Brooklyn's New Heights- Part 2

Brooklyn's new trinket is full of surprises, and he is growing to love it. Enjoy, and thanks for the support, everyone!

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"Let me get this straight…" Lexington rubbed his head, trying not to stare overlong at Brooklyn's hulking body. "You got this amulet some homeless guy found in the snow, and a bunch of snow gremlins were trying to get it back…"

"Uh-huh."

"...And putting it on… Did this to you?"

Brooklyn looked from a slightly blushing Lexington averting his gaze to Broadway, staring openly, mouth agape. "Uhm… Yeah. Yeah, pretty much." He thumbed the amulet that was currently wedged between Brooklyn's pecs. The brick-red gargoyle was more of a brick wall now, having undergone an astonishing transformation into a hulking beast packed with dense, powerful muscle. His arms bristled with powerful muscle that surged with only slight movements while his back unfurled like a second pair of wings. He breathed in, and his chest surged, nearly swallowing up the amulet entirely. "Hah… think Goliath could do this?" He said, bouncing one pec after another, two huge mounds rolling back and forth like waves coming in.

"Brooks!" Lexington snapped. "Fall in love with your reflection on your own time, focus! I really think you should take that amulet off."

"What?" Brooklyn scoffed. "Are you kidding? I've never felt so good!" He pumped his arms again, jostling biceps nearly as large as Lexington's head. 

"And you don't think there's anything wrong with that?" the much smaller gargoyle pressed, folding his arms. "You're not even willing to question this, at all?"

"Well… Sure, at first, I was worried, but when I was flying back here, I got to thinking about how… easier everything feels. Oh, you should've seen me when I was taking out those little monsters!" Brooklyn chuckled. "Look, just let me keep it on like, a test run, right? If something goes screwy, I'll take it off."

"Sure you will," Lexington grumbled. His brows bounced with a sudden thought. "...You did take care of all those, uh, ice monsters or whatever you told us about, right?"

"Well, duh! Of course I…" Brooklyn frowned, rubbing the back of his white mane. "I'm… I'm pretty sure…"

Something instinctual came over both gargoyles as they listened for something, anything. They were already heading for the balcony of the clock tower as the wind began to pick up, and there was a definite chill in the air. The already freezing winter weather was growing colder, but Brooklyn didn't seem to notice, even as Lexington shivered against it. Brooklyn's ears perked up as he heard a voice carried on the wind hiss, "Thief!"

"Get down!" Brooklyn forced Lexington behind the balcony railing as a blue streak shot across the sky. The brick red gargoyle recognized the icy gremlins he had fought in the park, scanning the sky for more. The streets were almost empty this deep into the night, but he saw a large figure, peering back up at the clock tower below. 

"Oh boy… looks like they ran crying to daddy. You take care of the fliers, I'll go deal with the big guy." Before Lexington could call him back, Brooklyn leapt down, diving through the air and hitting the asphalt hard enough to crack it beneath his treads. 

"Hi, big guy. What can I do for you this cold winter's night?" Brooklyn asked, smirking softly as he looked the monster up and down. He resembled the ice gremlins he had fought earlier; or, perhaps, they resembled him. Cloven hooves and shaggy, dark fur, a beastly face with sharp fangs and curving horns, a powerful, muscular body that matched Brooklyn's, and long, curving horns. 

The monster sneered at Brooklyn, his eyes falling on the amulet. "You have my amulet! Surrender it now, and perhaps I'll let you live."

Casually, the gargoyle plucked it free from his chest, turning it over in his hand. "Really? What makes this little trinket so valuable?"

The monster glowered, his eyes glowing with anger. "It harnesses the power of winter— power you have no right to, Gargoyle! Hand it over, now!"

"The power of winter? Woah," Brooklyn whistled low before letting it drop back against his broad chest. "I don't know, I think this looks better on me."

The ice monster snarled and charged for Brooklyn, slamming into him with all his weight, bringing to bear all the force of a battering ram that knocked Brooklyn off his feet. The hulking gargoyle hit the ground, and gasped sharply as the monster tackled him, claws raking against his stony skin to grab at the amulet.

"C'mon, c'mon!" Brooklyn hissed through gritted teeth. His powerful leg surged as he kicked the monster off him, leaping back to his feet as he gripped the amulet. "You know you look better on me! Give me a little more juice, here!"

The red gargoyle grunted as he weathered another blow from the monster. "Give it back!" the monster howled, as the icy wind picked up, swirling around them, stinging and biting cold starting to make Brooklyn shiver. The beast held up his clawed hand, the wind whipping around as frostrime coated his hand like a gauntlet, and as he brought it down to strike Brooklyn, the gargoyle caught the monster's hand, a rush of adrenaline striking at his core. Growling through the biting pain, Brooklyn squeezed, shattering the ice as he shoved his opponent back. That rush struck through him again as the amulet glowed in the gloom, and in the howling wind and snow, Brooklyn began to feel his strength rally once more. 

Every swollen muscle tensed and locked, his mountainous body fighting against the howling winter his opponent summoned. Wedged in the canyon of his pecs, the amulet glowed, the blue hue reflected in his eyes. His body inflated, biceps swelling up like a mountain range and pressing up against the stone slab. His burgeoning, earth-shaking legs bolstered the rest of him as his buttress-sized lats mashed against his arms, anvil-sized triceps grinding back against them. Eyes flashing, Brooklyn let out a low growl, basking in the sheer, rock-solid heft of his gargantuan body. The wind and cold had lost its sting as Brooklyn lumbered towards the ice monster, its mouth open in shock.

"Sorry, but I gotta give you the cold shoulder," Brooklyn growled. He slammed his immense bulk into the monster, returning the favor as he knocked his opponent off its feet. The snow and ice only seemed to fuel his body as his muscles burgeoned with power. His barrel-thick thighs cut through the piling snow drifts like a hot knife. The monster was pulling himself up— but Brooklyn wasn't going to let him stay up for long. His mammoth arms surged as his claws dug into the steel axis of the first car he could find. The gargantuan gargoyle grunted as he heaved the car into the air, his huge chest filling out like sails under a full wind, and with a massive heave, he threw the car directly at the beast. The impact seemed to shatter Brooklyn's opponent as he stomped towards the crashed car; all that he saw of the monster was shattered chunks of ice.

Brooklyn rumbled deeply, feeling the sheer power and mass of his body. The amulet was in danger of disappearing entirely into the vast canyon of his chest as he brought his immensely roped arms to flex, feeling his boulder-like biceps jostling his chest, slab-like triceps mashed against the heaving flanks of his buttress-like lats. 

"New plan," the titanic gargoyle snarled, smirking toothily to himself. "Make Lex find out how this thing works— and how it'll make us even bigger."