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Description
It was October 1, and the spirit of Halloween was spreading through out the city.  The heat of summer had been replaced by brisk autumn winds.   Children were picking out pumpkins to carve into Jack-o-Lanterns and costumes to wear for Trick-or-treating.  Adults were stocking up on candy to hand out to children as well as streamers, cob webbing and other Halloween decorations for their homes.

All the while, a new science lab had opened up ten blocks down the street from the LionKingHeart Fantasy Films studio.  It wasn't the type of  lab for studying computer programs, new technology, medicines or the vastness of space.  Rather, it was a genetics lab.  A sign on the roof of the building read "Gen-U-Tech."

Inside the lab, there were cages used for holding animals.  Most of the cages were the metal bars while a couple were displays with glass like the kind seen in the reptile house at the zoo.  The cages were empty, however on the table were some strands of animal fur.  In front of the table stood an average height, slightly slender Caucasian male wearing a white scientist coat, blue slacks and black leather shoes.   The expression on his face was that of a conniving man, and he had a personality to match.  In his right hand, he picked up a empty syringe and absorbed some purple chemical from a vial, which he held in his left hand.

"Dr. Sevarius," a henchman dressed in an officer's type uniform said as he approached the scientist.

"What is it?"  Sevarius ask as he continued to work without looking at the henchmen.

"We found what you were looking for."
The henchman held up an envelope.  Sevarius set his vial and syringe down, then turned around to face the henchmen and take the envelope from him.  He opened it up, and inside was a photograph, a new article that had been cut out and a plastic bag containing purple and black stands of fur.

"Perfect!" Sevarius said with a devilish grin. "Now that we have the sample, all we need is the a subject."

"Um…would there be anyone in particular?" the henchmen asked.  He began to sweat with fear.  He knew the Sevarius had a history of working with genetic manipulations with other human beings.

"Oh," the geneticist scoffed in response, "don't worry yourself.  I want to test my new formula on the original host.  If it is successful, I'll be able to create my own army of demons."

The henchmen breathed a sigh of relief.  "Finding this monster won't be hard, but bringing him her will."

"That is why you will need these."  Sevarius said as he handed his henchmen a set of tranquilizer darts and a gun with which to load them in.  "As soon as you find the creature, shoot him with one of these."

"Yes sir."

Meanwhile that afternoon, at the LionKingHeart Fantasy Films, Leo, Johnny and Rae were setting up the Halloween decorations with some help from the Madagascar team, including their three newest team members : Vitaly the Tiger, Gia the Jaguar and Stefano the Sea lion.  Using the skills they learned from Circus Americano, their new traveling all-animal performing circus, the Madagascar team set up black and orange streamers all over the outside and inside of the buildings.  At the same time, Terk, Tantor, Gantu and Genie were setting up status of some of Hollywood's scariest monsters for display while Timon and Pumbaa were tossing stick spider decors all over the walls.

"The place is looking great, guys," said Leo.

"Yeah, but we're not finished yet, "said Rae.

"Right," Johnny agreed.  "We're gonna need tons and tons of candy."

"That's for sure," Leo replied.  "Especially since you are nearly the whole batch last year."

Johnny just laughed nervously.  Talon, Maggie and Fang were hanging fake ghosts and skeletons from the ceilings of the main studio lobby and the front side of the main gate.

"How come the big guy isn't helping out," asked Fang.

"You know Queen Eliza and Claw had planned a double date with Benny and Sunlight for dinner at the River Cafe a month in advanced," Maggie replied.

"He's earned a nice break," added Talon, "and we haven't had much work ever since we moved out of the Labyrinth."

"You're telling me," Fang said.  "With everyone else from the Labyrinth getting homes rent free, compliments of your son, we haven't had anyone weak to defend."

From a few feet away, Servarius' henchmen was secretly listening to the conversation between the three mutates.  He grinned when he overheard Talon mentioning the location of the family.  He waited until the Talon, Fang and Maggie left the gate to head back inside the main lobby, then the henchmen ran to a Gen-U-Tech van that he had driven over to the lot and drove off.

