped angrily. "She smoked too much crack and passed out again!"

"I'm sorry to hear that." said Angela. "Did that man hurt either of you?"

"He hit me." Benny said reproachfully.

"He just grabbed me." said Erin. "An' he started sayin' a bunch of gross stuff like Mommy's boyfriend does sometimes."

"Erin, I promise, no one will do anything like that to you." Angela's heart broke for these two children. "Let me help you. I'll take you somewhere safe."

"We ain't goin' to no foster care!" said Erin. "They'll split us up!"

"It's not foster care." Angela assured her. "It's someplace you'll be safe." She looked at the two. Together, they'd weigh as much as an adult. "Erin, you can ride on my back, and Benny, I'll carry you in my arms."

"Are we gonna fly?" Benny said excitedly. "Like Superman?"

"Glide, actually." said Angela. She turned her back to Erin. "Hop on, Erin. Just like a piggy back ride." Erin cautiously clambered onto Angela's back as Angela cradled Benny in her arms. "Hang on!" Angela ran towards the van with her wings spread, hopped up on the hood, jumped and caught an air current.

"Wheeeeeee!" cried out Benny. "Erin, we're flying! We're flying!" Angela could feel Erin trembling on her back. Her little hands clamped down on Angela's shoulders.

Angela took them to the Labyrinth and introduced them to Tasha, a heavyset black woman who lived in the Labyrinth after leaving her abusive husband. Tasha had a job at a laundramat and often washed items donated to the Labyrinth's "clothing drive". In truth, the donations were clothing that the local indigents found in Dumpsters, but couldn't use themselves. Tasha told Angela she'd look after them. Tasha often spoke of saving enough money to rent an apartment. After a while, she started talking about bringing Erin and Benny to live with her when she did.

"They ain't gonna let me adopt 'em, I know that." Tasha once said. "I'm poor, my soon to be ex-husband's an asshole and I ain't the right color to boot. But, I figure once I get my shit together, maybe CPS let me be they foster mama." Angela wondered where they were. She hoped it was someplace nice.

They were nice kids. She liked playing with them whenever she visited the Labyrinth. Erin taught her hip-hop dancing and Angela taught her the Highland fling and some ballroom dancing she learned from Princess Katherine. When Erin tearfully confided in Angela how horrible it was to have a drug addicted mother, Angela comforted her and advised her that no matter how bad her mother was, she must never allow anger and hate to overtake her. When Benny and Hollywood presented her with dandelions, Angela showed them how to make a flower garland and wore it for the rest of the night. Benny would listen rapt to her stories and would often beg to be taken for a glide. She vividly remembered watching him chase after bubbles she blew for him one night while Bronx tried in vain to bite the floating globes. When they found a pregnant grey cat, Angela named her Grizabella after the old queen from /Cats/ and they built a nest for her. Just last week, they showed her how to make a snowman, something she had never done before. Angela entertained herself with an image of Erin and Benny in their new home with Tasha, perhaps decorating a Christmas tree. Not a fancy one like the Xanatos' had, but they'd all be happy together.

As she turned the corner, she nearly colided with an oversized gargoyle with dark peach skin. "Hollywood!" she gasped. "You startled me."

"Where Gar-girl's present?" he asked.

"Oh, the bottle?" Angela smiled and tried to think fast. "Well, Hollywood, it was such a-ah- lovely and delicate gift that I was afraid I'd damage it on the way home. So...I'm on my way to go get some bubble wrap for it!" /Please let him be dumb enough to believe that!/

Hollywood smiled and reached out to stroke Angela's hair. "Gar-girl pretty."

Angela ducked away from his hand. /Ugh, Gar-girl! I'd almost rather be called Angie!/ "Hollywood, I need to get home and you should probably run along too."

"Gar-girl like Hollywood?"

/Oh well, I had to tell him this sometime./ "Hollywood, listen. You're very nice and I like being your friend. But your friend is all I can be."

Hollywood frowned and turned his back. "Gar-girl not like Hollywood!" he said dejectedly.

/I should've been more honest when he gave me those silly gifts./ Angela told herself. /But I didn't want to hurt his feelings!/ "Hollywood, please, understand. I'm very sorry if I led you to believe otherwise, but I simply don't love you in that way. I love Broadway."

Hollywood whipped around, his eyes glowing and grabbed Angela's arms, causing her to drop her book. "No!" he shouted. "Hollywood want Gar-girl! Hollywood have Gar-girl!"

