Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or locations from The Gargoyles series.

Author's note: This story takes place the summer following "The Journey".

Chance Meetings

Chapter 2: Visiting Hours

By RemTar85

Daniel Sykes was bored. The eleven year old boy was in bed, staring up at the ceiling and trying to think of something to do. His room was a lot neater than usual, his comic books stashed away in a cardboard box he kept in a corner of his room. Normally he'd entertain himself by reading, but he had not bought any new comics in a couple of weeks now, and had already read all the ones he had several times. Sighing, Daniel got up and looked out his window. It was a bright summer afternoon, and Daniel could not help but feel jealous of his friends from school, all of whom were away on vacation trips with their families.

Daniel moved away from the window and opened his bedroom door. He stepped out and slowly walked towards the living room. He noticed it was quieter than usual, and upon arriving at the living room, he noticed his stepfather was not at home. Knowing this was his stepfather's day off from work, Daniel knew he would probably not return until very late, and possibly drunk. In a way, this lifted Daniel's spirits a little, as this way he could probably get to see whatever he wanted in the house's only television.

"Daniel, come over here for a second," a female voice called out. The boy quickly turned to see his mother, Carmen, stepping out of her room. She was wearing heels, a green dress, and make-up. Her long, black hair combed and looking neater than usual.

"Are you going out, Mom?" Daniel asked, walking towards her.

"Yes, honey," she replied, moving things around in her purse and making sure she had everything. "I managed to save myself a little extra money, so I'll go out with my friends. And tomorrow I'll give you some for your comic books."

"Thanks, Mom. Will you be home late?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said, giving herself another check in the mirror in the hall. "I left some food in the fridge, you can heat it up. Remember the rules?"

"Don't open the door to anybody, turn off any lights I'm not using, and be in bed by ten," Daniel said, knowing it by heart.

"Okay. I'll see you later, dear," she said, bending down to give a quick kiss to her son's forehead. She then headed out the door and closed it. Daniel quickly moved over to the door and pressed an ear against it, listening to his mother's heels echoing in the hallway, until everything was silent.

"Looks like boredom's over," Daniel said to himself with a smile. He walked to his bedroom and proceeded to change clothes as quickly as he could. After putting on long denim jeans, a bright blue T-shirt and his sneakers, he tied up a jacket around his waist by the sleeves, for later in the night. It was not often that both his mother and stepfather went out their separate ways and not set to return until late at night, so Daniel knew this was the perfect opportunity to go out.

Daniel made sure that every light in the house was turned off and all the windows closed. After that, he grabbed a spare key to the front door, then walked out of his apartment and locked the door behind him. Putting the keys in a pocket of his jeans, he walked down the stairs and out the building, setting off on foot to a nearby building and on his way to the Labyrinth.

Daniel was glad that now, on his third visit, he had memorized the way there. He had visited the Labyrinth once more only two nights after his first visit, and almost got lost trying to get there. He was lucky he bumped into a homeless lady on the way, and she accompanied him on the way there. Once again, he had spent his second visit hanging out with Claw, whom he had taken quite a liking to, and mostly just learned more about each other. He had also gotten to talk a little more to other residents of the Labyrinth and explored a little more of the place, which was a lot bigger than it seemed at first glance.

Getting to the building he had set off to, Daniel walked into the alley between it and the other building, going all the way to the back until he reached a door at the end. He entered it and walked down some stairs into what was supposed to be a basement storage room for the building above. The place was dark and empty, but Daniel could make out a door, and went through it, into a damp hallway that led to the sewers, and into a different path to the Labyrinth. Daniel was quite grateful to Claw, who had shown him this different way to get into the Labyrinth before flying him home last time, explaining that there were many ways to get to the Labyrinth if you knew were to look. Closing the door behind him, Daniel followed the dim lights and continued on his way.

"Man, this is such a drag," Fang muttered to himself, lying on his cot and staring at the ceiling of his cell. He was bored out of his mind, but then again, he was almost always bored out of his mind. Living inside a cramped little cell without the usual commodities could do that to a person, and Fang was surprised he had not snapped and gone crazy yet, or at least developed claustrophobia.

