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 40
by Remtar85
"He what?!"
Daniel Sykes flinched at his mother's raised tone of voice. It was now Saturday and he had just returned home from spending the night at Tyler's, where he always kept a change of clothes just in case. Now that Halloween was over and his stepfather Richard was out on errands, Daniel figured it was best to be honest with his mother about his father being back in town and that he had taken Daniel and his friends trick-or-treating alongside Malibu. However, Carmen had quite the reaction to Daniel confessing about how he found out about Fang being back.
"He picked you up at school, in broad daylight, looking like he does?" Carmen asked in disbelief. "Is he crazy?!"
"But nothing happened, Mom. Everyone thought he was wearing a costume, and almost everyone thought it was really cool."
"What do you mean almost everyone?"
"Well, there was the mom of two kids I know at school, Billy and Susan," Daniel replied. "She said it was inappropriate, but that's because she's totally anti-gargoyle. And then there was that jerk Sam and his two friends. They were trying to bully me and Tyler and Yvonne, but then when Dad appeared, they stayed away from us."
Carmen sighed. "Well, at least there's one good thing. Seriously, Fred's crazy. At least it was Halloween, so hopefully he won't be crazy enough to try going to your school again."
"Don't worry, Mom, he won't," Daniel assured his mother. "He's mellowed out a lot. Now he's working for David Xanatos, and Mr. Xanatos gave him a place to stay, too. So now everything's better. He's being smarter and safer, and he doesn't have to stay here all the time like he used to."
Carmen shook her head, looking calmer now. "It's just bizarre how many things Fred goes through."
"And me too?" Daniel asked with a sheepish smile.
"You even more so," Carmen said, a small smile appearing on her face. "Finding an underground community and your mutated dad in it, becoming friends with mutants and gargoyles, meeting one of the richest couples in the world. And to think our lives were as mundane as they could get, now we have weekly dinners with a huge winged tiger-man. And I still haven't met the gargoyles."
"I'll ask Malibu to come as soon as there's a chance," Daniel said. "So, you're not mad at me for not telling you earlier about Dad being back?"
"No, I'm not," Carmen replied, shaking her head, then sitting down on the sofa. "I'm just hoping this is finally the one time he can keep his act together. Fred's always had the habit of dragging trouble along wherever he goes, and I don't want you getting caught up in something nasty."
"Don't worry, Mom, I'm pretty sure nothing bad's gonna happen," Daniel assured his mother, sitting next to her on the couch. "But I wanted to ask permission for something later..."
"Ow. Owwwww. Damn it..."
Fang grumbled to himself as he finally awoke from a deep slumber. He had no idea how long he had slept, but it was a throbbing, pounding headache that stirred him awake in a most unpleasant manner. The cougar-man felt glad that the part of the building that was now his home had no windows, as any source of light would have made the hangover he was suffering even worse. Beyond the terrible headache, his mouth was quite dry and he was experiencing nausea as well, and it took him a while to drag himself off his bed and walk towards his dresser. Pulling open the top right drawer, he felt around in it, for while he could see well enough in the dark, the hangover and having just awoken had left his vision blurry.
His hand wrapped around a small bottle, which he pulled from the drawer. While he had been watching his alcohol intake for a while, he figured the hangover cures he had bought from the magic shop of his gargoyle friends in London would come in handy whenever he went overboard with drinking again. He closed the drawer and popped open the lid of the bottle, then brought it to his mouth and downed the contents. Fang felt ready to grimace at a bitter taste, much like the transfiguration potions, but found out that this one, while still having bitterness to it, also had a touch of sweetness and even a hint of spice, making it more palatable. Setting the bottle and lid on top of the drawer, Fang then went back to bed and sat down to wait in the dark for the potion to take effect. To his immense relief, it only took about two minutes, and then the headache and nausea disappeared.
"Thank you, London gargs," Fang sighed. "I owe ya guys big-time. These potions are a lifesaver."
