Thought it would be fun to switch gears and run this from Brooklyn's perspective. A little longer chapter for the long wait. Enjoy!
The sun sank below the horizon forcing the air to shift with the kiss of night. It breathed life into listless stone, causing it to weaken and crack. Brooklyn felt himself awakening from a dreamless existence and shook himself of his daytime skin.
He opened his wings and posed himself for flight. He had no interest in sticking around the clock tower or patrolling the city streets for criminals. He could not shake the human from his thoughts and he felt awful for frightening her the night before. He wanted to talk to her. To see her and touch her soft, white skin.
"Where are you going?" Goliath's powerful voice called out before Brooklyn could drop.
"I have business to attend too," he replied but turned and looked at his leader.
Goliath had his large arms crossed over his chest. He raised an eyebrow. "You have gone for the last few nights, what is it that is so important?"
Brooklyn sighed and lowered his wings. "Is there an issue with me going?"
"Nooo. Should there be an issue?"
"Look, I have been, er, working on something. Something very important. When the time is right, I'll explain it to you."
"Can I at least know where it is you're going? I am just concerned about you. We all are concerned, Brooklyn. What if something happened?"
"What is this? I'm not a hatchling." Brooklyn glared.
"I know that. . ." Goliath let out a long sigh. "If you don't want to talk about it, it isn't my business to pry. Enjoy your evening."
Goliath turned and walked off. Brooklyn's hatchery brothers, Broadway and Lexington, eyed him with curiosity.
"I will explain it to you later, okay?" Brooklyn said.
Before they could answer, Brooklyn allowed himself to drop from the building. The wind stung against his face and bare chest. He breathed in the deep smell of twilight and opened his wings. They caught the wind and he felt the freeing sensation of flight as he soared above the rooftops.
He beeline his way to Kelly's apartment and hoped she had left the window open and that she was at home, waiting for him.
He reached her window seal. The curtains were blowing out, indicating an open landing point. Pulling his wings straight back, Brooklyn extended his feet and landed expertly through the narrow opening.
The apartment was dark and looked like there hadn't been movement inside for hours. A half full glass of hot chocolate sat cold on the coffee table. Her laptop was forgotten on the coach. An eerie sensation crept over him as he cautiously rounded the corner towards Kelly's bedroom. He saw a lamp knocked sideways across the doorway and knew that something was not right.
"Kelly?" Brooklyn called out. The apartment did not produce any response and his heart sank.
Spinning on his heels, Brooklyn went to quickly flee from the apartment. He would need to tell the others that she was missing. He would need their help.
A dark figure moved out of the shadows, a gun pointed right at the beast's chest. Brooklyn identified the trade-mark mask of the Illuminati and stopped in his tracks.
"Where is she?!" he growled. A birth of a roar began to build and rumbled out from deep inside of him. The warmth of his glowing rage filled his eyes and he could see more clearly in the dark.
"Oh, your little slut?" the man cooed stepping forward. "We've taken her somewhere safe. Far away from you, monster."
Brooklyn propelled himself forward, his large frame barely fitting through the narrow apartment hallway as he lunged toward the masked man.
An electric buzz filled the air and the gargoyle was struck in the chest with the force of a lighting bolt. He screamed as he felt his muscles tense and release with the current that flowed through him. Dropping to his knees, he tried to bare through the pain that bit to his core. Finally, the current ceased and Brooklyn slumped weakly to the floor.
"Enough voltage to take down an elephant," the masked man said with a chuckle.
Brooklyn glared up at the man but was far too drained to flick his tail let alone muster the energy to attack the man. He watched as the man set down a duffel bag and scrounged through it to find a pair of wrist ties and some nylon electric rope.
"Now, I have no desire to zap you again. . . Well, maybe I have a lot of desire to do that. Actually, watching you wreath in pain makes me hard." The human groped himself as he approached the winged creature. "Unfortunately, I have rules to follow. So I'm going to tie you up with this electric rope and you're going to come peacefully or I'll have to hit a little button I have and send the powers of Zeus through you again."