At the River Café over in Brooklyn, Claw, Queen Eliza, Benny and Sunlight were sitting together at a table enjoying a nice dinner with white wine.  Claw was dressed in a fine white tuxedo with matching pants, a gold vest and light blue tie.  Queen Eliza was wearing her royal light blue garbs and shiny gold crown.  Benny was wearing a royal blue and gold tuxedo, gold vest over white silk shirt and black tight pants, just like what he wore to the ballroom dance at Prince Adam's castle in France.  Sunlight was wearing a gold elegant ball gown with silver jewelry.

"To our wonderful family," said Queen Eliza while raising her glass.  Benny, Claw and Sunlight raised their glasses as well.  "And to a wonder night out."

"Yes, this is really wonderful, your highness," said Sunlight.
"Please, call me Eliza."
"Thank you, Eliza."

The group took sips of wine from their glasses.

"You've been awfully quiet this evening, Benny," Sunlight said to her husband.

"I've just been admiring the family I have, "the beast replied, "and the time we're sharing.  This truly was a great idea, mother."

"Thank you, Benny." said the queen with a motherly smile.  "I thought we could use a family outing together since we've never done so before."

Claw simple smiled and nodded in agreement.  He turned his head to glance out the windows of the restaurant and observed the magnificent sunset over the city.   Between the restaurant and the island of Manhattan was the Hudson River.  From the view of the window, Claw could see the Brooklyn bridge the connected the two cities together.  It was a shame that once night fell over the city, the stars would be nearly impossible to see through the lights illuminated by the lights of the skyscrapers.  Nonetheless, it was really nice for Claw and his family to be seen in public without having to deal with ridicule.  He turned back to enjoy the remainder of dinner with his family.

Around the same time, the Gen-U-Tech van was recklessly speeding along the road of the Brooklyn Bridge.  The henchman swerved the van around other vehicles left and right until he had arrived at the River Café.  Picking up the tranquilizer gun, he loaded a tranquilizer dart.  Then, dressed in a black jumpsuit and mask, he exited his vehicle and cautiously made his way around the outside of the restaurant.  He peered through window after window unnoticed, and eventually spotted Benny, Sunlight, Claw and Queen Eliza at their dinning table.

"Doc, I've spotted the target," the henchmen said speaking into a mouth piece.
"Excellent," Sevarius' voice replied from ear piece.
"He's not alone."
"Then make sure no one gets in your way."
"Right."

Acting quickly, the henchmen withdrew a medium-sized blaster and fired through window glass, causing it to shatter.  At that instant, the other people screamed and hid down under their tables while Claw, Benny, Sunlight and Queen Eliza stood and faced the henchmen.

"What is the meaning of this?" the queen screamed.  "How dare you terrorize us like this!"

"Save it, queeny," the henchmen replied as he opened fire of them again.  Claw and Benny turned their tables sideways like a shield, and Sunlight and Queen Eliza tossed two plates, which hit the henchman's gun hand and knocked both the blaster and the tranquilizer gun out of his grip.  The Henchmen made a grab for his weapons, but Claw fired a bolt of electricity from his paws and shoved the guns further away from the henchmen.  Growling, Claw held his paws, surging with electricity, close to the henchmen's face.  The henchmen put his arms up in surrender.

"Time for some answers," Benny said, grabbing the henchmen by the neck.  "Why did you attack us?"
"It was a just a job," the henchmen replied.
"Then who hired you?" asked Sunlight.
"It was--," the henchmen started to say when he looked over at the corner of his eye and noticed a bottle of wine still sitting on a table.  Reacting quickly, he grabbed the bottle and smacked Benny on the side of the head with it.  Benny reacting with a painful roar, then the henchmen whirled around and did the smashed against Sunlight, and then Claw.  Queen Eliza ran up and tried to take the bottle from his hand, but the henchmen just shoved her aside.  He then picked up the tranquilizer gun and fired a dart directly at Benny.  A tranquilizer dart flew straight into Benny's neck, making him roar loudly in more pain.  Claw pounced  on the henchmen, but he fired another shot right into the mutates stomach.  Claw roared loudly and was pushed off the henchmen.

