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 33

by Remtar85

It had been a few days since Fang had returned home, and so far things had been going very smoothly. He loved his new living space, for starters. After getting a nice number of groceries the day after returning and having it promptly delivered via the cargo elevator inside his new home, everything just seemed to click. He had plenty of food, entertainment, privacy, freedom to come and go as he pleased, and a quarter of a million dollars sitting snugly in his closet. The mutate felt like he was on Cloud Nine, that everything had finally fallen into place and he could live the ideal life he always wished for.

Of course, this wasn't all for free. Fang still had to earn his keep and prove to David Xanatos that he could be useful, that he could be an asset to the businessman. That was what led him to a certain warehouse late at night. The cougar-man was stationed on the roof of a nearby building, watching the warehouse closely. He had been given specific instructions, he knew what to do, and he was not about to let David Xanatos down.

"Fang! I knew we'd find you!"

"Shit!" Fang shouted in startled surprise as he heard Brooklyn suddenly shout at him from behind. He turned around with hands alight with electricity, eyes glowing in desperate rage, ready to defend himself... only to find Malibu, dressed in his usual punk rocker attire, standing behind him with a big grin.

"Made you look," Malibu said, sounding very amused.

Fang growled and glared at the clone. "Dammit, Malibu! Are you trying to get me to fry you into chicken wings? You gotta stop doing that to me, man!"

Malibu snickered. "Hehe. Yeah, like you wouldn't do the same to other people, you total jerk."

Fang growled again, then he smirked a bit. "Eh, guess you're right. So don't blame me when I mess with you twice as nasty."

Malibu laughed and walked over to the mutate. The gargoyle's laugh got Fang to grin now, and the two greeted one another, grasping one another's hands firmly in the same way Arnold Schwarzenegger and Carl Weathers did early on in the movie Predator.

"It's great to have you back!" Malibu said enthusiastically.

"Great to be back!" Fang said in return.

The two of them broke their firm handshake, and that's when Malibu took notice of what Fang had at his waist. "Oh, hey! You finally got your hammer back!"

"Yup! And I gotta say, I like it," Fang said. Earlier that day, Fang was surprised to hear the cargo elevator during the daytime, finding Owen Burnett in it. Xanatos's right-hand man had come personally not only to deliver the details of Fang's first job for Xanatos, but also to return to him the now modified sledgehammer that Fang had stolen from a Quarryman and given to Owen to have it upgraded to better suit the mutate.

The sledgehammer looked almost entirely different from how it had once been. The handle was much shorter now, allowing for easy wielding with just one hand. The hammerhead had had the Quarrymen symbol removed, and it had overall been pared down a bit along all its edges, now having no symbols and looking sleeker, not as rigid as the Quarrymen sledgehammers. Owen had even included a belt with a strap, to keep the hammer safely at his side and ready to be wielded at a moment's notice.

"And lemme guess, you're definitely trying it out tonight, right?" Malibu asked with a knowing smirk.

"You got it," Fang said, his attention returning to the warehouse he had been checking out. "Xanatos has a little job for me."

"Oh, I know," Malibu said, sitting at the edge of the building to observe the warehouse alongside his friend. "How do you think I found you here?"

"Yeah, I was gonna ask you that."

"I was hanging out at the castle, since I'm now all buddy-buddy with Goliath's clan. Except for Brooklyn, but it's fun to mess with him. Anyway, Xanatos told me what you'd be doing tonight and where you'd be at, so I thought I'd tag along," Malibu told Fang. "I mean, if you're gonna have some fun, might as well have your best bud with you."

Sitting down next to the clone, Fang looked surprised. "You were at the castle? Did the kids help you sneak out tonight too?"

"Nah. Talon and I worked something out," Malibu replied. "Well, sorta. See, one night I tricked Broadway into taking me and Tyler to the castle, and boy, was Talon pissed. But after a long talk, and thanks to Elisa being there to make sure Talon stayed calm, and Maggie practicing her future mom skills by mediating, we reached an agreement. Us clones can now go out as long as we're careful and... ugh..."

