This is an old chapter dealing my Gargoyles inspired character Chaos from 2001. The first written chapter about him... where he goes from human to gargoyle. He doesn't what happened, or why. And doesn't remember who he was. And this takes place before he runs into other gargoyles....

I'll admit, looking back at this, the writing is not very good, but I didn't know what I was doing at the time.

----

Chaos - Beginnings and Endings: Night 1

March 19, 1998 – Somewhere in California

Fate -

There are those who believe that fate exists. Then there are those who don't. If the non-believers are very lucky, fate doesn't believe in them either, since having fate believe in you usually lead to insurmountable odds and impossibly tangled situations. Going into something like that blind is akin to snuggling up to a very hungry rabid tiger. Fate, on the other hand, didn't care what anyone thought. Nor did it, luckily for some non-believers, have a hand in everything that happened.

On this day though, fate had an appointment to keep at sundown. This appointment had been made years in advance and it wasn't going miss this one, barring the planet suddenly exploding. Fate slowly approached whom it had the appointment with; not even giving the slightest hint it was there. The sun had just barely dipped below the horizon when Fate went to work. It silently watched the event, making sure it went according to plan. Once done, Fate silently moved off to take care of other appointments, its job done.

* * * *

Fate's appointment issued a small groan as he slowly began to stir. Lying still, he slowly cycled from being asleep to being semi-awake. Even though sleep tried to reclaim him, but the real world beckoned at the same time. The cycles gradually grew longer as time went on and he could feel himself slip towards waking up. Finally managing to pull himself back to reality, a quick was done and noted that everything, including his head, was attached.

Issuing another groan, his eyes opened to a swimming ceiling before they snapped shut again. Oh yeah, that was smart. He slowly counted to ten before reopening his eyes. The world began to swim once again, but not as bad as before. After several slow blinks, the world finally started to settle. Now that was annoying, but what is up with my back? Oddly, he could feel something digging into his back just below the shoulder blades. Shifting, onto the right side, confusion popped up at the feeling of something tugging at the shoulder.

A small, nagging feeling sprang up in the back of his head saying something wasn't quite right. Shrugging off the feeling, he rotated into a sitting position and in the confused state, half way expecting someone to stop him from doing so. Of course, this resulted in the world gyrating and spinning. For a moment, he regretted sitting up so fast, but was getting sick of lying down. After the world calmed back down, he eyed the sink on the other side of the room and quickly reach the decision that getting something to drink, even if it was just water, was a good idea.

Sliding off the bed, he nearly toppled to the ground while trying to stand up. For reasons that he couldn't even comprehend, standing on his toes seemed to work versus standing on the entire foot. While slowly working over to the sink, he noticed he seemed to be a leaning more forward than normal. The nagging feeling crept back in saying that something was indeed wrong, but another part of him told him that this was perfectly natural.

His walk could be described as awkward at best; he was trying to adjust for his balance that seemed to be badly messed up. He finally managed to stagger up to the sink and reached over to twist on the cold-water tap. He froze at seeing a green hand with four talons, not knowing that's what they were, instead of a pale skinned hand with five fingers. He stood there with a puzzled expression as he tried to figure out why he froze upon seeing his hand. In his confusion, he slowly rotated his hand, one part of him saying that it was his hand, another part saying that it wasn’t and something was wrong.

He shoved the confusion aside as he turned the water on. Quickly tilting his head as he bent down, he slowly began to drink from the water stream. After a short while, he downed enough water to kill his thirst. He took a deep breath as he moved his face away from the water. He closed his eyes and took another deep breath. He stood there with his eyes closed and slowly began to feel better. After a few minutes his sense of balance finally stabilized and some of the haze in his head had cleared. He reopened his eyes and sighed, feeling better than he had minutes before.

As he went to turn off the water, he paused again upon seeing his green hand. Curiosity got the better of him and looking down, he saw a pair of oversized feet with three large toes and said feet had a rather pronounced arch, so he was standing on the toes and the area of the foot right behind the them. He shifted his view slightly towards the back of his feet, where a small toe like appendage that stuck out from the back of his heel and arched downwards. As his view drifted up, he caught some movement behind him. He craned his head around just enough to see a tail whose tip was cutting through the air in a small arc. His view slowly drifted up and stopped as he studied one of wings that sprouted out near his shoulder blades. The color was a light shade of green with a subtle hint of yellow. The view slowly drifted up and came to a halt upon seeing a hand like appendage with three fingers at the top of the wing's arm. As he slowly brought his head around towards the mirror he spotted a spike sticking out near the elbow.