His throat still parched, Fang got up from the bed and walked out of his bedroom and towards the kitchen. The sight of Malibu right by the cargo elevator confirmed to the mutate that it was still daytime. Deciding to check the time later, Fang first got himself a tall glass of water, then started working on making himself a meal, realizing now just how hungry he was. The mutate spent a while making himself a large breakfast with eggs, veggies, bacon, ham, toast, and some fruit on the side, alongside some coffee to help with waking up; he had not utilized the sleeping talisman, fearing that all the alcohol he had drunk might not mix well with the sleeping magic. Filling up on a hearty meal, followed by brushing his teeth and a long shower, made Fang feel normal again, and he found his anger and frustration from the night before being washed away. The fact that he was now sober also helped a lot in curbing his annoyance and irritation.
The mutate decided that the best way to do away with what was left of his irritation was to take the whole day off from everything, focus on simply resting and relaxing, barring any unforeseen job set for him by Xanatos. He decided to skip his daily exercises that day and he sat on his large couch, continuing to read his collection of Modesty Blaise novels. He was making good headway into the series and enjoying it, which made him wish there could be some way to get all the comic strips from the start, as he felt that there were many more stories to enjoy that way. It was shortly after four o' clock in the afternoon when a very familiar voice suddenly interrupted Fang's reading.
"Fang. Fang, are you there?"
What was undoubtedly Talon's voice startled Fang, who put his book down and looked around the apartment, but there was no sight of the panther mutate. "What the hell..."
"Fang? I know Malibu's spending the day there."
That's when Fang realized that Talon was calling to Malibu's communicator, still in the pocket of the clone's pants, the mutate realizing that it had not turned to stone. It was also now that Fang realized that the communicator had a speaker option, which Talon was now utilizing, clearly able to access the speaker option from his own communicator. Fang sighed, sat back and went to pick up his book again. He had no desire to speak with Talon.
"C'mon, Fang, I know you're there. Could you just please pick up? This won't take long at all."
Fang groaned in frustration and got up from the couch, walked over to where Malibu stood frozen in stone, and carefully fished out the communicator from his pocket, which was thankfully baggy enough that the communicator wasn't stuck in what was now stone clothing. Clicking the button on it, he spoke up. "What the hell, Talon? I was taking a massive dump and you pulled me outta the bathroom!"
"Very funny, Fang," Talon said, and Fang could practically hear the panther-man rolling his eyes. "I just wanted to ask a simple favor."
Fang's eyes got a little wide, and he smirked widely in amusement. "A favor? From moi? Now that's unexpected. What's in it for me?"
"If just letting Malibu know to come right back home after he wakes up is something you need some kind of payment for, then you drive a hard bargain."
"And why should I tell him that?" Fang retorted. "He can hang out here all he wants."
"Because he has some explaining to do, but Daniel can let you know better," Talon said. "Plus, he wants to say hi. Hang on a sec, I'll put him on."
Fang was taken by surprise, not expecting his son to be around Talon at the time, and before the cougar-man could reply, Daniel's voice came out of the communicator. "Hi, Dad!"
"Danny Boy! What's up, kiddo? Kinda early at the Labyrinth today, ain't'cha?" Fang asked; it was early in the afternoon, and he knew that Daniel and Tyler always went to the Labyrinth either very late afternoon or early in the evenings.
"Yeah, well, there's a reason for that," Daniel said, and Fang recognized a sheepish tone in his son's voice.
"Oh. My. Gawd! What's down this way?"
Fang blinked as he recognized that voice. "Danny Boy, was that..."
At the Labyrinth...
"Yeah. Yeah, it was Cynthia," Daniel replied into the communicator. He was standing next to Talon, who looked rather miffed, and had looked that way since both Daniel and Tyler had arrived at the Labyrinth with their friends Cynthia and Yvonne in tow. Daniel and Talon stood side by side now, watching Tyler showing the girls around.
Daniel could hear Fang's chuckle through the communicator. "Damn, the girls sure wasted no time making you two take 'em there, huh?"
"Yeah, you got that right, Dad," Daniel confirmed.
"Haha! I knew it!" Fang exclaimed with a hearty laugh.
Indeed, before Daniel had left Tyler's home to return to his own the day after Halloween, Yvonne and Cynthia had called them at Tyler's house. After having learned the whole truth from Malibu the night before, they decided they couldn't wait to get to visit the Labyrinth, and wanted to do so on that very Saturday, as early as possible. The boys both knew they had no way to get out of this and could only hope that Talon would not be mad at them for bringing in two of their friends to the Labyrinth without his permission. To their relief, the leader of the Labyrinth wasn't angry with them-instead, he was angry with Malibu.
