In the coming nights, Brooklyn looked for any pain medication. He was given some tums, but they did no good to control his pain. The devices planted in his digestive tract were the causes. They needed removing if it was going to stop.

Brooklyn wanted to go home badly. He would wake up refreshed every night after a day of stone sleep, but it was eating that he dreaded. He was given food every night around midnight and he would suffer the rest of the night from intense nausea. If he didn't eat, his collar would shock his throat and he would be force fed.

After a week passed, Brooklyn complained. "Why isn't the treatment working?" He winced, holding his belly.

"Oh, you still got tummy aches?" The man mocked him.

"Yes!" Brooklyn normally didn't want to confess about his pain, but he was in too much pain not to.

"Good." The man grinned and left. Brooklyn looked sadly up at him as he left him there.

Why did they have to treat him so badly? Why was Demona doing this to him? Why was she allowing these scientists to experiment with him? Was she wanting him dead soon? He felt like he was poisoned on a nightly basis.

One night, he had had enough, and he tried to escape from his cell again when the man came with his food. He knocked the tray over and tried to get out of the cell, but the collar instantly started shocking him and it made him fall to the ground, screaming and holding his neck. It wouldn't stop that it made him feel like he couldn't breathe.

Guards came down to the room and helped the one man to his feet. "Nice try, Devil." The man exclaimed before giving the red gargoyle a kick to the stomach.

Brooklyn cried out, holding his belly. The shocking stopped after that. He was still stuck in there. He wasn't going anywhere with this evil collar on his neck. There was still a mess everywhere. There was nothing given to him that night. But there was the water bottle and tums he wanted.

He didn't dare touch the food. He was tired of the nausea ripping him apart internally every night. But even water hurt him too. There was just something going on inside him that he didn't understand.

….

As for Demona, more than a month had passed since she first brought Brooklyn here and mated with him. She didn't visit him currently as she was feeling the side effects of early pregnancy now. This had happened back to her in the tenth century too when she had carried her first and only egg that had turned into Angela. Now she knew she was pregnant.

She felt the effects of 'morning sickness' at all times of the day and even the staff that she worked with noticed her strange behavior. It wasn't like her to feel sick so much. A once in the while flu happened to everyone once in a while, but every day was something else.

Demona didn't always have to eat to live, but she knew if she wanted this child, she had to eat healthy every day and night. If she was really nauseated, she would wait till she was hungry enough. But she was still worried for the child too, given the daily stressful transformations.

She hated having a scientist checking on her like this, but Anton was her ally and they both were wanting to keep an eye on the embryo, if it was being stressed.

"If you want, I could also create an artificial womb for the embryo and our guest could also serve as a surrogate," Anton advised, "though we know males don't carry young."

"No! I will carry this child myself." Demona snapped. "I don't want him to have anything to do with it!"

"Very well." Anton backed down. "This is still a test of what you can do while you are carrying the embryo."

"I know, and it seems to be holding." Demona said.

Anton would be checking her progress weekly. If the embryo made it past the first trimester, chances were just maybe, it could make it full term. The embryo had made it past six weeks, but it was still too early to tell yet.

When the progress was checked this time, there was nothing more than a tiny blob on the screen. There were some beginnings of a shell of an egg forming, but it was still too soon. The only reason Demona was allowing this was because she was interested in how baby gargoyles were formed in their eggshells. This experiment had never been done before. Anton wanted to know too. This would not be a clone this time. Demona wanted this child as a purebred.

She was eating healthy foods, and she was taking prenatal vitamins like a pregnant woman did. She was wanting to do things differently that she hadn't done before. She was wanting to have a healthy pregnancy.

Now that she knew she was pregnant, why did she even want to keep Brooklyn here? He was of no further use to her. She could let him return to the clan or she could have him killed and disposed of so he wouldn't pose a threat later. But she wanted him here until she at least was past the most critical point.

Most female gargoyles carried their pregnancies successfully, but there had been the rare miscarriages too. Demona figured she had a good chance of carrying this child just as she had carried Angela so long ago, but her transformations still worried her. But most of the parts of her body that changed every day weren't significant around her stomach area. She truly hoped the embryo was protected by her womb enough.

…

But, one week later, Demona went through her normal transformation, and it was daytime. Brooklyn was asleep at this time.

Dominque was getting some sleep for the morning at this time. But it wasn't long after changing into her human form that she started feeling some cramps in her stomach. Demona moaned. Cramps were part of being pregnant too. With the formation of an egg on the way, even when it got bigger, she would never feel the child move inside her.

She tried to continue resting, but as the morning continued, the pains began to get worse. They were way worse than typical cramps and she eventually got up to use the bathroom. When she was going to clean herself up, she saw there was some blood on the toilet paper. This wasn't good.

Demona moaned from the pains, and she was now feeling an urge that shouldn't be there. There was something down inside her. It wasn't long before what felt like a large clot came out of her body and into the toilet.

Suddenly, the pain was gone. But when Demona got up to check what had come out of her, she didn't like what she saw. Her eyes widened in shock.

There was the embryo in the toilet! It couldn't be. "NOOOOOO!" She screamed in despair.

She couldn't look away from her precious young one. She got it out of the toilet and cradled it in her arms. She had to get a good look at it to honor it before she knew that she had to dispose of it.

