Brooklyn had a hard time moving since that bar test. Despite having his stone sleep, he still felt so drained, the poison now threatening to really take him. His muscles felt so tingly and weak, making Brooklyn wince from the cuffs squeezing his wrists.

He was still currently naked. Now that his wing hands were tied up, he couldn't cover himself. He had been left alone for two days since his test. The loneliness was slowly eating his mind and those cuffs felt they could break his bones. But the red one at one time wiggled his hands. From his weight loss, those cuffs now didn't feel so rough on his wrists.

Brooklyn decided then and there to try to pull free. If he faced more torture from doing this, he didn't care now. Sweating with his fever, Brook pulled and tugged with all he had, stomach clenched in serious agony. Brook used as much energy as he could muster to pull himself free. It was painful, and his fever didn't make the job any easier.

"Come on... damn it!" He croaked, tugging on his right wrist. He flinched when his hand slowly began to come through the cuff. Brooklyn didn't care now about getting consequences for this. All that mattered was not being chained anymore, for his circulation had grown weak from these cuffs.

It got so painful pulling, just mere inches away from coming free. Tears flooded his eyes from it, giving a small yelp when suddenly, his hand came loose. Brook let out a shaky, relieved sigh, moving his wrist again, which stung and was bleeding from being pulled out in such force.

Next, he went to try doing his left one. It wasn't as difficult thanks to his other hand being free. Brooklyn gritted his teeth and did his best to ignore pain, using his right hand in doing the pulling and pushing, wiggling his left hand in the process, until it finally popped out. Brooklyn grimaced from it, falling down, trembling in relief.

"Oh, thank you... thank you..." he prayed in a raspy voice from his red throat, not moving for quite a while, rubbing his wrists gently.

....

Castaway had seen this; shocked that the freak had strength left to do it at all but was angry. He stormed out of his office with the shackle remote to give that monster some deserved punishment.

....

Brooklyn shivered, gratefully wrapping his arms around himself at last and kept his legs near his private area, hoping soon that Jon wouldn't be too mad and leave him uncuffed. Not that he cared too much about escaping by himself. It was merely an effort for relief. Brooklyn's tears came once more thinking about the idea of his family still hating his guts for taking off the way he did. He wiped them but his chest stung with sorrow and rough guilt. Would they bother to come should the time arrive when Castaway used him to lure in the others?

No.

That one word in his head gave Brooklyn utter sadness at the idea of being abandoned here alone to die. He curled up his thin body, beginning to cry again, hiccupping, the cold shackle digging into his belly. That was when the door opened. Brooklyn wouldn't look up from his position. Castaway growled at his prisoner, lighting up his hammer and hitting the cage with it, lighting it up. This made Brooklyn yelp aloud in fear from it, cowering down.

"So... it would seem that you somehow pulled free from your bonds."

Brook didn't reply back; his voice muted and body shaky from his sickness and the terrible fever, panting heavily through his mouth. Castaway drew his knife then, poking rudely at Brooklyn's arms, making him flinch up.

"Stop..." he said timidly, eyes dulled, and body worn out from the toll of the poison, which is what the evil man wanted. He pulled out the remote, giving a sadistic looking smile, making Brooklyn swallow in fear, holding his belly, not wanting anymore squeezing. The man seemed to read his mind.

"Oh, you're getting it for breaking out of your cuffs. But why not try to take it off while I squeeze you? That will entertain me more." Brooklyn gave a low growl. Despite all the pain and guilt he was suffering with, he still didn't want to break. Brook knew he was a strong-willed fighter, both physically and mentally. He did his best to control his emotions, flinching a little when his shackle squeezed his belly once more.

"Stop... it..." Brooklyn pleaded desperately, unable to prevent himself from trying to pull his shackle off of him. Castaway smiled as he watched this display eagerly.

"Ah, yes, that's what I wanted. Keep trying, Monster. The more you try, the tighter I can squeeze your pathetic tummy." He laughed mirthlessly. This made a small whimper come out of Brooklyn, who felt more oxygen leaving him, doing his best to get his talons underneath his shackle but it was hopeless. He kept crying out the more the shackle tightened into his skin and pushing into his organs.

He stopped struggling in the end to keep Castaway from rupturing his organs, trying to breathe, and lying down, fever sweat soaking his skin, terribly exhausted.

