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 12: Waiting

by Remtar85

Fang sighed in relief as he landed on the top of the building, having finally arrived at his nephew's place. With all the commotion caused by his and Demona's earlier encounter with the Quarrymen, on top of trying his best to avoid any gargoyles out on patrol, it took Fang some time to get back. He didn't know what time it was, only that it was past midnight and he was hungry and tired. By this point most people were asleep, so he had an easy time moving down the fire escape unseen, till he reached the right window, squeezing himself through.

The bedroom was dark, with just a bit of illumination coming from the outside. Not that Fang needed much light, his feline eyes adapting well to the dark room. He could see his nephew fast asleep in bed. Fang was pretty sure that Daniel tried to stay up as late as he could to wait for the mutate to return until sleep overtook him. Smiling, the mutate crouched down and gently slid the Quarryman's sledgehammer under the bed. He'd fill Daniel in on everything in the morning.

Sighing, Fang hoped that whatever Demona had in mind for him wouldn't be so difficult. Already he was curious about it, as he removed the tie, pants and shirt he wore and started getting ready to sleep, back in his usual tights. He was rather hungry, but thought it better to wait till morning and have a big breakfast or lunch rather than get something now. He was too tired after so much commotion and flying around the city anyway, and he figured he may as well get as much rest as possible to be ready for whatever Demona was going to throw at him.

"So, you finally found him?" Elisa asked Talon.

"Yeah, we did. Me and Claw went to check up on Daniel, and with the way he was behaving, there's no doubt about it. Fang's definitely hiding out at his place," Talon replied.

Goliath and Talon had taken a break from their patrol in order to properly inform Elisa of the current situation regarding Fang. Having the night off from work, Elisa was relaxing at home, and it was the best place to talk with some privacy. The brother and sister sat together on her couch, and Goliath, who was standing nearby, approached Elisa.

"Unfortunately, this also means that Fang most certainly knows now that we've discovered his hiding place," he says.

"Right," Elisa said. "Still, he's been laying low up until now, so hopefully he won't react drastically."

"You're right, he probably won't change his approach much, if at all. Fang's never been smart enough for a back-up plan, but while he has his nephew with him, we have to take things easy and watch our step," Talon adds, sighing. "Bastard must know he's got us walking on eggshells even now."

"Talon and I discussed the situation and decided that the best course of action is to keep calmly vigilant for now," Goliath tells Elisa. "We will not call attention to ourselves, rather simply stay back and observe."

"Yeah," Talon added. "We'll lay low, keep an eye out from afar. Let him feel safe, get cocky. He should let his guard down eventually."

Goliath nodded. "Agreed. That is when... just a moment."

Elisa and Talon were curious as to why Goliath stopped, and that's when they realized that the communicator in Goliath's ear had sparked to life, the Manhattan clan leader's full attention now on this call. As the two siblings waited, Goliath's expression changed to a rather grim one.

"Was there any footage?" he asked, pausing, then continued. "I see. Still, it's very troubling... Lexington, continue watching to see if there are any more developments."

With that, Goliath's attention turned back to the siblings. "What was that about footage?" Elisa asked.

Goliath looked most displeased as he explained. "Apparently, there was a news report about a battle between two gargoyles and the Quarrymen not long ago. There is no footage of it, but eyewitnesses mention a female gargoyle and a gargoyle with brown fur and feline traits."

Elisa and Talon let that sink in for a second, instantly realizing just who the news report was talking about. "Well, so much for laying low," Talon muttered.

"What else did they say?" Elisa asked.

"Apparently a group of Quarrymen attacked Fang and Demona," Goliath explained. "Several of them were injured, and there was damage to a car and a building, though no civilians were hurt in the process. Fang and Demona managed to escape."

"Well, at least no innocent people got hurt," Talon said, as Elisa's cat, Cagney, walked over, jumped onto the couch and started cuddling up to the mutate. "Demona recruited Fang when they escaped from the Labyrinth last year, so he's likely going back to her hoping she'll take him in again."