Benny stumbled as he removed the dart, but the sedative that was injected into his body started to take effect.  His eyes grew heavy and his legs wobbled, making it difficult for him to stand up straight.  Just as he passed out, the henchmen grabbed his other weapon and aimed it directly at Benny's head just as Sunlight and Queen Eliza tried to stop him.

"No sudden moves!"  he demanded.  Claw reached out his paws and was about to fire another bolt of electricity when it fizzled out.  Claw's eyes were also glowing heavily as Queen Eliza knelt down to him.  Without saying another word, the henchmen fired a shot up at the ceiling.  Debris fell down on top of Sunlight while Claw, which what little strength he had, wrapped his wing around Queen Eliza.  Then the henchmen dragged the unconscious beast outside of the restaurant and into the back of his van.  After Benny's body was secured down, the henchmen got into the driver's seat of the truck and drove off.

As soon as the henchmen had left, the people helped unbury Sunlight from the debris.

"Thank you, everyone," the tauren said.  Claw uncovered Queen Eliza with his wings.  He was barely able to keep his eyes open.  Sunlight helped Queen Eliza hold Claw's body up and helped him to the front exit of the restaurant.  "That creep took Benny.  Any idea who he was?"

Claw pulled the dart out from the side of his torso.  Queen Eliza looked closely at the logo imprinted on the dart.  "Gen-U-Tech."

The name rang several bells in Claw's mind.  He remembered all too well the pain and the horrors he had endured many years ago when he was first brought to Gen-U-Tech labs.  He remembered seeing the sinister face of Dr. Anton Servarius, who had injected him with a mutagenic formula.  He remembered the slow, agonizing pain of his humanity being robbed, the massive bat wings that grew out from his back and the orange and black fur that sprouted all over his body.  Even more painful than the transformation was the torture he had endured afterwards: being locked in a cage, treated like an animal and deprived of any freedom.

Before Claw had completely passed out, a fear had entered into his mind.  A fear of what might happen to Benny when he is brought to the awful place and confronted by the mad doctor.

Description
It was October 1, and the spirit of Halloween was spreading through out the city.  The heat of summer had been replaced by brisk autumn winds.   Children were picking out pumpkins to carve into Jack-o-Lanterns and costumes to wear for Trick-or-treating.  Adults were stocking up on candy to hand out to children as well as streamers, cob webbing and other Halloween decorations for their homes.

All the while, a new science lab had opened up ten blocks down the street from the LionKingHeart Fantasy Films studio.  It wasn't the type of  lab for studying computer programs, new technology, medicines or the vastness of space.  Rather, it was a genetics lab.  A sign on the roof of the building read "Gen-U-Tech."

Inside the lab, there were cages used for holding animals.  Most of the cages were the metal bars while a couple were displays with glass like the kind seen in the reptile house at the zoo.  The cages were empty, however on the table were some strands of animal fur.  In front of the table stood an average height, slightly slender Caucasian male wearing a white scientist coat, blue slacks and black leather shoes.   The expression on his face was that of a conniving man, and he had a personality to match.  In his right hand, he picked up a empty syringe and absorbed some purple chemical from a vial, which he held in his left hand.

"Dr. Sevarius," a henchman dressed in an officer's type uniform said as he approached the scientist.

"What is it?"  Sevarius ask as he continued to work without looking at the henchmen.

"We found what you were looking for."
The henchman held up an envelope.  Sevarius set his vial and syringe down, then turned around to face the henchmen and take the envelope from him.  He opened it up, and inside was a photograph, a new article that had been cut out and a plastic bag containing purple and black stands of fur.

"Perfect!" Sevarius said with a devilish grin. "Now that we have the sample, all we need is the a subject."

"Um…would there be anyone in particular?" the henchmen asked.  He began to sweat with fear.  He knew the Sevarius had a history of working with genetic manipulations with other human beings.

"Oh," the geneticist scoffed in response, "don't worry yourself.  I want to test my new formula on the original host.  If it is successful, I'll be able to create my own army of demons."

The henchmen breathed a sigh of relief.  "Finding this monster won't be hard, but bringing him her will."