Fang sat up and just let his mind drift. The place was too quiet, and though it was good that way when he wanted to sleep, it was just uncomfortable during the time he was awake. There was no television or radio, nothing to read or even some cards to play by himself. There was nobody hanging around that he could insult and take jabs at, something that always managed to cheer him up a bit. Bored as he was and with nothing to do, Fang just began imagining all the things he would do upon finally getting out of his cell, namely the many ways he could make Talon, Claw, Maggie and the clones pay for keeping him locked up like that.

Eventually, though, after a while, even the mental images of him standing triumphantly over a beaten and bruised Talon ended up boring him as well, and with a defeated groan, he lied back down. Fortunately for him, a Labyrinth resident made his way into the cell area, and he instantly saw it as a way to fight boredom. Looking over, Fang was even more relieved to see that it was Tim, a blond-haired man in his early twenties, and one of the few people in the Labyrinth who was in speaking terms with Fang, and perhaps the only one who actually got along with the incarcerated mutate.

"Hey, Timmy, old buddy," Fang called out. "How's it hangin'?"

"Hi, Fang," the young man replied, carrying a mop and dragging a bucket full of water and floor cleaner. "Everything's okay. You holding up well in there?"

"Feeling like a zoo exhibit, as usual, just without the swimming pond," Fang replied, eyeing the mop and bucket and smirking. "Don't tell me Talon's got you in janitor duty now."

"I don't mind a little work, keeps me distracted," Tim said as he began mopping the floor in front of Fang's cell.

"Lucky you," Fang retorted in a sarcastic tone.

"Oh, and I'll bring you your dinner tonight," Tim pointed out. "Claw asked me to, since he'll be busy."

"Again?" Fang asked. "That's the third time in a week."

"Well, he's been busy with his new friend," Tim said.

Upon hearing that, Fang's ears perked up and he got up from his bed. He walked up to the clear wall of his cell and pressed his hands on it, staring out with curious eyes at the man standing on the other side.

"Busy with a friend?" Fang asked, clearly amused. "Are you telling me that Claw landed himself a girl? She must be blind, retarded or really kinky to be into that Tony the Tiger wannabe. Oh, I'm gonna get a whole lot of mileage outta this one."

Fang's comment caused Tim to chuckle, and the young man continued on his work and the conversation. "You won't get to, because it's not a girl. It's some little kid who got himself here about a week ago. He's not homeless, but he's taken to visiting now, and Claw's gotten real attached to him. Just arrived here a couple minutes ago and went straight to Claw."

"Oh, okay," Fang said, leaning against the side wall of his cell with arms crossed, apparently disappointed in the less than stellar revelation of Claw's new friend. "So Claw's gone babysitter, huh?"

"Yup," Tim replied, moving further down the hall as he mopped. "I heard Talon's not exactly thrilled about that kid visiting, though. Apparently he's worried that the kid's parents could report him missing and a big problem could go up."

Fang snorted and shook his head, his mouth curved in a smirk that did well in showing his namesake. "Talon's a worrywart in a never-ending bad mood. Kids go missing all the time, one more probably won't make a difference."

"Good point," Tim replied, almost finished with his chore. "It's probably nothing to worry about."

Elisa Maza came into the Labyrinth, hands in the pockets of her red jacket as she walked along. She smiled at a few residents who greeted her as she made her way through the main area. Soon enough, she spotted her mutated brother coming out of the hall that led to his and Maggie's bedroom, and went to greet him. Talon quickly noticed her, and the siblings smiled as they approached one another.

"Hey, sis," Talon said as he embraced her. "Always nice to see you drop by."

"And always nice to see you, too," she replied, hugging her brother as well. "It's my night off, so I came by to extend an invitation."

"Oh? Where to?"

"Mom, Dad and Beth got together for dinner tonight, and I'm on my way to join them," Elisa explained. "They wanted to know if you, Maggie and Claw wanted to join in."