Castaway eventually stopped. "I'm afraid that's all the punishment I have for you at the moment, because we have the next best thing in store for you soon. Also, you, my prize experiment, are close to being ready to lure in your family for them to witness the show of you being broken and dying." He informed. Brooklyn doubted this still, covering his body with his arms, stomach still rumbling with hunger.

"S' dunno if my fa-family will still ge..." he said hoarsely, cutting off. Castaway couldn't hear his words. "You saying something?" He asked mockingly. Brooklyn's eyes flared up.

"Stay away! I won't tell you!" He snarled, kicking his cage. Castaway backed away, narrowing his eyes.

"Since you're still stubborn to tell me what's on your mind, I will wait until we can finally force it out of you. The guards will collect you soon for your final test. Until then, Freak!"

He cackled evilly when leaving, Brooklyn remaining unmoving on the floor after his punishment. Castaway left his cuffs off for now off his hands. He couldn't help more tears escaping his eyes. Brooklyn wanted one of his rookery mothers right now.

"M-mothers..." he whimpered, throat red and sore. He called for any of them even though they were dead. Brooklyn hid his face in his hands, feeling so sick, and scared of his final test.

....

Eventually his time came. Brooklyn looked up in dread, the Quarrymen unlocking the cage. Brooklyn tried to fight but they outfought him in taking advantage of his weakened state.

The guards pulled the resisting Brooklyn to another strange room, opening it then tossing him in. Brooklyn's head spun, feeling dizzy as he struggled to get up. Sweat kept on coming when looking around, wondering what was in store for him with his final test.

...

At the castle, Anton Sevarius raised up a syringe proudly as the clan and Xanatos watched him. He had called them into the room just after sunset to hear what he had to say.

"What is this about, Sevarius?" Goliath demanded grumpily. He was anxious to go looking for his sick Second.

"Wala! It took me long enough, but I have the answer here in my hand that will cure your Brooklyn!" Anton announced all too proudly.

The clan's eyes widened.

"Really?" Angela asked.

"Yes, young lady. Now all you have to do is get him back here." The man decreed.

"Don't you think we've been trying to?!" Broadway retorted. "We can't find him!"

"We will find him, Lad." Hudson put a hand on his shoulder.

"Thanks for the news, Sevarius. That's great." Xanatos stated.

It was just trying to find Brooklyn was the challenge. They wished they could find him, but the red gargoyle wasn't going to last much longer without the cure. He might already be dead and that thought scared the clan. They had lost enough of their own and just wanted him back.

The clan went out to search again all too fast after that.

...

The room looked like just a smaller four-wall room. What was going to happen in here? Brooklyn's breathing sped up.

He went to the wall where they had thrown him in and he tried to push against the wall to get it open. His strength was mostly gone from the poison. He also tried clawing it and it did nothing. It was gargoyle-proof. It reminded him of the room when he had been with the Illuminati.

Brooklyn's room had tried to overheat and freeze him out so suddenly. They had also shot darts out of the wall at him. His brothers had told him that with Lex, his walls had had animal fights and had even closed in on him, threatening to crush him. Broadway had dealt with snakes and nearly drowning.

The walls then suddenly made a noise. It kind of reminded him of what happened in the trash compactor in the movie Star Wars: A New Hope that he had seen. This wasn't good.

Brooklyn ran back to the door. "Let me out of here!" He yelled as he pounded his fists on the door.

"No way! This should be entertaining!" Castaway replied in a sinister way on the mic.

The walls of the room began to loosen and they began to close in on him. Brooklyn turned around to face it. His back was against the entrance, his wings pressed to the right behind him. He panted heavily. He was already thin enough and the walls would make him a whole lot thinner if it didn't stop.

The wall kept on coming in toward from the back. He finally went over to try to stop it from coming at him but it did no good. It was too strong and soon he was right back at the other wall and the back one was coming at him, threatening to crush him if it didn't stop.

The wall got closer. Brooklyn put his hands on the wall, trying to brace it. His feet were soon on the other wall and he could do nothing to stop the wall from crushing him. He cried out in distress. Then he felt something else, the shackle starting to squeeze him again.

"Agh! Stop... please..." he begged. Sweat was coming off his body almost in puddles he was so scared. He winced from the shackle, but he couldn't stop trying to keep the wall from crushing him.

His hands and feet finally slid off the wall and he was going to have to accept his fate. He turned his head to the left as the wall was getting close to crushing him. He closed his eyes. But just when he thought it was going to crush him to death, it stopped.

