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 15

by Remtar85

Fang was in a momentary blank as he looked over at a child that was not his nephew. The African-American boy was about Daniel's same age, a little taller than Daniel and just as slim, with very short hair, and that was all Fang could process before the boy let out a scream and bolted away. Fang's only reaction was to toss the phone book aside and run after the boy, who rather than try the front door, ran into Daniel's bedroom, heading towards the open window that he had used to enter. And just as he started to climb out and another scream was starting to leave his mouth, Fang caught up and grabbed him.

The mutate was in a panic and rushed to prevent the boy from fleeing and raising the alarm, especially in broad daylight. So he wrapped his left arm firmly around the boy's torso, keeping his arms pinned, and he covered the boy's mouth with his right hand as he yanked him back into the apartment. The panicked child squirmed, kicked, and yelled, which was muffled by Fang's big hand, as the mutate carried him back into the hallway; he tried to hear if anyone had heard the boy's screams and was coming this way, but the boy would not stop trying to fight him.

"Kid, stop! Stop it!" Fang growled in a low voice, but the boy just would not stop. Fang was very frustrated and took a few deep breaths, which calmed him down enough to realize something as he firmly held the boy. Namely that he knew this boy and knew him well. "Tyler! Stop! Squirming! I'm not gonna hurt you!"

At the sound of his name, the boy's squirming and struggling eased up. He was clearly surprised about having his captor know his name, and that on top of the mutate saying he wouldn't hurt him was calming him down-at least enough to stop squirming and trying to scream, but there was no doubt he was still far from calm.

"Okay, okay," Fang said in a low, tense voice, still on the alert for any noise outside, but so far it seemed that nobody had heard the boy's scream. "I'm gonna let go of you now. I promise I'll explain everything, but please don't scream or run again."

The boy, Tyler, nodded as best as he could in the mutate's firm grasp, and Fang released him. As soon as he was free from that iron grip, the frightened boy turned around and pressed himself back against the wall almost instinctively, with the mutate doing the same, his back against the other wall, sliding down until he was seated on the floor.

"Goddammit, why do things like this just keep happening to me?" Fang grumbled, burying his face on his hands, his ears ever alert. There was no sound of anyone coming or going outside. It seemed that Tyler's scream had not attracted any attention, which was a lucky break, but this still did not make him feel any less tense.

Tyler stayed where he stood against the wall, still quite spooked by the whole situation. But at the very least now he was pretty certain that he was not going to be hurt, and finally he dared speak up. "Umm… who… who are you?"

It wasn't until about a little more than half an hour after Daniel's argument with Talon that Claw finally appeared and Daniel's bad mood melted away, the tiger mutate explaining that he had stayed up till quite late and thus ended up oversleeping. After a quick lunch, in which Daniel didn't eat that much thanks to the big breakfast he had had with Fang, the child and mutate decided to do something together. It had been a while since they hung out, and since Daniel wanted to try something new besides playing chess, he figured they could watch a movie together. Back when it was still a research facility, the Labyrinth hosted plenty of researchers and security guards who would have to stay for days, sometimes weeks on end, and thus had to find ways to entertain themselves. One such area was a room with a TV, a VCR, and a large variety of movies, though most of the clones had pretty much taken over the room during several evenings a week. As it was daytime and they were in their stone slumber, and most of the Labyrinth residents were topside, Daniel figured it was a good opportunity to enjoy a movie with his friend.

Claw readily accepted this and led the way to the TV room. It was quiet, so they assumed it would be empty, but upon opening the door, Daniel gasped and stiffened a bit as he was taken by surprise. He had expected to see no one, but there stood Malibu, Brooklyn's clone, frozen in his stone sleep, reaching for the door. It was easy to tell that he had lost track of time while watching TV, and his stone sleep caught up to him as he attempted to leave the room.

"Oh my gosh, that startled me!" Daniel exclaimed.