Seeing the disgusted look on Malibu's face, Fang smirked. "And?"

"And stick to a curfew, and call Talon constantly on some communicators he gave us to let him know if we're okay or if we need help," Malibu replied with a frown. "I hate being treated like a kid. I mean, yeah, I'm technically like just a year old or so, but still..."

Fang laughed, shaking his head. And that's when something Malibu said suddenly came together in his head. "Wait, wait, hold up. Maggie practicing her future mom skills? You don't mean..."

Malibu grinned widely now as he nodded. "Yyyyyup."

After a few seconds of letting the thought permeate in his head, Fang snickered. "Shit, took those two long enough."

"Oh, and speaking of the proud future dad, here's another bit of news," Malibu said, continuing to fill his friend in on things. "Daniel and Talon are on friendly terms now."

This news made Fang's smile fade. "What? They get along now, just like that?" At Malibu's nod of reply, Fang frowned and grunted audibly in disgust.

But before the mutate could say something nasty, Malibu also frowned and spoke up. "Okay, no, hold it right there. I know you hate Talon, but if you're gonna snap at Daniel for making peace with him, then you're in for some serious shit, 'cuz I'm not letting you do that. So before you blow a gasket, take a deep breath and get your head out of your ass."

Fang's face was still an angry frown, but he considered Malibu's words. He closed his eyes, took a slow, deep breath and calmed down, albeit not entirely. "How the hell did that even happen?"

"Same night I got Broadway to take me and Tyler to the castle," Malibu started to explain, feeling Fang had calmed down enough to listen. "Daniel stayed back in the Labyrinth to talk to Talon. He wanted Talon to basically back off of you, and somehow they came to an understanding. Talon said that he'd back off so you can show that you can stay out of trouble."

"Ha. Fat chance," Fang scoffed.

"I know, man," Malibu said, rolling his eyes, but couldn't help smiling a little. "Trouble's your middle name, that's what makes you a fun guy to hang with. Still, Daniel promised he'd do his best to show Talon that you can be free and not do bad things. So, you better start being extra discreet about the shit you pull off."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Fang said, calmer now. "And that's all it took for Daniel and Talon to start getting along?"

"Yup. I wouldn't call them friends friends, really, not like Danny and Claw, but they get along pretty well now," Malibu said. "And on the other hand, when they were talking, Claw overheard them talking about you. He wasn't mad at Danny, but he was pretty pissed at Talon. Claw had figured out a long time ago that it was Danny who let you out and had you in his apartment, and just wanted Danny to feel free to tell him whenever Danny wanted to. He just hated that Talon and the others never told him out of some sort of overprotective thing with him."

A sudden smile came to Fang's face. "Really? Hahahaha! That's great, serves both of 'em right!"

"Stop, your empathy is overwhelming," Malibu said sarcastically. "Anyway, it was tense for a while. They're back on speaking terms, and things have been pretty much normal. Kinda boring without you, though, so I'm glad you're back." And just a couple of seconds after saying this, Malibu swung his tail and smacked Fang on the back of his head.

"Ow!" the mutate cried out, glaring at the clone. "What the hell was that for?!"

"That was because I had to hear from Xanatos that you've been back in town for a few days now, you jerk!" Malibu called Fang out. "How come you've not gone to see your son yet? Poor kid misses you real bad!"

"Hey! You think I'm not dying to go see him?" Fang retorted, rubbing the back of his head where Malibu smacked him. "I wanna go see him so damn bad, but I have to hold out a couple of days. I have a surprise for him! Trust me, it'll be worth the wait; he'll love it like you won't believe."

Malibu looked curious now. "Alright, I'll trust you on that. But I wanna know the surprise."

"Yeah, sure, I'll tell you," Fang said, then reached over and poked Malibu's arm with a jolt of electricity alight on his fingers, making the clone yell out. "There, now we're even."