"Is Talon giving you any grief?" Fang asked over the communicator.
"No, he said it wasn't my or Tyler's fault," Daniel assured his father.
"Good. But hey, Mal was right, y'know? The girls were gonna find out sooner or later anyway."
"I'm pretty sure Derek wouldn't have been mad if Malibu had at least let him know about it first," Daniel said amiably as he looked at the panther-man, who nodded at him in affirmation. "And he just told me I'm right about that. Anyway, yeah, he just wanted to have Malibu come here when he wakes up so he can talk to him about consulting him on who he tells about the Labyrinth."
"Alright, fine. I'll let Mal know. Wonder if Talon'll try grounding him," Fang pondered, then chuckled. "Dunno if he could make it stick, though. How do you ground a gargoyle? Anyway, I'll leave ya to have fun with your friends, Danny Boy."
"Okay, Dad. Are you gonna come see me again soon?"
"You bet'cha. Take care now!"
"Bye, Dad." With that, Daniel handed the communicator to Derek, who turned it off. "I'm really sorry, Derek. We just didn't know how to get out of it."
Talon smiled. "Daniel, it's fine, really. I'll admit-and I never thought I'd say this-but your dad had a point. If you had kept dodging your friends to come here, they likely would've followed you here eventually."
"Maybe," Daniel said. "Still feel a little guilty, though. I don't want to cause you guys any trouble."
"You don't have to worry about that," Talon said to the boy, then chuckled. "Well, not anymore, at least, now that you're not keeping your dad hidden away."
"That's thanks to you giving him a chance. I don't know how I could thank you for that," Daniel said with a genuine smile.
"You don't have to thank me," Talon said amiably. "It's thanks to you that Fang got that chance. And he did behave well enough last night, right?"
Daniel nodded. "He totally did. It was the best night ever!"
"That's good to hear. Now you have me looking forward to my and Maggie's child to be old enough to go trick-or-treating," Talon said with a fond smile.
It was at that moment that Daniel's friends reunited with him and Talon, with the girls being very enthusiastic. "This place is amazing!" Yvonne exclaimed. "Like right out of a comic book!"
"I mean, it kinda needs a bit of a makeover," Cynthia added, a comment which made her friends wince a bit. "But it's still, like, so totally cool!"
"And it's really awesome that you turned it into a whole community," Yvonne said. "How do you manage to make it all work?"
"Well, for starters, the whole place is secretely tapped into a clean water supply, and also to energy grids, which allows us to have power, plus there was still plenty of tech left behind by the people who used to run the place," Talon explained. "People have been able to bring furniture and the like down here to set up rooms, and we do get food and supplies for those living here, thanks to certain sources."
"What sources?" Cynthia asked.
"Sorry, I'm not at liberty to say," was Talon's reply; Daniel and Tyler knew that this source was Xanatos, but due to Talon's reluctance in accepting the billionaire's help due to everything that had happened between them, the boys knew it was better to keep quiet about it.
"How do you manage to keep the place running if it gets too full?" Yvonne asked.
"Thankfully, we have enough space for many to live comfortably enough, and many of the people here work hard to get back on their feet. A good number of them find jobs and eventually leave the Labyrinth, getting their own places, and most of them come visit from time to time to continue to help out. And most minors we get here are runaways or homeless orphans, so we have my sister Elisa, who's a detective, take them to the police to help them out."
"That's so cool how much good you do for people," Yvonne said with a big smile; her family went to church every Sunday and her parents also volunteered in soup kitchens and the like.
Talon smiled at this. "Thanks, we do what we can. And of course, I'm counting on you to keep this place a secret."
"Our lips are sealed," Cynthia assured the mutate. "By the way, where's Roger? We wanna say hello."
Tyler was the one who answered. "He's probably sleeping. A lot of the people here have gotten used to being more active at night."
Talon nodded at this. "Exactly. Especially us mutates and the gargoyles who live down here."
"Would it be okay if we could see the gargoyles wake up?" Yvonne asked hopefully.
"Of course," Talon replied. "But first let me show you around some more, and introduce you to Maggie."
