This is another old chapter dealing my Gargoyles inspired character Chaos from 2001. The second written chapter about him. 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.

Night 2 -

March 20 – Sunset

The green gargoyle snapped awake with a loud roar and to the sound of something like a clay pot shattering, though he didn't catch the latter sound. He stretched, his wings flaring wide open and heard a few small popping noises come from his back as the kinks were worked out. When he stopped stretching and finally looking forward, noticed a wall in front of him. Oh great, I'm back in the room, but how did I end up back in here? Last thing I remember was managing to get that window open and seeing the sun about to peek over the horizon. He paused, feeling a bit confused as to why he couldn't recall anything between sunrise and now other than a few pieces of what seemed to be broken dreams. He pondered it for a moment before something clicked. Ok, so I guess I'm nocturnal now, which means I sleep during the day. But why did some instinct scream out just before sunrise?

He noted that was a good question before thinking it over. Oh yeah, if one is nocturnal, one would have some sort of instinct that would let you know when the sun is about to come up so you could find shelter. Being that I'm not used to some of my new instincts just yet, this one probably tripped a bit too late. Of course, it could have tried warning me earlier and I just plain missed it. Either way, I have to figure them out and get a grip on them. He sighed and gave the room a look over.

He blinked as he realized something seemed out of place for the room he was in. The paint job was pretty much the same, walls that were off white with paint sloppily applied and areas of dirty yellow sticking out. Tucked away in one corner was a bed. In the other were the sink, mirror and stall. He stood there with a confused look as he tried to figure out what caused him to think something was different about the room. It took him a minute before it dawned on him. Before, the bed had been on the left side of the room, with the sink and stall being on the right side. Now the bed was on the right side with the sink and stall being on the left side. He turned his head and saw that even the door was now on the right side of the room instead of the left. He stood with a slightly dumbfounded look as he tried to figure why anybody would go through all the trouble of changing the layout of the room.

Try as he might, he couldn't come up with a logical reason for doing so. But then again, there was little about this whole mess that made logical sense. He shook his head and chalked it up to being another example of humans being human. His expression changed to one of puzzlement as he tried figure out where that thought had come from. Part of him was slightly disturbed by the thought, but another thought of it as nothing more than an observation. He concluded after a moment it was nothing to worry about. After all, there were humans who made such observations about other humans all the time, so why couldn't he make such observations? He chased the thought from his head and decided to worry more about escaping.

His stomach decided to let out a small rumble reminding him that despite the physical changes, he still needed to eat. Well, I guess I'll eat first before escaping. He pondered an idea for a moment. Yeah, they have to know I took out those two when I was given the food yesterday. This time they'll probably stand farther back to make sure I can't take them out as quickly. And I imagine there will be more guards this time around. The question is how many? Four? Six? Twenty? He paused for a moment. I can handle four of them, maybe six.

He pushed the thought aside and started to head over to the sink. As he did, he noticed he was having little trouble, if any, with walking. The walking consisted of leaning slightly forward with the wings and tail acting as a counterbalance. It struck him as a slightly unusual way to walk, but if this is how he had to walk, then so be it. He did find it just a touch odd that he wasn't stumbling around, but instead seemed used to his new sense of balance. He was guessing that he probably, correction, should have stumbled around for a few days at least as he tried to figure how to balance right. He shrugged and decided that this was a good thing.

He stopped in front of the sink and took a deep breath as he looked at the image. While he was aware that he should be bothered at the sight of his beak, he just couldn't seem to work that emotion up. As odd as things were, he found the sight of it rather comforting. After a moment, he realized that the beak did feel comfortable and strangely enough, it also felt right. What he also found slightly odd was that sight of his horns didn't even earn any sort of reaction, just plain indifference. It took a moment before it clicked that he felt rather comfortable with the body. Not even any of the sensations that came from the changed limbs, wings and tail registered as feeling new and alien, but as being totally natural. Ok, I know I have to get used to this body and accept what I've become, but this is too quick. It's starting to feel like... well, having been human was a distant memory or nothing more than a dream.

He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. Try as he might, he just couldn't make heads or tails of what was happening to him. Just what did they do to me? They obviously messed with my genes; that much is clear. But how did they mess with my mind? I don't think there is anyway possible for somebody to screw around with my brain this much. They would have to somehow destroy any traces of my old name, make me feel comfortable with this body, plus make me think that I had never been human. Why would anybody want to do something like that? You would have to be one seriously demented person to want to do this. He took several deep breathes as the wheels in his mind turned. His eyes snapped wide open as a startling idea slammed home. Unless… I'm doing this to myself. If that’s true, then why am I doing it?

