Chamberlain slept until just after sunrise. When he saw it was daylight out, he closed his curtains in the room. He used the bathroom and went back to bed. He might have had quite a lot of energy enough for one of his age, but he could still tire too.

When he got up later in the day for his job with Owen, the blonde man asked him, "How was babysitting Alex last night?"

"Interesting. Chamberlain see Alex not too bad."

"You just got to have patience with him. He's still near a baby and he doesn't know better on things just yet." Owen said.

"Chamberlain only saw Gelfling babies out in villages on Thra, and not have much to do with. Childlings always stay in villages until old enough to be guards or other jobs in Skeksis castle."

"So, you're saying that your clan never tried to have kids?"

"No. We did try. Lots of times. But nothing ever come of it. Just can't."

"That's too bad."

"Eighteen at beginning of one thousand trine ago on Thra. Two die at beginning. Confusion. We not understand all that go on and accidents. Left sixteen for nine hundred fifty trine. Same as year. Only nine left to just before coming here. Eight left on Thra, to Chamberlain's knowledge." Sil explained.

"If your clan was all here, our scientists would probably find a way around that barrier. The specialists always find a way."

That got Sil's attention. "You know specialists?"

"The only one I know of is Dr. Anton Sevarius, and he is a grade A geneticist. But he's also very much a lunatic too. Especially with what he did to Elisa Maza's brother and the others you know as the Mutates, and the gargoyle clones."

"So, you say not to go to him?"

"Precisely. He would do who knows what with your DNA if he knew about you. He could even perhaps make a clone of you." Owen stated.

"Another me not be so bad."

"You should know that I even once played a role in getting fresh DNA off Goliath for Sevarius' work. Thailog was Goliath's clone and the first one. But things went south on that fast. Mr. Xanatos didn't realize what he had created and he betrayed us. Thailog is very dangerous."

"What he look like? Seen other gargoyle clones." Sil asked.

"He looks like Goliath, but he's black skinned and has white hair. And opposite personality of Goliath. Last I knew, he also now wears armor clothing. Probably to hide burn scars from the fire explosion he caused on the oil rig after Goliath's first meeting with him. That was some time ago though."

"Does clan ever see him anymore?"

"Not for some time. He knows how to lie low. He was even Demona's mate for a short time. He betrayed her too. All he knows is how to cause trouble."

"Chamberlain know some ways about causing trouble, but only when needed. To get things to straightened point." Sil said.

Owen knew how to cause trouble too. But now that the gargoyles and his boss were friends, Owen had to be there for them too.

"Well, just take my advice and stay far away from Thailog and Dr. Sevarius." Owen warned him. "Demona too."

Sil knew about staying away from Demona. She hadn't been seen for some time.

…

Sevarius was growing impatient on Demona bringing him this strange creature.

Demona finally agreed to get this alien creature for her partner. He would come whether he wanted to or not. The best time would be when he was alone or with just one of the clan. She could take out the other clan members. He likely wouldn't turn to stone in the daylight, so that would make prospects even better to study him.

Sevarius and her very much wanted to talk to him.

….

Demona began watching the castle more nights to see what they were doing.

Finally, she saw an opportunity. A good one.

Using binoculars, she saw the creature climb on Brooklyn's back and he launched himself off the castle battlements. He was heading toward the park. She smiled smugly. She could take him out, no problem. But she didn't know how well Sil could fight or anything really. That's why she wasn't going to take chances this time.

She launched herself after Brooklyn, making sure to keep her distance.

…

Brooklyn and Sil landed in the park and they were going to go walking. It was getting colder out and coming to the park would probably be more limited for Sil during the wintertime. Might as well enjoy it while it was good. He was wearing all his robes for sure.

"Feel good to get out of castle." Sil said.

"Yeah, and not just for patrolling." Brooklyn agreed.

Demona also came in for a landing behind some trees to stay hidden from the two friends. She followed them quietly. She had mastered silence over the centuries when needed.

She saw the creature was heavily robed. She looked carefully at where she could get a hit with her dart gun. His neck seemed the best option. There was a collar robe there, but thin. But she'd be lucky if she could just hit the skin directly.

The two friends were just walking through the park talking. Then, Brooklyn heard a twig snap.

"Wait. Hold up." he said.

"What?"

The red gargoyle listened carefully. There was some rustling of leaves or bushes. He went to check it out to the left of them. Sil watched warily too.