"Hollywood, you let me go right now!" she demanded.

"Hollywood love Gar-girl!" He pulled her close and tried to force a kiss on her. She slapped him, her talons raking a cheek. He released his hold just enough for her to turn and run. She let out a scream as burning pain rippled through her scalp. Hollywood had grabbed her by her ponytail. "Gar-girl must love Hollywood!"

"No!" she screamed, pushing away. She had been able to fight him last Halloween, in a Dorothy Gale costume no less, because she was quicker and there had been room atop the castle for maneuverability. However, in the small confines of the underground tunnels, his strength would give him the upper hand. She'd have to outsmart him. "Talon!" she called, looking over her attacker's shoulder. "I'm so glad you're here!" Hollywood looked behind him to see nothing, giving Angela an opening to elbow him and run away.

"Not nice trick!" Hollywood screamed as he chased her.

Angela got down on all fours to run faster. The exit was close, wasn't it? Was it to the left, right? Oh no, she got turned around somehow! She'd check the glyphs on the wall to figure out where she was. Before she could figure it out, she was tackled and held down by a gargoyle nearly three times her size. He pinned her down and slapped her as she had him. "Bad! Bad Gar-girl hurt Hollywood!" Her head spun with the blow and she could feel blood trickling over her skin. But that paled compared to the anguish of hearing a voice so much like her beloved's say these words. "Hollywood nice to Gar-gril! Give Gar-girl presents! Now Hollywood take present from Gar-girl!" With a a swipe of his talons, he ripped apart Angela's top and gave her some nasty scratches in the process.

Angela was able to jerk her leg so that her knee spur connected sharply with Hollywood's crotch. He let out a screech and was set off balance enough for Angela to crawl out from under him. She covered her exposed breasts with a wing and surruptiously pinched her communicator. "Hollywood, you hurt me!" she said angrily. "You don't hurt people you like and you don't force them to do anything!"

"Hollywood want Gar-girl!" he reiterated, yelling so loudly Angela could barely hear a voice on the communicator say "Angela, what's wrong?"

"Hollywood, you stay away from me!" she said, backing away. "Go right back to the Labyrinth and I'll just go out the exit." She hoped that would be enough to tell whoever was listening where she was.

"No! You no go! You love Hollywood!" He grabbed her again and slung her over his shoulder. Many times, Broadway had done this in pre-sex play and Angela would go along with it. With Hollywood, she only felt outrage and fear.

"Let! Me! Go!" she demanded, raking talons over his back.

He slammed her down on the ground and before she could recover, started fumbling with her loincloth and his, scratching her as she writhed to get away. He pinned her again and brought his face a bare inch from hers. "Gar-girl WILL love Hollywood!" he roared.

"I will choose who I love!" she declared, sinking fangs into a meaty shoulder, causing him to roar in pain.

"Angela! Angela!" She could hear Broadway's voice call for her, sounding near panic.

"Broadway! Help!" she yelled, trying to struggle from Hollywood's grasp.

Broadway turned the corner just in time to see his clone mauling his beloved, wounded and with her top missing. "Get your damn hands off her, you forgery!" he yelled, eyes glowing white. He tackled the clone, forcing him to release Angela. Angela watched them fight. They were matched in strength in size, but Broadway had more experience in hand to hand combat than Hollywood and soon had him pinned. "I should have killed you when I had the chance!" yelled Broadway, raising a taloned hand to strike a fatal blow.

"What's going on here?" demanded Talon as he arived on the scene.

"Look what he did to Angela!" Broadway said, pointing to his beloved who wrapped her wings around her tighter to hide her shame.

The wings didn't hide the cuts on her cheek. "I see." said Talon. He looked at Hollywood. "Looks like she got in a few scrapes herself."

Broadway let Hollywood go and picked up Angela's damaged top. "See!" Broadway shook it in Talon's direction. "Do you understand what he was trying to do to her?"

"Angela?" said Talon. "Tell me what happened."

"He asked me if I liked him." Angela said flatly. "I told him that I only liked him as a friend and he got angry at me and grabbed me. I told him to stop, but he wouldn't. He-he tried to claw my clothes off. I had to hurt him to make him let go of me."

"Hollywood." Talon turned to the clone. "Is this true?"

Hollywood looked like a child caught in the act of doing something he shouldn't. He looked down in shame and said "Hollywood love Gar-girl. Hollywood wanted Gar-girl. Hollywood no mean to hurt her."

