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 35
by Remtar85
As soon as the bell rang, indicating school was out for the day, loud whoops of delight were heard from every classroom in the building. It was a Halloween Friday, and the children could not have been more thrilled. Only the most strict teachers insisted on trying to give a final set of instructions to the students, such as homework or reminders to study, while other teachers simply allowed their students to rush out the door as fast as they could, not wanting to put a damper on their weekend. However, as dozens of students filed through the hallways to exit the building and rush home to ready themselves for that evening, one particular student looked more disappointed than anything.
"I'm sure he would've made it if he could've," Tyler told Daniel in a low voice, so their friend Yvonne wouldn't overhear as she walked slightly ahead of them.
"I know," Daniel grumbled. "But he's been gone way longer than he said he would've. I hope nothing bad's happened to him."
"Hey, Uncle Fred's tough, he won't let that Sevarius guy do anything to him," Tyler said reassuringly.
Daniel nodded. "I guess you're right. But ever since I let him out of the Labyrinth, I had been looking forward to going out with him on Halloween. I'm bummed he's still away and I'll have to wait another year."
Before Tyler could reply, Yvonne stopped walking, causing the two boys to quickly stop in their tracks before they could bump into her. "Guys, let's move along quick," the chubby, bespectacled girl told her friends. "Looks like Sam wants to ruin the day early again this year."
To the dismay of the boys, they saw what Yvonne had glimpsed before they could. Further down the hall, there was one of the school bullies, Sam Bryer, and his two friends, clearly in a rowdy mood and wishing to cause trouble. Sam was a fairly tall blond-haired boy and rather heavy-set, who enjoyed pushing others around, among them Daniel, Tyler and Yvonne, who he delighted in making their school days miserable alongside his bully friends. The previous year's Halloween, he had put a damper on the trio's day as he and his cronies pelted them with eggs while leaving school, with nearby parents not doing much beyond trying and failing to admonish the bullies. Not wanting a repeat of last year, the three friends tried to lose themselves in the crowd and walked quickly, hoping that the bullies wouldn't notice them as they shoved other kids in the crowded hall, looking for someone to focus their abuse on with more emphasis.
Daniel, Tyler and Yvonne started walking faster as they got closer to where Sam and his friends were also making their way to the school's doors slower than the rest of the crowd, surveying it as if trying to find prey. And as though a shark smelling blood, Sam was able to spot the three friends mingled in the crowd and followed along in hopes of catching them. As Daniel, Tyler and Yvonne were unashamed of their unpopular status and their love of all things geeky, this made them an easy target for school bullies, and to their dismay, they realized that Sam and his fellow bullies had spotted them and were now after them.
"Aww, crap," Tyler groaned. "Guys, they saw us."
"We gotta move faster," Yvonne urged. "I don't wanna get home covered in egg this year too!"
"We can't move faster, it's too crowded!" Daniel pointed out. Indeed, with so many children rushing to exit school, it was difficult to walk quickly, the crowd feeling like a traffic jam. The three tried shoving their way through, which proved difficult for them, but not for Sam, whose friends followed right behind. The trio were nervous as they saw one of Sam's friends shift a messenger bag to his front, clearly having some unpleasant surprise waiting in there. The three finally managed to get out of the doors, trying to stick together and lose themselves in the crowd again, but without falling down the stairs that led to the sidewalk.
"Oh, wow!"
"So cool!"
"That's so creepy, it looks totally real."
The three heard these and several more exclamations about something, but were too focused on trying to evade the bullies after them that they did not bother trying to see what everyone was talking about. That is until they heard someone call out.
"Hey, kiddo!" someone shouted, a very familiar voice to Daniel and Tyler. And to the shock of the boys, they saw Fang out in broad daylight heading towards them, having just finished crossing the street and walking onto the sidewalk in front of the school's steps.
"Dad?!" Daniel said in a louder voice than he intended, due to the unexpected surprise, and everyone turned to him when they heard him say that.
"Surprise!" Fang said with a big smile on his face, and Daniel said no more, rushing down the steps towards his father, who laughed out loud as he picked up his son and lifted him high over his head for a moment, then gave him a firm hug before lowering him back down.