"Wow," Talon said with a smile on his face, "Sure has been some time since we had a big family dinner. I'm definitely going, and I'm sure Maggie will want to as well. But I doubt Claw will be going."

"Really? That's a shame," she said, "especially since he really loves mom and dad's homemade cooking."

"And who doesn't?" Talon replied with a smile. "Claw's spending time with his little buddy. Check over there."

Elisa's gaze turned to where her brother pointed. Further along the main area of the Labyrinth, Claw was sitting on the floor, with a brown-haired boy sitting across from him. A chess board was on top of a box between mutate and boy, as Claw was pointing out the way that the different pieces of the game moved across the board.

"That's Daniel, the little kid I mentioned on the message I left in your answering machine," Talon explained.

"I see," Elisa said. "And like you said, you're worried that his visits could cause problems, right?"

"Right," Talon answered. "This is the third time he drops by in one week. I don't want to come across as paranoid, but you can never be too sure."

"You were a cop, Derek, you can never be too paranoid," Elisa said with a smile. "You mentioned in your message that he looks healthy and there aren't signs of any physical abuse. But if it makes you feel better, I could always ask Claw for the boy's address and drop by from time to time to check up on him."

Talon smiled and put an arm around Elisa's shoulders. "Thanks, Elisa," he said. "I appreciate it, and I owe you one."

"Let me have the biggest piece of Mom's pie and we call it even," Elisa said with a wink.

Talon's eyes went wide at this statement, but he then smirked at his sister. "Let you have the biggest piece? Of Mom's homemade blueberry pie? I'm sorry, sis, but you'll have to call it even on something else."

"Can't blame me for trying," Elisa said with a chuckle, but then quickly became serious once more. "And by the way, Xanatos asked me to let you know he'll send a new shipment of boxes of bottled water tomorrow to the usual entrance, so you'll be sure to pick it up."

"Oh," Talon muttered with a slight growl, "little earlier than usual, I see. Fine, I'll take Claw and some others to pick them up."

Elisa sighed and patted her brother's shoulders. "I know you hate having to accept Xanatos's help," she said. "I don't like it either, but at least he's providing the people down here with food and water once or twice a week."

"Yes, I know," Talon grumbled. "I'd rather him keep everything and choke on it, but it's best to not look a gift horse in the mouth. As long as it helps the residents here, I can look past my personal feelings towards Xanatos."

"That's good to hear," Elisa said, her smile returning. "How about we go look for Maggie then? We don't want to be late for dinner."

"Sure," Talon said. "But first let's tell Claw where we'll be."

Elisa nodded, and she and her brother made their way towards Claw. The tiger mutate and his young companion had gone from the explanation of how the game was played and into the boy's first real game. They had only just begun before Claw's attention was diverted, noticing Talon and Elisa approaching. Claw smiled and greeted Elisa with a wave, just as the siblings stopped beside them.

Upon arriving, Talon looked down at the boy. "Daniel," he said, "I want you to meet my sister, Elisa Maza."

"Nice to meet you, ma'am," Daniel said. "Claw told me about you, he said you're a detective. So you get to check crime scenes and catch bad guys often?"

"That's right," Elisa replied.

"That's way cool," Daniel said with a smile. "It's nice to meet you."

"Thank you," Elisa said, also smiling. "And I've heard how you and Claw have become good friends. You know, since you don't live down here, I'm sure Claw would appreciate it if you had someone up there to check up on you, just in case. How about you hand me your address, and I give you a number that you can use to reach me if you ever need anything?"

Daniel looked over at Claw after hearing the detective's proposal, and his friend smiled and nodded. "Sure, Ms. Maza," he said.

"Good," Talon said. "You can write down the address, leave it in my room and Elisa will pick it up later. Mom and Dad invited us to dinner at their place, Claw, so the two of us and Maggie will be going. We'll be back later, so keep an eye out for things, okay?"

