Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or locations from Gargoyles, those belong to their owners.

Author's note: This story takes place the summer following "The Journey", and though it ignores the comic's continuity, I'm using Fang's real name, revealed in Bad Guys #2.

Chance Meetings

Chapter 11: Fight or Flight

by Remtar85

It had not taken long for Talon and Claw to meet up with Goliath's clan after leaving the vicinity of the building Daniel Sykes lived in. The whole clan, minus Bronx, had shown up for patrol during this evening, and the group came to a quick concensus over their patrol duties. The group of eight went about dividing themselves into teams of two, and soon enough, they were all soaring through the evening skies in search of Fang, as well as stopping any crime they came across.

Talon had not actually gone out on patrol with the gargoyles before, nor any kind of patrol in general since he had become mutated. Though they had not found Fang during these patrols, they had managed to stop a few crimes, mostly muggers. Talon found himself rather enjoying the fact that he was doing good beyond helping the people in the Labyrinth, and helping catch criminals brought him back to his days as a police officer, and he figured he could get used to going out on patrol like the gargoyles did.

However, at the moment, he had other things of importance to take care of. As the group had divided into pairs, Talon decided to stick with Goliath, while Claw had gone off with Brooklyn. The mutate leader had to report to Goliath what had happened earlier, and he could not do that with Claw around, and thus Talon quickly filled Goliath in.

"So, it seems Fang really has hidden at his nephew's apartment," Goliath said as he and Talon glided around the skies, eyes open for trouble. "Quite risky, yet effective at the same time."

"Yeah. He could get discovered by Daniel's mother or stepfather, but he also has the advantage of keeping Daniel with him, knowing we can't go after him like that," Talon replied. "And it's not like Elisa can go check up on Daniel there either. There's no telling what Fang would do if that happened."

"I agree. For the moment, perhaps it would be best to simply keep an eye on the building itself, from a distance. We could see when either Fang or Daniel would go out, and act accordingly. We could begin tomorrow night, as Fang will surely be on his guard at this moment," Goliath suggested.

"Sounds good to me. And we do have the advantage that he probably doesn't know we've learned of his relation to Daniel."

"Indeed. I assume Claw still suspects nothing?" the gargoyle leader asked. Elisa had told him that she went to Claw and told him the child Fang had "abducted" had shown up at the precinct unharmed and Elisa had dealt with the situation so nothing bad had happened. And even though Claw had lightened up considerably since then, it was clear to Goliath that both Elisa and her younger sibling really disliked having to lie to their friend.

"No, he doesn't. I feel terrible about keeping him in the dark, but I admit I'm afraid of how he could react if he ever found out, considering everything he's been through," Talon said.

"I do understand your desire for helping him, Talon, even if it means lying to him," Goliath said. "I admit I did the same to Elisa, back when you and I were not in friendly terms. I didn't want to see her hurt by learning you were living at the Eyrie, so I opted to lie to her."

"Well, you eventually found yourself having to tell her. So I wonder if I can keep this from Claw forever," Talon said, sighing. "I do hope he trusts us enough someday to tell us more about him. I mean, he's never told any of us about his past before being mutated. I really think he's the one who got most affected by it, even more than me and Maggie, but I don't know if his never speaking is out of physical trauma from the mutation, if it's psychological, or if he can actually talk and just refuses to for whatever reason. Claw's like family, and I trust him. I just wish I knew him better."

That was something that Goliath did not know how to reply to, and the leaders of their respective clans continued their patrol.

Fang found himself not just nervous, but downright scared, as the hooded figures approached him and Demona, cornering them in the alley. Deep down, he thought how ironic it was. It was his first time seeing these Quarrymen, and now that he had, he thought that if the circumstances were different, he would have found them utterly ridiculous. Their outfits and sledgehammers and the fact that they hunted for gargoyles, it was laughable. But now, cornered in an alley by a group of well armed Quarrymen, they looked genuinely threatening to the mutate.

"Fuck, fuck fuck," he uttered, hands clenched into fists. "Don't have much juice left, can't zap 'em all..."

"No matter how much you have, you will not use your electricity on them," Demona snarled under her breath, as the Quarrymen drew closer. "I don't need Quarrymen thinking that gargoyles can produce electricity. They learn and adapt."

"But..."

"FIRE," a loud voice rang out, one of the Quarrymen in the rooftops shouting the order.

