Brooklyn was lucky that no humans came near the place where he had settled on to sleep during the day. He roared as he woke up and stretched. That always felt good. But now that he was awake, he was ready to move on again. He wasn't going to chance being found if he could help it.

He walked along the river for a ways to try to find a rock or tree that he could use to get back to the air. He had much more traveling to do. If he had been out of water, he might have looked to filling up his water bottles. He had six of them. But then, what if this river was polluted? He wouldn't be able to risk it. He would have to get fresh bottled water at a gas station or water fountain somewhere.

He soon found some rocks and he got on those and jumped onto them and took a leap and got to the air. The wind wasn't the strongest tonight and he had to flap his wings a few times to give himself more lift into the air. The higher he got, there were some warmer updrafts up there.

Brooklyn looked down. The landscape was beautiful if more boring-like. Deserts were not his thing. He just wanted to get home. He went to go follow the highway I-80 again. He wondered where it would lead him. Sticking to this highway was the best thing that he could do for right now until he found another road that was still helping him to go east.

He flew for well over an hour and a half and he soon came to West Wendover. Brooklyn was feeling famished by now and was ready for some breakfast. His wings were tired as it was and needed a break from gliding. He swore he was going to burn more calories gliding than doing anything else in his life.

West Wendover was smaller than Elko and he pulled the map out of the bag. As Brooklyn saw, he had now crossed over the Nevada-Utah border. Well, he was out of the state where he had been kidnapped to. Having wings was a big advantage to walking home. That kind of journey would take probably a few years to get him home if his wings didn't work or were injured or broken. Stone sleep would heal them, but a broken arm in the wing could be permanently disabled if not set properly.

Brooklyn really hoped that he wouldn't get a broken wing while on his journey home. He wasn't going to stick around this tiny town too long. He was just going to stick around long enough to eat and drink and find a place to fill his water bottles up or get new ones. But he was going to rest his wings for a while.

It seemed to be late enough at night for him to go to a gas station and use the bathroom to refill his water bottles. He knew he couldn't just walk inside and buy some. He had seen some interesting sites while looking around the town. It was big enough to give tourism. He went looking for a gas station that seemed to be closed at this late hour and he broke into a bathroom that was on the backside of the building to fill his water bottles. He had enough food for now.

After Brooklyn's needs were met with nutrition and refilled supplies, he put his bag on again and climbed up the building to take to the air. His wings were rested once again to give gliding a new go ahead.

The town sure was beautiful at night too, like the last one. On his way out of town, he happened to glide over a giant cowboy display. "Whoa, I should go back and look at that." He said. He turned around and went to go look at it. He landed in front of it.

Brooklyn liked western movies back home. Ray had never let him watch TV at all, that's why he did take shortcut breaks at times to just take in sites too. He was so glad to be free of that boring facility. He didn't know what Ray's real mission was for him to do, other than just be an experiment to study. He was not a lab experiment. Gargoyles had to be free, to stretch their wings and touch the sky! To be protectors of the innocent.

He caped his wings and made sure to keep low as he viewed the cowboy site.

"Hm, Wendover Will. I might need to look this up when I get home. Seems interesting. Never been in a western movie, but I know I like what I see." Brooklyn smiled. "Interesting."

He had to move on before sunrise came.

He got back into the air again, following the highway once again on his way out of town. Once he got out of the town, there was nothing but the road and sand and small bushes everywhere. There was a small lake on the outside too but he didn't stop to see it.

Brook had to cover as much ground as he could before sunrise. He hoped he could at least make it near to the next closest town on the map which was Salt Lake City. Wow, a city. That sounded intriguing. It made him think of his own New York. How he missed it and his clan. He wondered if they missed him. Of course they did!

Brooklyn couldn't help but wonder how the clan was doing without him there. Were they managing ok? Hopefully, Goliath wouldn't pick a new Second in Command while he was away. "I'm coming back, Goliath. As fast as I can get there. Please don't choose a new Second in Command."

He reflected on who would most likely take his place if he never got back. Lex was too dependent on technology, and probably given his size, others probably wouldn't take him seriously. Lex also didn't think things through before just jumping into certain situations. If he was ticked, there was nothing you could do to stop him from going after the enemy.

Broadway was too into movies and cooking to be a leader. But he sure knew how to be a mate to Angela. That thought came again that angered him. His stomach got in the way of many things too.

