Labyrinth
Chapter 2: Prodigal
By Inspiration!
Disclaimer: The Gargoyles animated series, including the Goliath Chronicles, is the property of the Walt Disney Company and its affiliate Buena Vista. The Characters of the Gargoyles Saga are the creations of TGS staff and are used on the condition of creative acknowledgement. The mentioned character Radar is originally from TGC episode _Runaways_. The actors' voices for my characters are not associated with me nor the original show and are only people I hear for my characters, like Greg Weisman did for the original show. No infringement is intended here nor authorized by the copyholders, this author only writes fan fiction for fun and entertainment for the love of this wonderful series. All original characters are the property of the fan fiction author Inspiration!
Author's note: This is part 2 of the spin off series. This story begins were _What Lies Beneath_ left off and takes place one night after the events of _We Live Again: 11. Wisdom_, and before _12. Bronx's Rumble in the Bronx_. For the character AJ, hear the voice of Ashton Kutcher.
****Previously on Labyrinth. . .
A place once used for scientific research by a sci-fi sounding company called Cyberbiotics had been abandoned for reasons AJ did not know nor cared about and had become grungy and uninhabitable. Now the place had undergone a major face lift within just a few years, and even allowed the cat people a sense of home comfort in a place they called the 'Sanctuary.'
Yet despite at seeing all of this, AJ felt greatly out of place.
"I wouldn't exactly say that everything down here is 'normal,' considering some of the residents and the company they keep." AJ
"You can say whatever you want about me and the Labyrinth, kid, it's a free country and you're free to express your opinion. But disrespect of any kind towards me or any of the residents has limited tolerance down here. Mind what you say to others, or that mouth of yours will get you into real trouble." Talon
"Yeah, you say that I'm free to say whatever I want, Cat Man, but not whatever I want to *do*, since being dropped in this dump all you've tried to do is tell me what I can and can't do and I'm sick of it. You say I'm free to be myself down here, but all you've done is tried to put me down." AJ
"If you don't like it here, you're free to leave. No one will stop you." Talon
"Maybe I'll do just that," AJ shot back, "But, I doubt you mean it. Once a cop, always a cop. I don't need this shit, I'm outta here."
On the other side of the Community Room, AJ had found himself nearly ambushed by the green creature with a huge snout called Malibu.
"Say, green bean? How would you like to help me with bringing a little more sophistication to the new Game Room? We can split 50-50, or maybe 70-30." AJ
"My name Malibu. Yes, I help, because being gargoyle and living in Labyrinth mean I and my brothers help people." Malibu
"Great. Good to know you're on board, partner. But, before we get started, tell me about the tan white haired chick like you, is she available?" AJ
"There's more than enough evidence against you, AJ, to show you were behind the larceny and money laundering." Talon
"Get real, panther man, I've gone through worse than that little slap on the wrist. It's not like I can't handle a few days in jail, so go ahead and throw me into the damn clink like you're goin' to anyway. So do your worse, there's nothin' you can do that'll scare me." AJ
"Fine, then, community service it is." Talon
"If you still consider him your friend, Malibu, then do just that, be his friend. He definitely needs one. Spend time with him, talk with him and get to know him, and encourage him to spend time with Delilah and your brothers. Maybe he'll learn that the best way to have a friend is to be a friend." Talon to Malibu
"Fine, Xanatos, I'll play along and see what I can do. But if anything dangerous happens to any of my charges" The panther mutate held up a razor sharp clawed finger to the dark haired industrialist's face right in his line of sight, but Xanatos continued to stand with confident arrogance and didn't even flinch "I will personally hold you responsible, and don't expect money to solve everything because people down here expect more than just financial compensation. I also want to know what this is all really about, because I don't like being kept in the dark and I know there's more to this than what you're telling me." Talon to Xanatos
"For now it's all only on a need to know basis, but I can tell you yes, it's supposed to be a trap as well as a fundraising benefit for the Labyrinth. But the trap is for those who mean to do deception towards my company and the city. But if you're worried I'm not on the up and up, Talon, if it puts your mind at ease Captain Chavez is going to be there, too, if you knowing someone you once trusted will be there to 'keep an eye on me.'" Xanatos
"Anyway, anything you can find out, even if it's just rumor I want to know about immediately." Xanatos
"Yeah, yeah," Talon groaned, "keep my ears to the ground about any criminal threats to your party at the museum."