It happened too fast. The sound of lasers filled the alley, and Fang was almost hit. He threw himself onto the ground with a panicked yelp, and quickly crawled behind a dumpster, where Demona was already taking refuge. The mutate and gargoyle remained crouched as laser fire rained around them, the dumpster offering little protection, Fang having to make do being crouched down to the floor behind Demona, the lasers barely missing him.

"They even have laser guns?" Fang spoke in disbelief. "How the hell do we get out of this?!"

"I could care less about you, but unfortunately, I might need your help," Demona said, more angry than panicked, since she likely wouldn't be in this situation had the mutate not distracted her earlier. As far as she was concerned, Fang could be nothing more than bait for the Quarrymen, so long as she managed to escape. If she was stuck with him, she might as well take advantage.

"Okay, okay, what can I do?" Fang asked, still visibly panicked.

"They're using the ones in the fire escapes and rooftops to shoot at us, and the ones down in the alley are there to prevent us from escaping," Demona explained, quickly assessing the situation. "When I say so, follow my lead."

"Okay, got it."

Demona decidedly put her hand behind the dumpster and with a tug, turned it to face the Quarrymen in the alley, the back of the dumpster now facing her. The dumpster was heavy, but it has wheels, making it easy for her to move. The gargate quickly dashed to the back of the dumpster and pressed her hands against it.

"Now!" she yelled at Fang.

The mutate's ears perked up as realization hit him. He knew what Demona was planning, and he quickly jumped up and joined her behind the dumpster. Together, they pushed hard and began running, the dumpster picking up speed, managing to protect them from the lasers as they ran. The two heard the Quarrymen shout, and could see them against the walls of the alley, having moved out of the way as their winged prey barreled past them. Before the Quarrymen could react, Demona and Fang had managed to get out of the alley, the dumpster crashed against the side of a parked car, while nearby people screamed in surprise.

Before the dumpster crashed, though, Demona jumped over it, on top of the car, then took a mighty leap that took her almost to the other side of the street, startled pedestrians getting out of her way and cars honking as she passed before them. Fang, however, was not as quick to react, his panic clouding his quick feline reflexes, and when the dumpster hit the car, Fang crashed against the dumpster, falling back onto the sidewalk, people staring at him from a distance, far enough to avoid the happenings of the alley but close enough to try to satisfy their curiosity.

"Oh, fuck!" Fang exclaimed as he quickly stood up and ran, catching a sight of Demona entering an alley across the street. The mutate dashed after her, avoiding cars but thankfully not pedestrians on the opposite sidewalk, as they had already moved out of the way when Demona passed them by.

"Whoa! Excuse me, sorry, coming through!" Fang shouted as he weaved around honking cars and finally managed to cross the street and enter the alley.

Fortunately, he noticed, the Quarrymen did not shoot at him, and he knew then that they would not dare open fire onto a crowded street full of innocent civilians. That being said, peeking back, Fang saw the Quarrymen exit the alley and chase after them, crossing the street, and prompting the cougar man to run again. He looked up and could see Demona already well on her way up a building, climbing it on the side. Fearing that he'd fall behind, Fang ran as fast as he could and leaped up onto a fire escape, making his way up it as fast as he could, grumbling and cursing that his claws were not as sharp as gargoyle claws, and thus he could not climb up the side of buildings.

By the time he was high enough to leap off of the fire escape and soar above the building, he had expected Demona to already be long gone. But to his surprise, she was engaged in combat with a quartet of Quarrymen, growling as she evaded the attacks of their electrified sledgehammers. Fang figured these ones might have been waiting just in case, and that there might be others in nearby rooftops too. Normally it would be at a point like this that Fang would escape and save himself, but this time would be an exception, as he still needed to get on Demona's good graces. And while the gargate was not doing badly at all, she was still outnumbered.

"Might as well start that job interview," Fang said to himself as he flapped his wings and flew down, picking up speed as he went. He targeted the tallest of the Quarrymen, and before anyone could react, Fang flew into him, tackling him down, the hooded man sliding several feet before he came to a stop, groaning in pain, Fang on top of him.

"My ribs! You broke my ribs, you freak!" the Quarryman managed to utter, the pain evident in his voice as his attacker got off of him.

"Hey, you wanna hunt me down, then them's the breaks," Fang said with a smirk, getting up and off of the fallen man. Glancing to the side to see Demona had taken advantage of his actions to attack the other Quarrymen, having knocked out a female one. However, he could hear other Quarrymen approaching up the fire escape. "Damn. Better take these guys out and get out of here fast."