He stood there for a moment as the idea shifted and took shape. Ok, let's assume I am doing this to myself. I can sort of understand the comfortable part since I would have to get used to this body, but that should have taken a while, not a day or two. But I'll let that slide for now. Now why would I go and forget my name? That makes little to no sense. Every time I tried to recall it, all I find are blank spots like somebody went in and erased it. But why would I do such a thing? He brought his head up and stared at the image in the mirror, trying to peer into his eyes and into his soul. After a moment, he realized something; part of his human self was still there and his mind was attempting to merge old human feelings, instincts and thoughts with those from his new body. Something else slid into place. He shook violently at the realization that the merging had come with a price: his mind and soul were now attempting to forge a new identity for him, one that reflected what he now was.

As he stood there, he slowly began to realize that loosing his name and the name of his family and friends had been a small price to pay. He barely repressed a shudder with the realization that the price could have been far higher. Not just some names, but all of his memories. Worse yet was the highest price of all: the total lose of mind and soul and becoming nothing more than a wild animal. He rested his hands on the sink as he closed his eyes. He felt a tidal wave of emotions slam home. Fear. Anger. Shock. Loneliness. Rage. Sorrow. As his head drooped towards his chest, a single tear welled up under his right eye. A moment later, it rolled down the side of his beak.

He snapped around to look towards the door when he heard the small hiss of the hydraulic system being engaged. He watched four guards quickly enter though the doorway a few seconds later. His expression changed from sorrow to one of rage. This time, he welcomed the wave of aggressiveness and the rather deadly calm that came with it. The aggression didn't try to take over this time; it peaked and waited to be unleashed. His hands tightened into fists and his lips pulled back to bare fangs as he growled. He slowly shifted his weight as he prepared himself to fight with them if he had to. After all, he wasn’t about to let the doctor experiment on him.

The guards came to a halt and put their hands on the butt of their tranquilizer guns. Each one eyed the gargoyle, thinking that they could handle him with ease. Their thinking came from the fact that they were armed and he wasn't. Plus they thought he had just gotten lucky the night before when he taken out the other two guards. Besides, they mused, there was four of this time and there was no way he could take on all of them. The leader of the group spoke up, "Time to get you fed and then to the doctor."

The gargoyle snorted. While he didn't mind the idea of getting some food in his stomach, he did mind the idea of visiting the doctor. He didn't know what the doctor had planned, but finding out wasn't on his list of things to do. He quickly thought up a small plan and formed a wicked smile as he relaxed his hands. The plan was fairly simple as well; he would act like he was cooperating as they fed him. After that, he would secure the four guards and escape.

The guards surrounded him and pushed him roughly towards the door. "Let's go gargoyle."

The green gargoyle emitted a small growl as he was shoved, not feeling a hand that brushed over his shoulder. You are going to pay for that. If anything else though, he had picked up the gargoyle comment and filed it away. So that's what I am, a gargoyle. But there is something odd about the way he said it. Almost like he's encountered others. The only gargoyles he had ever heard about where the ones in stories, and the ones that were stone statues on churches, not live ones. Wait, what if he has? That would mean I'm not alone and that there are others out there. Now more than ever, he wanted to escape and find them. Though he didn't pick up on it, part of him longed to be with others of his kind.

* * * *

The head of security was not happy. He still didn't know how the gargoyle had managed to elude his security teams and managed to get to the upper level without being noticed the night before. A single set of stairs and a pair of ladders lead up that level and all of those were watched over by cameras. He had reviewed the footage from those cameras along with a few others and at no point did they see the gargoyle. He had learned from the doctor that gargoyle talons could dig into the wall, thus allowing the gargoyle to climb up the wall as needed. He had sent a few of his people conduct a hasty search for any such marks, but none of them had noticed the talon marks half way up the wall in the utility room. None of them knew that gargoyles could jump rather high when the need arose.

He and a few others thought that the gargoyle had managed to sneak into the supply room. They had discovered a blind spot that would have allowed somebody to sneak by and not be noticed. Plus the door hadn't been locked, thus allowing for easy access. They quickly fixed the camera so the blind spot was eliminated and locked the door. And another reason they thought he had climbed into the ceiling and to the upper level through that room was that the shelves went up to the ceiling, allowing him to climb up. As far as he was concerned, it was a prime example of the prisoner outsmarting the guards.

