Two weeks later, at 17 weeks, Elisa was doing her job one night when she received a call from an anonymous source that said that there was a big gang of robbers going to rob the natural history museum that night for many pieces of jewelry and other valuable pieces of history.
Elisa didn't take this lightly and she called Goliath. If there was a big gang robbing the place, it would take nearly the whole clan to take them down.
Brooklyn was in his room reading his book again when the leader came and said, "Brooklyn, we are all going to go to the Natural History Museum to assist Elisa with a possible robbery."
Brooklyn looked up at his leader. "Do you need me to come?"
"No, Brooklyn. With Hudson coming, you can stay here and look after things. I'll leave Bronx with you." Goliath said. "And you are not coming in your condition."
Brooklyn hated the limitations that his pregnancy made him have. "Alright. Be careful."
"We will." Goliath declared and left the room.
Brooklyn sighed. "You sure are taking all the fun out of missions for me, Little One." he said to the baby. He gave his belly a rub. He went back to reading his book.
All of the clan but Brooklyn and Bronx went to the history museum as instructed to see about a possible robbery while the red second in command was stuck at home.
While he was reading the book this night, after Goliath had left, Brooklyn began to get some weird fluttering in his stomach. It made him pause in reading. He had never felt this feeling in his belly before. He had been reading about the possible stirrings of his baby's first movements that he would be able to feel. He had wondered what it would feel like. He might have been starting to feel Junior now.
The thought of it brought a smile to his face. Not even female gargoyles ever got to feel their babies move when they were pregnant because they were inside eggs. Brooklyn knew he would be the first gargoyle to ever feel his child's first movements and without an eggshell!
But outside, someone set up a bomb near some of the bedrooms. Suddenly, the alarm went off in the castle, and even Brooklyn and Bronx were on alert. What was going on? Bronx was just beside his bed, whining. Brooklyn pushed himself up.
"Come on, boy. We need to check out what's going on." Brooklyn stated. Bronx was in agreement and followed his red master.
There was a sound of a helicopter and Brooklyn began to pick up the pace, the gar-dog following. Bronx started growling. They were heading toward the Xanatos bedroom area. Then, they heard an explosion and it nearly toppled them both over because it shook the building.
"Hurry, boy!" Brooklyn ordered and they both ran faster.
Some commandos had jumped into the room and David and Fox did the same thing as before; trying to defeat these maniacs and trying to keep their son protected. They couldn't have known this would happen.
But this time, a huge net was shot out of a gun and it entrapped both of the parents. It knocked them down.
"What do you want?!" David demanded angrily.
Owen then burst into the room and he was shot with a stunner gun, making him fall to the ground.
"I'll make this easy, Mr. Xanatos. Tell me where the red gargoyle is and we can be on our way." The lead man demanded to know.
"I don't know what you're talking about. Now let us go!" David ordered.
"Perhaps your innocent little son can persuade you." The man picked up the scared, crying child.
"Let him go!" Fox cried out.
Then, the doors burst open. Brooklyn and Bronx were now in the room. "Spread out, Bronx." Brooklyn ordered.
"Ah, there you are, Red. I've been looking forward to this." The man declared evilly.
Brooklyn growled. "Who are you, and what do you want?" he demanded.
Bronx growled and prepared to attack.
One of the other men took aim at the gar-dog. "Call off your dog, Red, or he'll be shot. And we'll make short work of the baby here." The lead man warned.
Brooklyn knew that he couldn't let that happen. "No! Easy, Bronx. Don't."
Bronx whined that he was being told to stop.
"Good boy. Now as to what we want, we want you, Red."
Brooklyn's eyes lit up. It made him turn to the side, putting his right wing in front of himself, just trying to hide his baby.
"Put the kid down, and we'll talk." Brooklyn said.
"Not until you're over here, now get over here. And keep the beast over there. I mean it!" the man snapped angrily. Bronx had been advancing again.
"Stay there, Bronx." Brooklyn ordered firmly.
Bronx listened. He sat down, whining.
Brooklyn began to get closer, cautiously. He saw there were guns aimed on him and he raised his hands in surrender. He was soon a few inches from them. He also kept his wings low.
