While the gargoyles were stone for the day, Elisa and the Xanatos' were sitting in the living room, wondering if Brooklyn would recover a second time through the trauma. David had seen that mark on Brooklyn, disgusted that this crazy doctor had caused that much trouble and damage to the red gargoyle.

Elisa was pacing, anxious for sunset to come so she can check on Brooklyn's condition with Goliath. She knew he would be frightened again, and possibly see visions of Thailog too, which worried her.

Fox herself remembered Brooklyn's first trauma and how he was nervous when she offered to clean his blanket. That one thank you was a small sign of recovery that she wanted to see again.

Eventually, sunset came after the day had passed all too slowly.

Brooklyn awoke, yawning weakly, still lying in the recovery room with Hudson still by his side. His body felt a bit better after four weeks without the proper stone sleep, though his fear was still present inside, shaking again. Hudson noticed, trying to put on a friendly smile, taking the young one's hand.

"Good mornin', Lad. How did you sleep?" Brooklyn's face was sad, but he shrugged. "Ok, I guess…" he replied in a quiet voice, tears moistening his eyes. Hudson felt pity, rubbing Brooklyn's hand gently. He didn't know about the arsenic in his system, yet.

"We will help yeh get better again. Just trust us to help you," Hudson murmured softly to comfort the Second, who was quivering from his fright. A tiny smile showed for a couple seconds before it was gone.

Sato and Broadway arrived, while the others waited their turn. Broadway attempted a smile when Brooklyn pulled his legs up under the sheets, still scared of doctors.

"Hey, how are you doing, bro?" Broadway asked, while Sato approached. Brooklyn didn't speak this time, heart thumping fast and hard, eyes rounded pretty big.

"I came to do a check up on you, Brooklyn, to see if the worst of your injuries have healed okay. I'll have to undo your bandages to see them," Sato explained, ready to reach out to do so, but Brooklyn startled, gasping in fear, digging into his pillow. "Don't… don't touch me…!" he whined tearfully, tears soaking his face. Hudson felt concern.

"He won't hurt ya, Brooklyn. He isn't any of those evil men that caused harm to you. I know you don' want to be touched, but can you be brave fer me? It will be okay," he asked, gazing at him gently. Brook still looked scared, but Hudson's hand soothed him a little, relaxing a little.

Sato sat on a chair to gently unwrap the stomach bandages, Brooklyn clinging to Hudson. After he took them off, Sato saw that stone sleep had healed the worst of the injuries, though it still looked tender there. He also took off the patch on his arm gently, and thankfully, the scarring on Brooklyn's bicep seemed to be toning down as well.

"Your injuries seem to be healing well enough for you to return to your room, Brooklyn. But we may have to keep them on for a few more days for precaution. We will help you to your room and we will get you something to eat there."

Brooklyn just stared shyly, shaking, while Sato prepared a gurney to wheel him to his room.

The red one sighed a bit from seeing his old room after finally leaving the medic bay, the clan watching from a distance. Sato said they can see him after he ate.

Once they got Brooklyn into bed safely, Sato then asked Broadway to get him a bit of soup and water. Brooklyn curled up in bed, his stomach then suddenly feeling a little funny.

Broadway returned with the delicious smelling soup. He gave it to Hudson, then stepped back while Hudson helped Brooklyn try eating it. Brooklyn attempted to swallow the first bite.

Brooklyn was so glad he wasn't in the evil humans' custody anymore and being force fed. He was having to learn to eat all over again. His brother's soup tasted incredible. He gave Broadway a somewhat thankful look out of the corner of his eyes.

Goliath knew that his Second needed to eat and rest and gain his strength back so he could hopefully go back to doing what he had done when he had recovered last time. He needed all his clan out there protecting New York. But he would gladly give Brooklyn the time he needed to heal from this ordeal.

Brooklyn got the first few bites of the soup down, then he started feeling something down in his stomach that normally didn't happen when he ate here at home. He remembered his stomach hurting like this when he had been force fed a few times back in the evil doctor's custody, and just before his rescue.