He stood there with a hardened expression. I'll say this, that gargoyle is rather clever. Managed to hide in a spot where we couldn't find him. Plus he managed to get to the upper level without being noticed. His only goof was taking too long to get to the window so he could escape. Had he moved faster, he might have gotten away without a trace. Well, tonight he's not going to get to pull that stunt again. He hoped the four guards would keep the gargoyle in check.

* * * *

The green gargoyle silently secured the last of the four guards who had escorted him to go eat. After doing that, he opened the back cover on their radios one by one and popped the batteries out right before yanking out the wires. Next, he picked up one of the guns and slowly studied it. After a moment, for reasons he didn't understand at the time, he shifted it so the barrel was in his hand and then squeezed. He heard the metal emit a small scream as the barrel was crushed. Now that certainly is a useful talent. He dropped the now useless gun and destroyed the rest in the same way.

He sat down and went to start working on the food, but stopped just before taking a bite. He tilted his head slightly and brought the food near his nose so he could smell it. He carefully sniffed it and picked up a very faint odor that didn't smell like food coming from it. He put the food back down and let out a sigh. How nice, they drugged the food. But why am I not surprised though? He formed a small frown and got up. After searching for a couple minutes, he found some still sealed packages of food. He quickly tore one package open and took a whiff. This time he didn't pick up the odd odor and quickly polished the package of food off.

A few minutes later, he took a look at the pile of empty packages. He had plowed through six of them and each package would have contained a meal for a single person. He was a touch surprised at how much he ate, having forgotten that he hadn't eaten the night before. The military rations still had their rather nasty taste, but at the moment, he figured it was a small price to pay. After all, a full stomach would allow him to go for much longer than an empty one.

He peered out the doors and quickly noticing nobody in sight, ran over to the utility room. He shook his head in amazement that they still hadn't locked the door. He quickly entered, headed for the back of the room and climbed the wall. This time, he slowly raised the ceiling tile and looked around. He noticed that they hadn't bothered putting a guard, much less guards on the upper lever. You would think they would have somebody on guard duty up here, not that I'm complaining mind you. He quickly climbed up onto the catwalk and replaced the tile. He headed over to the window that he nearly escaped out of the night before and noted they had only boarded it over. The plywood came down with ease and was tossed aside.

He peeked out the still jammed open window and glanced about, failing to notice anybody. Don't tell me that those four were the only guards. He leaned part way out the window, attempting to figure out how to get down. The wind kicked up and a split second later, he dove out of the window without thinking. A fraction of a second later, he heard a crack come from behind him and felt himself get jerked upwards. He blinked and briefly looked down to see he was moving up and away from the ground.

He glanced back and then to the side, eyes following the sweep of first one wing, then the other. Stretched to their full width, he could feel the wind brush over the membranes of his wings; yet another sensation that should have felt new and alien, but which instead felt only natural. He quickly faced forward, lest he collide with a tree or other tall object. Despite not having any real knowledge of how to glide, he managed to maintain something close to a straight line of flight. He rocked several times while trying to figure out his wings on the fly. After a few aborted attempts, he decided not to push his luck on trying to turn. Knowing my luck, I'll stall and become one with the ground. He managed to go about three miles before the wind started to die down. As he slowly drifted down towards the ground, the realization dawned on him that he had no clue how to land. He attempted to land, but ended up tripping and falling flat on his face. I don't think that was the way.

He slowly stood up and noted that nothing was broken. A quick check revealed no blood, which was deemed a good thing. As he stood there, he glanced about in an attempt to get his bearings. He could see a distant glow of what he hoped was a city. A moment later, he took off in that general direction in a slow jog, but after a few minutes, an instinct told him to drop down and start moving on all fours. Without giving it much of a thought, he did so and found out that he could much faster. His mind did find this a little alien, but knew that speed was needed. The faster he moved, the more distance he put between himself and his captures. And it increased the chances of not getting caught.

March 21st - 1:16 a.m.

The green gargoyle quickened his pace as a couple drops of rain hit his beak. The sudden appearance of a storm had caught him off guard and was forcing him to find some sort of shelter. After several more minutes, he managed to find a building, or at least what was left of one. Stopping next to it, he could see that a good third of it was completely gone. Of the rest, half or it was missing sections here and there. The last part looked like it was mostly intact or at least intact enough to offer some cover from the storm.