Fang had just finished his sentence when several more Quarrymen managed to make it to the rooftop. Barely even thinking, Fang's hand flew down, grabbing the fallen Quarryman's sledgehammer as a particularly fast and athletic Quarryman rushed him. One swing of the hammer was all it took for the hooded man to go down, clutching his ribs and crying in pain like his fallen companion. Fang took the moment to look around, watching as Demona had dispatched the initial attackers and immediately pounced on more, all while the faint sound of a helicopter reached Fang's ears.

"Shit," he snarled, knowing that if it wasn't a news copter, then it was more Quarrymen. Fang could see these Quarrymen were still carrying their laser guns, and likely were not using them because they were afraid to hit each other in such close combat quarters, but would certainly have no issue using them to shoot at Fang and Demona if they tried to flee. Whether he liked it or not, the mutate knew they had to take all their attackers out, before the helicopter arrived.

Growling loudly, the mutate joined the fray near Demona, swinging the sledgehammer he had taken, but the Quarrymen were able to dodge his attack. Demona growled as well, her eyes glowing red as she and Fang were now back to back, surrounded by Quarrymen, all well armed, ready to attack. No words needed to be exchanged, they knew the stakes and that they needed to leave fast. A female Quarryman initiated the attack, approaching and swinging, Fang and Demona dodging with ease, but it got them in the path of the others, who started to attack as well. It was easy to see these people had not just been planning that ambush for Demona, they had been training to fight as well.

Demona used her agility to weave and bob around her attackers, putting her tail and claws to good use, slashing at them and tripping them. Fang, meanwhile, used the sledgehammer in his hands to block and parry the attacks as best he could while evading others, the mutate thankful for his quick reflexes. And as he dodged and attacked, he felt one of his fingers bump against a switch on the sledgehammer's handle. Without thinking it twice he pressed it, and the hammer became alight with electricity. The Quarrymen gasped and now took greater efforts to dodge Fang's attacks, which perked his curiosity.

"Hey, Demona!" he shouted out. "How strong is the charge on these things?"

"They were designed to destroy us in our stone sleep!" Demona replied as she furiously slashed a muscular Quarryman on one of his arms, making him cry out in pain and drop his hammer.

Demona's reply brought a sudden memory to Fang's mind, from just a short time before he glimpsed Demona that very evening, when he practiced harnessing his electricity in one punch. Remembering the results of that, Fang quickly formulated an idea. Grinning, he kept swinging the electrically charged hammer in wide arcs as he backed away from the Quarrymen and towards Demona, swinging the hammer at her attackers too, making them back off, while the injured Quarrymen had backed away to not be a hindrance to their comrades.

"What are you doing?" Demona asked as Fang got in front of her.

"Head to the edge of the building, I'll take 'em down," Fang said as he was getting surrounded. "Just stay behind me and get ready to glide."

Demona scoffed, smirking behind Fang's back. "Have it your way," she said, doing as he suggested. If he wanted to use himself as bait, she was quite fine with it.

"Alright, you jerks! Think you can get me? Come on!" Fang hollered, backing away quickly.

"You monsters won't get away!" one of the Quarrymen shouted at them.

A female Quarryman spoke next as Fang kept backing up, his body shielding Demona. "They're going to try making a run for it!"

"We got them cornered," shouted a third. "Use your lasers!"

This was the moment Fang waited for. The Quarrymen quickly reached for their laser guns to shoot at their prey, but Fang's reaction was much quicker, lifting the sledgehammer high above his head with both arms, electricity still crackling from it. And before they could point and shoot, Fang struck, inspiration coming to him from hours of reading comic books with his nephew while hiding out at his place.

"HAVE AT THEE!"

After that loud shout, Fang brought the hammer down, striking the roof they stood on as hard as he could. The effect was instantaneous, the roof starting to crumble under their feet. Everybody stumbled, but while Demona and Fang were quick enough to jump back and away, the Quarrymen were not as fast, shouting as the roof fell under their feet, sending them all falling down on a heap. Fang could hear surprised yells from the people inside the building, peeking down to check the scene. Surprisingly, nobody inside had gotten hurt, Fang thinking that, likely, the few seconds in which the roof crumbled before falling giving those inside the time necessary to move away. The Quarrymen were all strewn over the debris, grunting in pain.

"Fuck yeah!" exclaimed Fang, a big grin on his face.

