Jon sat in his office chair, keeping an eye on his now stone prisoner, who was still strapped down and naked, a sad frozen look on his face. He snickered cruelly while looking at the monster's loincloth that hadn't turned to stone while away from its owner, a bit interested how the cloth hadn't changed.

But then, he wondered how an animal like Brooklyn could last without it, along with his poison that was spreading even more with these tests he had been throwing at him. What about testing his limitations in a cold environment? Castaway smirked at that. It could be such fun to see that naked monster suffer in such cold conditions in one of his rooms, after he gave him a little bit of torture while still on the table first. So, he ordered his men to get it ready for Brooklyn when he woke up.

Brooklyn awoke from his sleep, roaring croakily when doing so then coughing, shivering feverishly, wishing for Hudson's comfort right now, feeling so vulnerable to anything since his only clothing had been removed and still feeling tied to the table. He pleaded silently for Castaway or anyone to show him mercy get him out of this situation, tugging weakly on one of his cuffs. The shackle had surprisingly stayed on his stomach even with his stone sleep, obviously it was really strong metal.

Castaway smiled devilishly at him. "I trust you slept well?" He jeered, holding Brooklyn's loincloth in his hands. Brooklyn stared at it, eyes pleading and scared.

"P-please... want... loincloth... back..." he pleaded timidly. Castaway shook his head, holding it behind his back now.

"No way, you weak monster. This is all mine now. You don't deserve such clothing for your species. Besides," he said, taking out his hammer and igniting it, electricity sparking that made Brook's hair stand up. "It allows me to do this to you, and to keep using your shackle..."

And with that, in the worst position possible, Brooklyn panted shakily in fear, Castaway put the hammer where the loincloth was in between Brooklyn's legs, sending agony from the electric surges through his skin. Brook wailed, writhing back and forth to break out of his chains. It was the worst pain since he had those terrible dry heaves. The Quarrymen nearby enjoyed this scene, laughing mockingly.

Jon kept it up for quite a few minutes, smiling evilly from hurting this monster, who deserved all of it, especially the poison. He couldn't wait to do it with all the other gargoyles in his clan.

The pain was making Brooklyn's eyes roll up to his head as he tried his best to pull in his cuffed feet to protect his private spots from Castaway's hammer, but those cuffs kept him from it. Castaway even made the shackle squeeze in addition to the current torture. Tears spilled down while he continued to scream. "Hm, interesting that you're waking from your statue form didn't destroy the shackle. Guess my experiment with it worked then."

Brooklyn trembled, the shackle pressing into his belly hard. Castaway stopped the electric torture for a moment, leaving Brooklyn panting heavily for air.

"I don't... want... the... shackle..." Brooklyn croaked tearfully. Castaway just pressed the shackle hard into his stomach by hand, sneering at his victim's reaction. "Too bad, you're keeping it on as your new clothing until you die," he spat heartlessly, torturing him again with both hammer and shackle.

"Gah! Oh! Stop... hurting... me...!" He sobbed, finding enough in him to speak, even from the terrible shackle that cut off his airflow. Castaway eventually stopped but not from his begging.

"That was just a small taste of pain for you for your stomach, Beast, but the real test will soon start. Take him there, men. But first, tie up his wings. I don't want any cheating with them."

Brooklyn cried while trying to avoid it happening after they unstrapped him from the table, the men putting ropes snugly around his wing hands and the bottom of them, too After that, he was dragged away to whatever test awaited him. They had left bandages on his stomach from the night before, not knowing that the wounds were healed.

They reached their destination, opening a door and tossing a weak Brooklyn inside. He huffed in pain from hitting the floor, trembling from his torturing earlier, scared of what was going to come for him next in here, the temperature a bit colder than in the last room. He noticed he started seeing his own breath come out of his mouth.

He weakly crawled to a corner in the small room, looking about. It had nothing inside it except air vents that sent in the cold air. Brook could already feel himself shaking from the cold, the room just barely lit up as well.

"This is a cold survival test, Monster, to test your limits in extreme cold situations. We will let you out in two days depending on your survival..." Jon's voice spoke to him through a mic. Brook whimpered, skin tingly with chills that could only worsen his fever too, praying to whoever was up there to help him live through this.

...

Back at the castle, Dr. Sevarius had been working on an antidote for Brooklyn as he analyzed the components of the poisons.

"Have you seen the poisons before, Sevarius?" Lexington asked. He was observing him.

"Yes, I have, green one," Anton replied. He was looking at them through a microscope at the moment.

"Is an antidote possible?" Lex asked.

"Given I am given the right ingredients to mix together." The man stated.