"You're back!" a thrilled Daniel exclaimed. "And you really came to school!"
"Well, I told you on the phone that I'd have a great costume that you'd love, so I figured, what better way to return from my trip and start Halloween than by coming to pick you up at school while wearing it?" Fang told his son.
"This is the coolest thing." Daniel stated with a happy smile as his two friends joined him and other kids around them admired Fang. "Gosh, I've missed you so much."
"Missed you too, son," Fang said with a fond smile.
"Uncle Fred, you look huge! Did you start working out since we last saw you?" Tyler asked, following the charade perfectly, as he and Daniel had a lot of practice by now.
"Haha! Yeah, you bet I have."
"Even your voice changed," Yvonne said as she looked in awe at the mutate; she had not seen Daniel's father since before he went homeless and got mutated.
"Yeah, filling out kinda did that to me," Fang replied with a casual shrug. "So, you kids ready to have fun tonight?"
"You bet!" Daniel exclaimed. While Daniel's and Yvonne's attention was entirely on the mutate, Tyler glimpsed to the side, and to his delight, Sam Bryer and his cronies were staying back, the look on their faces displaying both awe and apprehension, not daring to bully the three friends with Daniel's father standing there in what looked like an astounding costume.
"Do those wings work?" Yvonne asked. Ever since exiting the store across the street, Fang had kept his wings wrapped around his shoulders.
"Yeah, do they?" another girl asked.
"We wanna see!" a boy exclaimed.
"Oh, they work alright," Fang said confidently, happy for another chance to show off, unfurling and extending his wings. "I tell ya, kids, this suit's ready to be in Hollywood, so good that they could make a movie about gargoyles."
"We'd totally go to see that!" Tyler said enthusiastically, to which other kids around the mutate agreed with. By this point some parents were taking their curious kids away, while others hung around a bit to admire the cougar-man's picking up his son at school like this.
"Hey, maybe they'll make it someday, and right now you're all getting an exclusive first look," Fang grinned. "Nothing like good ol' practical effects, right?"
"I think it's inappropriate," a woman's voice suddenly rang out. Fang and others turned, and the mutate was not surprised to find that it was the blond-haired woman with glasses who had disliked his presence in the corner store. She still had her bag of things she bought in hand, and she was accompanied by three children now; a blond boy, a taller brunette girl, both of these clearly her children, and also an Asian boy.
"What do you mean?" Fang asked, now all eyes on the woman.
"I mean that coming to school to pick up your son while wearing such a scary costume is inappropriate," the woman said firmly. "Gargoyles are a real problem in this city, a danger, and that kind of costume is scary for children, especially because it's so realistic."
"No offense, lady, but my son and his friends like it, and I think most of these kids do," Fang pointed out, to which Daniel, his friends and several other kids voiced their agreement.
"My children don't, and that's enough reason for me to find it inappropriate. And they're not the only ones," the woman pointed out. Indeed, a few children, mainly younger ones, stood further back and looked rather unnerved.
"It's not that scary, Mom," the girl said a touch indignantly.
"Yeah, Susan's right," her brother said. "We're not little kids. We can handle seeing costumes, no matter how scary they are."
On the other hand, the Asian boy next to them had a more positive opinion. "I think it's really cool."
"You would, Terry," the blond boy said, rolling his eyes. "I don't know why you think gargoyles are cool."
"What? It's just a costume, Billy, and I think it's awesome how real it looks," Terry told his friend.
"I bet you'd sing a different tune if it was a real gargoyle," the girl told Terry in a rather snooty tone.
"But it's like he says, I'm not a real gargoyle, it's just a costume" Fang said, casually shrugging his shoulders. "I've been living in another state, haven't seen my son in a while, so I thought this would be a cool surprise for him."
"And it is," Daniel said with a big smile.
"I think it's pretty cool too," a father said as he ushered his daughter to their car.
"And I think that's very sweet to do for your son," a woman told Fang as she also waited for her children. The mutate could not be more pleased.
"I still think it's inappropriate, and if you're taking your son out tonight, someone could confuse you for a real gargoyle. I hope nothing bad happens," the blond-haired woman told Fang, then turned to the children next to her. "Come on, Susan, Billy, time to go home. We'll pass by Terry's house first to pick up his costume."