"AAH!" Brooklyn cried out so suddenly. He rolled back into his bed and it startled Hudson that it made him drop the bowl to the floor, making a mess everywhere. Broadway was also startled. He also rushed forward.

Hudson saw that Brooklyn had grabbed his stomach and was wincing hard. "What's wrong, Lad?" he asked gently.

"It hurts!" Brooklyn screamed. "Oh, make it stop!"

Both Hudson and Broadway were at a loss of what to do to help him. The rest of the clan came into the room when they heard a crash happen.

"What happened?" Lex asked.

"Brooklyn dropped the bowl." Broadway replied. He had to go get some supplies to go clean up the mess that was made.

"The lad is in pain again." Hudson stated.

Brooklyn had pulled his legs up and his arms were clutching his stomach hard. "Come here, Lad." Hudson said. He took the red one into his arms. Brooklyn had gladly accepted the embrace, but there was still throbbing pain inside him. He kept a hand on his belly.

"Lexington, go get Dr. Sato, quick." Goliath ordered. Lex nodded and went to go find him.

They returned not too long afterward. Broadway had gotten the mess cleaned up just as Sato approached the bed. Brooklyn clung to Hudson more. "Oh, please don't! Don't hurt me!" he begged weakly.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Brooklyn. Please, I need you to let me help you." Sato said gently. "Can you tell me what's wrong?"

"Ugh! My… my stomach… hurts… bad..." Brooklyn panted.

"It might just still be tender from the surgery too. Here, why not try a little water." Sato offered and Hudson took it for him to drink some down.

Brooklyn gratefully took a drink, but when even that hit his stomach too, it got Brooklyn to clench up again and cry out in pain. Something was very wrong here if he couldn't eat or drink without pain in his stomach.

"Hudson, can you lay him down? I need to check his belly." Sato explained. "But keep a hold on him."

"Yes, Sir." Hudson replied. He laid Brooklyn down on his bed, and took both his hands in his arms for his own comfort. Brook glanced at the doc nervously.

Dr. Sato began to gently press onto Brooklyn's stomach. It got an instant reaction from the red gargoyle. "AAAH! STOP!"

Sato stopped pressing on him. "If you're hurting that bad, something is wrong. I need to take some blood to see what's going on. Perhaps I missed something."

"It's goin' to be alright, Lad. The doc will help yeh." Hudson tried to coax him. Brooklyn was still breathing hard and holding his belly. He had a major stomach ache going on inside him.

"I-I feel like… oh… like I've been… poisoned… all over again..." Brooklyn sobbed into Hudson's shirt.

Hudson glanced at the others. Could he have been poisoned?

Sato returned and with restraining Brook, some blood was taken and Sato rushed to the infirmary to study it immediately.

Hudson helped Brooklyn lay back in his bed. "Just try to relax, Lad. Don't curl up. That can make the pain worse." he said.

Elisa came up slowly. "Just try taking some deep breaths, Brooklyn. That can help. Take slow, deep breaths." she said gently.

Brooklyn was still wide eyed at seeing any human, but Elisa's gentle words helped him calm down. He tried to take slow deep breaths as she said. It helped to calm him down, but he didn't want Hudson's touch to stop either. One hand remained in his hand, and the other still held his belly.

"Those men really hurt you, didn't they?" Lex stated as he came up slowly to the bedside. Brook eyed him, and nodded.

"I don't, feel good." Brooklyn rasped out.

"We'll get you feeling better." Lex said. He rubbed his brother's other arm gently. He felt Brook shiver at his touch, but with Hudson holding him on the other side, he didn't flip out, but he did close his eyes and looked away.

A wave of dizziness overtook Brooklyn. He leaned more into Hudson's grasp. He winced as he felt another jolt of pain go through his stomach. He moaned at the pain.

"To see you in pain like this still is delicious, Plaything," Dream Thailog said to him.

Brooklyn didn't want to pay him any mind. He wasn't sure he wasn't real in his state of mind, but he just kept a hold on Hudson.