"Where are we going," the defeated creature croaked.
"Oh, a special place," the man chuckled as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his cellphone that ran the app that commanded the electric wire. He finished tying up Brooklyn who was still reeling with a fluttering heart and shaking muscles. He tried not to think about what harm had come to Kelly or what they planned on doing with him.
"Is Kelly going to be there?"
The man gave a woeful smile as he gathered the talon hands of the gargoyle and zip tied them together.
"Someone is awfully worried about his little human pet. I hear gargoyles are pretty possessive of their human sex slaves. This little mind control shit you pull on them is pretty fascinating. You had her so confused. One moment she's to her senses and knows you're a monster that is not capable of love. The next she's so hot for you she's in her room just letting her ass rock up and down on her toy thinking about you. It's a shame really. She is a pretty hot piece of ass."
Brooklyn felt the fires of rage build within him at the man's words. The keen male instinct to protect what was his thickened his blood and he mustered the strength to push against his restraints. He tried to fling his tightly wrapped body toward the man who parried away and tapped the digital button on his iPhone. Wave after wave of pure energy passed through the gargoyle. He felt the searing pain and smelt the sickly sweet smell of his flesh as it cooked under the ropes. The taste of blood rushed to his mouth. He gurgled it as the pulsing ceased. Fatigue and shock overcame him and he slumped onto the floor and away from the pain of consciousness.
Muffled, distant sounds broke the foggy state of his mind. Brooklyn latched onto the sounds. He followed them through the inky darkness until he was greeted with reality and the dull throb of achy muscles. The voices began to make sense and he listened as he cautiously kept his eyes closed.
"What of the girl?" spoke a man's voice.
"She's safe. A little frightened and is refusing food at the moment. I think knowing that the gargoyle is here will lift her spirits. Then we should be able to start the process," replied another male.
Brooklyn felt his heart flutter with hope. Were they talking about Kelly? She was here?
He cracked open his eyes only wide enough to squint through. He lay on a simple bed in a pure white room void of any other furniture. There were two metal doors. One was close to the bed he lay upon, the other was near the two men on the other side of the room. He identified the taller man as Zanatos, the other man was black, meek, and wore a white lab coat. Brooklyn figured he was one of Zanatos' many scientists, but what did they want with him?
Brooklyn tried tensing and releasing the muscles in his body. They responded to him but did not contain the strength he usually had. He would need a day of stone sleep to repair the damage caused by the electric rope.
He lifted himself up and sat groggy on the side of the bed. He felt a tightening sensation around his neck and reached up the feel the cool metal of a collar clasped tight against his crimson skin. The two men looked over at his direction. Zanatos smiled at him and crossed the room.
"Awake, I see," he said. "I'm sorry you had to endure the electric currents. It was the safest way to bring you here."
"And where is here, Zanatos?"
"Vita Gene Research Laboratory," the other man replied. He stepped closer to the gargoyle and looked him over with fascination. "What a wonderful creature you are. Those wings and the strength you contain. And to imagine that you're not even the biggest specimen."
The man attempted to reach out and touch Brooklyn who responded with a threatening snarl and pulled away from the man. The scientist yanked his hand away and gave Zanatos a frightened look. Then he straightened himself and stretched out his hand in greeting.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I haven't introduce myself. Doctor Fredrick Ansom and you are Brooklyn? An important member of Goliath's clan, I hear."
Brooklyn narrowed his eyes and refused to shake the doctor's hand. Instead, he directed his angry gaze at Zanatos.
"What am I doing here?" he demanded.
"Why so worried, Brooklyn? If I wanted to kill you, you'd be dead by now. No, I have a much more pleasant plan for you."
"What the hell are you talking about? You sent your gargoyle murdering gang after Kelly and then abducted her. Then you captured me and what is this?" He tapped the collar with a talon. "This contains enough electric current to render me stupid, doesn't it?"