Claw couldn't help grinning, looking like he wanted to chuckle. Daniel did chuckle, though, shaking his head and sidestepping Malibu as Claw wrote on his notepad, presenting the note to Daniel. "It's not the first time it's happened, so I should've warned you. Sorry about that."

"No, don't worry about it," Daniel said. "I guess they just still spook me, even when they're sleeping."

Claw wrote on his notepad again, but afterwards he picked Malibu up, grunting a bit, and moved him aside, away from the door so he wouldn't be in the way anymore. Clearly gargoyles were heavier than they looked when in their stone sleep, even for a mutate with enhanced strength. Once Malibu was out of the way, Claw turned to Daniel and showed him what he had written.

"I know they can be creepy in a way, but they're harmless. They'd never hurt you, so I hope some day it gets to where they don't scare you anymore. Remember, after that initial scare, you got used to us mutates pretty quickly."

Daniel hesitated for a moment, as he realized that he was being irrational in his fear of the mutates. Claw was right-he had gotten over his fear of the mutates themselves pretty quickly, mainly thanks to Claw. The same thing happened with the gargoyle beast, Bronx, and he even got along with Broadway instantly, not being afraid of him at all. Daniel knew his behavior towards the clones was no better than that of most New Yorkers towards gargoyles in general.

"You know, you're right. I got used to you guys, and I'm being unfair to the clones. It's not their fault they're the way they are," Daniel told Claw. "Next time I come by during the evening, I'm going to talk to them."

Claw smiled at this, patting Daniel on the shoulder, giving him a thumbs up and finally writing a bit more. "That's great, Daniel! I'm proud of you."

"Thanks, Claw," Daniel said with a smile of his own to the mutate. Then his attention turned to the selection of movies, checking them out. "Man, so many of them. How'd you guys end up with all of these?"

Claw, inspecting some of the movies as well, wrote up a reply for Daniel. "Many of them were already here, likely from the scientists and guards who worked here. It seems they would stay down here so long that they had their own entertainment as well. And a bunch of others are brought in by residents who buy them cheap from street vendors topside."

"That's so cool. It's like a mini movie rental place, they're even organized by genre," Daniel said. "Other than comic book stores, movie rental places are where I like going most. You know, besides down here."

Claw smirked at this, then patted Daniel's shoulder and pointed at the movies before writing a quick note. "How about you pick one for us to watch, Daniel? I'll go make us some popcorn in the meantime."

"You got it," Daniel said, and started checking the wide selection as Claw stepped out.

By the time Claw had returned from the kitchen with a big bowl of popcorn, Daniel had already popped a movie into the VCR. Once Claw entered the room and sat on the couch, Daniel pressed 'Play' on the VCR and joined the mutate, who set the bowl of popcorn in between them. Curious, Claw pointed at the TV while looking at Daniel quizzically.

"Oh, right, which movie I chose," Daniel said, understanding Claw's query without the need for the mutate to write a note this time. "It's one from the late 80's, titled Scarecrows. I've always wanted to watch it, but never had the chance till now."

Claw raised an eyebrow, having never heard of this movie before. But he didn't need to wonder what it was about as it began with ominous music, which just filled Claw with dread. The tiger mutate gulped, the one most prominent thought in his head right then and there being, 'Why did it have to be a horror movie?'

Tyler Jenkins had first met Daniel Sykes in the first grade. The two boys found they had a lot in common and enjoyed the same things, such as comic books, cartoons, movies. and they also realized that they lived relatively close to one another. They had been friends ever since and were just about inseparable. They hung out almost every day, even out of school, and would have sleepovers every week. Over time they had begun hanging out more at Tyler's home, as both boys felt uncomfortable with the situation at Daniel's house, especially with Daniel's stepfather, Richard. And in the past couple of years, the subject of Daniel's missing uncle, Fred, was brought up several times. Tyler always liked Fred, for he liked to spoil Daniel as well as Tyler however he could, such as letting them eat snacks before a meal even if it ruined their appetite, or letting them watch R-rated movies. Tyler unquestionably missed Fred as well, and the boys often pondered what might have happened to him.