Several more rain drops slammed into his beak and wings, causing him to shoot an annoyed look up at the sky. Rain, rain, go away and come back another day! Of course, his chant didn't stop the rain, but caused it to speed up some. Just my luck. I ask it to stop and it does the opposite! Grumbling at his apparent inability to get the rain to stop, he moved into the section that seemed the most intact. A few seconds after moving inside, a heavy downpour started.

After about another minute or two, he managed to locate a spot where he could sit down that didn't have a roof leak right over his head. He let out a sigh, thankful that he did manage to find some sort shelter considering how loud the downpour sounded. A few moments later, a leak developed over his tail and a few drops feel on it. It quickly flittered away and while doing so, kicked up a large cloud of dust. He shook as he violently sneezed several times. After stopping, he realized he had no idea how he was supposed to cover both his mouth and nose when sneezing. Well, figure it should be rather interesting considering the beak. He let out a small smile and chuckled at a random thought. Well, if I end up kissing somebody, they better hope I don't sneeze. 'Achoo!' *Ka-Pow!* "My eye!"

He stopped laughing after several seconds and let out another sigh. He started to sort some of the memories that had started to shake off their cobwebs while he had been on the move. Some of them where nothing more than small fragments that offered a few second window to his past. The rest lasted longer, but like the others, were of very little use to him. The one main memory he was after was his name, but so far, it eluded him.

You know, this is getting real annoying. I can understand that I might want to use a name that better reflects this body, but totally forget my old one? It just doesn't add up. A long sigh escaped him as he started playing with different ideas on why his name couldn't be recalled. One by one, all the ideas were rejected. He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples, wishing he could think of something.

A small and somewhat garbled memory slowly started to take shape. He could hear some voices piercing the dark world that he was in at the time. He failed to recognize any of the voices, much less what they were saying. Something in their tones did cause a feeling on unease. A powerful and painful grip on one his arms forces him to open his eyes. As he did so, he attempted to pull his arm back. He was unable to break free and brought his free arm over to pry the gripping hand free after he spotted the needle. He tried as hard as he could to resist, but he couldn't work up the energy to do so. He felt someone grab his free hand and move it away, painfully. He saw the needle enter his left arm as the world started to dissolve into black. Just before it fully claimed him, he looked up and spotted the doctor's face.

A deep, animalistic growl escaped him as his eyes flared a bright white. One of his fists slammed into a stud, breaking it into two pieces. It was very clear to him that the doctor had injected something into his system while still human. And that drug was what trashed his memories. You better hope you never see me again doctor, because you will pay. Oh yes, you will pay.

3:49 a.m.

It took him just over half an hour to calm down. He let out a deep sigh. Guess I should pick a name for myself... Probably should have done that back in the cage, but I didn't exactly have a Names for Babies Who Happen to be Gargoyles book lying about. And it's been rather chaotic ever since. Hmm, maybe the Chaos Theory is responsible for my change; butterfly flaps its wings somewhere and causes a chain reaction that turns me into a gargoyle? Heh, nah.

The green gargoyle eyed his wings. Who knows, maybe ~I'm~ the butterfly, he grinned, I wonder how big of a cyclone I could cause with these babies? he mused, flexing his wings slightly. "Watch out world, it's the Chaos Butterfly of DOOM!" He chuckled. Hmm, actually, that has a ring to it... Doom Butterfly? Chaos Butterfly? Yeah, no. Hmm, maybe just Chaos?

Sitting there, he began to ponder Chaos becoming his name. Well, it does have a ring to it. Not to mention it is rather appropriate name considering I've probably caused them rather large amounts of chaos escaping. He grinned. Ah, what the hell. Chaos it is. And if I run into those folks again, it will be time for Chaos to cause chaos!

He cocked his head slightly as he heard the sound of the rain slow down and then stop. He quickly got up and walked to an area where he could stay dry should the rain suddenly start up again. Satisfied that it wasn't go to, he nearly cheered, but quickly stopped when he heard the sound of approaching vehicles. Watching them come to a halt about 200 yards away, he realized they probably contained some of the doctor's men. Well, isn't THAT just great? He grimaced and then a moment later, grinned. Well, it seems they came all dressed up for a party. Well, being the host, I shouldn't disappoint them now should I? Time to get this party on the road. and the first game shall be "Beat up the goons!"

