As night fell on the city, the sun dipping behind the skyline, the elaborate statue on the base's roof began to quiver. The statue, perched on the edge and looking over with a nasty snarl, depicted a winged creature. A gargoyle. Legend said that gargoyles were used to frighten away bad spirits. Legend also said they were supposed to come alive at night. In most instances, that legend was wrong. However, there were the rare few...

The stone cracked away, revealing flesh underneath. The creature came to life, stretching it's arms and wings upwards with a roar, eyes glowing into the night. Then it dropped into a crouch and peered curiously over the edge of the building as someone walked inside with presents in their arms. Was that Mr. Barnes? Artus would catch up in a bit; right now, he needed to stretch his wings. 

The gargoyle leaped over the edge, spreading his leathery wings to catch the wind beneath them. He rose up into the snowy sky, looking down at all the bright lights and holiday wondered. Every year for as long as he could remember, the humans would decorate for the Christmas holiday. Artus loved it. The lights, the singing, the gift giving. He wondered what he would give his new teammates...Maybe he should go meet them first.

After a short flight, he turned around and headed back. The air was getting cold and his wings were forming icicles. He banked down and landed gracefully on the stoop of the base, pushing the door open to embrace the warmth inside. The gargoyle whiffed at the air. Was that pancakes?! He scuttled quickly to the kitchen to investigate. There were a couple new faces there, one whom was drinking the maple syrup straight from the bottle. 

"I don't think that's how you-" Artus began, only to be cut off by Mr. Barnes. 

"Hey, knock that off! You'll rot your teeth out, kid." Bucky snatched the bottle from the new kid and set it down on the counter. He turned to the boy beside him, who looked all of ten years old, and flipped a stack of pancakes onto a plate for him. [i]Isn't there an age limit for this team?[/i] he wondered. "Hi, nice to meet you. Honored, yeah, sure. Call me James. Or Bucky. Whichever." He droned, seemingly uninterested in conversation.

James turned to flip the pancake he was currently cooking, then looked at Artus. The gargoyle was dripping melted snow all over the kitchen floor. The instructor took a deep breath in and let it out. In hindsight, when it came to babysitting, James Barnes probably wasn't the best choice. 

"Here," Bucky handed Artus a plate of pancakes. "Go show the new kids how this works." 

Artus saluted. "Yes, sir!" He took the plate and escorted the two new recruits to the kitchen table. Artus perched on his haunches in one of the chairs, his tail laid across one of the arms and hanging down. "See, you put the syrup on the pancakes, and sometimes powered sugar too." Artus demonstrated by drowning the pancakes in syrup.