Claw nodded and gave Talon a thumbs-up. He then picked up his notepad and pencil, and wrote a note for Talon. "Don't worry about a thing. I got everything covered and most of the people already ate. You guys enjoy your dinner."

Talon read the note, smiled and nodded. "Right," he said. "We'll be going now. You two enjoy your game."

They each gave their farewells, and the siblings made their way to look for Talon's mate. Claw then looked back down at the chess board, as it was still his move. He picked up a black-colored pawn and moved it a space ahead, then looked over at his young friend. Claw's expression changed into a curious one as Daniel looked a distance away, where Talon and Elisa were talking to Maggie. He then looked back at Claw, noticing his quizzical expression.

"I can see who got the good looks in the family," Daniel said with a chuckle.

Claw rolled his eyes and shook his head, but he also smiled. His expression changed to a playful frown, as he reached to the boy's head with a large hand and messed up his hair. Claw then pointed at the chess set and at Daniel, indicating that it was Daniel's turn to move.

"Okay, okay, I'm playing," Daniel said, chuckling once more and returning to the game.

The chess game lasted less than fifteen minutes, and it was most obvious to Daniel that Claw had let him win on purpose. Daniel didn't mind that, however, as he was glad that Claw had taken the time to teach him how to play the game. As they put away the chess set, Daniel pondered on what to do next, as he knew he still had at least a couple of hours before either his mother or stepfather would return home.

"How about we go out?" Daniel asked. "Maybe I can go into a store and buy us some snacks?"

Claw perked his ears upon hearing this. He looked down at the boy with a sympathetic expression, then rubbed his index and middle finger against his thumb, shook his head, and shrugged. Daniel looked disappointed as he quickly understood the meaning.

"Oh, right, I forgot," he said. "No money."

Claw knelt down and patted the boy's shoulders, then took his notepad and in it wrote and handed a note to the boy, who read it quickly. "How about we check the kitchen then? There should be some snacks lying around. We can go get some for ourselves another night."

"Sounds good," Daniel said, putting the note in a pocket of his pants.

Claw smiled and motioned for Daniel to follow. They had almost reached the kitchen area when, among the crowd of Labyrinth dwellers, an old man emerged, heading quickly towards Claw. Both mutate and child noticed him, and Daniel recognized him as a man named Al, whom Claw had explained was one of the first people who came to populate the Labyrinth, and was highly trusted by the mutates.

"Here you are, Claw," Al said, sounding a little out of breath. "We got a bit of a problem. Malibu and Hollywood, they went wandering off again without anyone watching over them. Thought I'd come get you so we can round them up before they get in big trouble."

Claw nodded at this, looking rather frustrated. He got along well with the clones, but they could be difficult at times. Claw was about to go, but then looked down at Daniel, took his notepad and quickly wrote down. "Sorry about this, Daniel. You want to come along, or would you rather stay?"

"No, thanks, Claw," Daniel said. "You go ahead, I'd only slow you down. I'll be fine here, and I think you can catch them in time to return and fly me home. Right?"

Claw smiled and nodded at his young friend, then quickly rushed off after Al, who was already waiting for Claw by the door. Daniel saw the tiger mutate disappear out the large door, then he sighed softly and looked around, wondering what he could do to distract himself while Claw returned. Normally he would have accompanied Claw, but decided against it upon hearing that he was going in search of Malibu and Hollywood. Having met the clones during his second visit to the Labyrinth, Daniel found them rather creepy, seeing in them a more menacing appearance than the mutates, and their strange demeanor did nothing to ease him up, not even after Claw had thoroughly explained why the clones behaved the way they did.

Daniel decided to walk around the Labyrinth, hoping that there could be more areas in it that Claw had yet to show him. Daniel found the Labyrinth to be one of the most interesting places he had ever seen, literally an underground tenement with no charging of rent. He had seen lavatories, places where people slept, storage rooms, and the kitchen. Yet, Claw had explained to him that before they inhabited it, the Labyrinth had actually been some sort of research facility, and Daniel wondered what else could be around. He decided to go to the kitchen and have those snacks ready by the time Claw returned. He made his way back to the kitchen area, but stopped when he saw a man he had not met yet step out with a tray of food and a drink. Daniel's gaze followed the blond-haired man for a moment as he was about to go into the kitchen, but then he stopped as he noticed the man turn into a corridor where Daniel had never been into.