"And on that note, I should take you home too, Danny," Fang told his son, to which other kids groaned in disappointment.
"Aww! Stay longer!"
"Yeah, please stay! I wanna see how the suit works."
"I wanna see how the mouth and eyes work."
"I wanna touch the fur!"
"Sorry, kids, just really gotta go so we can all get ready for Halloween," Fang excused himself; he liked the attention, but getting swarmed by a crowd of kids wanting to poke and prod at him was something he'd rather avoid. "Everyone have fun tonight!"
And with that said, Fang started walking away, Daniel by his side, and Tyler and Yvonne following quickly. As they walked, people in cars would occasionally honk at Fang, who'd casually wave a greeting while explaining, or actually lying to Yvonne, where he had been and what he had been doing. He told her that he had been living in another state and took up work as a bodyguard and security guard after working out a lot to build up muscle, and that a gadgeteer friend made the costume he now wore and he was testing it out today. He had just finished explaining when the kids' friend, Cynthia, finally caught up to them, panting for breath after having clearly run all the way from school to catch up to the group.
"Hey, Cyn," Yvonne greeted her. "You caught up earlier than usual."
"Oh my gawd, you guys, I heard all about it!" Cynthia gasped as she looked at Fang. "Everyone back at school was talking and asking about Danny's cool dad and where he got such an amazing Halloween costume!"
"I do make an impression," Fang bragged smugly.
"I so have to get all the details!" Cynthia said with enthusiasm.
"We'll tell you later," Yvonne said.
"Right now we wanna know about Sam," Daniel said. "Did you hear anything back there?"
"Who's Sam?" Fang asked.
"Sam's a bully who picks on us," Daniel replied. "He and his friends were looking to do something nasty to us. Last year they threw eggs at us while we were leaving school."
"They were after us just before you showed up, Uncle Fred," Tyler said with a grin. "I saw them after you got there, they looked so spooked."
"Oh, they totally were," Cynthia confirmed. "Michelle told me that they were grumbling about how they couldn't get close to you guys because of Danny's huge dad in the scary gargoyle costume."
Fang laughed heartily at this. "Hahaha! Good, that'll teach 'em not to mess with my boy and his friends. Y'know, you should tell those bullies that I'll still be around after today."
"Yeah, maybe we should," Daniel agreed with a big smile on his face. "And sorry that Susan and Billy's mom gave you a hard time. She's kind of uptight."
"Yeah, she's such a stick in the mud," Yvonne commented.
"Oh, you know those kids?" Fang asked.
Daniel nodded. "Yeah, and their friend Terry, too. Terry's nice, but Billy and Susan not so much."
"That's so true. When the whole news about gargoyles came out, they bragged sooooo much how they were, like, probably the first ones to see real live gargoyles," Cynthia said while rolling her eyes. "Said that they saw Fox and Wolf from that TV show, The Pack, fighting two gargoyles."
"Some kids at school believed them, others didn't," Tyler said.
"And eventually everyone did believe them," Yvonne said. "Susan and Billy told everyone at school about the monsters they saw Fox and Wolf fighting, and they described how they looked. Then when the news about gargoyles came out, everyone noticed that two of the gargoyles on the news footage matched the monsters Billy and Susan had described."
"And like Cynthia said, they wouldn't stop bragging about having been right," Daniel added, rolling his eyes.
Tyler continued. "And ever since then, they've been totally anti-gargoyle, just like their mom."
"Heh. Yeah, I can tell that she really doesn't like gargoyles," Fang smirked. "But I'm not gonna let that sourpuss ruin my fun today."
"Plus, she and her kids are, like, total hypocrites," Cynthia said. "Susan and Billy are still fans of The Pack to this day, even when most of them are criminals who've been arrested a bunch of times."
"Yeah, you're right," Tyler agreed. "And their mom's okay with them being big fans of real criminals. She probably thinks it's better to idolize criminals than to think gargoyles are cool. That's so messed up."
"And it's not like there's ever been footage of gargoyles attacking or killing people," Yvonne added. "They could be good for all we know."