Earlier that summer, Tyler's family informed him that they'd saved some money to travel out of state to visit Tyler's grandparents. Though thrilled at this, and seeing as their few other friends from school would be leaving for vacation as well, Tyler felt rather guilty leaving Daniel alone during vacation time. The time at his grandparents' house had gone great, but had to be cut short by a week due to an emergency at his father's workplace that required the family to come back to Manhattan. It was so abrupt that Tyler hadn't the time to call Daniel to inform him he'd be back sooner than what was planned. Once the family returned and finished unpacking, the first thing Tyler did, though, was set out to Daniel's place to hang out with him. The fire escape was now the go-to in and out of the apartment for the boys, with them using it more often than they did the front door.

Tyler was not surprised to find that Daniel wasn't home, but he most certainly was not expecting what he found. He had heard a lot about the gargoyles now inhabiting Manhattan, hidden away who knew where, and had even seen footage of them pop up from time to time in the news. So upon finding this winged creature in his best friend's living room, Tyler was not only shocked, but he had never been so scared in his life. His attempt to flee had failed, but then the creature had spoken to him, known his name even. At that point Tyler's curiosity won over his fear, and he was willing to hear the winged creature out-but he never could have imagined what he'd hear next.

"Fred? Wait, as in Uncle Fred?!" Tyler asked, looking stunned.

"Yup. That Fred," Fang replied, leaning against the couch's backrest, still looking a bit drained. The two had moved into the living room to talk, Fang back on the couch and Tyler sitting on the floor.

After a few moments of silence, Tyler spoke up. "So that's why you're not stone right now?"

"Yeah. Not an actual gargoyle," Fang replied. By now, thanks to the Quarrymen, everyone knew that gargoyles turned to stone during the day, hence why it had become a true rarity to find any stone gargoyles on any building in the city.

"Wow. But then, how did this happen? You look just like a gargoyle, you even sound different. How did you get like this?" Tyler asked, his fear fully dissipated by now, which in turn helped Fang relax a little more, especially as Tyler immediately took him for his word that the mutate was being truthful.

"Mad scientist. Tricked me and a couple others into giving us work that paid well, and he turned us into this," Fang told the boy. "I've been like this for over two years now."

Tyler took a few moments to process that. "That's like something out of a movie. So where are the others, then?"

At this, the mutate scoffed and looked disdainful. "Those idiots are underground. Some big base thing, built under the city, and now they're housing a community full of homeless people and runaways. Somehow Daniel stumbled upon it, and that's how we met back up again."

"That's amazing," Tyler said. "So then..."

"Okay, wait, hold up," Fang interrupted the boy. "Before I tell you more about everything, I just need you to promise me one thing."

"What is it?"

"I need you to promise me that, no matter what happens, you don't tell anyone I'm here," Fang said. "Danny hasn't, he's helped me out a lot, and now I need you to as well. Some of the things I'm gonna tell you are gonna sound harsh, but I promise it's all in the past. So, can I count on you?"

"Of course you can," Tyler replied with no hesitation.

"Good. That's good, Tyler. Thanks," Fang told the boy, feeling a bit more at ease. "Okay, so, this all started..."

Claw let out a low, long, held-in breath as the movie ended and the credits started rolling. He just never liked horror movies, they unnerved him more often than not, so he was glad it was over. He did try to put up a casual front for Daniel, the mutate not understanding how the young, normally shy boy could watch those things without batting an eye and actually get enjoyment out of them. Kids these days really were made of sterner stuff, he thought.

Getting up from his seat, Daniel went over to the VCR, pressed "Stop" and took the movie out of it, putting it back into its carrying case. "That was such a great movie! I'm so glad I finally got to watch it. I'll make sure to rent it to watch it at home again. Those scarecrows were so creepy, now I wanna be one this next Halloween. And those gore effects! So cool."

