The young Second couldn't tell how long these terrible humans had held him for; lying down in his corner, allowing small tears to fall down his cheeks as the faces of his loved ones penetrated his sight. He wanted them more than ever, but at this point, he didn't think he could let anybody touch or hurt him again. Brook would allow Hudson to hug him. Just him, and nobody else.

He held his stomach in serious agony, holding a timid hand over the parts the best he could, feeling like a battered and bruised thing. Not alive and not a person, but an object using all of his dignity to keep himself afloat.

He sniffled as the door opened, the guards approaching Brooklyn with terrible gleams on their faces. The gargoyle cringed, recoiling away.

"Stop...!" He whispered croakily, the tears falling faster. They still had no mercy, taking his arms not so gently and pulling Brooklyn up harshly to his feet. He sobbed from his bruised ankle, unable to stand properly and let his feet drag.

Brooklyn's head felt terrible, overloaded with his fever made the red gargoyle unable to stay focused. As they dragged him, Brooklyn felt a small prick in his arm, painful tingles arising inside, and he trembled in their arms.

"W-what did you do?" He asked shakily, but they didn't answer him, their victim shaking his head and trying to clear it until he felt himself getting shoved inside.

Brooklyn winced as he tried to stand, leaning against the wall as Watson's laugh echoed in the room.

"Hello, my Prize. I had wanted to do this test with you for a long time. For I heard how you've been held by the Illuminati. So you will enjoy this little test I will bestow upon you!"

Brook growled as well as wincing from his shackle squeezing him, not wanting to be in this room right now, still leaning against the wall.

"Grr! Y- you can't keep doing this to me! Just let me go already!" He gasped shakily, a cuffed hand over his stomach. The cuffs shocked him then.

"Still not gonna happen. And you will keep paying the price for almost killing me that night!" Watson threatened. This sent terror into the Second, who prayed that there wouldn't be anymore water tests.

He gasped in pain that wasn't from the cuffs or the shackle; the walls having heated up all of a sudden, glowing a terribly bright red. Brooklyn raised up his arm to shield himself, but the heat only got worse, starting to receive flashbacks of one of Thailog's interrogations of being in a heating room.

"Oh...!" he croaked, sweat coming down his body, legs already feeling weak and stomach nauseous and nerves tingling all over, putting a hand on his forehead. He could feel his surroundings spin even more, slowly feeling terribly faint. All that replied was just cruel laughter.

"The heat is just the first part of this!" mocked Watson, when the heat suddenly halted. Brook gave a little sigh when the temperature cooled off, but his relief didn't last long; feeling the temperature suddenly cool off even further, ice crackling in the walls and snow falling, teeth beginning to chatter.

Ugh! Not again! Brook thought in fright, another memory hitting him from being in a room just like this. He shut his eyes, shaking, struggling to keep himself warm, and falling to the floor.

"T-this isn't funny! S-stop! P-please!" He sobbed openly, body getting weaker by the second. Last time this happened, he had his wings and was able to turn to stone, but now was even worse; especially when his shackle then squeezed and spiked him, having Brooklyn slump to the ground, tears falling.

"Why? This is such fun for me and my men, watching you suffer at the hands of our little experiments!"

Brooklyn curled up in pain as the heat returned, sending painful waves in his forehead and body. It didn't feel so pleasant, especially right after the cold.

Oooh... somebody! Get me out of this! I can't do it anymore! The red gargoyle thought in sorrow, screaming again as his shackle still squeezed his sides when the cold came back. He felt so dizzy, unable to think straight.

...

Watson sneered as he watched how his little toy quivered on the floor while the room changed back and forth between cold and hot. Carlos was enjoying this, too. When they were bringing him out, Watson had wanted to drug the devil again before he put him in that room.

"Heh, he's so weak and helpless, I love it!"

"The fun is just beginning... soon, he'll start seeing things again!" He told his men.

...

Brooklyn was heaving, trying to breathe from the terrible heat seeping into his lungs, wishing to end this test!

But then that terrible voice hit his ears. "Enjoying yourself, young Plaything?"

He gasped in fear, recoiling into the wall, even with the heat burning his skin harshly. Thailog stood there, smirking down at him.

"Agh! Get back! You're dead! Just leave me be!" He screeched, shrinking down and covering himself the best he could, hissing from another shackle squeeze and making Brooklyn curl into an even tighter ball, stomach heaving with pain through his shackle. He didn't want to deal with this demon gargoyle now! Dream Thailog bared his teeth into a malicious smile.

"I am always with you, Plaything, whether you be hallucinating or not. But think about this: does your family really find you still worth saving your precious little hide? It's laughable. Perhaps they'd given up, not wanting to save you 'again'."

Brooklyn's body tensed from this mockery, turning, angry tears in his glowing eyes. "YOU'RE A LIAR! THEY STILL LOVE ME! THEY WILL COME, I KNOW THEY WILL!" He screamed, despite his teeth chattering when the cold hit him. Watson laughed from his chair, seeing the monster screaming at nobody from his drugged state. But he could now guess whom he was shouting at.