Cynthia nodded at that. "I know, right? Like, if they're such wild, mindless monsters or whatever, why do they wear clothes? No mindless anything would bother getting dressed, right?"
The mention of The Pack caught Fang's attention. He remembered the TV show The Pack before ending up homeless but he never watched it, finding it too corny for his personal tastes. Now that he had had interactions with Fox and would very likely continue having them from time to time, he figured that learning about her former teammates in The Pack might at least be information worth having. "Can you kids fill me in on that Pack thing? I don't watch the news much."
"The Pack show got canceled when Fox and Wolf took a woman hostage while fighting some supposed monsters, which now everyone knows were gargoyles, and they got arrested for it, since it was caught on camera," Yvonne explained to him. "And then Jackal and Hyena got arrested for trying to steal a diamond and kill David Xanatos, and then the last one, Dingo, broke the others out of jail. Except for Fox, she was the only one who did her time."
"And then she married David Xanatos and are, like, the coolest couple in New York, and maybe the whole country," Cynthia added, clearly a fan.
Fang grinned when he saw Daniel and Tyler exchanging a quick knowing look. They had been at the Eyrie Building and met both Fox and Xanatos, and while it was clear they'd love to tell their friends about it, they knew better than to blab. Fang couldn't blame them for the temptation to wish to brag, as he often felt it himself, and had finally been indulging in that this day.
Tyler then decided to continue the explanation. "And from what we've heard in news and stuff, Dingo's a superhero in Australia now, with a cool armor too, like Iron Man."
"And the rest of the Pack stayed criminals and have been arrested and broken out of jail a few times by now," Daniel continued explaining to his father. "And if that wasn't enough, they got altered big-time."
Fang raised an eyebrow. "Altered how?"
"Oh, it was all over the news when Jackal, Hyena and Wolf got arrested the second time!" Cynthia exclaimed. "It was, like, huge. Nobody had seen anything like it before."
"But it was still seriously awesome," Tyler interjected. "I mean, in concept."
"Yeah, but creepy, at least with Jackal and Hyena," Yvonne said, looking up at Fang. "They got turned into cyborgs."
Daniel nodded. "Yeah. Pretty much more machine than human now."
Fang let that sink in. "Alright, that does sound freaky as hell. What about the other guy?"
Tyler grinned knowingly at the cougar-man. "Wolf got turned into a mutant, so he's like a big, strong wolfman now. And he actually looks so much cooler like that. Shame he's a bad guy."
"Is that so?" Fang asked in a low voice. "And people believed this?"
"Like I said, it was all over the news," Cynthia reminded the mutate. "They showed footage and everything."
"And they openly admitted it too," Daniel told Fang. "Said that some scientist did that to them, but that they volunteered for it, and that they like being like that now."
Fang pondered this bit of news. A trio of celebrities from a short lived yet successful TV show had been heavily altered physically, obviously by Sevarius; one of them had become a mutate just like him, and people in general had no trouble at all believing it. And yet, with the exception of Daniel and Tyler, everybody Fang told about being a mutate would not believe him, instantly thinking of him as a gargoyle instead, the sole exceptions being the London Clan, who figured he wasn't a gargoyle just by his scent, and Daniel's mother, at least once he finally convinced her via reminding her of things from their youth. Fang figured it was due to the fact that, while this Wolf had been turned into a wolfman and nothing more, Fang himself had wings just like a gargoyle, making it easy for anyone to mistake him for one. The cougar-man found himself annoyed at the fact that, unlike this Wolf, he couldn't do a thing to properly convince people he wasn't a gargoyle, especially while living in Manhattan, where many hated and feared the gargoyles and there was an organization dedicated to hunting and killing them.
Sensing that his father was growing annoyed, and feeling a tad guilty at never having filled him in on the fact that the city knew about at least one mutate, Daniel took Fang's thoughts off of that issue. "Hey, Dad. You're coming with us, right?"
Fang almost did a double-take as he got shook off his train of thought. "Hmm? Coming with you where? I'm already walking you kids home."
"He means to the comic book store, Uncle Fred," Tyler replied. "We go there every Friday after school."
