The next night, in the lab, everything was ready. The new artificial womb was ready for implantation, as was the new fertilized zygote. Ray wanted to get the breeding process under way.
The men went and got Brooklyn from his cell again and he was escorted to the surgery room. When he saw the table, that was when he began to resist. He had no idea what was going to happen to him, but he didn't want anything to be done to him either.
"Get on the table, now!" One man ordered.
"No! I won't! Let me go!" Brooklyn struggled.
As his struggling got to be too much, then he suddenly felt a dart in the shoulder, making him yelp in pain. It took quite a bit of energy out of him. It was just enough to where he was forced to the table. His hands were undone from behind him so he could be laid on his back. His hands were then put out to the sides and cuffed down, just as his legs and tail were too.
"Oh, please, don't do this!" Brooklyn pleaded. "What are you going to do?" He felt like he was going to shake right out of his skin. Being tied down on his back like this made him incredibly scared. His breathing and heart rate had picked up too.
"You need to calm down, Brooklyn. You'll be fine." Ray came forward.
"What are you going to do?" Brooklyn demanded.
"Let's just say, for right now, it's a secret that should become beneficial." Ray replied. "But it will require you to take a nap first."
"I don't need or want a nap! I already took one!" Brook snapped.
"I'm sorry, but it's required this time." Ray stated. The man then raised a needle and he prepared to inject it.
Brooklyn squirmed when he saw the dreaded needle. Ray put the needle into a vein in his right hand, making Brook wince in pain. The iv was put into place before a strong sedative was given. Brooklyn tried to fight the effects, but it sent him into unconsciousness.
Melina was in the room for the surgery that was going to happen to change Brooklyn's life forever. She had wanted to be a part of this.
Brooklyn's loincloth was removed for the surgery. His belly was then cleaned and sterilized. A heart monitor was put on his chest to make sure his heart was beating normally. An oxygen tube was put into his nostrils to give him oxygen. Then it was time for the surgery to begin.
Ray eyed the belly hungrily. He imagined how it would look in many months' time, more rounded and fuller with a baby gargoyle. But for now, it was just the beginning of getting it into his body.
Ray was all too happy to perform the task of using the scalpel to cut into the skin on Brooklyn's lower belly. It was right in the place of where his belt would be. He made quite a huge incision to make sure he had enough room to get inside to the organs. He next cut through the muscle tissues and made it to the abdominal cavity. The artificial womb was standing by for implantation by one of the assistants.
Ray saw the internal organs at this moment and he was fascinated with it all. Very much human-like too. He eyed a portion of the lower intestine. He knew the womb needed an attachment surface in order to do its job effectively.
"Where are you wanting to attach it to him?" the man holding the womb asked.
"Down near the lower intestine." Ray replied.
"Large or small one?"
"The small one would have more food resources to it. Now it's time for its new home." Ray said. The other man gave it to him and Ray took it. He put the soft tissue piece down near the bottom close to the small intestine. He implanted it just in front of it and stitched it to the abdominal wall. Then, the fresh zygote was brought over and it was in a syringe. Ray took it too and injected it into the womb.
"Are you sure this is going to work, Sir? What if it doesn't work?" Melina asked.
"It was created from his own dna. It should work. His body will have to get used to it, yes. But it stays inside him." Ray ordered.
"What if he starts having stomach pains from it?"
"Then I'll have him monitored. We'll find out what's wrong, of course. But this project is commencing, no matter what!" Ray decreed. Everyone understood.
"You won't be alone for much longer, Brooklyn." Ray said happily.
The incision was patched up right after, sewing the severed skin pieces together again. The gargoyle had no idea what had just been put into his body. If the project succeeded, there would be a pregnancy ongoing soon, but it would take time for it to just get going. But would Brooklyn turning to stone stop it?
Brooklyn's belly was bandaged up and he was returned to his room to rest for the rest of the night. He was given some pain medicine via the iv and would have to be removed prior to sunrise. He had made it through the surgery just fine. The oxygen tube was removed from his nose and his sleepy drug was reversed so he could wake up.