"That is why you will need these."  Sevarius said as he handed his henchmen a set of tranquilizer darts and a gun with which to load them in.  "As soon as you find the creature, shoot him with one of these."

"Yes sir."

Meanwhile that afternoon, at the LionKingHeart Fantasy Films, Leo, Johnny and Rae were setting up the Halloween decorations with some help from the Madagascar team, including their three newest team members : Vitaly the Tiger, Gia the Jaguar and Stefano the Sea lion.  Using the skills they learned from Circus Americano, their new traveling all-animal performing circus, the Madagascar team set up black and orange streamers all over the outside and inside of the buildings.  At the same time, Terk, Tantor, Gantu and Genie were setting up status of some of Hollywood's scariest monsters for display while Timon and Pumbaa were tossing stick spider decors all over the walls.

"The place is looking great, guys," said Leo.

"Yeah, but we're not finished yet, "said Rae.

"Right," Johnny agreed.  "We're gonna need tons and tons of candy."

"That's for sure," Leo replied.  "Especially since you are nearly the whole batch last year."

Johnny just laughed nervously.  Talon, Maggie and Fang were hanging fake ghosts and skeletons from the ceilings of the main studio lobby and the front side of the main gate.

"How come the big guy isn't helping out," asked Fang.

"You know Queen Eliza and Claw had planned a double date with Benny and Sunlight for dinner at the River Cafe a month in advanced," Maggie replied.

"He's earned a nice break," added Talon, "and we haven't had much work ever since we moved out of the Labyrinth."

"You're telling me," Fang said.  "With everyone else from the Labyrinth getting homes rent free, compliments of your son, we haven't had anyone weak to defend."

From a few feet away, Servarius' henchmen was secretly listening to the conversation between the three mutates.  He grinned when he overheard Talon mentioning the location of the family.  He waited until the Talon, Fang and Maggie left the gate to head back inside the main lobby, then the henchmen ran to a Gen-U-Tech van that he had driven over to the lot and drove off.

At the River Café over in Brooklyn, Claw, Queen Eliza, Benny and Sunlight were sitting together at a table enjoying a nice dinner with white wine.  Claw was dressed in a fine white tuxedo with matching pants, a gold vest and light blue tie.  Queen Eliza was wearing her royal light blue garbs and shiny gold crown.  Benny was wearing a royal blue and gold tuxedo, gold vest over white silk shirt and black tight pants, just like what he wore to the ballroom dance at Prince Adam's castle in France.  Sunlight was wearing a gold elegant ball gown with silver jewelry.

"To our wonderful family," said Queen Eliza while raising her glass.  Benny, Claw and Sunlight raised their glasses as well.  "And to a wonder night out."

"Yes, this is really wonderful, your highness," said Sunlight.
"Please, call me Eliza."
"Thank you, Eliza."

The group took sips of wine from their glasses.

"You've been awfully quiet this evening, Benny," Sunlight said to her husband.

"I've just been admiring the family I have, "the beast replied, "and the time we're sharing.  This truly was a great idea, mother."

"Thank you, Benny." said the queen with a motherly smile.  "I thought we could use a family outing together since we've never done so before."

Claw simple smiled and nodded in agreement.  He turned his head to glance out the windows of the restaurant and observed the magnificent sunset over the city.   Between the restaurant and the island of Manhattan was the Hudson River.  From the view of the window, Claw could see the Brooklyn bridge the connected the two cities together.  It was a shame that once night fell over the city, the stars would be nearly impossible to see through the lights illuminated by the lights of the skyscrapers.  Nonetheless, it was really nice for Claw and his family to be seen in public without having to deal with ridicule.  He turned back to enjoy the remainder of dinner with his family.

Around the same time, the Gen-U-Tech van was recklessly speeding along the road of the Brooklyn Bridge.  The henchman swerved the van around other vehicles left and right until he had arrived at the River Café.  Picking up the tranquilizer gun, he loaded a tranquilizer dart.  Then, dressed in a black jumpsuit and mask, he exited his vehicle and cautiously made his way around the outside of the restaurant.  He peered through window after window unnoticed, and eventually spotted Benny, Sunlight, Claw and Queen Eliza at their dinning table.