"Alright, I'm right here. Now just put the baby down. Don't hurt him. What do you want?" Brooklyn asked.
"You are quite the prize really. You would be so much more than this human baby."
"Gargoyles are now protected from felons like you! Don't you harm him, or I'll make sure you spend a good long time put away in jail!" Xanatos threatened.
"That threat still doesn't deter me, Xanatos." Then the man nodded and one of his other men shot a dart into Brooklyn's left shoulder.
Brooklyn yelped in surprise and pain. He hated needles. He grasped his shoulder. He fell to his knees. His vision began spinning and blacking out on him. "No! Don't… do this…" He managed to say, but he did make sure to collapse onto his side instead of his stomach. His left wing covered his midsection.
Another man also shot Bronx when the beast started to advance again. He had been shot in the head, but he was just stunned.
The lead man put Alex back in his crib. David and Fox continued to struggle in the net. They were determined to not let these maniacs take Brooklyn.
"I got my prize now." The man said proudly, standing over the unconscious gargoyle. He moved the wing aside and indeed, he saw the gargoyle's swollen stomach.
"We got him." He spoke into a radio talker. A net was shot down from the chopper and the few remaining men pulled the gargoyle to the net by his legs. They carefully wrapped his wings and arms into their little bundle and the net was wrapped up and carried Brooklyn away while the men also climbed up a ladder.
Fox and David were still stuck in the net when Owen and Bronx came to from their enforced naps.
"Get us out of this!" Fox ordered angrily.
Owen and Bronx went to work pulling the sticks out of the floor. They had been in deep so they couldn't be budged so easily.
"They have Brooklyn! We have to track them down!" David exclaimed.
"I agree." Owen said. He also checked on Alex and he saw he was fine.
They knew the clan would not be pleased when they heard Brooklyn had been kidnapped in his condition. But what had they wanted with Brooklyn anyway? They hadn't said. They hoped it was nothing bad.
David called Elisa that Brooklyn had been kidnapped and had no idea who had done it, or why at all. He knew she would tell Goliath and he would in turn tell the clan. Then a search for Brooklyn would begin. The clan would never let one of their own be harmed willingly.
….
Brooklyn was kept sedated on his trip to the facility, and before turning to stone, his body had been maneuvered into a careful position. He had shackles on his wrists, ankles, chest, and legs, going down his body. His tail had even been tied down and his wings had been folded underneath him.
The zoo team man, called Vincent, now examined his prize that he had been waiting so long to see. He stared at the red gargoyle. His breathing was stable. He had a good look at the small, but swollen belly. He knew this one was usually a skinny one in the belly, but he liked the look of the pregnancy.
Vincent gave the stomach a rub. "Soon, my love, very soon." he said proudly. Then, Brooklyn turned to stone for the day.
They finished getting Brooklyn to their facility over in Ohio. Vincent planned to keep him there until the baby was born, and even longer perhaps. But the bottom line was, he wanted that baby gargoyle. And he would plan to use Brooklyn in an ultimate breeding program to create more like him. If he could find a female, he would study gargoyle breeding from that perspective too. One from outside Brooklyn's clan.
…
The clan had been extremely worried for Brooklyn after they had heard about him being kidnapped. His condition made him extremely vulnerable. He shouldn't have been trying to face those men, but it was in his nature to protect those in his home. He would gladly give himself up to save the humans and protect the castle. But, right now, he had to consider his baby too.
The clan had had enough time to try to conduct a small search before sunrise came, but had found nothing. They would pick up the search tomorrow night. Bronx had been too disoriented following the attack after the shot in the head.
David would get some people right on rebuilding the wall that had been bombed, after police were through looking at it for their investigation.
Elisa and Matt were working on the search during the day, despite how tired they were. They could only hope that Brooklyn would get away from his captors, and unharmed. Him, and his baby.
The baby was still at risk of being exhumed from Brooklyn's stomach by force. There were sure to always be gargoyle haters out there and would find any way to hurt them. And the kidnappers could easily threaten Brooklyn's baby's life if he didn't cooperate.