Daniel smiled as the girls eagerly followed the panther-man, with him and Tyler right behind them. He was relieved that Talon had taken things so well, was being welcoming to his friends and showing them around; he could practically already hear their delight when they eventually learned of Maggie's pregnancy, and was already imagining their awe at witnessing the clones awaken from their stone slumber. Daniel was glad that he now had no more secrets to hide from any of his friends, though in the back of his mind, he was hoping that Talon wouldn't be too harsh on Malibu for abruptly revealing everything to Yvonne and Cynthia.
Dusk settled as the sun set, night overtaking the city of Manhattan. Though the sun could not be seen from the inside of Fang's new home due to the lack of windows, all one needed to realize that it was now nighttime was when cracks started to appear in Malibu's stone form. The stone broke off from his eyes first, as they glowed brightly, and the clone roared as he awoke, bits and pieces of rock falling all around him as he stretched his arms and wings. Malibu's roar stopped, and before he could react, a broom and dustpan came flying at him. He fumbled for them, unable to catch the dustpan, and getting hit in the face by the broom's handle.
"Hey! What the hell, man?"
Fang stood nearby, a stern look on his face. "If you're gonna spend the day here, then you're picking up the mess you make when you wake up."
Malibu shook his head and growled, but still picked up the broom and started sweeping the stone remains into a pile. "Fine. Geez. You could've asked me in a nicer way. What crawled into your corn flakes during breakfast?"
"For starters, that crap you pulled off this morning," Fang said. "You totally timed when you'd turn into stone just to leave me hangin'!"
Malibu was about to retort, but thought better of it. "Okay, fine. You're right, I did time it. I thought it'd be funny. And for the record, no, I didn't get laid, I was just pulling your leg. But those girls were pretty cool, and so were the other P.I.T Crew people I met. I think I should tell Talon and the others about them."
"I'll pass," Fang said. "Going out in public is one thing, but going to a meeting of gargoyle fanboys is another. Not my idea of a fun time."
"Suit yourself," Malibu said, now sweeping rock and dust into the dustpan, going to the trash can to toss them in, then returning for more. "Y'know, considering how cranky you were this morning and how you seem cranky even now, I know something happened that ruined your Halloween before you got home. If you wanna talk about it, I'm here, but if you don't, then I'll respect that."
"Thanks, Mal. Just thought I got lucky with a hot chick, but it turned into a big crapfest."
Malibu smiled amiably at his friend. "So, neither of us got laid. Not the end of the world. We still have each other, bud."
"Are you trying to cheer me up or make me puke?" Fang asked with a disgusted expression on his face, which got a good laugh out of Malibu as the gargoyle finished cleaning up.
Malibu then washed and dried his hands, walked over to the kitchen, and opened the fridge to check what he could find to eat. "So, any plans for tonight?"
At this, Fang could not help but smile in amusement. "You mean besides letting you know that Talon called your comm thing during the afternoon and told me to tell you to take your scrawny ass home soon as you wake up? Because the girls had the boys take them to the Labyrinth, and Talon's probably gonna wring your neck about it."
Malibu visibly winced at this. "Aw, damn it. They really went to the Labyrinth already?!"
"They're pre-teen geeks," Fang pointed out. "You actually thought the girls would wait to go?"
"Tyler told me it took him a few days to visit the Labyrinth after he found out about it!"
"That's because his family had just come back from a vacation and he couldn't slip away to hang out with Danny for a few hours, not till some days later," Fang explained. "You told the girls last night, and now it's Saturday night, and the kids almost always hang out together on weekends."
"Damn it," Malibu grumbled, his search for food now over. "I thought I'd have at least a couple days to talk to Talon and smooth things over before the girls came. I better go do some damage control."
"Good luck with that, pal. Catch you another night."
The clone walked away with a resigned look on his face, exiting the apartment. Staying behind, Fang sank back onto the couch. The television was turned off, and with the exception of the gentle hum from the refrigerator, the apartment was now silent. The cougar-man pondered what to do next; he hated slow weekend nights, where he never found anything good on TV. He had wanted to stay home and relax all day, but now he felt tempted to go out for a flight, and as he wasn't hungry now, he could fix himself a meal later in the night. Grunting as he got up from the couch, Fang went to his bedroom, turning on the light to check his dresser drawer for something to wear. And as he did, he couldn't help but notice the two photos on top of the dresser; one was the photo he had taken with Daniel at the comic book store, and the other was the photo he took with Desmond and Cecily back in London.
