Hey guys, me again. This is just a little something I thought of a while back and thought it might be an interesting story. By the way, thanks to those who reviewed Phoenix Rising. This is not connected to it I may post sequels if I get more reviews.
Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Belongs to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. Gargoyles belong to Disney. The Watcher belongs to Marvel.
Please review. I crave reviews. Creative criticism would be good as well.
One thousand years ago,
Superstition and the sword ruled.
It was a time of darkness; it was a world of fear,
It was the age of Gargoyles.
This is the story, as you know it. A clan of Gargoyles, frozen in stone for a thousand years by the humans they trusted the most. Awakened a thousand years later, they found themselves betrayed once more, this time by their rescuer, and one of their own, one thought dead. They were chased from their home, only once more to be faced with a danger to their clan, a clone of their leader, Goliath. This clone fell into his programming, becoming power mad. Engineering a plan that ended in failure, but delivered a large amount of money into his hands. In the years to come he would become a great enemy of the clan. But, What If things had gone differently.
I am the Watcher, sworn to observe, but never interfere. My sight is not locked onto one reality, but rather, the many different possibilities of what may have been. This is one of those tales.
He had done it. Not only had he shown up his 'fathers', but he had escaped with more money than most third world countries could dream of. And the best part was, the fools thought he was dead. He was free, free to do what ever he wanted. Now all he had to do was find somewhere to lay low for a while. And he knew the perfect place. A quiet little town in California that was barely visited. A place called Sunnydale.
She sat quietly, remembering. The sad look in his eyes as what she had done had come crashing down on him. The feeling of her heart breaking. It wasn't fair. Angel had made her feel happy, complete. She should have been able to live the rest of her life with him. Instead, she had been forced to kill him. She punched a wall nearby. It cracked under her strength. She looked at the cracks. She was Buffy Summers, the all-powerful Vampire Slayer. That shouldn't have included her boyfriend. She looked at the Claddaugh ring in her hand. He had given it to her that night; the he had lost his soul, and became Angelus once more. The night her entire life had gone straight to hell. She felt the tears well in her eyes. "It's just not fair." She whispered.
"I hear ya, kid." Buffy whirled around. She glared at the owner of the voice.
"You!" She spat as she rushed at the man.
"Oh shit." He said, as she grabbed him by the collar.
"What the hell are you doing here, Whistler? Wasn't telling me my boyfriend had to die enough? Here to ruin my life some more? Who do I have to kill next? Giles? Willow? My mother?"
"Now calm down, would ya? I didn't want any of this." Buffy stared at him. "I was the one that showed you to Angel. You think I wanted you two broken up after what I went through to get you together? You think the Powers wanted that? Someone else's playing around, they're getting involved where they don't belong." Buffy let him go. "Thank you. Now, something big is coming. The Powers are sending another Slayer down as back up. There's someone else coming, but…"
"Don't bother." She said, turning away. "I'm not falling in love again. The other Slayer's fine, but forget about the other one. I don't need it." Whistler watched as she walked away. This wasn't fair on the girl. She shouldn't have to do this. Living with the pain. He hoped that she softened her heart a little when the other got here; otherwise, things were going to get worse.
Buffy stormed home. That little creep! Just because he was a messenger for the Powers That Be, he thought he could screw with her life whenever he felt the need. Didn't he know what the term 'mourning period' meant? If she saw that scrawny, little…
She was about to head to the Library when she had second thoughts. Her mom was worried enough as it was after finding out she was the Slayer. Best to wait until morning to tell Giles what had happened.
She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she failed to notice the large, winged shape fly towards the manor.
Thailog glided down into the courtyard. This place would be perfect. It seemed abandoned, and it shouldn't be too hard to scare the locals into staying away. He grinned to himself. Humans could be so superstitious sometimes; they would probably take him for a demon. After a couple of months or more, he could go out and start on his plans.
He looked around the inside of the manor. Odd. All these strange artifacts. Whoever had lived here before must have left in a hurry to have left so much behind. He shrugged. Oh well, he could probably sell a lot of it; add to his already large amount cash. He thought about the briefcase he was carrying. Better find somewhere to hide it, he thought as he climbed upstairs. Wouldn't do for some snot nosed kid to find it, not after all he went through to get it. He grinned at that thought. He wondered how his 'fathers' were getting over that.
New York"Has there been any word?" David Xanatos, head of Xanatos Industries, wasn't really worried. It wasn't like Thailog could really do anything, but with the programming he had received…
"Nothing yet, sir, but we'll keep looking." Owen pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose. "Do you really believe he survived? There wasn't much left of the oilrig."
"Owen, you should know by now that I never take anything for granted. Given the amount of money that he received, I'd bet my entire company he had some sort of escape plan." Xanatos turned in his chair and looked out his window. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.
Sunnydale"And that's what he said?" Rupert Giles, Librarian, Watcher and expert in the occult, looked over at his charge. Buffy nodded. "Well, with the Slayer, I can check with the council, but as for this other…" Xander looked over from the table he was sitting at.
"Research mode?" He quizzed. The others looked at him. "Well, Buff got the word from the Powers That Be, right? So there's a chance that there's probably some kind of prophecy or…" He looked around at them. "What?"
"Xander, that's actually a good idea." Giles said. Cordelia gaped.
"It is?" She asked.
"It is?" Xander repeated. Giles nodded.
"Yes. By the sounds, this maybe something apocalyptic. Which means…"
"Illegible and impossible to understand prophecies." Willow said. The bell rang for first class. "Which we'll be checking after school."
"Not me." Buffy said. "Prior engagement. Mom wants some quality mother/daughter time, so we're going to the movies."