"Ooooh, you asshole," Malibu said, but he was laughing as he said it. "So what's the surprise?"

"I'll tell you after the job," Fang said with a smirk. "And I'll also fill you in on the good parts of the big trip I made."

"Alright, fine, be a tease," Malibu said with a smirk.

Fortunately, the two did not have to wait long. Only a few minutes later, there was movement in the warehouse. The mutate and gargoyle stood up as they watched a van leave the warehouse and drive off, the two taking to the skies after it. As they followed the van, keeping a close eye on it, they waited for it to be away from the warehouse and pass by a secluded, deserted street. Smiling at Malibu and flashing him a thumbs-up, Fang went lower, flying at an angle to the van, then took careful aim and shot at it. His electric bolt blasted right through the passenger side window, shattering it and badly startling the two men inside it. The two stopped and got out of the van, guns at the ready.

"Guns?" Malibu commented as he and Fang landed on a nearby building, looking down at them. "Yeah, those guys are definitely transporting something valuable."

"Yup, just like the boss said," Fang said with a smirk. "Whaddaya say, Mal? Sneak into the alleys, make some noise, confuse 'em, and then pounce?"

Malibu grinned in return. "They won't know what hit 'em."

Sharing a fist bump, the two went their separate ways. Fang glided his way around some buildings to sneak down onto an alley unseen from above, while Malibu climbed down to the alley by the same building the two were on top of, so now the two friends covered alleyways on both sides of the street. Taking out the guards could not have been easier for the duo. As he lurked in the shadows of the alley, Malibu was lucky one of the guards decided to seek out their assailants near where the clone stalked; it was very simple for Malibu to hide behind a dumpster, then sneak behind the guard and grab him into a chokehold. He was now glad that Talon had been teaching him and other Labyrinth residents self-defense and how to restrain and knock out opponents without hurting them. The guard struggled but could not break the gargoyle's powerful hold, and in mere moments he was out cold, Malibu gently sitting him against the dumpster.

Seconds later, the other guard noticed his comrade's disappearance. He called out for him and started making his way to the alley where Malibu was, gun drawn. Fang then struck, with the quickness befitting the feline predator he was mutated after. He dashed out of the alley on the opposite site of the street and grabbed on to the guard while his back was turned to him, delivering a powerful jolt of electricity that made the guard scream for a couple of seconds before knocking him unconscious. Chuckling, Fang held on to the guard as he looked over at the alley, his sharp feline eyes able to see the other guard slumped against a dumpster.

"Nice job, Mal," Fang called out.

"Thanks, you too," Malibu responded. "Bring the guard this way."

Fang did just that, setting the guard next to his equally unconscious partner. With the two out of commission, the mutate and gargoyle then went on to the back of the van. Smirking, Fang decided this would be the best time to try out his new and improved electric hammer. Taking it from his belt strap, he clicked the button that made it come alight with electricity, then swung it at one of the backdoors. The blow created a deep dent that caved the door in the center, which made Fang laugh out loud.

"Oh hell yeah!" he exclaimed. "And I didn't even swing it that hard! I love this baby!"

"Like a kid on Christmas morning," Malibu chuckled, nearing the caved-in door. Grabbing it, he pulled and tore it off easily, tossing it aside, then peeked into the van to find it full of small boxes. "So, what's Xanatos want with whatever those things are?"

Keeping his hammer in hand, Fang opened the van's other back door and got in. "Those things are some sorta advanced computer chips or some technobabble shit. I dunno, I wasn't paying much attention to that, just to the job I got told to do," he said, grabbing a box and tossing it to Malibu.

Catching the box, the gargoyle looked back at his friend. "So he wants all these boxes stolen?"

"Nope. He wants just one stolen, and the rest destroyed," Fang said with a toothy grin, brandishing his hammer. "All of these belong to Nightstone Unlimited, so this here's my big fat fuck-you to my former boss."