"It'll be great if you come too!" Cynthia told Fang. "They'll totally freak when they see the best gargoyle costume ever."
"The owner of the store always keeps a camera around to take pictures of people wanting to show off their costumes," Yvonne added. "I bet he'll definitely want to take your picture, Mr. Sykes."
"Eeh, I dunno," Fang said half-heartedly. "It's one thing for kids to think I'm cool, it's another to have a bunch of grown-up geeks gushing over me."
"C'mon, Dad, please," Daniel begged him. "It'll be so cool to show you off."
Fang was silent for a moment, then sighed, rolled his eyes and shook his head. "That's not fair, you know I can't say no to you," Fang told his son in an accusatory tone, but then smirked. "Fine then. Today's your day, Danny Boy, so if you wanna show off your awesome dad, then let's go for it."
The kids were all happy about this, and soon enough all five reached the comic book store. Just as Fang expected, the majority of people there were adults, and just about every one was thrilled at the sight of the cougar-man, forgetting their browsing and purchases, eager for a closer look. Daniel felt sheepish but happy and proud when Fang mentioned being his father and that the "costume" was less to show off for himself and more to make his son happy.
The owner of the store was quite enthusiastic and produced an instant camera he had in the back, hoping Fang would allow for pictures to be taken. Fang readily went for it, just like he had with the taxi driver and tourists. He took a solo one, then one with the owner himself that the owner could keep in his store, on a display of pictures of people displaying their own homemade cosplay. Next, Fang took four pictures of himself and the four children together, one for each of the kids to keep as a memento, and also two pictures of just himself and Daniel, the mutate affectionately carrying his son with one arm and flexing the other as they smiled and posed. Fang kept one and Daniel the other. The mutate was extra pleased that the owner asked for no money to have taken those extra pictures for them, just happy to have someone at his store with such a fantastic costume.
Eventually they all left the comic book store, all the kids having bought things, and Fang having bought extra goodies for Daniel and the others. All the kids were thrilled and grateful to Daniel's father for his doing that for them and hanging out with them at the store, and eventually they all went their separate ways home, agreeing on where to meet for trick-or-treating later. This finally left Fang and Daniel all by themselves, and as the last of Daniel's friends left, Fang suddenly picked Daniel up into a firm hug.
"Finally, just you and me, son," Fang said affectionately. "I've missed you way too damn bad. I'm sorry it took me this long to come see you."
"I missed you too, Dad," Daniel said, just as happy as his father, hugging him around the neck. "And don't apologize, it's not your fault that that creep Sevarius kept you away for so long."
"Actually, I've been back for almost a week now," Fang admitted in all seriousness as he put his son back down, looking apologetic. "Mal already knows, but I asked him to keep it secret. See, I wanted to go visit you right away, but then I thought that picking you up at school on Halloween would be the best idea. I hope you're not mad I made you wait."
To Fang's relief, his son smiled and shook his head. "I'm not mad, Dad. You're right, it was the best surprise. I never expected you to come pick me up at school, it was the coolest thing!"
"Heh. Thanks, Danny Boy," Fang said with a smile of his own. "C'mon, let's get you home."
"Sure. But hey, now that we have time till we get there, you gotta tell me about your travels," Daniel insisted with enthusiasm.
Fang chuckled and smirked. "Aah, not much to tell. Except that I met and became buds with a buncha gargoyles, and got myself a gargoyle girlfriend for a bit, too."
"Wait, what?!"
Fang regaled his son with tales from his travels during the walk home. He did leave out anything involving Sevarius's experiments, but he spoke of the places he saw, and most of all, the London Clan. Daniel was fascinated by learning of the existence of more gargoyles, and how the London Clan all looked like they could be mutates like Fang was. The cougar-man was very careful not to go into the more explicit details of what he and Cecily did together, and Daniel seemed happy that his father found a girl he liked, even if it was short lived and said girl was a gargoyle. And of course, Fang went into great detail on zapping Sevarius upon his return and now having his own place to live courtesy of David and Fox Xanatos, Daniel insisting that Fang take him over as soon as he could to see what the mutate's new home was like. The walk from school to Daniel's apartment building was not that long, and about half a block from the building, Fang stopped walking.