"Whoever you are, come out!" he ordered.

A squirrel ran out of the bushes. Brooklyn breathed a sigh of relief. "Just a squirrel." he said.

Then, something else he didn't expect happened. He felt something sharp pierce him in the back. He yelped in surprise.

Sil saw what caused him to yelp. There was something in his back.

Brooklyn started to go down on his knees. His vision was blurring on him. "Sil! Get… help..." he told Sil.

Sil used his com link. "Goliath, need help. Brooklyn down."

"Where are you?"

"Central Park." Then Sil felt a dart come from the side and it pierced his neck on the right. "AHHH!" he cried out.

"What's wrong?" Goliath asked.

"Something… bite me..." Sil grabbed at his neck. He pulled it off and saw the dart.

Brooklyn collapsed onto his stomach, unconscious. Sil looked around, wary of what had happened to him. No! He couldn't let this happen to him too! But his vision too began to get blurry.

He fell to his knees and tried to stay awake. He put his hands down in front of him. He began panting. "Must… not… go… sleep..." he tried harder, but it didn't take long and he collapsed too.

Demona now came out of hiding, an evil grin on her face. "You can never fight drugs for long, whatever you are." she said. He tucked her gun away.

Demona had a backpack on her back. She took Sil's com link off and then got out a net and put it around Sil's body. She wanted nothing to do with Brooklyn. She left him alone.

The gargess pulled the unconscious Skeksis up a log in the net and launched herself and him into the air. She flew them both back to Nightstone Unlimited.

….

Sil was heaved onto a table. He was still out. Sevarius and Demona wanted to examine him while he was still unconscious.

They saw he had the head of a vulture, but had more of hands that resembled a lizard's. Looking in his mouth, he had lots of sharp teeth, designed obviously for eating meat. Even birds of prey didn't typically have teeth in their beaks, but lizards did.

They also looked at his feet, tail, and underside. They just wanted to know. His tail was long and lizard-like too. His feet were more like a human's, but with three sharp toenails instead of five. He had some spikes on his lower back that they could see, and obviously higher too. There was no sign of anything that could tell the gender. There were nipples and breasts seen on the underside from what they saw. Must have been part mammal too.

He was definitely an alien creature. Nothing they had ever seen before.

"Reproduction organs are obviously internal." Sevarius pointed out.

"So many traits that are unusual in such a creature that looks mostly bird and lizard." Demona said.

"But he doesn't have wings." Sevarius said.

"Nope. All we can do now is wait for him to wake up. He will tell us more about himself, or else." she looked at her business partner.

"Yes. But first, I want more DNA from him." Sevarius said.

He got a syringe and collected more DNA from one of Sil's hands. Then, Demona hauled the Skeksis to a barred cage. It had electricity on the bars so he wouldn't be able to get out, in case he was that strong. His dagger was also found in his robes and confiscated. Such an interesting looking weapon.

Now they could only wait for him to wake up.

…..

Brooklyn came to in the castle. He was lucky he hadn't been discovered by any strange humans. He was in his room. He saw Lex sitting next to his bed.

"Hey, Brooklyn? You alright?" Lex asked.

"I guess. What hit me?"

"A tranquilizer dart. We found it in your back." Lex replied.

"Where's Sil?"

"We didn't see him anywhere, but found his communicator. Someone kidnapped him. He called us for help though about where you were." Lex explained. "Goliath, he's awake."

Goliath came into the room. "Are you alright?" he asked with concern. The clan came in too.

"Yeah. Just coming off the drug." Brooklyn replied.

"What happened?" Angela asked.

"I heard some sounds, and then the dart just came out of nowhere. I didn't see it, but felt it. Then I went out. Sil called for help." he explained.

"Yes, he did. We got to the park and you were the only one there. Any idea who took him?" Goliath asked.

"No. I didn't see anyone." the red male replied.

"This is indeed trouble. Whoever has him might use him for a study project." Lex stated.

"If they kill him, he'll be of no use to them. His body will turn to dust, he said." Brooklyn declared.

The clan's eyes lit up. They hadn't heard that before. They had to find him. There was still plenty of night left. The clan would go looking for him.

"Brooklyn, due to the drug in your system, you are to stay here and keep a lookout for news." Goliath ordered. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yes. I'll be fine. Go save my friend." he said.

The clan went to start looking for Sil. They took Bronx too, to see if they could get a scent and a fix on who took him.

Brooklyn hoped he would be alright.