"Well, Hollywood, you did." said Talon. "Remember what I said about controlling yourself? And about hurting others?"

"Hollywood do bad?"

"Yes, Hollywood did bad. Very bad."

Hollywood looked over at Angela with a look of remorse. "Hollywood sorry." he told her.

"You think 'sorry' is enough to cover this?" raged Broadway. "I should rip off your...."

"Angela!" Elisa came running in. "Angela, I came as soon as I could! Are you...." She took one look and decided it would be stupid to finish that question.

"Hollywood tried to rape her." Broadway explained. "And now, he will pay." He turned to Hollywood, fangs and talons bared. Talon got between him.

"I'm the boss down here!" he reminded Broadway. "I decide on punishments. And I think Hollwood should keep Fang's cell warm for him. Broadway, if you think you can control yourself, could you help me escort Hollywood to the holding cell?"

"I- Angela needs me." he answered, not sure what to do, trying to sort out his anger at Hollywood and his love for Angela.

"I can take her home." said Elisa, taking the top from Broadway and examining it. "This isn't too bad." she told Angela. "I could fix it with a shoelace. Come on, Angela." Elisa put an arm around her friend's winged shoulders. "I don't think you ever rode in my car before." Angela silently walked away with her as Talon and Broadway led Hollywood away.

Elisa led Angela to where the Fairlane was parked. "I wanted to come as soon as I got your message." Elisa told her friend. "But, I was in the middle of booking that mugger you caught earlier and Chavez wouldn't let me go. I'm sure I broke the speed limit getting here." Elisa had handled rape victims before. Sometimes they cried hysterically. Sometimes they just stared off in the distance in blank silence, like Angela was doing. Elisa opened the back door of the car and let Angela in as she got the first aid kit out of the glove box. They sat in the backseat as Elisa treated Angela's injuries. "Come on, Angela." Elisa tugged at a wing stubbornly covering Angela's body. "You don't have anything I don't have myself." /OK, not entirely true./ Elisa mentally added, as she dressed the cuts. Elisa had often been the police woman on duty to help a woman who requested a rape kit, but this was the first time something like this happened to someone she knew. Swabbing would be unnecessary as the perpetrator had been caught in the act. The RU-48 would likewise be unneeded as Angela was a good ten years from her first heat. "Do you want to talk about it?" Elisa asked.

"Not really." she said blankly. "He didn't- didn't, you know, put it in me." she whispered. "Not that he wouldn't have tried."

"Angela...." Elisa tried to think of something to say. "Angela, this isn't your fault. It's all on Hollywood. You're the victim here."

"I don't want to be a victim!"

Elisa could understand Angela. She was someone who helped victims, not one herself. Angela balled up her fists and was trying not to cry. Elisa looked at the top in her hands. It was different from her usual. It had a high collar, almost nothing on the shoulders and from the looks of the eyelets, didn't leave too much to the imagination. Elisa undid one of her shoelaces and fixed up the bodice of the top. "Here you go!" she said, trying to sound cheerful. "All fixed."

Angela eyed the top. "It's too revealing, isn't it?" she asked. "I told Fox it would be."

"Angela, it doesn't matter what you were wearing. Hollywood still had no right to do what he did." Elisa forced a smile. "C'mon, a revealing top is better than no top at all, isn't it?" Angela took the top and put it on, lacing it up a little tighter than usual.

Elisa drove in silence as Angela sat in the passenger seat, staring blankly out the window. If Angela wanted to talk, she would. Angela was remembering when she first got the top she was wearing. When Angela first came to Manhatten, she wore a one piece dress. While fighting a mugger, she got a knife slice across her midsection. It was only a flesh wound, nothing the sun couldn't cure. Broadway was more upset about it than she was. But, her dress had an unsightly gash in it now. So, Angela tailored it into a two piece ensemble. For Halloween, Angela dressed like Dorothy from the first movie she ever saw, /The Wizard of Oz/. Fox introduced her to Pavel, who helped her do her hair like Judy Garland and didn't mind too much when he realized he was working with an honest-to-goodness gargoyle.

The events of the night forced Angela to put off changing back into her usual clothes until the next night. As soon as she was satisfied that her father was on the mend, Angela went for a shower. Stone sleep handled most hygienic issues, but only soap and water could get out heavy greasy stuff like the mousse Pavel insisted on. She was drying off when someone tapped at the door. "Just me, Fox!"