"Alright, kiddo, gotta leave you here," Fang said. "Don't wanna upset your mother, or freak out her crapsack husband. I mean, if she still hasn't given him the ol' heave-ho."
"Oh, right. We've been catching up on you so much that I forgot to tell you," Daniel said. "Richard's not a jerk anymore."
Fang looked surprised at this. "He's not? You mean, he's treating you better?"
Daniel nodded. "Yeah, me and Mom too. He quit drinking, he got promoted at work, and that came with a raise. He's being nice, and he and Mom have been getting along, going on dates and all, and making the marriage work again."
"Oh... well, uh... That's good, I guess?" Fang mumbled, not sure how to react to this bit of news. "You okay with that, Danny Boy?"
"Yeah, I kinda am," Daniel said with a casual shrug. "I mean, Richard's okay now, and as long as Mom's happy, then that's fine by me."
"Right. Well, as long as that doesn't get in the way of me visiting you. And at least it's not a Talon situation," Fang said with a smirk. "Mal told me you and Talon buried the hatchet."
Daniel nodded at this. "Yeah, we did. It's not like we're friends now, but we're pretty okay. He's really nice when he's not being an uptight jerk."
"Hehe. Well, I wouldn't know, since I got too used to seeing his uptight jerk side and not much else," Fang said. "Mal also told me that Talon promised you he'll give me a chance to behave. I'm not exactly holdin' him up to that, but I'll see about behaving, Danny Boy, just for you."
"Thanks, Dad," Daniel said with a grateful smile, albeit a slightly sheepish one. Knowing of his father's dislike of his fellow mutates, Daniel did not dare tell Fang about Claw visiting the apartment on occasion. "So then, we can really meet tonight for trick-or-treating? Malibu promised he'd come with me and Tyler, and that he'd tell the girls he's a friend of yours and just wearing a costume."
Fang nodded at this. "You betcha. Mal told me all about it and I'm definitely going with all of you. It's the one night a year we can go out like we used to, kiddo, so there's no way I'll leave you hangin'."
"That's great!" Daniel exclaimed, thrilled that his father would tag along for Halloween, just like he hoped for.
"Yup," Fang said, stooping down to give his son a quick hug. "So go home, have some dinner, get whatever costume you got, and I'll see you in a few hours. We're gonna have a great time."
"You got it, Dad," Daniel said, hugging his father too, then he rushed off home. "Take care, see you tonight!"
With a pleased smile, Fang then took to hailing a taxi. As before, it took a few tries until one finally decided to pick up the cougar-man. Taking a ride back to the vicinity of the building he now resided in, he went through the back alleys and made his way to the cargo elevator, back to his new home. It had been a great day so far, and though tired from hours of walking, Fang was thrilled at having been able to be out and about during daytime hours and have many people gushing over him.
He needed rest and sustenance for the evening, so he prepared himself a few frozen meals in the microwave, then took a quick shower to freshen up. After eating and showering, the mutate decided to kill some time and took one of the Modesty Blaise books Desmond had gifted him. It was the fourth book in the series, titled A Taste for Death, and Fang was already almost halfway through. The books had indeed hooked him and he was enjoying them quite a bit, the mutate figuring he could make some more headway into this one.
Fang couldn't wait to go out again, take his son trick-or-treating, give him a few surprises, and then see what the rest of the evening had in store. He had a feeling this would be a memorable Halloween for him.
To Be Continued...
Author's Extra Note: And there we have it, Halloween has officially begun for the kids, in the best way they could have imagined. This whole thing was a shout-out to before Fang left on his trip with Sevarius, when the boys talked about how cool it would be to show Fang off at school, and now they got to do that, plus I wanted Fang to continue being really bold during the daytime, and figured this was the boldest thing he could do, and the coolest for his son. And we even got guest appearances by Sarah Browne (showcasing her Quarrymen way of thinking), her kids Billy and Susan, and Terry too, all of whom we got to see in the comics during Halloween. Whole lot of talking afterwards, I hope it didn't feel long-winded to you, dear readers. Next chapter, Fang and Malibu take the kids trick-or-treating, and I have certain things planned for that. Hope you all enjoy it, and thanks for reading!