"They don't really care for you. I notice that my mark was removed, but that mark will always be a part of you now. However, I see some scarring there." Thailog mocked him. "You will always be mine, Plaything!"

"NO!" Brooklyn yelled in fright. He nearly jumped out of bed, but he was held in Hudson's arms.

"It's okay, Lad. Calm down!" Hudson declared. He was almost in a panic to get the young Second to calm down.

"GO AWAY, THAILOG!!" Brooklyn called out.

The clan all looked at each other. Brooklyn must have been seeing things that weren't there. "Thailog is nowhere around, Brooklyn. Whatever you're seeing, it isn't real." Elisa said.

Brooklyn was gasping for breath. His belly still ached and that was when the doctor returned.

"I should have taken blood from him before his operation last night. I found a good concentration of arsenic in his blood. That is the cause of his pain. He was poisoned with arsenic." Sato explained.

"But how do we cure him?" Angela asked, scared.

"We need to get him to swallow some charcoal first. It won't be pleasant tasting, but there are other medications to use too. And he'll need to take them for a few nights to be sure." Sato explained.

Brooklyn's heart was beating in an irregular rhythm. His head was dizzy. He felt like he would throw up, but he really had nothing much in his stomach. He had managed to keep the first few bites down and they were just hurting as they were being digested. He hadn't liked it when he had heard he would have to swallow charcoal.

Sarai made sure to get medical charcoal into a syringe. She had just made it back for the night.

"Come on now, Brooklyn. You need to swallow this. It will help absorb the poison in your system." Sarai tried to get the resistant gargoyle to swallow the black stuff in the syringe.

Brooklyn was resisting. He kept jerking his head away from her. "I don't… want it!"

"Come on, Lad. It will help ya feel better." Hudson coaxed him.

He finally gave in. "Fine." A deep frown was on his beak as Sarai began to hold the syringe up to his mouth and he had to reluctantly drink it down into his stomach.

Sato and Elisa had to rush out and get the real cures for the poison.

Brooklyn's body felt really weak. His limbs felt so heavy and tingly, like they were asleep. He was sitting up with help to take the charcoal. He was grateful when it was gone. His mouth was all black. He grimaced at the taste of it all.

"You want some water to wash it out of your mouth?" Sarai offered.

"Yes. It's so gross!" Brooklyn admitted with disgust.

"It may be gross, but it should help until Dr. Sato returns." Sarai replied. She offered Brook some water. "Don't swallow the water now. Just wash your mouth out and spit it into this bowl," she instructed. She had a big bowl in her hands.

Brooklyn did as he was told. The water got the leftover charcoal out of his mouth and he spit it out.

….

The stuff that Sato and Elisa had gone to get were dimercaptosuccinic acid and dimercaprol. They would further help isolate the toxins of the arsenic in his system. It took over an hour, but they returned with it soon enough.

The medicines were put in an iv that was hooked up to Brooklyn's hand again to keep him hydrated throughout the rest of the night. He would be in too much pain to eat or drink. He was also given a sedative to help him sleep it off. But he was monitored constantly. He was also back on the heart monitor.

Everyone was taking Brooklyn's condition seriously. Sato and Sarai weren't leaving anytime soon, at least until Brooklyn's health was more stable. He would need to take these medicines for the next few nights and stone sleep would let the rest of the physical injuries heal.

Sato took blood again toward sunrise to see his blood levels of how he was doing.

The charcoal had seemed to help as well as the medicines. His vitals remained stable but not awkward. The iv had to come out before the sun came up though.

The clan had all taken turns staying with Brooklyn while he had been sleeping off the worst of his pain. He started to wake up towards dawn as the iv was removed from his hand. Hopefully, he would feel a lot better by tomorrow night. But Sato was still going to have him take the medicines.

Stone sleep healed many a gargoyle's injuries and even poison, but it had been in Brooklyn's system long enough to do enough damage that it had done more damage than first thought for it to be healed in just one day's sleep. It would need a few nights to be sure.

Sato and Sarai would be there to help as much as they could until he was completely recovered from the arsenic.