"Come in." Angela said, wrapping a towel around herself.

Fox had a bag with her. "Heard what happened last night." she said. "I'm glad that your dad's getting better. Oh, I got you a present while shopping in D.C."

"You really didn't have to." said Angela.

"I know." said Fox. "That's what makes me so nice!" She took a yellow top out of the bag. "The high collar is so in this season. I got it in yellow ochre to match your loincloth. There's not much to the back, so you won't have to adjust it too much for the wings."

"There's not much to the front, either." Angela observed.

"Honey, if you got it, flaunt it." said Fox. "Go on, try it on." Angela obliged, never having been shy around other females. "I think I got the size right. You are a C-cup, I'm guessing."

"A what cup?"

"Never mind. The laces will make it adjustable enough." Angela did up the laces on the bodice and looked at her reflection. It certainly bared more skin than she was used to and the collar gave it a sharp look. "See, you look marvelous!" said Fox. "Broadway won't be able to keep his hands off you!" Well, his clone certainly hadn't been able.

"Hey, we're here." Elisa told Angela. Elisa used her pass card to get in and showed Angela to the elevators. "You ever ride an elevator, Angela?" Angela just shook her head. /What am I going to tell her father?/ Elisa wondered on the ride up. /The Big Guy wanted to kill the Hunters. I have a bad feeling that Hollywood won't live to see sunrise./

They took a seat on the couch. "How about I make you some hot chocolate?" Elisa offered, knowing it was Angela's favorite beverage. She seemed uninterested. "The Xanatos' have Godiva. The good stuff." Angela seemed to be considering it when Goliath and Brooklyn walked in.

"Angela," Goliath touched Angela's bandaged cheek. "What happened to you?"

"Goliath," Elisa touched his shoulder. "This isn't going to be easy to say."

Brooklyn frowned as he looked at Angela's injury. "Did Broadway do this to you?" he demanded.

Angela immediately came out of her funk and stood up, eyes blazing red. The fresh bruises and bandaged wounds on her breasts and thighs were more evident. "You really think Broadway would do /this/ to me?" she snapped. "I can't believe you'd think that, Brooklyn!" She stalked off without another word.

"And for my next trick," sighed Brooklyn. "I'll put /both/ feet in my mouth."

"Elisa," Goliath's eyes were glowing. "Who did that? Who did it and where can I find him?"

"Goliath, calm down." Elisa urged. "Killing people isn't going to solve anything."

Goliath sighed. "Hudson said much the same many centuries ago. Angela reminded me so much of my brother's mate after his rival tried to force himself on her. Coldstone wanted to kill him. I wanted to hold him down for him. But, Hudson was leader at the time and declared that the evil one would be banished for three months. I wonder, sometimes, how things would've turned out if Coldstone and I had punished him as we saw fit."

"I-I didn't mean it." said Brooklyn. "It's just, she came up here looking like she went a few rounds with Andre the Giant and Freddy Kruger and Broadway wasn't with her so I assumed...."

"Broadway is helping Talon put Hollywood in a containment cell." said Elisa. Goliath went to the window. "Where do you think you're going?" she demanded.

"To rid the world of a rapist!" said Goliath.

Elisa grabbed him by the wing. "Goliath, the Labyrinth is Talon's jurisdiction. He's handling the situation. Look, I'm just as upset as you are about what happened to Angela. I had to hear it on my communicator! But, killing Hollywood won't solve anything."

"It would stop him from doing this again." said Goliath.

"So would locking him up." She sighed and hugged his arm. "Please, Goliath, Angela needs us to be strong for her. Falling apart and flying off the handle is not the thing to do here."

Goliath growled low in his throat. "Tell your brother to lock Hollywood away, for a long, long time. Tell him that if I ever lay eyes on Hollywood, I may have trouble staying my hand."

"I'll be sure and tell him."

A/N:
A third and final chapter will be out tomorrow.
I wanted to give some backstory for Erin, Benny and Tasha. In light of what happened in the /Bad Guys/ comics, I think I made their story all the sadder.
I once did a "Which Disney Princess Are You?" quiz and answered the way Angela would. She's Belle, so I wrote something where she walks around reading a book like her. Another quiz said she was Esmerelda. Angela is a little bit of both.
Please don't take this story as being anti-Angela. I like her. It's just that, sometimes bad things happen to good people.