September 8, 1995

Fred had a brief moment of excitement.

He was chilling inside his room with the mute tigerman when the shutter opened, revealing a large laboratory with all sorts of equipment. He saw Dr. Sevarius in his white lab coat, together with a well-dressed bearded man and some goon. He briefly wondered if the bearded man was some Pentagon bureaucrat or whoever owned this place. The goon clearly had not been wearing a military uniform.

He could not hear what happened, but Sevarius pulled a gun, and then the goon smacked him down. The guy with the beard got into an argument with Sevarius, presumably for pointing a gun at them.

Fred wishes he could hear what they were saying. Sevarius leaves the room. He notices the goon doubling over in pain, held by the bearded man, before the shutter is closed.

A few hours later, he had another examination, with Dr. Scarlett Mallory presiding. Fred drinks the chalky substance so that his organs would appear on an X-ray photograph. For a moment, the mutating man wishes it tasted like hard liquor.

"So Dr. Sevarius pulled out a gun, and this goon knocked him over," says Fred.

"He still works here; otherwise I would have found out," replies Mallory. "His mind's too valuable to the boss and to our Pentagon overseers. If I did that, I'd be out of here in less than five minutes."

Fred steps behind the X-ray machine. A white-coated technician presses a button.

"You know, you are talkative," says the geneticist. "I mean, the tigerman is mute, and that lady we got is probably just some junkie zoned out half the time."

"Slim picking for test subjects."

"We can't exactly have test subjects that anyone outside would look for."

"Makes sense."

"Well, I gotta to get to work. You know, we have some new tapes in the lounge."

"Thanks."

Scarlett walks away. Fred wonders if she would miss him.

Oooooooo

September 9, 1995

The routine is once again broken by an alarm. Fred and the tigerman out the larger glass window from his quarters.

It happens so fast. These creatures with wings, arms, and legs all broke into the lab on the other side of the window. They are followed by more goons, who were fully armored. After a gunfight, the winged creatures go up a hole in the ceiling. One of them kicks Dr. Sevarius into a glass window. Water- or some liquid- pours out of the broken window and the geneticist starts convulsing. The bearded man walks up to the fallen doctor.

The bearded man speaks with someone else. Fred notices that the someone else is in the process of mutating, already covered in fur. They both leave the lab.

Minutes later, the armored goons open the door to his quarters.

"You're coming with us," says the goon, holding a submachinegun.

oooooooooo

Fred and the tigerman had been sitting inside the ambulance for perhaps twenty minutes. Neither of the two mutates could see outside. Fred could feel the vehicle frequently stop and start.

He wonders where they are going. A research facility in eastern Long Island or upstate? A military base?

He hears the engine stop. The back door opens.

"Get out," says the armored goon.

Fred and the tigerman step out into some sort of underground parking garage, with the slight smell of oil and internal combustion engine exhaust. The goon points to an elevator. The two mutates feel the elevator rise.

They must still be in the city, likely in the skyscraper, as they are going up, and not down to some hidden underground laboratory.

After maybe half a minute, the elevator doors open. Fred steps out and sees stone walls and stone ceilings and stone floors, like a castle.

Standing at the end of the hallway is a blond-haired man in a suit with a red necktie.

"Good evening, gentlemen," says the bespectacled man. "My name is Owen Burnett; I work on behalf of David Xanatos."

The name sounds familiar to Fred. "Where are we?" he asks.

"You are in Castle Wyvern, on top of the Eyrie Building in Manhattan. Mr. Xanatos has quarters prepared for you two."

Owen leads the two mutates along the hallways. Fred looks through an open door. There is a large room with a bed, looking like a luxury hotel room.

"Do we get room service?" asks Fred.

"Of course," replies Owen. "Mr. Xanatos has ordered that every need be attended to."

Fred lay down on the bed. It is far more comfortable than anywhere he had ever slept, even the Gen-U-Tech inpatient facilities.

In here is a room service menu and a telephone.

Not long afterward, a dark skinned man in a white collared shirt and a bowtie arrives with a cart with a covered tray on top.

"Rich people sure have weird guests," he says.

But soon, Fred is eating steak and potatoes, and drinking sharp red wine.

Oooooooo

September 10, 1995

Fred walks out at the courtyard of Castle Wyvern. The courtyard has several lampposts. High stone walls surround the yard. He had, of course, heard about the castle being relocated from Scotland and rebuilt atop the Eyrie Building. He briefly wondered what it was like here a thousand years ago.

"Enjoying the morning air, Mr. Sykes?"

Fred turns around and sees that man, Owen Burnett. "It's nice to be here. It sure beats Gen-U-Tech, it sure beats the streets, and it absolutely sure beats Rikers."

"There is a fully stocked kitchen," says Owen. "Or you can order room service. There is a gourmet restaurant about thirty floors below us and they serve breakfast every day."

"How long do we get to stay?"

