The rain poured down on the city of New York like the tears of clouds. While the rest of the world might wrap itself in fluffy white, there was no snow in the five boroughs. There was too much heat. Always too much heat. The air hummed and the sewers steamed, promising any wandering snowflakes their doom would come the moment they touched down. The gloom of the city was murky, but also blinding, as the electrical lights blared their advertisements to a populace blind to the true darkness waiting under their-
"Hey uh, Star? Are you ok?"
"Huzzah wuh?" Star asked, snapping out of her internal monologue. "Oh yeah dude, just brooding."
"What?"
"I'm tortured. Gotta brood."
New York was a good place to get lost in. Cities were good hiding places in general, Star had found. A blond haired girl who always covered her cheeks for some reason was reasonably forgettable, but drawing a motorized battle axe from the massive trenchcoat she had stolen borrowed drew a lot of eyes. So when she was using it, she needed to be somewhere an axe-wielding maniac wasn't very out of place. New York was good for that, because a lot of other people were trying to hide too.
Case in point: Angela. Star figured her parents must not have looked too hard trying to find a dimension without monsters or magic, because apparently they were hiding under every third rock on Earth. Or, in Angela's case, were every third rock.
Angela was a tall, blue-skinned girl with black hair, blue eyes, and a pair of massive leathery wings she typically kept clasped like a cool cape around her body. She was something of a night owl, which made sense since she turned to stone the second the sun rose. Gotta make what time you have count, tight?
Star didn't really understand how that 'stone sleep' worked, and also didn't really care. She and Angela had met while both were trying to hide from the population at large; that was a good enough reason to stay together until she had to skip town again. Star did not get many chances to make new friends, anymore.
"So, what's on the menu tonight?" Star asked, mostly to clear her own head. "Hang with the Clan? Beat up some bad guys in an alley? Dumpster diving? I know a Pizza Planet that's really picky about their day-old pizza."
"Hmm." Angela thought for a moment. "Maybe… wait, what was that!?"
Star peered down over the lip of the building to see a shadow gliding over the street. "Oh, look Angela! It's one of your gargoyle friends!"
Angela squinted down, trying to make out any details of the blur as it glided across the street.
"No… I don't think it is."
"Huh?"
"Come on." Angela said, unfurling her massive wings and soaring off after the figure.
"Right. Super Sparkle Clo-!" Star trailed off. "Oh. Right. Can't do that."
Star looked around the rooftop for a moment, eventually clambering down onto a drainage pipe.
"Just gonna. Scooch along here." She said.
---
Angela swooped slowly down over the roofs of Manhattan, tracking the dark shadow as it moved across the streets. Angela knew of other clans living in other parts of the world, but a gargoyle she didn't immediately recognize was a concerning sight in New York. That concern only grew as they finally landed atop an armored car traveling through a backstreet and began to rip the door off.
It was at that moment that Star caught up. Her stamina was much higher than a normal human, making the task of keeping up with an airborne gargoyle difficult rather than nigh-impossible.
"Whew, workout! All right, what're we doing?"
Angela pointed, gesturing for Star to keep her voice down. The gargoyle ruthlessly took down the guards sitting inside the truck, grabbing some sort of lengthy package and triggering an alarm before disappearing into the night.
"Aaagh." Angela growled. "We're going after her."
"Okay uh, you gonna tell me what this is about?"
Angela had already swooped the last few stories towards the ground.
---
It was more or less what Angela already knew she was going to see. Skin of a midnight blue, shock of red hair clumped across her head, sparse white cloth covering a build very like her own. She was running, but Angela had more experience moving quickly on the ground. You needed to run like humans did, something she would never bother learning how to do.
"Stop right there!" Star growled, and Angela appreciated her presence here, even if it was about to make things complicated.
The gargoyle turned mid-stride, her eyes widening. "You."
Angela glared at her. "Hello, Mother."
---
"OoooooOOOoooo." Star gasped.