And with that said, Fang activated the electricity in his hammer again and let loose, smashing the boxes with glee. Malibu couldn't help but grin at seeing the cougar-man obliterate the valuable merchandise and clearly let out his frustrations. For about a half minute, Fang's hammer rampage continued until only a trash heap was left, with several deep dents on the floor and walls of the van to boot. Panting a bit, he exited the van, turning the electricity of his hammer off and strapping it back onto his belt. Then he pointed his fist, gathered electricity on it for a few seconds, then let loose a powerful bolt to the destroyed merchandise as a final touch.

"And that's that," Fang said with a very satisfied smile.

"Hehe. Man, you got issues," Malibu teased, then he and Fang went to the alley Fang had hidden in before to start climbing to the top of the building and leave the scene. "So what now?"

"Now we go home," Fang replied. "As in my new home. Xanatos'll have Burnett pick up this doohickey sometime tomorrow, so in the meantime, you get to see where I live and we hang out."

"Sounds great," Malibu said. "Now you can finally tell me exactly what the surprise for Daniel is, and what places you traveled to."

"You got it, Mal," Fang said as the duo reached the rooftop. "Best part of those travels is I got laid."

Malibu was about to take a running start to launch into the skies, but upon hearing Fang's statement, he was so shocked that he stumbled over his own feet and fell flat. The mutate was also following to jump off but stopped in his tracks at how the gargoyle clone just tripped over himself like that.

"Hahahahaha!" Fang laughed loudly. "Oh, man, that was hilarious! Damn, I couldn't have asked for a better reaction!"

"Oh, shove it, ya jerk," Malibu grumbled, picking himself up and dusting off his clothes. "Did you really mean that?"

"Oh, you bet I did," Fang said with a smug smirk, then he ran off and leaped off the roof, wings flapping as he rose into the skies.

"Hey, wait up!" Malibu shouted, jumping after the mutate and rushing to catch up. "Who was it you did it with? Was she hot? Hey! C'mon, man, tell me!"

Inside Fang's new home, Malibu stood impatiently by the bathroom's door, looking in at the nervous mutate who stood in front of the bathroom mirror.

"C'mon!" Malibu snapped. "Do it already, I wanna see!"

"I will when I'm ready!" Fang snapped back. "Quit rushing me!"

As Fang had promised, he took Malibu directly to his home after the job for Xanatos. Grabbing some beers from the fridge, Fang and Malibu celebrated the resounding success of the cougar-man's first job for his new boss and sabotaging his former one, and Fang proceeded to show Malibu his new home. The two then sat at the table and had some snacks and another beer each as Malibu told Fang of how things had been in Manhattan, such as the newfound intelligence of the clones, Malibu's limited freedom, and hanging with the Manhattan clan, and of course, how Daniel had been doing. For his part, Fang regaled his friend with tales of his travels-though of course, the main focus of it was Fang's stay in London. As Fang trusted Malibu, he had no trouble revealing everything about the London clan; how he befriended them, hung out with them, the magic shop, the way most people knew about them and liked them to the point they could walk freely to certain extents (something that Malibu couldn't deny being jealous about), and especially Cecily.

Though he did not hold back on talking about the more intimate details and bragging about it as well, Fang also spoke fondly of Cecily, to Malibu's surprise; the clone bit back the urge to tease his friend about having gotten himself a girlfriend, temporary as it had been, and instead was just happy for him that he had met a woman that he liked and brought out the best in him, even if said woman was a gargoyle. When the talk went into Fang's final night in London, the subject of the magical artifacts Fang had bought and been gifted came up. After telling Malibu about them, the gargoyle instantly grew curious as to the potions Fang got to switch to a human and back to a mutate. Surprised at Fang for not having tried them yet, Malibu reminded Fang that he'd have to try it eventually, so the mutate hesitantly went to his room, grabbed one of each potion and now stood in the bathroom.