Then Ray was reminded by one of the men that he wanted to look at Brooklyn's eyes while he was still asleep too. He smiled at that. This was a good chance. He didn't know when he would get another chance. If Brooklyn was pregnant, being drugged wouldn't be good for him. He quickly got his optical devices and quickly looked at Brooklyn's eyes.
He found that Brooklyn had the same types of cones and rods in the back of his eyes that would give the gargoyle perfect color vision, but there was something else too, a few more types of rods and cones that created a special tapetum that obviously made the eyes glow. This was something special alright.
Brooklyn was tucked into his bed and covered up to keep him warm. Melina came in to stay with him to make sure he woke up alright. His loincloth was also put back on his waist. When the men were gone, she couldn't help but pull the blankets down for a quick glimpse of his belly. He now supposedly had a baby inside him. But only time would tell if it would become a baby. And Melina was thinking about helping him escape. He could run into trouble out there with this unborn embryo inside him, especially if he were to miscarry it. Unlike a female, he had no way to expel it. This was dangerous.
After another hour of sleeping off the drugs, Brooklyn moaned, which made Melina look over at him. "Brooklyn?" she said.
He groaned again. He started to come around some more and finally opened his eyes slowly. His vision started to focus on the woman next to him. "What-what happened?" he asked. "Where-?" He put a hand to his head. He felt a bit dizzy.
Brooklyn felt nice and comfortable, covered up by his blankets. But as he came to his senses a lot more, he tried to start to sit up. Melina got up to push him back down, but not before Brooklyn felt his incision.
"Agh!" Brooklyn winced in pain. He hadn't seen the bandages. Melina got to him and put a hand on his chest, pushing him back down.
"Don't push yourself. You need to rest, Brooklyn." Melina said gently.
"What happened to me?" Brooklyn demanded. He then pushed the blankets down. He saw the bandages around his belly. He put a hand on it. "He opened me up, didn't he?" Brooklyn looked up sadly at Melina.
"I'm afraid so." Melina replied.
Brooklyn looked down at his stomach. "What-what did he do to me?" He wanted to know.
Melina couldn't tell him about the impending pregnancy. She had to make something up. "My boss wanted to see what a gargoyle's digestive system looked like. I swear there is nothing missing from your belly. You'll still be able to eat normally."
"How do you know that?" Brooklyn asked.
"I was there. I promise. I was a bit curious too." Melina replied. "You said that your stone sleep will heal injuries. Well, this could be the chance we need to see that too."
Brooklyn knew that these scientists were curious about many things and it could often be the wrong things. He really hoped that they hadn't administered anything bad to his body.
They talked a bit for the rest of the night before getting close to sunrise when Ray and some men came in to remove the iv from Brooklyn's hand. The gargoyle had tried to resist at first but with Melina holding his other hand, the iv was safely removed.
"I want to stand up. I just feel better on my feet at sunrise." Brooklyn said.
"Very well. I can grant you that, but no funny business, Brooklyn." Ray replied.
The man and another man helped the injured gargoyle to his feet, grunting from the slight pain he felt in his belly. To Brooklyn, it felt awkward standing up with all the bandages on his belly. He glanced down at it. He wasn't about to pull anything while like this and so close to sunrise. He really hoped Melina was true to her word, that nothing had been implanted inside him or taken out. He really hoped on the next time that he ate something that his stomach didn't start hurting badly.
The humans stayed until after sunrise when Brooklyn instinctively took a pose and growled before changing. They then left him for the day but would return just before sunset that evening.
Brooklyn had gotten used to the region's system by now. He had been with them for three weeks now.
….
That evening, Ray, Melina, and a few men came to the cell where Brooklyn was about to wake. Ray usually watched on camera but he wanted to see how Brooklyn's stomach fared.