He finally looked at the mirror and a green face with a short beak looked back. A small, flat, triangular nose sat at the top of his beak where it met the rest of his face. He silently noted that he was still wearing his glasses, finding it kind of odd that if he had passed out earlier, they should have been removed. He pushed the thought away and only made a cursory glance at the ridges above each eye. On each side of his forehead, a horn sprouted up with a gentle curve towards the back of his head, then part way along they had a sudden bend. Both of the horns terminated with a sharp tip that could easily impale someone. His hair was a light shade of brown, almost appearing copper in coloration.

He stood there, his expression changing to one of confusion as he tried to figure out what was bothering him. A large part of him accepted the fact that the face he had seen in the mirror was his own and that this was his body. As he turned off the water, another part of him protested saying that this was not the body he was born with. A few broken memories slowly crept to the surface.

He was looking west towards the setting sun and the sense of unease that grew as the sun dropped lower. Then the pain hit in a huge wave just barely after sunset. For a brief instant, he could feel his feet exerting pressure on something, blackness, and then pressure was gone. Blackness again. Breathing faster and harder. Heart was beating faster and harder. Then a small lull in the pain, but could hear the sound of fabric tearing. Once again, blackness followed. Then a huge wave of pain as his back arched one way and then the other, quickly followed by the sound of ripping fabric. Another wave of blackness, followed by another burst of pain, this time concentrated around his face. It finally stopped and the world dissolved into blackness once again.

Seconds later, reality hit him like a freight train as he realized he was no longer human. ]What have I become? He then shuddered violently. He slowly backed away from the mirror, trying to figure out what was going on. Panic started to set in, but it quickly vanished as his new instincts took command, forcing him to calm down. He stopped moving and took a deep breath, as his mind grew clearer. He started trying to figure out what he was, but before he could begin to think of a possible answer, he heard something akin to a cough. He quickly turned to face a group of humans that were standing several feet away. Four of them he deemed no immediate threat; another two he deemed a major threat since they were armed. The last face though nearly got off being a non-threat, but quickly became one as he recognized the face. This one was a tall male with red-brown hair in a crew cut and had brown eyes that contained a dangerous glint in them.

While he could not pin a name on the face, he could recall being uneasy around this one before. Both of his hands balled into fists as he crouched slightly; his wings flaring wide open so he would appear more intimidating, though he was not aware of it. A deep animalistic growl reverberated through his chest quickly followed, sounding very much like an African Lion. Dr. Sevarius chuckled at hearing the green gargoyle growl at him. "I certainly didn't expect your natural instincts to kick in so fast, if at all." He formed a smug smile. "I wouldn't try to escape if I were you. Unlike a few others times, I made sure this glass was properly reinforced."

The gargoyle said nothing, his lips pulling back to bare fangs that would have made any vampire proud. The geneticist smiled upon seeing the gargoyle bare his fangs. "A most impressive set of fangs. I have a feeling we'll have to get a muzzle for you. Wouldn't want you to bite anyone."

The green gargoyle let out another growl, as his new instincts grew stronger. He wasn't pleased with the muzzle comment. Part of him wanted to break through the glass and silence the doctor... permanently if needed.

The doctor chuckled at the second growl. "My, oh my, aren't you cranky?" He smiled. "We're going to learn much from you. Not to mention, you are going to make me a lot of money, since there are folks who would pay a large sum to get their hands on you."

The gargoyle's eyes flared a bright white as he let a massive growl. He jumped at the doctor, with the talons on his hands out stretched. He slammed hard enough into the reinforced glass to make it rattle despite being heavily anchored. A few of the humans on the other side jumped back as the sound scared them. As he sunk down to the ground after the impact, his talons digging into the glass, leaving marks. The gargoyle looked at the doctor and growled yet again.

"Delicious." He gave an all so smug look again. "Try as you might, you won't be able to break through this glass nor will you be able to escape should you even try. I've taken a number of… precautions to make sure you don't leave." He and the others quietly walked off.

The gargoyle watched the group of humans leave. He seethed with anger at the smugness displayed by the doctor, not to mention the knowledge he was now someone's pet science project. His eyes wandered over to the talon marks he had left in the glass. He ran his hand over the marks, trying to judge how deep the talon marks were. As he shifted his view, he began to notice something odd about things on the other side. He slowly cocked his head to one side, then the other way. He started to scar the glass with one of his talons, making and comparing mental notes with each scratch. He was attempting to figure out which angle met with the least resistance so he could break the glass.

