The clan were relieved that they had gotten Brooklyn out of that terrible place after so long. They hadn't meant to take so long, but at least he hadn't been missing for quite as long as last time, but it had still been too long for Brooklyn. It had been four weeks since he had been in the men's custody, and it had been long enough for them to do enough damage to him.
They had departed the building via the broken window in Brook's room. Hudson had the injured Second in his arms. He was unconscious at the moment. As the old one looked upon the young one, he couldn't help but feel sorry for the lad and just wanted to take his pain away. He was sure the stone sleep would heal his injuries. But the mental wounds would take longer to heal, like last time.
Brooklyn stirred in his sleep a few times on the way back to the castle. It sure was a long flight. By the time they got home, it was around midnight.
Goliath called Elisa on his communicator that they were almost home and that they would need a doctor ready to treat Brooklyn's injuries. He had quite a few.
Elisa replied that Dr. Sato was there at the castle already and was ready to help.
The castle looked so welcoming and the clan couldn't have been happier to be home again, especially now that Brooklyn was back with them. Hudson's arms were tired of carrying Brook, and that was when Goliath took over and rushed him to the medical ward.
Elisa was at the medical ward and that was where she greeted the clan.
"Goliath! I'm so glad you found and got him out of there. Is he alright?" she asked in concern.
"We don't know yet, Elisa. Brooklyn was in a lot of pain as you can see with the extent of his injuries." Goliath said. "Now I need to get him in there."
Elisa let him by. The clan all went in too, in case of Sato needing assistance.
David and Fox also came in and saw the extent of the injuries too. They couldn't believe this had happened all over again even though Thailog was dead.
…..
Goliath laid Brooklyn on the exam table and let Sato get to work. The clan would be standing by for assistance, especially if he woke up.
Sarai, Sato's assistant, was there too, to help pick locks on cuffs. The cuffs on Brooklyn's wrists needed to come off too. She began to pick the locks and the cuffs came off. Brooklyn's wrists had some severe burns from the shocks.
Sato and Sarai undone all the bandages to see what they had to work with. It was really bad.
Brooklyn had a broken wing and tail, his stomach was incredibly wounded and infected, his ankle was sprained, and seeing the bruising in his ribs, Sato felt there and he heard a crack on the inside. He would need to get some x-rays done on his patient.
Sarai put an iv into Brooklyn's right hand to help get him hydrated. His gums also looked pale when she looked at his teeth.
The stomach wounds really needed surgery first. But Sato wanted x-rays done before that to know what all he needed to do.
Goliath carried his Second to the machine and put him on the table. He took his belt off from instruction from the doctor. The loincloth was going to need replacing from being worn down. But it still covered his private area.
Sato began taking the x-rays. He scanned his whole body.
The left side of the ribs had two cracked ribs down at the bottom. His tail would need a proper splint. The left wing would need a new splint too. The ankle just needed bandaging and would be fine by stone sleep. But it was the wounds in his stomach and his branded arm that needed immediate surgery.
The shackle had opened up the wounds even with bandages over them and the bandages had never been changed when Brook had been with the evil men.
Brooklyn suddenly whimpered in his sleep.
"I'm going to have to keep him sedated during his surgery so he doesn't wake up and feel it." Sato declared. He began to prepare a sedative for the red male. "I'm certain he'll be fine, but I need all of you to leave us now."
The clan hated to leave him alone.
Sato injected the sedative into Brooklyn's iv. It would keep him out for a while. Sarai would watch his vitals. He was also hooked up to a heart monitor.
Dr. Sato began the surgery on Brooklyn's stomach by cutting open the stitches in the wounds and it was all a big mess to deal with. He had to clear pus and blood buildup. It all stank so bad. He had to clear out the infections. Sato next took a look at that mark on Brooklyn's bicep, which would need skin surgery. He hadn't seen such branding like it before. Each injury had to be dealt with one at a time. Sarai helped too while watching the vitals.
He also had to go into the top of his stomach and fix his esophagus so he would be able to eat normally again.
Once the wounds were cleaned, they were sewn up. Stone sleep would heal them. But for the moment, Brooklyn's whole middle was wrapped up. He also did his best to fix the branded area on Brooklyn's arm, which looked rather painful. Sato did the skin surgery too which took another half hour to do. He didn't want Brooklyn to turn to stone while the mark was on him. He placed a patch on the fixed bicep once done.
It might take a few nights for the ribs to heal completely. Broken bones took a little longer to heal.
Next, Sato and Sarai did surgery on the wing arm. They corrected the bone as much as they could and put it in a splint. Then they did his tail. It had a splint on it too.
All the while the surgeries were going on, the clan, Elisa and the Xanatos' were worried for Brooklyn, if he was going to make it.
….
The surgeries took over three hours to do. Brooklyn had been unconscious due to the drugs in his system. Then he was taken to a recovery area where he would be allowed to wake up, but he would be monitored closely until sunrise.
Dr. Sato went out to the waiting area, where he was greeted by a bunch of panicked gargoyles.
"Is he alright?" Angela asked in a scared tone.
"Brooklyn is stable. He had broken bones in his left wing, tail, and two broken ribs. Injured wrists, an incredible infection in the wounds in his belly. And I'm sure he's going to have a long recovery again in his mental health due to all the trauma he went through." Sato explained.
