At sunset, there was great relief among the clan. Elisa and Sato were in the room to greet the clan as they awoke for the night. The injured second in command awoke from his sleep too, but weakly. Brooklyn had been lacking solar energy from not having seen the sun in stone sleep for a long time.
When Brooklyn opened his eyes for the first time that night, he saw he was in a bed but not tied down to it. Then he looked around and saw what looked like his clan in front of him. His eyes widened in fear.
"Are you guys for real, or are you figments of my imagination?" Brooklyn backed into the bed.
"We're real, Brooklyn. It's me, Angela." Angela replied first.
When the female came towards him, he cried out, "Get away from me!" Brooklyn only saw Demona in her place.
Angela was ultimately hurt when Brooklyn had ordered her to stay away from him.
"It's alright, Brooklyn. We won't hurt you." Lex said next. He tried getting near the bed.
"Lad, do you remember us?" Hudson asked in concern. He was close to the bed.
"You... look like... my clan... but how do I know you're real?" Brook demanded fearfully.
"Brooklyn, it is really us." Goliath spoke up gently.
Brooklyn tried to move but then, he felt some pain in his right wing's arm and his leg. He yelped in pain.
"Don't move too much, lad. The lass and I found you last night on the Brooklyn Bridge, about to be tossed into the East River. Ye were really beaten up." Hudson explained.
Brooklyn could feel something on his wing and leg. He looked at his wing first, seeing the splint on it, holding it in place. Then he raised the blanket, seeing the brace on his leg.
"Your leg was ultimately shattered last night. I did what I could to fix it and your wing up." Sato then spoke up.
"Stay away from me!" Brooklyn cried out in fear of seeing another human. "Please don't hurt me!"
"We aren't going to hurt you, Brooklyn. Please, we just want to help you." Elisa spoke up.
"No, you all can't be real! You never found me!" Brooklyn laid down and sobbed hysterically.
"Let me try." Hudson declared. He went over to the red male. "Lad, it's really me, Hudson. Come here, lad." He gently pried the blanket away from him and pulled him into his arms, hugging him gently.
Brooklyn tried to resist a little but when he was in Hudson's arms, he smelled Hudson's scent and it made him relax more, but the tears kept on coming. "It'll be alright, Laddie. Let the pain go." The elder coaxed him, rocking him like a hatchling. Brook clung to him.
After watching for a bit, Broadway stepped forward. "Hey, bro. Are you hungry at all? I could whip you up something." He spoke gently.
Brooklyn sniffled. "No! I don't ever want to see food again!"
"Lad, it's alright. You don't need to eat right now if you don't feel like it, but you will need to eat eventually." Hudson told him.
"I just need you to hold me." Brooklyn sobbed.
To the clan, Brooklyn was a pale version of his former self. What had his captors done to him? He was usually never so sad like this. But then, he was still in pain, and he was incredibly thin, like he hadn't been fed in weeks.
Goliath whispered to Broadway, "Go ahead and make some soup for him for when he's ready so all you have to do is warm it up for him."
"I'll get right on it." Broadway replied softly. He left the room. The aqua male sure hated seeing his brother like this. He wasn't like the way he remembered him to be. But from he had seen and heard, he had been through a lot. The clan just needed to know all of what happened to him to be able to help him get through his pain as much as possible.
Lexington wasn't used to seeing Brooklyn like this either. He wished he could help him feel better.
"I really need to look at his injuries." Dr. Sato stated.
Brooklyn pleaded, "No."
"The doc needs to see the injuries, lad. They were bad." Hudson said gently. "I'll still hold ya if it makes ye feel better." Brooklyn nodded in reply.
Sato came forward to examine Brook's wing first. Hudson kept Brook's face turned away from the doc. His hands were squeezing Hudson's sides.
Sato felt gently on the wing first before getting the splint off. "Does that hurt at all, Brooklyn?" he asked out of concern.
Brooklyn moved his wing a bit and there was a bit of a cramp in it. "A bit." He sobbed.
"It looks better than it did last night. I set the bone while you were unconscious. Now I need to look at your leg." Sato insisted.
Hudson had Brook turn his head the other way to help keep him calm. The man came around the other side and raised the blanket off his left leg. It was still in the brace. "I might need another x-ray of the leg to see how it fared from stone sleep." He said. "Can you try to walk, Brooklyn?"
"I don't want to." Brooklyn retorted.
"You must, lad. We'll be here for ye." Hudson declared.
With some help and struggling to move about, Brooklyn was allowed off the bed. With the brace on, he was able to manage some steps on his own, but he also limped badly. Lex and Hudson had to keep him on his feet. Brooklyn winced at the pain.
They took him to the infirmary again and sat him down. There, Sato used the x-ray machine to get a fresh picture of his leg bones to see how they were. His ankle was still fine, of course. On the x-ray, the bone had knitted but it was still clear it needed another couple of nights of stone sleep. The brace was taken off to clear out the stone skin and put back on his leg to keep it still and help him walk.