"Angela." the gargoyle said, several emotions fighting each other in her voice.
"Eugh, is your mom evil?" Star winced. "I thought I had mother issues."
The gargoyle woman's eyes flashed red as she glared at Star, but the glow faded when she looked back at Angela.
"What are you planning this time, Demona?"
"Demona, wow. That's definitely a name. And I used to date a demon."
"Am I becoming that predictable?" Demona asked, ignoring Star as an unwanted irritant. "Why must I always be up to something?"
"I think I know you a little better than that."
Demona frowned. "You'll find out soon enough. You all will." she snarled. All the pieces are in place. Our night of greatness is approaching."
"Your night. The clan wants nothing to do with your grasp for power!"
"What the Clan wants will not matter! Do not let those sentimental fools speak for you, Angela. Humanity has pushed us to the brink time and again! Now the key to our salvation is within my grasp!"
"So. I'm betting that thing is probably important to your plans, huh?" Star asked.
"Argh!" Demona growled. "Child, why do you debase yourself standing beside these disgusting humans?"
"Okay, first off, rude. Second off? Not human."
Demona tilted her head. "What are you then?"
Star pulled out her axe and revved it. The chain blade was not at all practical, but it was still her favorite thing she'd gotten since she'd had to… no. No, not dwelling on it. Punished tragic heroes don't have to think about that. Thoughts later. Cool tortured hero tagline now.
"How about you call me an axe to your face, and then we go from there?"
Star charged forward, years of training in Johansen war parties with… with someone coming back to her and guiding her strike. The gargoyle was fast though, dodging out of the way of the swing and forcing Star to tumble to avoid being open to a counterattack.
She leapt to her feet, looking around the alley they were fighting in. There were scattered, abandoned pallets and a lot of crumbling brickwork, but not much else to work with. She backed towards Angela, knowing from experience how valuable it was to have Mar-another person at your back in a fight.
Demona lept for Star, sharp talons slashing an inch from her body. Angela charged forward to defend her, grabbing Demona's wrists and trying to hold her back. Demona was larger, stronger, and steadily forced her child backwards. Angela wasn't going to hold much longer but- there! Whatever Demona had just stolen, it seemed important. Star lept for the long box discarded on the ground.
"NOOO!!"
Demona gave a pantherine cry of rage, throwing Angela off of her and leaping for the box. Her talons closed around it, shattering the box even as she yanked it out of Star's hands. What was inside was… a pole? A really long pole, easily more than six feet, and old too. Really old. Faded, worn markings at one end indicated where… something was meant to be placed. Oh, and it was coming at her, fast.
Star swung her axe upwards, intending to split the pole in two, but the teeth did nothing to it. Star was shocked when the rod held firm, and even started to push against her before Angela climbed to her feet and forced Demona back. Star tried to ignore how much this fight reminded her of past games of magical artifact keep-away.
Demona's eyes shifted between the two girls and then, in a single quick movement, lept onto the discarded pallets and began scaling the brickwork of the alley. Angela raced after her, but this was a gargoyle's skill, and her mother had far, far more practice than she did. By the time Angela crested the building Demona had already caught a thermal rising from the tumultuous city streets and, now aware she was being watched, slipped away into the night.
A minute or so later, Star joined Angela in looking out over the city. The sky was still shadowed, but there was only so much time left before daybreak.
Angela pressed her eyes closed. "I need to tell the Clan about this. Hudson will know what to do."
"Yeah. Yeah, you probably should do that." Star agreed. "So, um. Not to pry, but she uh, seemed soooorta evil. If she figures out I'm supposed to be hiding, whaaaaat are the chances your mom ends up… telling anyone I was here?"
"...Pretty high."
Star sighed. She was just beginning to like this city too. She wasn't even going to be able to stay until Christmas. She was really looking forward to being with a friend during a winter holiday which didn't center around homicidal dead plants. Oh well. Another day, another city's dumpster habits to learn.
"Yeah. I thought so."