"What are you so scared about?" Malibu asked. "You don't wanna be a normal human again, but it's not like you'll get stuck like that. You can always turn back to a mutant right after with that other potion."

"I know, I know," Fang grumbled. "It's just... I've been like this for a few years now, so just the thought of turning back to human is... ugh..."

Malibu shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Just get on with it, you wuss!"

"Alright, fine!" Fang snarled at Malibu, tired of the clone's heckling. Unscrewing the lid of the bottle, Fang stared at it for a few moments, and after a moment more of hesitation, he drank the potion, which had a rather unpleasant bitter taste, much like medicine.

Malibu looked at Fang intently, and for a few seconds nothing seemed to be happening, Fang also looking down at himself to inspect as he grimaced at the bitter taste of the potion. And then suddenly Fang's body shuddered. The mutate groaned loudly, doubled over, and clutched at his stomach before falling to his knees, startling Malibu.

"Gaaaaaaah!" Fang shouted with eyes tightly shut. "Fuck, it hurts!"

Before Malibu could do anything, Fang collapsed to the floor, growling and groaning, even screaming a couple of times as he writhed in pain, and the clone's eyes grew wide as his friend started to change right before his very eyes. Fang's fur seemed to retreat into his body, as did his wings, and his feet, hands and face started to turn back into those of a normal human's. The change took only a little less than ten seconds or so, but to Malibu and especially to Fang, it felt like it took longer. Fang was not Fang anymore, and now the completely human Fred Sykes groaned softly as the pain finally subsided.

"Goddamn," he managed to utter out. "Cecily told me it would hurt, but I didn't think it was gonna be that bad."

"Well, your whole entire body structure changed, so of course it was gonna hurt," Malibu said reasonably, moving into the bathroom and stooping down, grabbing a hold of his friend to help him up. "But hey, you got through it. Potion works like a charm, man."

Accepting Malibu's help, the former mutate got back to his feet, holding on to the sink to support himself, as his knees were a little wobbly. "Yeah. Dunno if it's worth the pain, though, especially now that I gotta take the other potion to turn back, so it's gonna be twice the hurt."

"Yeah, but at least now you know they work, for whenever you really need 'em," Malibu said, then chuckled as he looked his friend up and down. "Damn. Not only did your voice change, I think now we're about the same height. Hell, I might actually be taller than you now. Look how baggy your clothes look on you like this!"

"Oh, shut up, Mal!"

"Aaah, lighten up, Fred," Malibu teased his friend. "C'mon, just look at yourself."

Fred sighed and looked into the mirror. There it was, the face he had not seen since mutating. That plain, average face, the same brown hair as his son, except now it was shaggy and longer than it used to be. Fred frowned and grumbled, turning away from the mirror to face Malibu.

"Still hate that face," Fred said, then grunted and shook his head. "And this voice too. Sounds so damn whiny! See, this is why I prefer not being a normal human. I'm a nobody like this."

Malibu shrugged and smirked. "Well, at least it's not half bad. You told me you used to be skinny as a stick figure, right?"

Fred was confused at what Malibu said, then he looked down at himself, which he had not done yet. And then his own eyes widened in surprise. While he was still of average height for an adult his age, Fred realized that he was not as skinny and scrawny as he always had been. To his shock, his legs and arms were muscular now, and lifting his now too big t-shirt, he found well defined abs and pecs on his torso.

"Holy shit!" he exclaimed, removing his shirt and looking into the mirror, grinning as he flexed his arms. "I'm buff!"

Malibu chuckled and shook his head. "Oh, look, you found a silver lining."

"Damn right!" Fred exclaimed, checking himself out. "I've worked out almost every day since I got mutated, to keep strong, especially all the time I was in that cell in the Labyrinth. Maybe all that working out carried over when I turned back to a normal human?"

"Guess that's as good an explanation as any," Malibu said.

Fred kept smiling and checking himself in the mirror, posing and flexing. "Y'know, guess being back to normal sometimes might not be so bad after all. I wouldn't be embarrassed to be seen like this in public."