"Whatever it takes, we will be there to help him get through it." Lex said.
"I still feel responsible for it all." Broadway stated regretfully.
"Can we see the lad?" Hudson asked. "Is he coming out of sleep?"
"He might be out a while yet, but he should wake up before sunrise which is in three hours," Sato said, "but you can go see him. Just keep it quiet."
The clan all filed back to where they were shown. It was best Bronx stayed out of the room for now. He whined that he couldn't go back with the others. Elisa had gone back too.
When they saw Brooklyn in the hospital bed, he looked like he was on Death's doorstep. They hoped he would wake up before sunrise.
….
Brooklyn felt he was drifting from the world of dreams and from being awake. His body was so achy and full of pain. He whimpered softly when voices echoed around him. Thailog had a hand on his shoulder.
"Looks as if you are waking, my little toy. I'm here to make sure you remember that you're nothing but my property when you do…" He jeered. Brooklyn pulled away, falling to the ground and crying. "No! Go away!" He wailed, Thailog laughing as he felt the world of waking coming…
…
Hudson held Brooklyn's hand in his, watching Brooklyn carefully for any signs of waking, for it had been several long hours, now it was past midnight, around 3:30 in the morning. Lex came up near the bed, a small sad frown on his face from seeing all those bandages and the patch that now covered the bad parts of the mark that Sato was successful enough to do surgery on and remove.
Brooklyn mumbled softly, stirring fitfully in his slumber. Hudson stroked his cheek. "I hope ya wake soon, Lad. You're safe now." He whispered gently.
At last, the red gargoyle's eyes were beginning to show signs of opening up. He moaned sleepily, his vision so foggy, Brooklyn could barely see anybody at first, that made him panic a little, shaking terribly.
"No… please…!" He whined, shutting his eyes again, thinking he was still being held by those evil men. Broadway held Angela's hand, while Goliath felt pity rushing inside him.
"It will be okay, Brook. You're back home. We're here." Lex said worriedly, trying to calm his red brother, who was still crying miserably.
Am I really home? Or is this just some crude trick? Brooklyn thought in scared confusion. He could feel Hudson holding his hand, but didn't want to believe this was real. It felt too good to be true. He saw Goliath. Then and there, that old terror rose from the ashes, pulling back weakly, seeing Thailog in his leader's place once more.
"Brooklyn, you know it is me, not Thailog," Goliath said as gently as he could, folding his wings that were out. Brooklyn continued making terrified sounds. Angela came forward, asking everybody to step back except Hudson to give him air. She sat next to him.
"You survived, Brooklyn. Those men are gone. You're home and safe with your family," she said. Brooklyn's eyes were full of tears as he looked at her. He glanced where his mark was, but only saw a patch covering it, face wet with tears when he remembered what the men did to mark him as Thailog's property. Hudson smiled softly.
"Dr. Sato took care of that mark on your shoulder, Lad. It's gone." But Brooklyn still felt sad and scared, still feeling as if his soul was still belonging to Thailog, unable to speak much about anything.
Sato returned to see how Brooklyn was doing, who seemed better and was awake finally, but terrified, looking around nervously. When he saw Sato, he shut his eyes, tensing up.
Sato had the others wait outside once he was sure Brooklyn got something into his system before he goes to sleep. "Broadway, can you bring him chicken broth and try him out on that? He had damage to his insides that had rejected food except for whatever they were giving him. Hudson, you will have to help Brooklyn relearn how to eat again." The elder nodded, rubbing Brooklyn's shoulder gently, who made frightened sounds in the back of his throat.
"Lad, we're going to try to help you eat. I want you to eat healthy again." He said to Brooklyn, who eventually opened his eyes, breathing fast and hard.
After a while, Broadway returned with a nice bowl of chicken broth to his brother. His stomach was so shrunk it made Broadway feel sick seeing it. He gave it to Hudson.
Hudson handed the bowl to Brooklyn, who could smell it, but didn't want to be force fed anymore. He was scared thinking about it. He could see the assuring smile on Hudson's face and then took it gingerly. He hadn't used a spoon in weeks, and his mind was a little fuzzy on how to use it.
"Yeh can do it, just don't eat too fast," Hudson encouraged him. Brooklyn gulped, spooning some of the food with Hudson's help, hand shaking, and taking just a small sip.
The broth went down his throat well enough. And thanks to the surgery Sato did on his esophagus, Brook sighed a bit when he didn't feel any churning. Just a little, but not so bad. He thought the broth tasted good, continuing to eat it as much as he could until he couldn't anymore. Brooklyn finished before sunrise with drinking his water, Broadway took the tray away.
Sato nodded his head to his patient after he was finished, coming to take the iv out of his arm and take the heart monitor off too. He would allow Hudson to stay with him tonight.
Brooklyn lay his head back, more tears trailing down his cheeks. The broth felt good, but it didn't cure his sadness. They had branded him; it would scar him for life, even if Sato did get rid of it.
Hudson wiped his tears away. "Rest easy for now, Lad. Sunrise is here." he said in a fatherly voice. Brooklyn glanced at him, glad for a fatherly touch for a change, feeling the stone beginning to cover him as he began to fall asleep, while the clan turned to stone outside, hoping to see him again the next night.