Sato had forgotten about the device he had seen in Brooklyn's stomach after worrying about his wing and leg last night. He hadn't seen any cracked ribs, so he hadn't thought it was anything to worry about at the time.
"Do ya feel like you could make it to your room?" Lex asked.
"I don't want to be in the medic room." Brook had stopped sobbing, but he was still miserable.
"I think he can go rest in his room if he's comfortable there." Sato stated. "Just rest."
Hudson and Lex helped him to his room. Bronx was kept at a distance to make sure he didn't get too excited to see him. Brook was helped into his bed in his room. The red male had thought he would never see his own room again. With seeing it again, he knew he was rightfully home.
"Lex, it is really you, isn't it?" Brooklyn asked.
"Yes, it is me, bro." Lex replied with a smile. "I missed you."
"How... long...?"
"Were you gone?" Lex finished. Brook nodded. "Four months." Lex replied.
"I knew it was a long time, but I couldn't be sure how long I was gone since I wasn't allowed outside at all." Brooklyn stated.
"You need some sun then." Hudson said.
"Wait until he's well, then we'll get him outside." Sato offered.
"It actually might make his leg heal faster." Goliath declared. "He doesn't look well and obviously needs some sun energy."
"Just rest for tonight then but take him out toward sunrise." Sato advised. "He seems fine otherwise. His wing is healed."
"Good. I was worried if I would be able to ever glide again and I haven't done that either." Brook replied sadly.
"We'll get you well again, Laddie." Hudson said gently.
"Brooklyn, if you're feeling better, do you think you can try to eat something?" Elisa asked him.
"I don't know if I can."
"Broadway made you some soup. It'll be gentle on your stomach." Elisa said.
"I haven't been able to eat properly for a long time." Brooklyn declared.
"Who were you captured by? What did they do to you?" Lex asked.
Brooklyn looked at the others in the room. He saw they had concerned looks on their faces. He really didn't want to replay all the things that had been done to him so soon. "I can't!" He blurted out. He then clung to Hudson again for comfort.
"It's alright, lad. Ye can tell us when ye feel better." Hudson decreed.
"I can't eat, Hudson! They... were constantly hurting my stomach with food!" Brooklyn sobbed.
Sato was still there. "Then perhaps I need to take a look at your belly. I got x-rays of it last night to make sure your ribs were doing okay."
The doc had a look at the belly x-ray again and he saw the remaining device again. "Now that I remember, I saw this device in your stomach last night. I might have to go in surgically to get it."
Brooklyn knew that surgery was unavoidable at this rate.
"Can we see you eat the soup and see how you react to it first?" Sato asked. "I need to see it."
Brook reluctantly gave in. Angela told Broadway he could bring the soup into the room. He brought it in on a tray with some crackers and a water bottle. Brooklyn knew now that this was his family and that they weren't going to poison him.
Broadway carefully put the tray down onto the bed over his lap area. "This should be good for ya." He said gently. "Good to have you back home again." He smiled at his brother.
"Thanks." Brooklyn replied. He was still unsure about eating even the soup. Everything he ate upset his stomach these days.
Brooklyn reluctantly picked up the spoon and took a bite of the liquid goodness. There were noodles in it and chicken chunks. It smelled and tasted great. It was just what he had experienced in the past that he was worried about.
He swallowed the soup and waited for something to happen. At first, he only felt the warm food hit his stomach. Nothing. Maybe nothing would happen this time. He ate a good portion of the soup but couldn't finish it all.
"It was good soup." Brook commented. "Thanks."
"I'm glad to hear it." Broadway replied with a smile.
But it wasn't long before Brooklyn cried out from feeling the well-known nausea returning feeling. His hands grasped his stomach tightly.
"What's wrong?" Angela asked desperately. She was now at his side too.
"It's... my stomach! OH! IT HURTS!" Brooklyn shouted out in pain. His eyes were shut tight, and his teeth bared. It made him also clutch onto Hudson again. "Please... make it stop..." He pleaded.
"Here, lad, lay back. Need to try to relax as much as possible." Hudson said as he laid Brook onto his back as he could.
"Perhaps I should examine him now." Sato suggested.
"Yeah, you should." Goliath said.
"Brooklyn, I'm going to examine your belly now. Can I do that? I promise I'm being gentle." Sato asked for his permission.
"I'm right here, lad." Hudson said. "Let the doc take a look."
Brook reluctantly nodded again. Sato then proceeded to feel gently by pressing on his belly, thus hurting it further. "Oh! Stop!" Brook cried out, not able to take the pain anymore.
"Do you need to throw up?" Elisa asked.
Brooklyn nodded. Lex grabbed his trash can there in his room and his red brother brought up the contents of his soup.
"I'll go in surgically tomorrow night to see what I can find in your stomach, Brooklyn. For tonight, you just rest. You need an empty belly before I can operate anyway. At least you tried to eat." Sato explained.