The cracking soon began and Brooklyn's eyes flared and his body moved, shaking free of its stone skin. Flakes of skin went everywhere. The humans were standing clear of it at the entrance, but they had covered their faces just in case. When they lowered their arms, they saw that the gargoyle was now standing taller than before and he was starting to undo the bandages.
"I would like to see your belly, Brooklyn." Ray said from behind.
Brooklyn turned. He had a handful of bandage in his hands. "It's fine." He declared. He still felt a little jolt of pain down there from the night before, but he knew the injury would be mostly healed. He continued to unwrap himself.
When the bandages came off fully, Brook let them drop to the ground. The humans looked and there was no scar on his stomach at all. He gave his belly a rub at where he had to fasten the belt on his waist. It was still tender there under the skin.
"If you could lay back on the bed, I want to examine it just to be sure of its healing." Ray said gently.
"I'm fine." Brooklyn gave a glare with a protective hand over his middle.
"Brooklyn, please. It's just for health reasons. He's not trying to hurt you." Melina tried to coax him.
"No. I'm just fine. I'm healed, alright!" he snapped.
"Brooklyn, do you have to make things harder than it has to be?" Ray demanded.
"Just leave me alone."
Ray looked at the men as he backed off. Then a dart flew at him. It hit him in the chest, making him yelp in pain.
Brooklyn pulled it off himself. He suddenly felt groggy. Two men then came up and pulled him to the bed. He was laid on his back as he saw Ray come forward.
He struggled as he didn't want to be pressed on. But Ray got around his legs while the two men held his arms down. One also pressed down on his chest to keep him down.
Ray started to press down onto his stomach. He started on the top part first and worked his way downward. Brook tried to contain his whimpers of discomfort. Ray even moved his belt down a bit and he pressed down there too, making Brooklyn instantly cry out in pain.
"It's obvious to me that you're still in pain." Ray stated as he got his hands off the gargoyle's belly. "Let him up."
The men backed off and Brooklyn rose. "It's fine. It's just a little pain from last night, depending on how bad you cut into me last night." He stated. "It'll be fine again by tomorrow night."
"I wouldn't doubt that."
"Do you think you can eat something and keep it down?" Ray asked.
Brooklyn's mind wasn't really on food at the moment. He just wanted to get out of here now that he was well again. What was it that this scientist wanted from him?
"What is it you really want from me? I want to go home." Brooklyn declared.
"I want to have you as my personal gargoyle to get details off of and learn your secrets. To get gargoyle information out there to understand your kind better and so others out there won't be so misled about your species." Ray explained.
"You would need a whole clan of gargoyles to get to know all their secrets. I can't give it all to you when there's many things even I don't know about my kind's ways." Brooklyn replied.
"Oh, you must know enough anyway. How about reproduction?" Ray asked.
Brooklyn raised an eye ridge. He had a feeling that that might turn to that at one time or another. "I'm not going to tell you anything," he growled.
"Fine, be that way. But you will tell me one of these days." Ray said.
"No, I won't. It's none of your business." Brook declared.
"If we are to end the gargoyle hatred, Brooklyn, you must give me what you know." Ray insisted.
Brooklyn continued to be stubborn. Ray snarled and gave up on him for tonight. This was why he let Melina handle him most of the time.
"Why don't you just tell him what he wants to know?" Melina asked gently.
"It's really none of his business. And I don't have a mate, so I don't know anything about it." Brooklyn replied.
Brooklyn did want to have gargoyle hatred ended but doing it this way was all wrong. He had a feeling that Ray wanted something more from him and he wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of the information.
…
The clan had been looking for a long time now here in the city for signs of Brooklyn. They weren't going to give up on him ever, but they still had the city to protect from bad guys of all kinds.
They knew that Brooklyn was a tough one and could handle himself. Surely, he would get away from his captors, sooner or later. They had waited on Goliath for a mere six weeks. Maybe Brooklyn could be back in that amount of time too, or shorter. But there were also chances of him being murdered in his sleep too. They didn't want to think that and that he was alive and awaiting their rescue.