After he was done with looking at the microscope, he started writing down notes of what he would need to fix an antidote for Brooklyn, if he was ever recovered from whoever took him. Anton had seen Brook's blood samples and he knew what he was doing. He would give them to Xanatos and he would see to it that these ingredients were obtained. Chinatown might be the best place to get the ingredients for the antidote.

When Sevarius gave David the list, he and Fox went out to immediately get what he needed to really get an antidote working.

As for the clan, they were out looking again, except for Lex and Bronx. The city was so big, how were they going to find Brooklyn? They weren't going to give up on him in any way. There was still hope that he was still alive and awaiting their rescue. But his time was running out without any possible treatment. Sevarius had made more progress than Sato had.

...

As much fun as toying with Brooklyn had been, Jon also wanted to lure his clan in soon too, to let them see how far gone their Second was, not that he knew that. But he also especially wanted to get at Goliath, to see one of his own hurt and dying. And soon, it would become his own fate too, as that of the rest of his clan. Then the world would be free of these evil creatures, as was his thinking about them.

He continued to watch his shivering prisoner in the cameras. Brooklyn was to be kept in there for two days. Perhaps then after two more tests he can finally drug the Monster.

...

Brooklyn sneezed again, doing his best to stay warm, whimpering softly from his situation. He was glad he would turn to stone soon to escape the cold, even if just for a moment. His breath continued to fog in the freezing air, wishing his wings weren't tied up, and having his loincloth back. That was how heartless Castaway really was. Brook would have to get a new loincloth should it come to that whenever his rescue came. His stomach rumbled mercilessly too, longing for a bowl of warm broth or chicken soup.

The sun then rose, gratefully covering up the freezing gargoyle while he still held himself.

....

Night came by again after the first day had passed up.

During the day, Castaway was preparing what drugs he would use on his toy once his final tests were over. He glanced again into the cameras after a few minutes. Castaway had also been surprised when the ropes on Brook's wings came undone.

Clearly, Brooklyn was close to fainting, skin nearly blue and sneezing nonstop. He would clearly have to use chains to keep his wings tied up then. Brooklyn had his wings wrapped himself to keep himself as warm as possible.

Brooklyn couldn't take it anymore on his second night; he sobbed when struggling to his feet weakly, wings wrapped over himself, pounding on the door, he knew he wouldn't give.

"Let me out! P-please!" Brook screamed hoarsely, cold tears falling down his cheeks. Castaway just chuckled.

"Oh, no. Just another few hours to go."

This made Brooklyn tremble and screech, scratching his talons along the door and walls, trying to find any weakness. But the cold was beginning to drain him. Castaway then made things interesting by making the shackle squeeze his toy again. Brook's eyes widened, feeling it squeeze his stomach.

"Ugh!" He croaked, holding his belly, kneeling down. Tears slipped down his cheeks in pain. It only lasted for a few moments before the shackle loosened again, making Brooklyn breathe in the much-needed oxygen, coughing from the cold air hitting his lungs.

Brook found just enough after that to keep trying to escape. He wouldn't be lasting too long soon. He usually couldn't handle cold very well like a lot of his kin, especially during the most terrible freezing winter nights. Brooklyn recalled sitting by the fire for most of the time, petting Bronx and drinking hot chocolate, wishing to do it again.

He pounded one last time on the door, hissing from his sore, weak muscles, feet giving way and slumping to the ground, sniffling and curling up tightly, unable to use his strength anymore, stomach curling in nausea and fever threatening to drown him in it.

"P-please... any-anybody..." Brooklyn begged in his small, timid voice, doing his best to rub his arms to keep friction going, but it was hard because of how shaky his hands were. His surroundings began to go silly, and his head felt dizzy from hypothermia, the temperature dropping since Castaway had done it to force his sickness to greater heights.

Brooklyn felt his eyes beginning to droop, eyelids fluttering tiredly after giving up on his friction attempts. He now just lay there weakly on the cold floor, moaning softly. Brook figured he could then die now of hypothermia instead of poison if no relief came soon. "P-please..." he whispered once more, thinking he could hear his clan laughing at his weakness now.

Very soon though, he practically fainted dead away, chest heaving weakly.

Castaway snickered heartlessly, shaking his head as he ordered the other Quarrymen to get Brooklyn out of the cold room and put him back in his regular cage. They ended up dragging poor Brooklyn down the hall, whose skin looked bad from being in the cold for too long. His wings were left loose for now, unless it was time to tie them up again.

"How long is it for Castaway to keep up this charade? I for one want the others here now!" Grunted the first from how heavy the monster was. The other smirked.

"Patience, it is coming soon. Just follow orders and you'll get the reward."

The first just rolled his eyes as he nodded, reaching Brooklyn's cell then pushing him in, securing the cuffs on his wrists again. Brooklyn wouldn't wake for some time, leaving their victim to first to try and wake on his own for his next test.