"That can only mean bigger trouble if she actually does take him in," Elisa says. "Who knows what she could use him for?"

"Indeed," Goliath said. "So now we must be even more vigilant and redouble our efforts to capture Fang."

Talon leaned back on the sofa, growling softly as he closed his eyes. "I didn't think Fang could be capable of being an even bigger pain in the ass than he already is. Can't believe he's been causing us so much trouble trying to catch him." As if sensing the mutate's stress, Cagney rubbed himself against Talon, purring softly, the mutate finally giving in and almost absent-mindedly petting the cat.

"Hey, we'll definitely catch him," Elisa said, patting her brother's shoulder. "His luck's bound to run out eventually."

"I hope so. I really could do away with all the headaches he keeps causing me," Talon said, a bit of a smirk on his face. Not long afterwards, after a talk on how they'd stake out Daniel's apartment building without their target being any the wiser, Goliath and Talon excused themselves and headed for their respective homes.

As the day went by, Fang noticed a similarity to the time he was still in his cell and his nephew had found him, the mutate instructing the boy on helping him escape. Those days that he had waited for Daniel to set him free had really dragged, feeling like some of the slowest days of his life. Now, with his impending meeting with Demona that evening, this day felt just like those days, incredibly slow, as though time had slowed to a crawl.

He had woken up not long after Daniel did. As per usual, Daniel's mother had gone to work and his stepfather was out working and doing who knew what else, and over time Fang had become rather pleased at the man barely being at the house lately, as it made the place quieter and more peaceful. Daniel himself was also happy that his stepfather was rarely home anymore, stopping by mainly to eat and sleep, with the boy noticing that even his mother seemed happier and more relaxed than usual. Having part of the day for themselves, Fang had picked up a black, sleeveless t-shirt to wear that night, along with black shorts, then had gone through the always lengthy, time consuming process of showering and getting dry. He had also had a big lunch to make up for going to sleep hungry.

Watching television with Daniel didn't much help pass the time any quicker, though Fang did enjoy getting to fill Daniel in on what had happened the night before with Demona and the Quarrymen. He enjoyed even more to show off the electric sledgehammer he had taken from a Quarryman during the fight, and Daniel was especially thrilled at Fang bragging on taking out several Quarrymen while shouting Thor's battle cry while using the hammer.

Fang had become rather fond of the hammer overnight and pondered if he could find a way to modify the look of it a bit so as to distinguish it from the Quarrymen hammers and make it genuinely his own, and also tinkered with it for a while, looking for a way to charge it. He finally found a small hole at the base on the underside area of the hammerhead, where he figured a charger could go into, and right above it seemed to be an indicator to check how charged it was. Having no charger, though, he quickly found out he could actually charge it himself by sticking a claw into the small orifice and sending his own electricity into it, the indicator gradually filling up with a small green light, making the mutate grin smugly as he had found yet another new use for his electric discharges. Daniel pointed out that his uncle's newfound fondness for this hammer was just further proof of how geeky the mutate was deep down, something that Fang vehemently denied.

Nevertheless, even with all that, the day continued moving slowly, and as the late afternoon started settling it, Fang, seated at the couch, grumbled. "Damn it, five o' clock sharp. Your mom's gonna be home from work soon, which means a few more hours of waiting, without tv."

"Yeah. Hey, have you reconsidered? You know, maybe telling Mom that you're around again?" Daniel asked, turning off the tv, as there was nothing good on.

Fang scoffed, shaking his head. "Not for a second. No offense, kiddo, but I've known your mom since we were teens. Trust me, there's no way she wouldn't freak out."

"I guess," said Daniel.

"And even if tonight goes well and Demona gives me a nice, secure job," Fang continued, "I still think Carmen would take it really bad if I just started sending you money in envelopes to help you out without her seeing me. She probably just wouldn't accept it. So, nope, I'm sticking to the shadows, Danny Boy. I'll hand money to you directly, you can make do with that."

"Okay," Daniel said, understanding his uncle's point.