He silently moved to his right and came to a halt behind what was left of another building. Crouching down, he saw eight flashlights turn on. Ooh, the good old doc sent eight folks to come get me. I feel so special! He let out a small chuckle. I guess I'll have to send him a thank you card! "Thanks for send some many people after me! It made me feel all warm and special inside! .....NOT!" With a quick shake of the head, he started to form a plan on how to deal with them. Sure, the option of running was there, but only if discovered too soon, or the fight got out of hand. As he watched, they broke into four pairs, which made things easier. He silently moved a bit more to his right and waited. After all, he didn't want to start the party too soon.

Ten minutes later:

Chaos silently slammed his left fist down into the first of the two guards he was waiting for. He felt his hand sting a bit from the impact, but ignored the pain. He quickly turned his attention to the other guard who was turning to take him on. Moving quickly, he knocked the legs out from under the human and once again, slammed his left fist into the guard. This time he heard a couple small pops come from the human. He shrugged it off as him probably breaking a piece of the guard's equipment, but that wasn't the case. He had cracked four of the human's ribs. He silently moved over and quickly took out another guard.

The gargoyle's luck ran out; the human's partner had reacted faster than the other one did. He reacted quickly; he unfastened the holster top for his handgun and went to point it at Chaos's chest. He quickly squeezed the trigger, but was too late; the gargoyle had ducked and rolled, causing the bullet to go wild. He tried to fire again, but this time around had been too slow to react. A green hand wrapped around his wrist and he tried to pull back, but wasn't strong enough to do so. He felt the pressure increase and a second later, both heard and felt the bones in his wrist shatter.

The shot had gotten the attention of the remaining four guards, who turned and ran to aide their comrades. All of them pulled out their tranquilizer guns and brought them to bear. The front two quickly fired; one missed and the other hit.

Chaos felt the dart hit his chest. He let out a massive growl as he pulled it out and threw it aside. As he charged the remaining guard's, two more darts slammed into his chest. He pulled them out as well, but this time the drugs started to slow him down. He stumbled several more feet before a fourth dart stuck him. As the world started to spin and break up, he pulled this one out as well. A second later, his eyes rolled up in their sockets as the world totally dissolved into darkness.

It took the four guards that were still standing a little over fifteen minutes to load him into their van. The leader made a quick decision; the one with the broken wrist, and probably broken ribs would be taken to the hospital by the one other. The rest of them would take their target back to the doctor. All and all, they considered themselves lucky. Only two appeared to be badly injured, with another two slightly injured. They had expected either a bigger fight or the gargoyle to find the planted tracking device and leave it somewhere. To their surprise, neither of this things happened. To them, this was a good sign.

* * * *

Sometime after sunrise:

The head guard was in a rather foul mood. Earlier, he had just managed to recover from the fact the gargoyle had nearly escaped the night before to suddenly get the word he had escaped. Also, he could scarcely believe that the gargoyle's escape had gone unnoticed for over half an hour. A small part of him was impressed though; it was clear the gargoyle had found a weakness in their security and exploited it. Not that it wasn't too hard anyways, the building they were using was just a temporary facility until they could take the gargoyle to the permanent one.

What annoyed him to no end was how long it took for them to get to the gargoyle. Sure the tracking device had worked, but the gargoyle had run into an area where the roads were few and far between. Not only that, several times the signal had disappeared when he ran by some high voltage power lines. If he had stayed under those, we would have never found him. This one is clever, perhaps a bit too clever.

He sighed and shook his head. What he found troubling was how their prisoner had cracked three ribs on one of his men, despite the body armor. The armor he was wearing is designed to stop a bullet. And yet, the gargoyle managed to crack of his ribs. It's almost like the armor wasn't there. This told him that the gargoyle's strength was not to be underestimated again. Of course, he was unhappy that the gargoyle had also crushed the wrist on another one his men. If he hadn't pulled out his gun, he probably would have just suffered nothing more than some bruises. And f hadn't done that, the gargoyle would still be running around somewhere. Damn.

What we need to do is figure out a way to keep him from escaping again, but the question is how? Four of my men didn't even slow him down earlier. Plus he injured another four when we recaptured him earlier. This tells me that he's going to resist letting the doctor experiment on him without some sort of fight. The only way we can make him cooperate in any sort of manner is by drugging him. But do we have enough drugs? And also, how do we administer them? We had tried that with his food earlier, but it appears he can smell the drugs, which presents a problem. The only other option is to shoot him with a tranquilizer dart.

He let another sigh as he ran what options he had through his head. And as he stood there, a small doubt crept into his head that they would be unable to keep the gargoyle from escaping once again.