* * *

Dr. Sevarius strolled over to his security chief. "What is it?"

"It's the gargoyle sir. For the past twenty minutes he's been marking the glass." He gestured to the monitor he was watching. "At first, it seemed to be random. After a short while we began to realize there was a pattern. I believe he is searching for a weakness in the glass to exploit."

"Most interesting. We’ll have to keep a close eye on this one, he might cause us quite a bit of chaos.”

* * * *

45 minutes later

The gargoyle looked up from the markings he had made in the glass to see two guards approach. He silently studied their movements and watched them stop ten feet away. Both were wearing body armor and helmets. Both were armed as well; each had a tranquilizer gun, plus another gun with a far more lethal purpose. He eyed each one in turn, his brain ranking their threat potential. He slowly shifted into a fighting stance and as he balled his fists, his lips pulling back to bare his fangs. I can take the both of them, no trouble. He blinked and snapped out of his stance, feeling a bit surprised at the sudden aggressiveness. What the…? Why am I being so aggressive? It’s almost like I’m turning into some sort of wild animal.

He took a deep breath. Ok, I’m willing to bet those two are here in case I manage to break the glass. And that means I might have to figure out a different way to escape. Great. Well, time to see if I can't try to figure out what's going on with me. He slowly took another deep breath. First up, why am I acting so aggressive? Could it have to deal with my new body in some way? If so, how could that be possible? I mean all that changed was my physical appearance, which shouldn't affect anything else. Right? Damn it, this just doesn't make any sense!

He let out a heavy sigh and decided one of the best things he could do at the moment was to lie down. He slowly started to walk towards the bed that was over in the corner, looking at the walls as he did. They were painted an off white and the work could be described as sloppy at best and in a few areas some dirty yellow paint was sticking out. He sighed, stretching out as he lay down on the bed, his feet and part of his tail sticking out over the end. The tip of his tail flittered about until it touched part of the metal bed frame. Sensing that the metal was cold, it quickly moved away. The lower part of his tail quickly wrapped itself around his right calf and ankle. He formed a small, bemused grin. How nice, I’ve got a tail that’s afraid of cold objects.

Ignoring what his tail had just done, he decided to concentrate on the mess he was in. Ok, lets see… Well, back to this whole aggressive thing. He sighed and started thinking it over. Ok, I can figure out part of why I'm acting this way; its called being locked up in this room. Also, that guy wants to experiment on me. He blinked as something dawned on him. It's because he's a threat, that's why, a threat to my survival and a threat to my species. He blinked at the sudden species thought.

Wait a moment, my species? Now why would I go and think that? He slowly came to the conclusion that like it or not, he was going to have to accept the fact he was a different species. He closed his eyes as he accepted the fact, his survival depended on him getting used to the fact quickly. Ok, so I'm a different species. Which one, I haven't got the foggiest idea. He opened his eyes as he realized something else. That's could explain why I'm being so aggressive. It's a trait of my species, which would make sense. And any like any aggressive species; I'm just doing what comes naturally, wanting to eliminate threats to myself. Except that while I'm kicking into attack mode, I'm thinking of ways to disable my foes, not kill them. Of course that one guy is an exception for reasons I can't seem to understand.

What was that guys name? He thought for a minute before a small piece of a memory dropped in place. Oh yeah, he said his name was Dr. Walker. Of course, that most likely isn't his real name anyways. He wouldn't want any of his test subjects to know his real name, lest they escape and tell somebody about what he's doing. What I do know is that he most likely had a hand in kidnapping me. But what I don't get is why he would go through the hassle of changing my DNA around. I mean, what's the point? You wouldn't be able to get any sort of ransom if you just go around changing the DNA of the people you kidnap. Wait a moment. He said something about others paying a lot of money for me. Ransom perhaps? No, it’s got to be something else. He paused for a moment, raking his brain for possible answers. That makes sense. He's going to sell me to somebody else, probably to be their 'pet' more or less. Clever bastard.

As he lay there, still sorting through the mess he was in, he felt a sudden need to be outside twisting and gliding among the air currents. Funny, how you miss the things like that. He let out a sigh. I swear; some of these new instincts are going to be the death of me. I could just see if I tried to use these wings right now. SPLAT! Today we are gathered here to pay our final respects for... for... His eyes snapped wide open when realized he couldn't recall his name. He spent the next several minutes in a vain attempt to recall the name and any hints that might have given him a clue. Just what in the hell is going on with me? It's bad enough I'm trying to cope with messed up emotions, new instincts, a different body and a mad doctor. And now I can't even remember my name? Can this night get any worse?