Nodding, Fang patted the boy's back. "Good. Now, c'mon then, let's make me an early dinner before Carmen gets home. Maybe I can take a nap to pass the rest of the time till tonight."

With that, they quickly worked up a couple of sandwiches to hold Fang up for a few hours, and after his meal, Fang went into Daniel's bedroom, got changed into the dark clothes he had picked out and sat on the bed to wait. As expected, it didn't take long for Daniel's mother to arrive home from work, the boy waiting for her in the living room.

"Daniel, I'm home," Carmen called out, walking in with her purse hanging off her shoulder, a pair of bags of Chinese take-out on her hands. "I brought us dinner."

Seconds later, Daniel walked over to her. "Hey Mom," he greeted her, taking the bags from her and carrying them to the table in the tiny dining area. "Want me to set things up for you?"

"Sure, sweetie, go ahead," Carmen said as she went into her room, calling out to her son. "Let me just change up quick so we can eat."

Daniel started setting the table for his mom, but then what she said really got through to him. "So we can eat? As in, together at the table?"

"Yeah, together," she said, having walked to her bedroom door, her earrings removed, the hispanic woman tying her long, black hair into a ponytail. "We haven't sat together to eat a meal in a long time. We should start doing it more, you know?"

The boy was still surprised, but his expression quickly changed into a big smile. "Sure! I'll set the table, then!"

"Be right over!" Carmen said, going back into her room to change.

From Daniel's bedroom, Fang had heard the whole exchange, and he too seemed a bit surprised. From everything Daniel told him, Carmen had seemed rather hands-off in her parenting for months, giving her son an allowance and sometimes cooking for him, but mostly leaving Daniel to his own devices. Even during his stay at Daniel's house, he had heard mother and child interact very little, so Fang was certainly surprised to hear her wanting to have dinner together with Daniel. Shortly afterwards, mother and child sat down to enjoy a long overdue dinner together, and Fang sat on the floor by the door to Daniel's bedroom to listen in.

"So, how's your summer going, Danny?" Carmen asked as she ate, making casual conversation.

"It's... well, it's going okay," Daniel replied, and in his room, Fang was relieved that Daniel was keeping up the charade. "Nothing out of this world, you know?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry we can't go anywhere like your friends could, sweetie," Carmen said. "Maybe we could go to Coney Island soon, or to the movies? And it shouldn't be long till your friends come back home."

"Really, we could do those things? That would be great, Mom!" Daniel said, sounding thrilled.

"Then we'll take one of these weekends to go," she said with a smile.

"Thanks, Mom!" Daniel said. But he was unable to stop himself from bringing his stpefather up. "But what about... you know, Richard?"

"What about him?" she answered her son's question with a question, but she continued. "Actually, to be honest, I'm not minding the fact that he's almost never around anymore."

"I'm okay with that too," Daniel added.

"I don't know why he's out of the house so much lately, but I don't care. It's a lot more peaceful without him around," Carmen said, sighing a bit. "Honestly, if it wasn't because we need him to help pay the rent and the bills, I'd divorce him in a heartbeat. I don't even know why I married him in the first place. Young and stupid, I guess."

Daniel stayed quiet for a few seconds, then spoke. "Don't worry, Mom. We can go our own way someday, you'll see," he said with a smile.

Smiling back, Carmen reached over and patted her son's arm. "Hopefully. In the meantime, at least we can start spending more time together. And... I'm sorry I've been ignoring you all this time. There's no excuse for that, but I'll do my best to make it up to you, honey."

Daniel's smile was even brighter than his mother's. "No, it's okay, Mom. You were frustrated and needed some space. Really, it's fine. I'm happy things will go back to normal now."

Carmen now gave her son's hand a squeeze. "Well, I'm glad you don't resent me for that, Daniel. I'm still going to make it up to you, though."