"We have not decided yet."

He looks up at the cloudy sky.

He figures he might as well get a gourmet breakfast.

Oooooooo

Fred slept most of the day. It is rather boring; he sort of misses going into an examination room to be X-rayed or MRI'd or having blood drawn. The tigerman spent most of the day in the castle library, reading.

Sometime in the morning, that junkie bag lady had been brought to the castle. Those winged creatures had taken her, but it seemed as if she escaped.

A fourth mutate joined them, with a feline head, bat wings attached to the shoulders, and dark brown fur.

"Never seen you in the lab before," says Fred.

Sevarius shot me with a dart with the mutagenic formula."

Fred then recalls that altercation with the geneticist. This new mutate must have been that goon who accompanied Xanatos!

"Wow," says Fred. "Who would have thought that sort of thing could happen in a career in private security? You must really be pissed off at the guy."

"He's dead. Killed by the gargoyles."

"Gargoyles? You mean those winged creatures that attacked the lab?"

"Yes."

They and the other mutates step out into the courtyard. It is just past sunset now. The goon leads them up some stairs to a walkway along the outer wall.

"Where are ya going?" asks Fred.

"Until Xanatos finds a cure, we might as well learn to use these wings," says the goon. "Follow my lead."

The goon then jumps off the castle. Fred can only watch.

The goon's wings opens up.

And he rises.

Fred is dumbfounded for a second.

You'd better catch me if I fall.

He jumps off, spreading his wings open, feeling the wind. He soon finds himself going every which way.

"Hey," says Fred. "He can keep his cure. I like this."

Did I just mean that?

Off in the distance, the flying mutate sees some winged shapes. He wonders if they are eagles or falcons.

The winged shapes get closer.

They have two arms, two legs, and wings growing from the back.

They are the gargoyles the goon mentioned, the gargoyles that attacked Gen-U-
Tech. The goon attacks one of them.

There is a fight.

Fred tries to find a way out. Fights had never ended well for him, whether at the schoolyard or at Rikers.

He sees one of the gargoyles go after the junkie.

They would soon come after him.

He swoops towards this olive-green gargoyle and smashes right into it. He looks to his right and the mute tigerman is fighting this huge green one.

The battle ended up back in the castle courtyard. Fred flies upward.

He sees the junkie on the highest tower, with a brick-red beaked gargoyle.

And she zaps him.

He looks down and sees the goon zapping this huge lavender gargoyle.

"Freeze!" he hears.

Fred looks and sees a raven-haired woman in a red jacket, pointing a pistol at the goon and the gargoyle. He wonders if Xanatos sent backup to assist them . He backs away. All his life, he knows he is not the brawling type.

"Call me Talon," says the goon.

Fred hears something about crossing hearts and dying, and then the goon zapped the woman. He then flies off.

"Where are ya going?" he yells, running off to fly after him.

He flies for a minute or so, looking over to find if the gargoyles are giving chase.

They are not.

He looks below, seeing the streets and lights of Manhattan. He looks to the East River, seeing the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges, and many other bridges. Moving lights mark the Long Island Expressway, also known as Interstate 495.

He flies around for the longest time. He feels free.

Before Fred knows it, he finds himself in the skies above Brooklyn. He looks down at the streets below.

He lands on a rooftop. He looks down on the streets, seeing the early evening traffic.

He sees something familiar. It is an asphalt surface, with some basketball hoops.

Memories surface from fifteen years ago.

Oooooo

September 10, 1980

Fred Sykes fell onto the hard asphalt surface. He looks up at the tough-looking boy who had just shoved him.

"What are you going to do about it, Freaky Freddy?" asked the bully.

Fred curled up his right hand in a fist, wanting to smash his tormenter's face in. But then he opens his hand. What chance could he have against these boys?

Fred could not answer.

"He ain't gonna do nothing," said another boy. "Because Freaky Freddy's a limp-wristed faggot!"

The other boys- and a few girls- laughed, pointing their fingers at him.

"I heard Freaky Freddy's going steady with his hand!" yelled another boy.

"Oh look, we made Freaky Freddy cry!"

Fred Sykes ran away, crying, tears streaming down his cheeks.

Why?

Why did these boys keep picking on him?

What did he ever do to them?

Why wasn't anyone protecting him?

If only he could strike back at them, make them suffer, have power.

But he was powerless.

All Freaky Freddy could do was cry.

Ooooooo

"Freaky Freddy," mutters Fred Sykes. He looks at his hands, covered in brown fur on the back side now.

That newly-mutated goon had called himself Talon. Fred doubts that Talon is the goon's legal name.

This mutation had given him a new life.

He looks at that place, that schoolyard, where he experienced daily torment.

"I am Freaky Freddy no more!" he yells. "From now on, you can call me….call me…."

But Fred Sykes, who was once the boy called Freaky Freddy, can not think of a new name.