Watson was guessing he might be seeing a hallucination of Thailog or something. Why else would he be shouting like he was at something that wasn't there otherwise?

The hot and cold temperatures continued for a while off and on, but they sure took their toll on Brooklyn. His vision was blurred and he didn't feel good.

The image of Thailog continued to torment him as well.

Brooklyn soon couldn't take the torture anymore and he fell to the floor, on the verge of unconsciousness.

"You will never be a leader of your clan. They aren't coming to find you. You have almost earned my mark, Plaything. Expect it soon." Dream Thailog sneered.

"I... I will never wear your mark... without a fight..." Brooklyn's voice slurred. He shivered greatly from the fever. Thailog just chuckled evilly at Brooklyn, shaking his head before he disappeared again.

"We shall see..."

He was on the ground when he collapsed from heat exhaustion a little further down the test.

It wasn't long before Watson finally concluded this test and that there would be others soon enough.

Brooklyn just slumped in the guards arms as they began to take him back to his room. On the way there, he found some strength and he kicked one of them in the shin. There was a cry of pain, though it wasn't Brook's this time.

The guard let go in pain, but the other guard snarled, "You'll pay for that when you are back in your room!"

A third guard joined them to make sure that Brooklyn was quickly returned to his room. There, they made sure that Brooklyn's arms were secure behind him. He whimpered at what was possibly going to happen.

The shackle suddenly squeezed in on him, as well as spiking him. "AAH!" He cried out in pain, but it wasn't enough. Blood ran from under the shackle, indicating the spikes were in the skin deeply. Brook winced hard.

Once back in his room, his arms were still left bound behind him, his shackle was hooked up to the chain again, and Brook looked up at the humans in fear. He was down on his knees, breathing in panicked pants.

"You are going to get a punishment of what happened last time for sure, and we are going to make sure you can never fly again!" Carlos sneered.

"No, please! Not my wings!" Brooklyn pleaded desperately.

"Oh yes!" Charlie declared.

Watson came in and he let Charlie grab the gargoyle's left wing and Brook winced. There was a snap in his wing hand area and more tears were brought the flap. Brooklyn cried out in horrible pain from feeling that. Now he couldn't glide anymore, at least until if he was rescued, and soon.

"You are also getting close to have earned Master Thailog's mark. Real soon, it will be bestowed upon you." Carlos sneered evilly.

"Noooo!" Brooklyn sobbed and was left to wallow in his sadness and pain from what he had done.

...

Back at the castle in Manhattan, Brooklyn's clan were still really worried about their Second in Command.

They had sent for Owen/Puck to help them try to find the missing red male. It had been quite long enough of wondering where he could be and what they could be doing for him.

Owen turned into Puck and he was having Alex try to concentrate on trying to locate Brooklyn. "That's it, my boy. Keep concentrating on finding Uncle Brooklyn." Puck instructed.

But the spell failed. The clan were getting impatient with the failures.

"How can he help us find Brooklyn if he keeps failing us?" Broadway demanded. He still felt the most responsible for losing his brother.

"I think Alex and I need something of Brooklyn's to be able to concentrate better." Puck insisted.

"I'll get something out of his room," Lexington declared and left in a hurry. He really wanted his brother back. He still remembered what had happened last year in that what Thailog had done to him to lure Brooklyn back to his trap before Xanatos did away with him.

Lex returned with a favorite item that Brooklyn liked to wear sometimes. As a fan of motorcycles, he liked and had some leather jackets. This was one of them. "Here. I got one of his jackets for you." Lex said, handing it over to the fay man.

"Hmm. I think this will do nicely." Puck smiled. "Okay, my boy. I need you to concentrate on the owner of this jacket. Where is Brooklyn?"

Alex got his concentration going again and a vision appeared again. The clan was watching, as were Alex's parents.

The vision showed a big brick building from the outside. It had blown out windows. An open gym. Many abandoned rooms. Then, Alex could sense Brooklyn in one of the rooms, feeling sad and miserable. "There Brook'yn now." The little tyke said.

"I think I remember a building like that on the fringes of the city. It's clear out in the country, over on the other side of Queens." Broadway declared.

"That's a long way from here, but we must go and prepare to rescue our Second in Command. Thank you very much for your help, Puck and Alex." Goliath commended them both.

The clan left the room to go start preparing to go rescue their Second. They knew that he was sickly and injured once again from the vision. They had to get him back. He wasn't going to last much longer there.

...

Brooklyn hated to once again, have a broken wing. It hurt like crazy. But this time, Watson didn't immediately put his wing in a splint like he had done last time. He wanted the gargoyle to suffer.

For a day after the breaking was when the injuries were finally tended to. Brook's wing was put in a splint and the torn flap was sewn up.

Brooklyn hoped he wasn't going to earn Thailog's mark anytime soon. What? Were they going to make him fight and kill to earn it? Or fail a test? He really didn't want to do anything of their bidding, but it wasn't like he had a lot of choice while here.

His wings drooped behind him and his wing hands were still tied together. His hands were loose and he kept on holding his poor belly as well, that had been tormented the most of all on his body.