Having heard everything from Daniel's bedroom, Fang frowned, quite displeased about this whole development. Normally he'd be fine with Daniel and his mom reconnecting, but for the time being, he was still stuck in their apartment and needed all the help he could get from Daniel to remain hidden and safe. With Daniel spending more time with Carmen, his time with Fang would be less, and that didn't bode well for him. He figured that he had to sit with his nephew and talk about this, but for now, he had to wait. After Carmen and Daniel had dinner, they sat to watch television together for a while, and Fang found himself trying to read some of Daniel's comic books to pass the time, but found that he couldn't concentrate and gave up on it, feeling again like he did back in his cell, just sitting in that small room for hours. After television, Daniel helped his mother with some chores, and Fang was relieved when he heard her go into the bathroom to shower, and Daniel returned to his bedroom.

"Finally!" Fang said in a low voice. "That took her way too damn long!"

"Yeah, and I got distracted too. I'm sorry, it's..."

"Hey, it's okay," Fang interrupted the boy. "First time in a long time your mom acts like a full time mom, I get it. But we're gonna have to talk about this. If Carmen starts spending more time with you, that means less time for us to work things out with this situation, and less of a chance of me staying hidden. You get it?"

"Yeah, I get it, Uncle," Daniel said. "But we can figure something out!"

"I hope. I wanted you to go to the Labyrinth tonight too. It's been a while since you've been there, you need to go back so they don't get suspicious," Fang told his nephew. "But with Carmen being a doting mommy tonight, you won't get the chance. So I want you to go there tomorrow while she's at work."

"Sure, I can do that," Daniel said, then glimpsed over at the clock on his bedside table. "Uncle, it's past nine!"

Fang's eyes opened wide as he turned to the clock as well, having forgotten to pay attention to it for a while due to focusing too much on Daniel and Carmen. "Shit! I'm gonna be late if I don't hurry! Wish me luck, kiddo, I'll catch you later!"

The boy watched his mutated uncle squeeze through the window out onto the fire escape, and climbed as quickly as he could while watching out to not be seen. Moments later, Daniel saw Fang fly off to meet with this Demona that he was clearly intimidated by yet hoping to impress. Daniel hoped everything would go well tonight for his uncle with whatever this gargoyle wanted him to do. He also knew that the mutate was right, and started pondering just how he was going to manage being able to continue properly helping his uncle now that his mom wanted to spend more time with him again. He was happy that his mom was going back to being more doting again, but he was afraid that this could mean trouble for his uncle. Sighing, he lied down in bed, figuring it would be best to just talk it out with his uncle and see if they could come up with something.

"And done," Lexington said with a smile on his face as he finished typing something that only he could understand into the computer in front of him, the rest of the clan standing behind him. "This should do the trick."

Hudson walked to the table where Lexington was working on and reached to grab one of the many tiny trinkets that covered a part of the table. "And how will these toys help us, lad?" he asked.

"I had been talking with Owen and he showed me these prototypes of miniature hovercrafts, or drones, like the ones used by Renard, just a whole lot smaller," Lexington said, clicking on the keyboard again, and instantly, six of the miniature drones ascended from the table and stood hovering in place, barely making any noise at all. "And they all have cameras installed, which can record both video and sound."

"Aah, I get it!" Broadway exclaimed. "Surveillance!"

"Yup. And just like Owen did with the Steel Clan robots made of iron when Oberon tried to take Alex, we can hide these babies in a bunch of different places near the building that Fang's hiding at," Lexington explained as he set the drones back on the table and shut them off. "A few of them will activate at different times of the night and the day, and they can record everything, or transmit a live feed."

"So we can watch exactly when Fang comes and goes. That should make things less dangerous for his nephew should we try to capture him," Angela said.

"Hey, wouldn't it be good if we could somehow sneak one or two of these into the apartment?" Brooklyn suggested. "We could watch exactly what Fang's doing in there and when he plans to go out."

Goliath nodded. "I'm not keen on invading anyone's privacy, but we will have to make an exception this time if we are to capture Fang and prevent him from teaming up with Demona."