"Doc, I've spotted the target," the henchmen said speaking into a mouth piece.
"Excellent," Sevarius' voice replied from ear piece.
"He's not alone."
"Then make sure no one gets in your way."
"Right."

Acting quickly, the henchmen withdrew a medium-sized blaster and fired through window glass, causing it to shatter.  At that instant, the other people screamed and hid down under their tables while Claw, Benny, Sunlight and Queen Eliza stood and faced the henchmen.

"What is the meaning of this?" the queen screamed.  "How dare you terrorize us like this!"

"Save it, queeny," the henchmen replied as he opened fire of them again.  Claw and Benny turned their tables sideways like a shield, and Sunlight and Queen Eliza tossed two plates, which hit the henchman's gun hand and knocked both the blaster and the tranquilizer gun out of his grip.  The Henchmen made a grab for his weapons, but Claw fired a bolt of electricity from his paws and shoved the guns further away from the henchmen.  Growling, Claw held his paws, surging with electricity, close to the henchmen's face.  The henchmen put his arms up in surrender.

"Time for some answers," Benny said, grabbing the henchmen by the neck.  "Why did you attack us?"
"It was a just a job," the henchmen replied.
"Then who hired you?" asked Sunlight.
"It was--," the henchmen started to say when he looked over at the corner of his eye and noticed a bottle of wine still sitting on a table.  Reacting quickly, he grabbed the bottle and smacked Benny on the side of the head with it.  Benny reacting with a painful roar, then the henchmen whirled around and did the smashed against Sunlight, and then Claw.  Queen Eliza ran up and tried to take the bottle from his hand, but the henchmen just shoved her aside.  He then picked up the tranquilizer gun and fired a dart directly at Benny.  A tranquilizer dart flew straight into Benny's neck, making him roar loudly in more pain.  Claw pounced  on the henchmen, but he fired another shot right into the mutates stomach.  Claw roared loudly and was pushed off the henchmen.

Benny stumbled as he removed the dart, but the sedative that was injected into his body started to take effect.  His eyes grew heavy and his legs wobbled, making it difficult for him to stand up straight.  Just as he passed out, the henchmen grabbed his other weapon and aimed it directly at Benny's head just as Sunlight and Queen Eliza tried to stop him.

"No sudden moves!"  he demanded.  Claw reached out his paws and was about to fire another bolt of electricity when it fizzled out.  Claw's eyes were also glowing heavily as Queen Eliza knelt down to him.  Without saying another word, the henchmen fired a shot up at the ceiling.  Debris fell down on top of Sunlight while Claw, which what little strength he had, wrapped his wing around Queen Eliza.  Then the henchmen dragged the unconscious beast outside of the restaurant and into the back of his van.  After Benny's body was secured down, the henchmen got into the driver's seat of the truck and drove off.

As soon as the henchmen had left, the people helped unbury Sunlight from the debris.

"Thank you, everyone," the tauren said.  Claw uncovered Queen Eliza with his wings.  He was barely able to keep his eyes open.  Sunlight helped Queen Eliza hold Claw's body up and helped him to the front exit of the restaurant.  "That creep took Benny.  Any idea who he was?"

Claw pulled the dart out from the side of his torso.  Queen Eliza looked closely at the logo imprinted on the dart.  "Gen-U-Tech."

The name rang several bells in Claw's mind.  He remembered all too well the pain and the horrors he had endured many years ago when he was first brought to Gen-U-Tech labs.  He remembered seeing the sinister face of Dr. Anton Servarius, who had injected him with a mutagenic formula.  He remembered the slow, agonizing pain of his humanity being robbed, the massive bat wings that grew out from his back and the orange and black fur that sprouted all over his body.  Even more painful than the transformation was the torture he had endured afterwards: being locked in a cage, treated like an animal and deprived of any freedom.

Before Claw had completely passed out, a fear had entered into his mind.  A fear of what might happen to Benny when he is brought to the awful place and confronted by the mad doctor.