AJ had run down a dark tunnel he had come to know down here and kept running until he found a man hole he could climb to. He peeked through the open hole in the street and saw he was not far from a part of the city he had known for a long time.
He didn't even bother to replace the manhole cover as he ran down the dark and deserted city street, and didn't even look back.
"Still, Talon, lad, I say ye find AJ soon for he may be a troublesome miscreant but he'd best be safest down here with ye and yer clan, before danger befalls him or he brings it ta ye should he be unwittingly followed," Hudson said.
He did not feel liberated until he begin to walk through more familiar backstreets, an arrogant smile coming to his chiseled face as he then spotted the best thing he had seen in weeks.
"Yeah, dog, where'd ya disappears to? You've been missin' out on some weirdin' out but bitchin' stuff happenins on the street." Greaser
"Really, like what, Dudes?" AJ inquired, his curiosity piqued.
"Like this rad new dope that's goin' around call 'Scura or somethin'. Word on the street is it's not only the best but it gives ya these weird abilities." Buster
Greaser gave a smug smile and just placed a grimy hand upon a nearby wall.
At first nothing happened for a microsecond, but then Greaser's hand suddenly seemed to secrete a slick oily substance as he slipped his hand across the rotten wall, the substance dissolved and ate through the brick like a powerful hydrochloric acid with a low hiss and evaporating wispy tendrils. AJ could only stare on in wide eyed disbelief and dumbfounded as he dropped his still wisping cigarette to the ground, words clearly escaped him.
"The biggest problem right now is we've been forced to pay back Radar with the money we can get, and he's got a ton o' the stuff. So until we've paid him back in full for losin' his so-called precious 'merchandise' we're sunk. It's gonna take a crap load o' money to pay that bastard back and he won't give nothin' to us 'til he gets his money." Travis
"And I still owe that sonovabitch Nielson a butch o' money, too. So we're all in the same boat. So what're we gonna do, guys? There's gotta be a quick way to get cash and out o' the thumbs of those pricks, and I don't wanna owe nobody nothin'." AJ
"I might know a way to solve all our problems. That hidden place I know is owned by that rich dude, Xanatos, and I overheard him talkin' about throwin' a party at a museum, and you can bet your ass a bunch o' the richest and phoniest snobs and higher ups in the city'll be there. We hit them quick and hard and we'd be set for life." AJ
The others agreed as AJ said, "From what I can make out Xanatos' shindig is tomorrow night at the Museum of the City of New York. Damn, there's another problem."
"What?"
"Not only are there gonna be rich people there, I think this says he's gettin' donations from police departments, which means cops bein' there."
"No prob, AJ. It just means we're gonna need some help. Let's go find some more o' our old buds and see if they'd like to crash the party with us. I'm sure they'll want in, and somebody's gotta know about where to get some serious firepower, 'cause we're gonna need it." AJ and Travis
The strangely shaped silhouette then made its way down an underground tunnel to tell Talon what he had seen.
(Labyrinth: Ch. 1. What Lies Beneath)
****The Sanctuary, 2 hours later.
Talon had been awoken very early that morning to find Al had something to report to him about AJ. What he had been told didn't sit well with him and he knew he had little time to think of a form of action to prevent a potential crisis that could reveal the Labyrinth and its inhabitants, and bring AJ back.
Reluctantly, the first thing he had done was have Maggie call the Eyrie Building for Xanatos' private number and let him know what he had heard and to keep it under the radar for now because this was just a group of misguided and trouble making hooligans out for a big score.
Speaking of which, what also greatly bothered him was the mention of these street youths possibly working for this Radar, a gang leader Talon had only heard of and knew by reputation from various police files and word of mouth. It was said this Radar was a dangerous and notorious leader of an underworld black market ring that smuggled and sold everything from illegal drugs and military level weapon arms to stolen technology, precious art and jewels, and possibly even some form of human trafficking. If any of the other gangs wanted something smuggled or illegally bought and didn't want revealed to the authorities, Radar was the middleman to go to.
It was even said he guarded his real name and identity so fiercely, he may have at some point destroyed his own birth certificate to erase any sign of a past and to this day there was little to no record of who Radar really was.
But this was only one part of a much larger problem; one Talon began to think he may have little choice but to seek outside help from.