Brooklyn suddenly opened his eyes, and the wall was just right in front of him. He panted and held his belly as he felt it squeeze him some more.

The wall began to cease and move back. Brooklyn let out a big sigh, but it was short-lived as the shackle tightened some more. "AGH!" He cried out and tried to take it off of himself again. It squeezed harder and harder till he felt he could hardly breathe.

Brooklyn went to his knees trying to get it off, and finally fell to his side. "Ahhhh! Stop... squeezing... me...!" he pleaded. His hands tried desperately to get the shackle to loosen. "Can't... breathe..." he rasped.

The shackle squeezed him for a good five minutes. Brooklyn panted through his mouth to get air into his lungs. His legs curled into himself but would at times kick out. "Ohhhh! It... hurts!" His stomach was protesting so much, on the inside and outside. "Please... stop...!" Tears were coming from his eyes now.

Suddenly, there was another noise and it got Brook's attention. This time, it came from above. He looked up and saw the ceiling coming down at him. He gasped at the sight. He could even be crushed from above. He was already lying down. What more did Castaway want him to do in this test? He was already squeezing his belly in so much that he could barely breathe, let alone move much.

Brooklyn had to make one last ditch effort to keep it from crushing him. He tried to get up, but the shackle was so tight he just couldn't move. He covered his head with his hands and brought his legs up in a curled position in front of his belly. He got his tail as close as possible too. He couldn't move his wings.

The wall was just about on top of him. When the wall got close to being right on top of him, it stopped. Brooklyn uncovered his eyes for a moment, and he saw the wall right on top of him. It wasn't going to move any further, but it was right above him in that he wouldn't be able to move much at all for that matter if it didn't raise up.

It took several minutes, and it wasn't moving. Brooklyn then tried his luck in trying to move to get his shackle off again, but the ceiling was pressing on his upper arm. He couldn't move it. He did manage to take it off his face though. Then he felt his shackle squeeze some more, making him wince in pain. His chest heaved for breath. Brook could feel his heartbeat in his ears.

Brooklyn tried to move his legs away, but he couldn't. Apparently, even another part of the wall had moved in closer to him as well. He could barely move. He began to feel claustrophobic. He tried to put all his strength into pushing on one of the walls.

"Ugh! Let... me... out!" Brook moaned out.

Is this what it felt like to be in a coffin? Even though it was walls, but the walls weren't moving.

Brooklyn tried for the next forty-five minutes to get himself out, but his air was running out. He felt he couldn't breathe, and the shackle wasn't helping with the squeezing it was doing. It had loosened up but then did it again. He managed to get a hand to his belly.

Castaway and his henchmen were pleased with the results. They were trying to see how he felt with having all his air cut off in some various ways and trying to get out. Even having the shackle help.

When the walls kept refusing to move, Brooklyn was beginning to panic, and he just couldn't breathe. He tried to push with all his might to get out, but it was making his air run out more too. A great big squeeze also didn't help.

After an hour, Brooklyn was at the verge of unconsciousness.

Castaway saw he had had enough and that was when the walls began to finally lift again and away from the gargoyle. The shackle also loosened.

Brooklyn's breathing was shallow. The Quarrymen came back into the room when the ceiling was cleared. Their victim was clearly traumatized; shaking but looking nearly unconscious. The guards dragged him out again like before, taking him back and locking him in his cage again.

The red gargoyle now had a fear of being locked in small rooms after that final test. His claustrophobia returned after seeing himself back in his regular cage. Castaway came in, chuckling in cold amusement at Brooklyn's terrified weak face, huddling against a corner, breathing shallowly from the episode.

"So weak. But perhaps you can think of this as an opportunity for relief. You won't feel pain anymore when you perish." Castaway mocked. Brooklyn just stared at him in fear, panting and round eyed.

"D-don't put me in there again... please...!" He sobbed timidly. Castaway shook his head, holding up the devil's head.

"I won't bother, since that was your last test anyways. But much better fun will soon come to be before you can soon see your clan. Prepare your final time in this world later, Monster..." he threatened dangerously. This made Brooklyn pull himself out of the evil man's hands, hugging his body and not speaking anymore from there. Castaway scoffed and left his experiment to wallow in his sorrows by himself, the sun now coming up and changing the poor Second into stone, at least giving him a little peace in his dreams, if only for this moment.