"I just can't... eat..."
"Brooklyn, can you at least tell us who your captors were?" Elisa asked.
The red male looked up sadly. "Sevarius and... Demona..."
Everyone's eyes widened at hearing that. Angela couldn't believe her mother would do such awful things to her clan mate. She had used and lied to her.
Goliath knew at this point that letting his daughter even go near Demona again was suicide. They didn't need to see each other. Demona would always be a traitor that they knew her as.
"What did they do to you, lad?" Hudson tried to get the second to confess what other things had been done to him. "I know it hurts to tell us, but we need to know."
"Torture! Wax, rape, poison, breaking my wing, shock collar, break my leg, beat my belly." Brooklyn explained the best he could in a fast mode before falling into Hudson's arms again, sobbing.
The others were all in shock to hear that. When they heard rape, they were worried of what Demona had done to him.
"Was it Demona who raped you?" Elisa asked in concern.
Brook nodded sadly. That made him start crying again. He held on to Hudson for comfort again.
"I can't believe she would do anything like that to him." Elisa stated.
"Mother, how could you?" Angela demanded in her mind.
Goliath knew his ex-mate was capable of doing anything. But this was the sickest and most evil she had ever been.
"Sevarius said something of a baby I couldn't make out." Brook said.
"What baby?" Elisa asked.
"Not sure... but... Demona said... there was... a baby created... and she... lost it..." Brook sobbed.
The clan was shocked.
"It's not a breeding year, Brooklyn." Goliath said. "How could she have gotten pregnant?"
"Maybe being human has changed her body enough, Goliath." Elisa figured.
"She... was in heat... twice..." Brook said sadly. "Couldn't... help... urge to mate... seduced..."
"So, Demona was wanting a baby." Lexington figured it out.
Angela felt beyond angry that her own mother was doing all that torture to Brooklyn to make him give her a new child just because she couldn't turn her against humans. Angela might have been willing to give her mother a chance in her life again but not now. Demona didn't deserve to have a child. No child should be raised by someone so vile.
"Brooklyn, who gave the order to have you thrown off the bridge?" Angela asked.
He looked sadly at her. "I'm not sure. Likely Demona or Sevarius."
"Sevarius could have wanted to keep on using you for science study." Dr. Sato stated. "But if a baby was all that Demona was really after from you, she could have had you disposed of much sooner since you would only have one role to play in the creation." The doc explained. "I am so sorry."
"True, but us males also look after our mates when they carry our eggs, and help the females care for the wee ones after hatching." Hudson declared.
"I'll never have her as my mate! She called me her love though!" Brook exclaimed.
Goliath knew that was going too far. Demona had called him her mate but then she had betrayed him again. Gargesses never did this sort of thing unless they truly were evil. Empty, lifeless, as Goliath had once put it. Brooklyn had deserved better.
Dr. Sato then spoke up. "Everyone, there was one last matter to deal with."
"What?" asked Broadway.
"I remember something I saw in Brooklyn's digestive tract. I must investigate and get it out. Something that really stands out on an x-ray is something that shouldn't be there. Could you have swallowed something you shouldn't have?" Sato asked.
"I... don't remember. I was unconscious a few times. Who knows what they did to me." Brook replied sadly.
Sato went and retrieved the x-ray and showed it to the clan. Indeed, there was something inside Brook's belly that needed to come out.
As Brooklyn gazed at it, he let go of Hudson. "That must be what's been causing nausea in my lower belly." He realized. He gave his stomach a rub. He knew what had to be done. "How soon can you get this out of me?"
"First thing tomorrow night." Sato replied.
"I'm tired of all the pain that I've dealt with for so long." Brooklyn admitted.
"How long have you been having stomach pains?" Elisa asked.
"Since about the time I got there with them."
"That would be about the four months you were gone." Lex declared. "That's not right."
"They just wanted to keep me from escaping or attacking by keeping me in pain. They also had me wearing a horrible collar on my neck that shocked me." Brook told them sadly.
"An electric collar, like what they use to train on dogs." Elisa stated. "Those things are horrific."
"No wonder your neck looked so sore last night." Angela said. "It looks better now."
Brooklyn put a hand to his throat and for the first time in so long, he didn't feel the collar on him anymore. It felt good to have it off. He was truly free of his enemies now. But there was still the last thing remaining, that device in his stomach.
"Brooklyn, we need to get that thing out of your belly." Sato reminded him.
The red second was so nervous being around humans but knew he was right. He was tired of all the belly pains.
"Okay. Just do what you have to do. I think I can take it one more time." Brooklyn replied.
"Be brave, Brooklyn. You'll make it through this, lad." Hudson hugged him.
"It's best to do this tomorrow when you haven't eaten anything." Sato said.
Brooklyn knew he couldn't wait to get whatever it was out of his stomach so he could start to eat again.