However, he was not about to seek help from his gargoyle allies above and involve them in what was clearly a Labyrinth Clan matter, as the two clans' priorities differed and rarely aligned and this left one other solution; Talon decided he needed help from his former commanding officer, Captain Maria Chavez.
As extremely reluctant as he was to call Chavez, his long dormant and nearly stagnant from infrequent use 'cop instinct' now shouted at him to do the most obvious and inarguably right thing to do; call the police.
Although he could understand at times, and even now more than ever, why a lot of people were fearful of calling the police or other authorities and informing them about crimes and many other misdemeanors, something in Talon's gut was telling him to do it but he was not entirely sure why. Perhaps because Xanatos had mentioned, if way too casually, she was going to be at his party and Chavez was just the logical choice; perhaps because Maggie has had too much of an effect on him with her simple common sense and black and white views of how problems should be resolved without violence, one of the many reasons he loved her, and this was one of those times when just calling the police made the most sense; or perhaps it was also because he knew the time has come to inform his former commanding officer of what had happened to him and he had put it off long enough.
He hesitated for only a few more seconds before he finally dialed Captain Chavez's personal home number, at least what he remembered what it had been before his change in careers and he hoped to God it was the right one.
As what seemed passed for the hundredth ring, Talon held his breath waiting for Chavez to answer and did not doubt she would be none too happy at being awakened at a time irritating telemarketers from the other side of the world usually called. Then again, being a police captain did often mean very unusual hours, especially for the night shift.
Someone finally answered on the other end as a groggy and grumpy sounding male voice answered, "Hello?"
"Hello? Could I speak with Captain Chavez, please? It's very important," Talon answered.
"Are you one of her officers?" the man on the other end asked, sounding both more cooperative and a little suspicious.
"I was, I'm Derek Maza; I used to be a helicopter pilot at the station with Captain Chavez."
He briefly heard shuffling or other indistinguishable sounds as the phone was passed to Chavez and she answered, "Hello? Derek, is it really you? I haven't heard from you since the Phoenix Rising crisis."
"Yeah, it's been a while, Captain. Listen, I really need to talk to you, but there's going to be a lot of long stories and explaining for you to understand what's going on, because what I have to tell you is extremely complicated."
"Why? What's going on, Derek, and why should it be so complicated?"
Talon gave a deep growled sigh, this was a moment he tried to mentally and emotionally prepare for since being told about AJ and his street friends' planned party crashing, an issue he had long avoided but now can no longer put off.
"I have information that there might be a robbery at Xanatos' charity party tonight, and the gang of robbers may include a young man from the homeless shelter I run. The gang he's running around with may work for the notorious crime lord Radar and I have reason to fear their actions will endanger those under my protection if AJ leads his friends to the shelter with Radar not too far behind them."
"Thanks for the tip, Derek," Chavez said, "and if you're worried about criminal attacks or reprisals I can assign a few officers for police protection, for old time's sake."
"No!" Talon blurted out but tried to calm down, "No, thank you, Captain, but it's for everyone's safety the shelter's location is kept secret."
On the other end, at her home Captain Chavez's brow furrowed a bit with suspicion and confusion.
"Why, Derek, what's going on? Is that homeless shelter of yours involved in something illegal?"
Talon could only tense a bit as he said hesitantly, "Not exactly, Captain. Let's just say there're a lot of things down here that are seen as. . .extremely _unusual_ and won't be easily accepted by most people in regular society."
Chavez raised an eyebrow as she said, "I'd been enlightened to some of the _unusual_ a couple of months ago. Does it have anything to do with that?"
"In a way."
Chavez tapped a finger in thought for a moment as she then said, "Okay, Derek, if this is something you want off the books, I'll be sure you remain anonymous. But, it sounds like you have more to tell me."
"Yeah, a lot more, but I can't risk discussing it over the phone."
"Alright, where do you want to meet in person?"
A long silence passed when Derek did not answer, Chavez wondered for a moment if he was even still on the phone.
"Somewhere from a time before the unusual blew up in our faces," Talon finally said, hoping his former captain would understand.
They agreed on the meeting place, and Chavez told Talon to meet her there ASAP, but as Talon hung up his phone he could only brood about what he had just set in motion. However, he was seeing little other choice.
Before he allowed himself to hesitate anymore, he left Claw in charge of the Labyrinth as he set out to his meeting in ever increasing broad daylight.