Angela was likely a good candidate. She was simple minded and more serious, like Goliath. She thought things through more simply. She had such kindness and compassion. It took quite a lot to set her temper off.

Hudson was too old to be a leader but he could give plenty of helpful advice to a new leader in the making. And of course, Bronx couldn't as he was their pet.

Brooklyn would make it back there, one way or another. He might also take a train or somebody might be kind enough to let him use their phone to call Elisa or drive him back to New York themselves. For now, though, he was stuck gliding home.

It was nothing but desert ground for miles on end. He flew for well over an hour and he began to see lights on the horizon. "That must be Salt Lake City," Brooklyn thought to himself. "I can't wait to see it."

He had thought about staying there for a couple days to rest himself but stay out of sight. He would do some patrols of the city and such. He wanted to explore it and see if it compared to New York.

But it was nearing sunrise and it would be wise to find a place to snooze for the day. He just got into the city as the light was getting brighter on the horizon. Brook hurriedly went to find a very tall building where he would be least likely to be found.

He saw an almost castle-like place and he hurriedly flew there to one of the highest rises of it to where he was going to spend the day, hoping that no humans would come and see him there as a something that didn't belong and smash him. Every day, turning to stone was a risk to his life, like any living gargoyle.

Brooklyn wanted to take a break from traveling and see this city. It looked to be HUGE! He knew he would need to find a newsstand and seek out a new map and mentions of touring sites in this city.

He hadn't been able to go to a rock concert or see a movie in the longest time. With his current freedom, he just wanted to have some fun. Even back home, things hadn't been real fun for him for a long time. Things had seemed to be more fun before Angela came to join the clan. She had put things into more perspective that it was time for the young group, the Trio, to start growing up and trying to find mates instead of going on being just teenagers.

Of course, Brooklyn had had an adult responsibility being Second to Goliath and then the leader while he was gone. Angela coming into the clan was a good thing though. They hadn't had a female in the clan, save Demona, for a long time. At least before Demona turned on them after waking up. It was about a female gargoyle, not human. Yeah, Elisa did give them female company in the clan in a way, being like a mother figure to guide them considering they didn't know all about the modern world. But they had learned much.

Brooklyn just did the thinking before the sun rose and he made sure to hide his bag before he got onto a parapet and formed a pose as the sun rose. He hoped he would be okay here for the day.

…..

There were many people that came during the day to this building and took looks at the highest point. Brooklyn had managed to position himself up higher than they were, with his tail wrapped around a beam for a little more security. Most of the humans didn't even notice him or paid him little heed. They just thought he was part of the architecture.

….

The next evening, at the Eyrie Building, the sky was greeted with the scream and roars of awakening gargoyles. Goliath and his clan greeted the night like they always did, but minus the red Second in Command.

The clan looked ever so sad that Brooklyn wasn't here with them. They had looked over most of the city by now and there was no trace of him. He had to have been taken out of the city.

David Xanatos had even check ins with the Illuminati, though not saying anything about Brook to them. But he had checked all the cells and there was nothing. Sure, the Illuminati had interests in the gargoyles, but they didn't have any of them right now.

At the castle, after Broadway had reluctantly made some breakfast for the clan, they were all at the table. Elisa was on duty tonight so she wasn't there to be with Goliath.

Hardly anyone was feeling like eating. It had been like this since Brooklyn had gone missing.

"I swear, whoever took Brooklyn will pay most dearly." Goliath growled.

"I hope they haven't harmed him." Lex stated. He had tears in his eyes.

"Brooklyn is a tough one. He'll get away and make his way back to us. We are his clan." Hudson decreed.

"But what if something has happened to him, Father? What if he can't make it back to us on his own?" Angela questioned in an almost panic.

"Calm down, Angela. Nothing will do anything any good by panicking." Hudson took her shoulders. Then Angela started crying, the elder taking her into his arms. She missed him too even though he wasn't her mate.

Goliath didn't know what to say to his daughter. She had a point. He didn't want to think about having to pick a new Second in Command, but he might have to. He would wait a bit longer for a possibility of Brooklyn returning before he would make that choice. The thought just made him sick to his stomach that his Second was in trouble or possibly dying somewhere. And who knows where he was?

Somewhere in a science lab was one of the biggest thoughts come to mind. Or he could have been smashed in his sleep somewhere before he could make it home. They all shuddered at that idea. For them, Brooklyn was alive and awaiting their rescue. They would find him.

Using maps helped with the sites.