"Okay then," Lexington said, turning back to the computer and typing quickly, "I'm writing down a schedule for them. Battery life is pretty long, so we won't have to worry about that for a while. Once that's done, they'll come out of hiding and back into hiding all by themselves. All we need to do is set them up, which I can tell you where with the communicators. I'll leave two of them with no programmed settings so I can pilot them remotely from here and into the apartment."

"Very well then," Goliath said. "Brooklyn and I will go on patrol for now. Angela and Broadway, you will take these machines and set them in place while Lexington directs you from here."

As Goliath and Brooklyn left for their patrol and Hudson followed them out to head for the tv room with Bronx at his heels, Angela and Broadway started setting the small drones on the carrying cases Owen had provided beforehand while Lexington worked on the computer. And as they packed and got ready to leave, Angela noticed that Broadway looked rather thrilled.

"You look quite happy about doing this, Broadway," she said to her stout mate.

"Yeah, I am. I can't help myself, I love stakeouts," Broadway replied with a big smile at another chance to indulge in an activity often seen in the detective stories he loved.

Fang flew through the skies, trying to be quick but not wanting to exert too much effort. Whatever Demona had planned for him, he wanted as much energy as possible for it, all while hoping she wouldn't ask anything beyond his capabilities. Thankfully, flying was so much faster a way to travel than anything else, and despite leaving with less than an hour to spare, Fang still managed to make it atop the Nightstone Unlimited building in what he felt was a short enough time. Not having anything to check the time, he just stood around and waited anxiously. He didn't know how long or short a time he waited, but eventually he heard the sound of a door opening, and he turned towards the only door on the roof. From it emerged the gargate.

"So, you came," she said. "At least you were punctual."

"Um... yeah," he stammered a bit, not wanting to let his big mouth ruin his chances. "So, what can I do for you?"

Demona neared the mutate, who was clearly intimidated by the female, having heard and seen enough of her to know that this was the one person in the world he did not want to anger. So intent was he on not breaking eye contact that he didn't see what she held on her right hand until she held it out for him. "Memorize this address," she ordered.

Nodding, Fang took what she held, which was a simple piece of paper, where an address was written. "Oh, hey, I know where this place is. Right by the docks," he said.

"Good," she said, nonchalantly taking the paper back. "I have informants who have told me that a certain shipment will be arriving at that precise dock thirty minutes before midnight. And with that shipment, there will be a man carrying a single, metallic suitcase. Inside that suitcase is something very valuable that I need. Of course, I'm not the only on who wants it. It is to be set up for a special auction for several companies to bid for, including my own and Xanatos Enterprises."

"Wow. Okay," Fang said. Whatever this thing was, it certainly sounded like a big deal. "So, you want me to swipe it for you?"

"Exactly," she answered, arms crossed over her chest. "It would save me both money and time if you were to steal it. I already have people who do these kinds of jobs for me, but none of them possess abilities like yours. So consider this a test run, Fang. Depending on your performance in this mission, I may consider hiring you for similar jobs in the future."

With this, the gargate turned away, heading back to the door leading into the building, but halfway there, she turned to gaze back to Fang, her eyes glowing red in a way that sent nervous shivers down the mutate's spine. "Of course, you would be wise to not show yourself in front of me again should you fail, Fang," she said in a voice that sounded calm and smooth, yet had this undeniably threatening tone to it. "Now go."

With this, she turned away again and walked off, Fang gulping nervously. Shaking off the nerves as best he could, he ran and leaped off the side of the building, taking flight and soaring high in the sky towards the sea. It wouldn't take long to reach the docks, and in the meantime, he could formulate some sort of plan or strategy. He was sure he'd need it, because now he knew failure was definitely not an option.

To be continued...

Author's extra note: Hello everyone. Things have been dragging along in my personal life, and until I find a new job, they're going to get even tougher. I'll still try my best to work through this story and post chapters when I can. This one was pretty much just filler (which I do apologize for), but things should be picking up starting next chapter, which I hope won't take until next year to write. Wish me luck!