It was then that Fang remembered, the gargoyles of the London clan had given him their magic shop's phone number. So far, he hadn't called them at all. The memories of what a good time he had had and what good friends he had made came back to Fang, sharply contrasting with the awful experience he had had with Megan from the Quarrymen not twenty-four hours prior. The mutate checked through his things and found the slip of paper with the shop's phone number, then headed to the living room where a phone lay on a small table next to the sofa. He dialed the number, and after just two rings, someone picked up.
"Good evening. Into the Mystic, how may we help you?"
Fang instantly recognized the voice. "Heya, Staghart. Long time no hear ya."
"Fang? What a surprise! How have you been, mate?"
"Oh, y'know, surviving, like all us gargoyle look-alikes and actual gargoyles gotta do here in Manhattan," Fang replied casually. "How about you? How's the clan and the shop?"
"It's all going as usual. Shop's doing well, the people still like us and we're all hoping you and members of Goliath's clan can come visit us again someday."
"Yeah, let's hope for that," Fang said, while in the back of his mind thinking how he'd rather nobody he knew got to visit the London Clan and tell them the truth about all of Fang's misdeeds. "And by the way, gotta tell you that the stuff I bought from you guys works like a charm. I gotta find a way to get some money sent to you guys so you can send me more of those goodies."
"Aah, I knew you'd love those. I take it you got good and plotzed during Halloween?" Staghart asked with a humorous tone in his voice.
Fang chuckled at this. "You bet I did. Unlike you guys over there, I had just the one night to go out and have fun here, so I made it count. And the hangover cure I bought from you guys was a total lifesaver."
"Like we've said, never had an unsatisfied customer," Staghart said with a hint of pride in his voice.
"Say, are Cecily and Desmond there, by any chance?" Fang asked, eager to speak to those he grew closest to in London.
"Well, Desmond is at Knight's Spur tonight, helping out with some things," Staghart replied referring to the London clan's large estate home, which Fang had been thoroughly impressed by on the one night he got to visit.
"Oh. Man, that's a bummer. And what about Cecily?"
There was a short pause on the other end of the line. "Unfortunately, Cecily's grounded. She's not allowed to practice magic or even help here at the shop, at least for some time, because of what happened involving you."
Fang got overcome by a feeling of dread. "Uh... wh-what do you mean because of me?" Had the others discovered about Fang's fling with Cecily and punished her because of it?
"Well, in this shop, there's really no way to hide things from Una. Not for long, at least. Two nights after you left, Cecily was taking inventory, but Una decided to double check just in case, which she does sometimes, and she realized certain things were missing. So Una put two and two together and figured out that Cecily had made transmogrification potions for you."
"Oh, damn," Fang said, feeling a pang of guilt. "Is Una there? I can talk to her. I mean, Cecily was just trying to help me out so I could spend time with my son, and so the other mutants could be human again."
"Una knows this, Fang," Staghart assured the mutate. "In fact, had Cecily consulted Una about the potions, Una would've made and given them to you herself. It was the secrecy of it, the fact that Cecily did it sneakily. Desmond admitted that he helped her keep it secret, but..."
"I helped her keep it secret too!" Fang exclaimed. "She told me about the potions a couple days before I had to leave. I can tell that to Una, see if she can ease up on Cecily!"
"Una and Leo are with others out on patrol right now. I'm manning the shop alongside one of our human employees. Now, as I was saying, Desmond got firmly reprimanded, and it's not like they can reprimand you from across the ocean."
Fang growled. "C'mon, that's so not fair that Cecily's getting punished like a bratty teen just for doing something nice."
"It's not as bad as it sounds, Fang," Staghart said amiably. "She's not grounded forever. She'll be back to working here at the shop and practicing magic again before long. I'll let her and Desmond know you called. We all miss you, but they especially."
"And I miss you all, them especially. And I miss London too. Now that I'm back here, I can especially appreciate how good you guys have it there, where most people know about you and accept you."