Very proud that his plan had worked, he turned back, only to catch a glimpse of Demona already jumping over the side of the building and gliding away. Fang did not hesitate, clicking on the hammer's switch to shut the electricity off, then following after her, and out the corner of his eye, he could see the helicopter closing in, and it definitely did not look like a news one to him.

"Whew! Just in time," he said to himself as he flew away after the gargate, the mutate now smiling broadly. "Heh. Have at thee. Man, that was a good quip!" And as he said this, his tie was ruffled by the wind, smacking him in the face, making him grumble loudly and grab on to it to hold it still.

"Sorry, Danny Boy, but no more damn ties from now on."

Flapping his wings, he followed swiftly after Demona, not wanting to be left behind. The two of them staying rather low, cutting through buildings, often changing directions, just in case anybody was following. Somehow they had lost the helicopter, Fang thinking that maybe it stayed behind to survey the damage and check if anybody had been hurt. After a good ten to fifteen minutes of gliding, Demona came to a stop on top of a building to rest for a moment, Fang swooping down a few feet from her.

"Thank goodness we got away," Fang said, panting a bit, rather tired from all the activity of this evening. "What's with those Quarrymen freaks? They really take this gargoyle hunting thing seriously."

"Indeed, they do," Demona said, looking over at Fang with a frown on her face. "That is why you must be careful out there and always keep your eyes open. Your appearance tonight was quite a bother, and for your sake, it had better not happen again. Now, what do you want?"

"Huh?"

Demona continued to frown, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "You were clearly looking for me earlier, otherwise you wouldn't have approached me when the Quarrymen attacked me. Tell me what you want, or leave."

"Oh, okay. Um," Fang was saying, suddenly nervous again, which he already expected would happen. Demona certainly had that effect on him. "Ah, well... I wanna ask you for a job."

Demona was silent for a moment, then scoffed and turned away, walking to the edge of the building, clearly ready to leave.

"No no no, please, Demona, wait!" Fang pleaded. "Look, I'm sorry I made such a mess earlier, I didn't mean it! But please, let me make up for it. I just need a job, any job, I'm begging you. I'll even grovel!"

Sighing exasperatedly, Demona turned back to the mutate. "And just what need would I have for an imbecile like you?"

"I don't know. But, it's like you said that one time, I could be useful even if I'm a fool. And I was kinda useful, right?" Fang mentioned. "I'll do anything you ask me to. I'll run errands, I'll be a delivery boy. I'll even be a grunt, a lackey, a piece of dumb muscle for security or whatever. Just, any use you can find for me, I'll take it."

Demona eyed the mutate, and she could see he was desperate. "And just why do you need a job and money for? You certainly don't have the means to spend any money."

"I have somebody I trust, I'm staying with them, but this person can only do so much for me. I gotta ship in, you know? And you're the only one I can think of that could find any use for me. Even if it's just grunt work."

Crossing her arms in front of her chest again, Demona seemed to be considering Fang's words, until finally she spoke. "Well, you did manage to get the Quarrymen off my back. Very well, I just may have a job for you. Just remember that I don't tolerate incompetency."

Fang's face lit up, a smile appearing on his face again. "Okay, I totally understand. I'll work my ass off for you, you'll see," he told her. Of course, there was still the matter of finding another place to stay, but at this point, he figured it best to not push the gargate's limits and just make do with what she had to offer for now. He'd remain hidden at his nephew's place for a while longer.

"Meet me tomorrow at ten o' clock on top of the Nightstone Unlimited building. I'll give you your task then," Demona said, walking towards the edge of the roof, then turning back to Fang. "Don't make me regret giving you an opportunity to do something for me, Fang. And get rid of that wretched hammer."

And with that, Demona took off into the night sky, her last words making Fang look at his hands, and only then did he realize he still held the electrified sledgehammer he had taken from one of the Quarrymen. Realizing that not only did he survive an encounter with the Quarrymen, unscathed at that, but that he also took one of their sledgehammers, the mutate could not help but grin.

"Haha! Souvenir!"

To be continued...

Author's extra note: Hello, everyone. To anyone who ever followed this story, and those reading it for the first time, I deeply apologize for all those years that went by without my updating this in any way. Simply put, life got difficult (these past couple of months and this very August being especially tough for me and my family). I can feel my writing has been affected in the process, and I know I'm definitely not up to par in my skills as I was when I was first working on this. Nevertheless, I'll try my best to get back to working on this. Updates won't be often, but I'll try for them to be there, because I definitely don't want to leave this story unfinished.