The boy remembered on his second visit how he had asked Claw if he could go see what was in there, but Claw had refused. He had asked Claw why he wanted to keep that corridor off-limits to him, and the mutate's explanation had been quite simple, in that there were cells down that corridor where they kept someone as an inmate. Claw had not given Daniel any further details, and Daniel decided to not pursue it. However, watching the man with the tray of food, he knew it was that inmate's dinner, and Daniel's curiosity quickly got the better of him. Looking back to make sure that nobody watched him, he walked away from the kitchen and into the corridor that led to the cells.

A moment after he had gone there, he turned a corner and noticed a row of cells down a hallway, much like a common jail. The blonde man was closing a door, which Daniel was intrigued to see was perfectly transparent. The door closed with a firm sound that indicated it had locked properly, and the man smiled.

"I managed to sneak you in a cold soda tonight," the blonde man said.

"Thanks, Tim," a voice came from inside the cell. "It's a lot better than water all the time."

"Sorry for not getting anything better to eat," Tim said.

"Ah, forget it," the cell's occupant replied. "I've never met anybody who could do anything to make leftover meatloaf taste halfway decent, anyway."

"Okay. I'll see you another time, then," Tim said, walking away. Daniel was quick to pull back, crouch and press himself against the wall. It was one of the times he was thankful for being small for his age, as the man turned the corner and walked by without noticing the boy.

Finding himself in the clear, Daniel stood up and turned into the hallway with the cells. He walked slowly along until he reached the cell with transparent walls, at the farthest end of the hall. He was intrigued as he watched the cell's occupant eating his meal with his hands, and recognized him immediately as a mutate, just like Claw, Talon and Maggie. This mutate had brown fur with a little extra fluff on what seemed to be his sideburns, and he wore a sleeveless white t-shirt, blue shorts and black wrist pads. Daniel's curiosity grew, as Claw had mentioned a fourth mutate to him, but never went into any details about him. Though he knew he shouldn't, the boy wanted to find out more about him, and he neared the transparent cell wall.

"Excuse me, sir?" he called out, knocking on the wall a couple of times, like he would a normal door.

The mutate in the cell did not look up at him after that call. Daniel heard the mutate sigh in a rather exasperated way, and saw as the feline humanoid put down his dish. Taking the can of soda, he took a quick gulp and set the can back down, as well as his plate of food. A frown was easily noticeable on his feline face.

"I thought I've told you kids before," he said, wiping his hands clean with a small kitchen towel he had on the cot he was sitting, "this isn't a zoo, and I'm sick and tired of…"

The mutate stopped speaking suddenly, a moment after he had looked up and taken a clear look at the boy who called out to him. The expression on the brown-furred mutate's face was one of confusion as he slowly stood up, and Daniel was confused as well, wondering why this imprisoned mutate was looking at him so strangely. Suddenly, the mutate's yellow eyes opened wider and he quickly walked to the transparent wall. Daniel was startled by the sudden move and backed up a couple of steps, watching as the mutate knelt down and continued staring.

"Daniel? Is that you?" the mutate asked, his expression changing, a smile forming.

"Uh… yeah," he said, a little hesitant to reply to the unknown mutate. "Did Claw tell you my name?"

"You gotta be kidding me," the mutate said, chuckling now. "It actually is you, Danny Boy."

Daniel found himself surprised now, looking at the now excited mutated with confusion. "Excuse me?" he said. "Nobody ever calls me Danny Boy. My uncle was the only one who ever got away with calling me that."

"And what do you think I am, chopped liver?" the mutate said with a big grin. "It's me, kiddo! Uncle Freddy!"

To be continued…