Well, knowing my luck, this night probably can get worse. Shock therapy, putting a muzzle on me, cutting me open, etc. 'Oops, we severed his jugular. Lets see how long it takes for him to bleed out.' He grimaced. Oh yeah, now that was a pleasant thought. He sighed. First things first, I need to concentrate on escaping and surviving. Everything else can just wait. He looked at the ceiling as he thought about the best way to disable the guards after he broke through the glass. He paused, moving his head a little as he studied the ceiling that was composed of a number of tiles. Now if I could just get up to the ceiling, I might be able to find a way out through there. But how do I get up there? He slowly sat up and looked at the wall, trying to figure out what it was made of.

Just before he could figure out what the wall was made of, he heard a small hissing sound. He looked over to see a small opening appear in the glass wall. He had failed to notice that in one corner was a hydraulically operated door that was part of the wall. Around the upper and left edge of the door, the glass wall stuck out in such a way to prevent somebody from breaking down the door. The door retreated into the wall and the two guards stepped inside. Both approached slowly, with their hands on the handle of their tranquilizer guns. He sat there, trying to figure out what they were up to.

Next thing he knew both roughly stood him up and pushed him towards the door. He was quickly guided to another room, where they pushed him down into a seat. A few seconds later, a tray with food was put in front of him. One the guards spoke up, "Now eat." The green gargoyle silently looked at the food sitting in front of him. There was a vague sense of familiarity dealing with the food. He raked his brain for a few moments and realized what it was; military rations from MRE (Meals Ready to Eat) packs. To him, this was a sign of adding insult to injury. He quickly let out a rather loud growl and stood up fast enough to startle the two guards in the room.

One of the guards quickly walked over, having recovered quickly, and put a hand on the gargoyle’s shoulder; it was his first and only mistake of the night. He barely had time to react before a green fist slammed into his stomach, which was quickly followed by another fist to his face. He dropped to the ground in a heap. The second guard stood there with his mouth agape having just witnessed the gargoyle take out his partner in less than two seconds. He quickly undid the Velcro strap on the holster for his tranquilizer gun. The sound was picked up by the green gargoyle, which wheeled about rather quickly. He, like the other guard, didn't have much time to react. The last thing he saw was a green fist just before it connected, causing the world to explode into white right before it dissolved into black.

The green gargoyle wasn't going to wait around and quickly bolted from the room. He skidded to a stop after a minute when he heard a set of footsteps. He glanced about and spotted a utility room, which he quickly hid in. He waited inside for ten minutes, hoping that whomever he heard had passed by. Just as he reached over to turn the doorknob, he heard the unmistakable sound of an alarm going off. He mentally cursed and quickly backed away from the door. He silently waited in the room for the next few hours listening to the occasional guard go running by. He stood there with a bemused look and shook his head. They can't even think of checking the utility room? Not that I'm complaining mind you.

He heard a couple people stop outside of the door and strained to pick up what the somewhat muffled voices were saying. He could pick up on confusion and that nobody knew where he was. Wait, they could be staging that confusion for my benefit. How much you want to bet they've got an ambush set up outside the room? Sorry folks, but I don't plan on walking into it. He frowned and looked around the room he was in. He looked up and noticed that this room, like the one he had been locked up in, had a tile ceiling. He slowly walked towards the back of the room, attempting to figure out a way to get up to the ceiling. He eyed a blank section of wall and walked over to it, stopped and without much of a thought, quickly jumped up and towards the wall. About halfway up towards the ceiling, the talons in both his hands and feet sank into the concrete. He quickly climbed up the wall. Maybe this body isn’t so bad after all. I could learn to like this.

He quickly shoved the ceiling tile aside and peered through the opening and saw a catwalk a few inches away. He quickly squeezed through the opening, replaced the tile and stood up on the catwalk. He took off in a run towards a set of black painted window. He conducted a quick search and undid the latch, which protested with a metallic scream. He pushed at the window, but it refused to budge; it was rusted shut. He placed both hands on either side of the window frame and shoved. He gritted his teeth as he pushed, the talons in his feet digging into the floor as he pushed even harder. A few seconds later, the frame buckled and let go with a loud metallic scream that was loud enough to wake the dead. He nearly fell out, but managed to stop himself from doing so. He looked up to see a rapidly brightening sky. His eyes snapped wide open as his instincts screamed out. Wait, what...? His thought was cut off as the sun peeked over the horizon and he entered stone sleep.