Claw just sighed a bit, which did not go unnoticed by Daniel as he put the movie back on the shelf where it had been. "Wait. You didn't like it, Claw?"

Claw hesitated a bit, then wrote a note. "I'm sorry, Daniel. It's just that horror movies aren't really my thing, never have been. I know, it makes me sound wimpy, but it's just something I could never get over. And the process and aftermath of the mutation sure didn't help with that."

Reading the note, Daniel's expression changed from curiosity to looking guilty. "Aww, man. I'm really sorry, Claw. If I had known, I wouldn't have chosen a horror movie."

Claw shook his head and wrote more. "No, don't apologize. You're my guest here, you should get to have fun with what you like."

Daniel read this after sitting back down next to the mutate, then reached over and patted Claw's arm. "I can't have fun if it makes you feel uncomfortable, Claw. So don't put yourself through an uncomfortable time just to make me happy. I'll be happy if you're happy."

Claw smiled softly at this, and gave Daniel a short but firm one-armed hug before writing again. "You're a remarkable young man, Daniel, and I do mean that."

"Thanks, Claw, you're great too," Daniel said with a smile. "Definitely the nicest and coolest guy down here."

A happy-looking Claw wrote again. "Then it's a deal. Next time we choose a movie together. And since you want to befriend the clones, maybe we can invite them to watch with us."

"It's a deal, then," Daniel said, extending his hand, which Claw shook with his much bigger one.

"So then, any more plans for today?" Claw asked in writing.

"Well, I maybe should get going so I can be home when Mom gets there," Daniel said, then smiled at Claw. "You should see her lately, she's changed. She's being a lot nicer and more atttentive, and she wants us to start doing more things together. And even better, my stepfather spends most of the time outside the house now, and he's even stopped drinking so much."

Claw smiled broadly at this, writing again. "That's great, Daniel! Looks like things are finally starting to look up for you and your family!"

"Yeah, they are. But don't worry, even with spending more time with Mom and after school starts and all, I'll still find the time to come down here and hang out," Daniel said.

Claw smiled and flashed a thumbs-up at the child, then wrote more on his notepad. "Let's go, then. I'll escort you to the nearest exit to the topside."

And with this, Claw got up and beckoned for the boy to follow. Leading the way, Claw searched for and eventually found Talon, letting him know that he was going to escort Daniel to one of the exits. And as they set out, behind Claw's back, Daniel glared daggers at Talon, who kept his eye on the boy. There was no doubt to the panther mutate that the boy was going to make things all the more difficult in regards to the fugitive mutate now that he knew they had Fang in their sights and knew he was staying at Daniel's...and much as it frustrated him, he understood why Daniel stood up for his uncle. Talon only hoped that the boy was not getting in over his head and that Fang had enough of a semblance of morality to not let anything happen to that boy.

For their part, it did not take Claw and Daniel long at all to arrive at an exit to the streets that wasn't far from Daniel's home. After bidding farewell to each other, Daniel promised Claw he would visit again as soon as he could, then set off for home. Daniel was happy to have spent more time with Claw, it had been a while and he always had fun with the tiger mutate. He knew that his uncle didn't like him hanging out with Claw, but Daniel figured that his uncle would have to accept the fact that Daniel could make his own friends. And besides, it's not like he was keeping bad company, with Claw being a really nice and caring guy. He hoped he could convince his uncle to ease up on the whole thing about visiting the Labyrinth and hanging out with Claw.

After a while of walking, Daniel finally arrived at his building and started climbing the stairs of the fire escape up to his apartment. It was getting to be late afternoon now, and he pondered what dinner would be today. Entering the apartment through his bedroom window, he opened the door, and was startled by a sudden shout.

"Dude!"