It was only pink in color at this time. There was a slight look that it looked like a little beak was forming on the head. Wings were sprouting on the back, and a tail was forming on the rear. Little fingers and toes were forming too. It was also still attached to the placenta.

Demona was still bleeding but she didn't care about that. She sobbed for a while. She would take care of herself later.

…

One of the women soon had to help her out of the bathroom and see the doctor. She was so sorry for the loss of her baby.

Demona was now in her room, stoic. The embryo was now in Anton's custody. He was examining the contents of everything. He also analyzed the embryo's gender with a blood test. He found out its gender.

The man went to her room. He knew she was upset. This was what they had been worried about. Her transformations were the cause likely, the stress.

Anton knocked then went in. "Excuse me, Demona. I know you are upset right now." He began.

"Go away." Demona growled.

"I found out the gender. You had a son." Anton said. "But I understand." He stated then left before she would attack him.

Knowing the gender also was upsetting, but she did want to know that at least. It made her cry again.

She had reluctantly let the doctor examine her earlier to make sure she was alright herself. She would have to let the contents of her uterus clean itself out. Anton gave her some antibiotics and she would be fine. But now, she knew she couldn't carry an egg to term like she could before.

But there was still a chance for a baby. Things would be done like before, but not even a new embryo would replace this one. Demona knew that she would think of a name for her deceased son. She also couldn't help but guess at what he would have looked like.

He might have looked like Brooklyn, and she still had him. He was going to help her create a new embryo, whether he liked it or not. Demona just had to get past her recovery first. Her mentality needed a little time too, but it would also drive more determination in her.

…

Brooklyn had still been treated as a prisoner for weeks. He was more miserable than Demona was. He didn't even know that he had become a father. But it wasn't to be with this one. He also likely could have cared less at the moment.

He had still been battling the constant stomach pains, forced feedings, and shocks from his collar. He hadn't seen Demona in weeks, not since that night when she 'comforted' him. He had only seen Anton or the caretakers. The humans were all ruthless with him in their ways.

Brooklyn had at one point even scratched one of the men across the shoulder, leaving deep wounds. That man didn't forgive easily. Brook had been trying to get away again.

He went to Anton to complain, "That gargoyle needs to pay for what he did to me!"

"And you can choose his punishment." Sevarius replied with a grin.

"I know that the shocks and nausea isn't enough to punish him. I want to choose something that will make him wish he was dead." The man sneered as he slammed his right fist into his left hand.

"Like what are you thinking?" Anton asked curiously.

The man grinned in an evil smirk. He told him in a quiet voice. Anton grinned as well.

"Just make sure that you don't kill him. We still need him for the female. She is going to want to breed him again soon."

"Why create another monster?"

"Because, I want to study them from conception to birth." Anton replied. "She's not all that important once I get the embryo from her. A dead one is no good to me other than as a preserved specimen. So, we need this male alive for the time being."

"Alright, fine. Get her to breed him first. But I can't hold back for long."

"Very well." Anton smirked.

The man was going to go on preparing for what he had in mind for the red male.

…

The clan was missing their second in command. They were looking for him in other parts of New York now, not just in Manhattan, but there were still no signs of him. They were all worried about him.

Goliath truly hoped his second was alright. It had been over seven weeks since Brooklyn had been last seen. He still had no idea who could have taken him. Likely he was captured.

If he was captured, he could have been taken anywhere. Another state. Across the country. Across the border north or south. Or even over the oceans somewhere. It sent a shiver through the lavender male.

He himself remembered all too well of going all over the world. At least he had had Elisa, Bronx, and Angela to go with him. Brooklyn was alone. He also remembered when his second had asked when he and his brothers were going to get their World Tour. Goliath hoped it was nothing of the sort.

He hoped he was captured at the thought of Brooklyn being a strong young male that he would escape eventually, and he would come back to them no matter what. But he had to think about further down the line too. What if he never came back? Who would take his place as second?

Goliath loved Brooklyn like a son. He was already wanting to keep an extra eye out for Broadway and Lexington. They were all they had left of the Trio. The only true part of Brooklyn that was left was his clone living in the Labyrinth.

The clan would keep on looking. Elisa and Matt were also looking for him too, but there were no good leads. As tough as it was to think of stopping the search for him, the clan had to live their lives.

Angela even found herself crying and Broadway would do his best to comfort her. She just had no idea that her own mother was behind the capture. She hadn't seen her mom for some time.

Broadway missed Brooklyn, but he missed him more as his brother with the fun times rather than the begrudged looks he had gotten from him for Angela choosing him. If his brother ever returned, he would gladly spend some time with him just for some brotherly games and food. He would gladly fix whatever Brooklyn wanted to eat for meals.

Lexington missed his best friend that was the only still single male in the clan. He was glad he still had little Alex to play with to keep him occupied but he still missed Brooklyn greatly to patrol with and do things with.

Hudson missed talking to the red lad as well. He had been a promising leader in the making. He had made decisions a little differently than Goliath, but he had been a good leader too for six months. Brooklyn would come to him for advice at times too. He missed him doing that.

Bronx also felt Brooklyn's absence. He felt the clan was sad, but he tried to be there for them too. He was often a big comfort like a dog was to their guardians.

Goliath thought of the prospect of replacing Brook's title. From what he saw, Angela was his most likely prospect. But he would wait for a while to get him back first. Six months to a year before he did anything of the sort.

They would keep on living their lives as best they could but would keep an eye out for him.