"I'd be embarrassed to be seen in public with you, if you acted like that all the time," Malibu snarked at his friend very openly admiring himself now. "Should I give you some privacy?"

"Fine, fine, quit your whining," Fred said, taking a last look at himself. He then looked at the other potion that sat by the sink, the one that would turn him back to a mutate, and he smiled while feeling very grateful towards Cecily, wishing she was there so he could thank her in person. "I think I'm gonna have some fun with these potions."

"Heh. And hopefully I'll have fun watching what kind of trouble you make with them," Malibu said with a smile. "Shame that Cecily couldn't give you a potion to go from human to gargoyle. Would've been fun to become a human. See the sun, and go out in public without a care."

"Hey, maybe if I get to go back to London, you could tag along," Fred said, taking the bottle of potion by the sink. "Who knows, maybe you could find a gargoyle gal for yourself."

"Yeah, see, now that I'd definitely be up for," Malibu grinned. "Anyway, you better get your change over with."

"Yeah, you're right," Fred said with a grimace, unscrewing the bottle's lid. "Bottom's up..."

After another dose of bitter potion and another moment of intense pain, Fred Sykes was back to being the mutate Fang. His fur and wings grew back, his body structure and voice changed again, he was back to being tall and filling out his clothes properly, and being annoyed at Malibu teasing him over how interesting it was to see him transform like that. The two then moved on to the living room, where Fang collapsed onto the sofa, irritated at the pain he had to go through but yet very pleased with the overall results of the potions. Malibu then pressed him to answer on how he was planning to finally get to go see Daniel. After Fang explained to Malibu, the gargoyle was pleased, understanding why Fang had not gone to see his son yet. It was only shortly afterwards that Malibu's communicator beeped, and the gargoyle groaned as he picked it up, Fang noticing that the device looked remarkably like a rather small cell phone.

"Hey, Talon... yeah... no, no, I'm fine... yeah, just resting my wings inside an empty building."

The gargoyle frowned and rolled his eyes, and Fang gritted his teeth to suppress the urge to chuckle as Malibu continued. "Yeah... yes, I'm staying out of trouble... okay... yeah, okay, I'll head back now. Bye."

Fang finally laughed the very moment Malibu cut the signal. "Man, you weren't kidding about Talon being the overprotective father figure now."

"Tell me about it," Malibu grunted, sticking the communicator back in his pocket. "I better go, or Papa Panther's gonna give me another boring lecture about safety and following curfew."

"Heh! And that's without him even knowing the kind of company you keep," Fang said, accompanying Malibu as the clone headed for the door. "But look on the bright side. Once Maggie gives birth, those two'll be too busy taking care of their baby to keep you on a leash."

"Sure hope you're right about that."

The two took the stairs going up to the roof, and after another goodbye and discussing plans to hang out again in a few nights, Malibu took his leave. Watching his friend glide away, Fang smiled and sat on the edge of the building, still shirtless, just relaxing and enjoying the feel of the cool evening breeze blowing through his fur. He was very glad to be a mutate again; being a human, even if it had been just for a couple of minutes, had been a little unnerving for him, though he was now appreciating the potential of those potions and how to possibly use them to his advantage beyond getting to spend a day out in public with his son.

"Coming to see you in a couple more days, Danny Boy," Fang said out loud with a smile on his face. "And I'm gonna make it count like you got no idea."

To Be Continued...

Author's Extra Note: Here we go, folks. We got to see Fang has gotten used to his new home and we see his first job for Xanatos, so he may properly earn his keep, with some assistance from his best buddy. Most importantly, now Fang knows for sure that the potions Cecily gifted him work like a charm, though with a pretty unwelcome bit of pain in the process. Now, as mentioned in the chapter, I know there was no Daniel here and it sounds rather callous that Fang hasn't gone to see his son yet, but you'll see the reason why soon. Until then, take care and thanks for reading!