Daniel gasped out loud and stiffened up. He then got grabbed by the arms and relaxed a bit. "Tyler? You scared me to death there! When did you..."

"Man, I can't believe it!" Tyler interrupted. "This is, legit, the coolest thing!"

"Wait... but then..." Daniel said. It then dawned on him what Tyler was talking about, but before he could say anything more, he saw Fang appear from the living room and give his nephew a little wave of greeting. "You came in and found out."

"Man, your uncle is a mutant now!" Tyler exclaimed, having let go. "And you've met gargoyles, and gone flying...you're having the best summer ever!"

"Well, when you put it that way, then yeah, I guess," Daniel said rather sheepishly.

"Okay, boys," Fang piped up, "let's have a quick little pow-wow here."

Fang returned to the living room, the boys following him. The mutate sat down on the floor and motioned for the kids to sit in front of him. Once they were all seated, Fang, who looked and felt more relaxed than he did earlier, finally spoke up. "Okay, Danny Boy. So now Tyler knows about me and, well, just about everything. I filled him in on everything that he needed to know, just like you. Now, you boys know what that means. It's double the secret keeping. I don't wanna go back to that crappy, cooped-up cell in that underground dump. You get me, right?"

"Yeah, I definitely get you," Tyler said.

"You know it, Uncle Freddy," Daniel added. "I have your back, anytime. I already did today, with that jerk Talon."

At that, Fang grinned at his nephew. "Ooh, you definitely have to tell me all about that later. So, I can count on the both of you, right?"

"You don't even have to ask, Uncle," Daniel said, smiling back at the mutate.

"And you can count on me too!" Tyler agreed. "We'll both totally do right by you, Uncle Fred!"

Fang grinned again and patted both boys on their shoulders. "That's what I like to hear! You boys are too good to me."

"You were always good to us, it's only fair we do the same for you," Tyler replied, shrugging agreeably.

"Yeah! I mean, sure, you did some bad things after mutating, but not irredeemable, and you're definitely making up for them," Daniel said. "I won't let anyone take away that second chance for you, Uncle."

"You boys really are the best," Fang told them, looking most pleased. "I'm damn glad the two of you are in this together now. But hey, we'll talk about it later, okay? Your mom's gonna be home any time now, Danny, so I better go back to hide in your room. We'll talk more later, okay?"

"Sure thing," Daniel said with a smile.

"You got it," Tyler chimed in, smiling as well.

With that, Fang went back into his nephew's room and the kids stayed in the living room, turning on the television, though the mutate could hear them speaking about everything Daniel had gone through since he helped Fang escape. Less than half an hour passed when Daniel's mother arrived home, and she and the boys proceeded to have dinner together, with the boys sneaking some to Fang when Carmen was distracted.

As the mutate ate, he felt relieved again. Earlier in the day, when Tyler had discovered him, Fang had been filled with dread, thinking that he'd be in huge trouble now that someone not in on his secret had found him there. But seeing Tyler take in everything he told him with that thrill and sense of wonder soothed Fang, and knowing he now had both boys backing him up filled him with confidence again.

It was twice the help, twice the reasons why Talon and the gargoyles could not waltz in to grab him. Other than being cooped up in this apartment, things had been going swimmingly for the mutate as of late, and he felt like the streak was continuing strong. Finishing his dinner, he lay down in Daniel's bed to relax, a smile on his face.

"Man, it feels good to be on top," he said to himself in a low voice. "Wonder what little surprise life'll throw at me next."

To Be Continued...

Author's extra note: Okay, I wanted to post at least one more chapter before the year was out and thankfully I managed it. This one gave me a bit of difficulty because it was mostly filler, bridging to the set pieces that will follow, so it wasn't easy to write. I introduced Tyler because I figured I can't have Daniel always be by himself in regards to people his age, and I also wanted to show more of Daniel and Claw spending time together. For now I must focus on what follows and also to make sure to establish the story's timeline. Thank you all for reading!