"Then let's hope things change over in Manhattan sooner rather than later," Staghart said. Then he spoke again, with a curious tone in his voice. "So... have you tried the transmogrification potions yet?"
Fang chuckled at this and started filling Staghart in on it. Though Staghart wasn't either of the two gargoyles he had hoped to talk to, Fang still felt good speaking to one of the several friends he had made in London. They spoke for a while longer, with Staghart reassuring Fang that Cecily was doing okay and her punishment wouldn't last much longer, which made Fang feel relieved. Much as he tried to play the tough guy, Fang couldn't deny to himself that he had come to care about Cecily more than he felt he ever could have. He figured that nothing more would ever happen between them than what happened back in London, but it didn't stop Fang from still having a fondness for the female gargoyle.
Eventually the talk ended and Fang hung up. He sighed and headed to his bedroom. "At least Cee'll be okay. Guess I better go on my flight and clear my head, 'cuz I'm getting too sappy for my own good."
It was around 11:30 PM when Brooklyn caught up to Broadway and Lexington in the castle. The two had just finished playing with Alexander and Bronx and were pondering what to do next when Brooklyn met them and spoke up.
"Hey guys. Wanna hit the movie theater? We still haven't watched I Know What You Did Last Summer."
"You're right, we haven't," Broadway said, now smiling. "Sounds like the perfect movie for the night after Halloween. One last spook."
"I'm game too," Lexington said.
"I'll go grab a bag to pack up some snacks," Broadway said. "Catch you guys outside?"
"Sure thing, soon as I finish doing something right quick," Lexington informed his two friends, then started walking away.
"I'll go with him, see if he needs any help," Brooklyn told Broadway, who nodded and headed for the kitchen; Brooklyn then walked quickly and caught up to Lexington. "So what is it you need to do?"
"It's the little spy drones we have in Daniel's family's apartment. Now we all know that Fang's back in Manhattan, but since he and Talon have a truce now, I figured maybe it's best I take the drones back. Always felt kind of uncomfortable to be spying on that family."
Brooklyn was silent for a moment before he spoke again. "Actually, Lex, I think maybe you should leave a couple of those drones in the apartment for a while longer. Even though Fang's not been staying there anymore, but still..."
Lexington looked at Brooklyn with a raised brow. "You still don't trust Fang, huh?"
"Would you?"
Lexington shook his head. "Not right off the bat, no. Being fair, some of the bad guys we've fought did turn over a new leaf. Macbeth's not our enemy anymore, and Dingo's an actual superhero now in Australia. And Xanatos and Fox... well, they're less bad now."
"Yeah, I get it. And from what we've heard, Fang's been staying out of trouble, not to mention he ditched Demona and Sevarius, or at least that's what he told Talon," Brooklyn said, then shook his head. "But we still don't know enough about his situation right now, and frankly, Fang's too much of a fuck-up, and I don't trust him to not screw up in some way and end up causing more trouble."
"Yeah, you're right,"Lexington agreed. "I'll leave two drones in the apartment, and a few near it too, just in case. Let's hope Fang actually got his act together now."
Brooklyn nodded, and a couple of minutes later, Lexington used his computer to type in some commands in the drones, instructing most of them to fly to a certain spot not far from Daniel's apartment building, where Lexington and Brooklyn would pick them up later. Then they, alongside Broadway, left for the movie theater. To their relief, there was nothing troublesome that evening beyond the three disagreeing on their opinion about the movie they had watched, and they hoped things would continue to remain this calm.
To Be Continued...
Author's Extra Note: Alright, readers, Halloween is over, now things are winding back down into a normal routine, so to speak. Malibu's rebellious bad boy streak is starting to have consequences on him, but at least now Daniel and Tyler don't have to continue keeping the Labyrinth a secret from their friends. Fang gets back in touch with the London Clan, and I feel that a guest appearance by Staghart was ideal, since I didn't give him one before. Unfortunately, on a bit of bad news, I've been hit hard by writer's block, and so I've decided to take a hiatus. It may be a few weeks, it may be a couple months, just wanna try to get my creative juices flowing and try to start writing properly again. Hopefully I can beat that writer's block and get back to the writing and posting as usual. Wish me luck, everyone, and as always, thanks for reading.