"Alright then. The rest of us will look into this." They all nodded and headed to class. Giles watched as Buffy left the Library. She tried to make like it had never happened. It just wasn't fair on the girl. He sighed. There was nothing he could do. Best get on with the work at hand.
Thailog looked over his new domain. He had decided to stay. His plans would be able to continue from here. Besides…
That girl. The one that seemed to visit the manor like it meant something to her. There was something about her. She was different than most humans. She never touched any of the strange artifacts in the manor, but she seemed to know about them. It was what had stopped him from organizing their sale. It would give him away.
She suddenly turned, looking up in his direction, like she knew he was there. But that was impossible. He had stayed in the shadows, the dark purple of his skin blending in, hiding him. There was no way…
"You may as well come out now." The girl said. "I know you're there. I know you've been watching me. If you're going to kill me, get it over with." She stood there. He looked into her eyes. There was nothing there, no hope, no will to live, nothing. "Death would be welcome. Without Angel…" She bowed her head. "Just get it over with."
"I have no wish to harm you." He glided down to the ground. "I am Thailog." Buffy stared at the creature. He skin was a deep dark purple. He had wings, claws, everything that made her think demon. But not the feeling. Her Slayer sense was quiet, so he wasn't a demon, vampire or anything else like that. "Do you have a name?" He asked.
"Oh right, sorry. I'm Buffy." She held out her hand. Thailog took it, shaking it gently. "So," she asked. "what are you doing here?"
"I live here." He said.
"I mean in Sunnydale. The only kind of people we usually get here are demon guys that want to destroy the world or whatever." Thailog raised an eyebrow.
"Demons?"
"Yep. Congratulations, Mr. Thailog, you're living on the edge of a Hellmouth."
The manor was quiet. Buffy stood in the room where she had killed Angel. She came here to think, and that was something she needed to do. The second Slayer, Faith, had arrived. Together, they had dusted the vamp that had killed her Watcher. Buffy looked at the ring in her hand. Faith was all right she guessed, though she seemed to get a bit too much into the whole Slayer thing.
"Buffy." She turned to see Thailog glide down from the upper level.
"Hey, big guy." She walked over to him. Since their initial meeting, the two had become fast friends. She wondered if he was the extra back up Whistler had mentioned. Not that it mattered. "How was your day?" Thailog grinned.
"Quiet. And yours?" He hadn't told her about his stone transformations during the day. He wasn't sure how to explain it.
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Snyder's on my case, again." She put a mock serious face on. "I've got my eye on you, Miss Summers." Thailog couldn't help it. He laughed.
"It's hard to believe he isn't a demon." Thailog said. Buffy giggled.
"Yeah, the Annoying Principal Demon." She said. "Hey, you want to patrol with me tonight?" Thailog was taken aback.
"Patrol?"
"Yeah." She said. "Faith's taking the park, I got the cemetery. I know you don't get out much, and I thought you might want to…" She looked at him. "Stretch your wings?" She finished lamely."
"And?" Thailog prompted. There was something else.
"And I was hoping you could tell me a little more about yourself." She said. Thailog stared at her.
"I see." He said. He tried not to show his nervousness. He had not told her what had happened in Manhattan, that he had been made, not born. He did not know how she would take it.
"Well, come on. I've told you everything there is to know about me." That was true. She had told him all there was to know. "And I've kept you a secret." True again. He had asked her not to tell anyone that he was here. The longer he kept the fact that he was still alive a secret, the less chance Xanatos would find out about Buffy, something he could not allow. "All I want is to know a bit more about my friend. Is that a crime?" Thailog gave an embarrassed grin.
"No. You are right. I am sorry, but my past is…complicated. But I will patrol with you, and tell you something about myself." Buffy smiled triumphantly.
"Finally. Come on." She started out the door.
"Perhaps we can get there a little quicker." He motioned her to follow him upstairs. Buffy followed inquisitively. Thailog led her to the balcony and spread his wings.
"We're flying there? Cool. I mean, I knew you could fly, with a wing span like that, but…"
"I do not fly." Thailog told her. "I glide on currents of wind."
"That's why we came up here instead of taking off from the courtyard, right?" Thailog nodded. Buffy gave her best goofy Xander grin. "Behold, I have knowledge." Thailog chuckled, then picked her up. "Watch the hands, wings." She said.
"Hold on." Thailog said, then launched himself from the balcony. Buffy looked down as Sunnydale zoomed beneath them. It was amazing. Of the many things she had done since becoming the Slayer, none of it compared to this.
They landed in the cemetery. Buffy couldn't believe it. They only just left. "That was so awesome." She said. She checked to make sure she hadn't dropped anything. Holy water, Mr. Pointy, spare stakes…Nope, everything was still there. She handed a couple of stakes to Thailog. "Aim for the heart." She said simply. The gargoyle nodded, taking the stakes, and they began to walk. "So, when do you want to start your story?" She asked. Thailog shook his head.
"It begins in the lab of Doctor Anton Sevarius, where I was created." Buffy stared at her friend. "I was cloned from the leader of a small clan of gargoyles, recently awakened from a thousand year stone sleep in New York City."
"There are others? Wait, stone sleep? A thousand years?" Thailog nodded. This was going to take awhile.
Buffy took what Thailog said in. What he had done was understandable, she supposed, but…
"I…should not have told you about that." He said. "I can understand if you never want to see me again." Buffy placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Stop right there, big guy. You don't get rid of me that easily." He turned and looked at her. "We've all done things we aren't particularly proud." She was referring to Angelus, what she had done. "You can't run from it forever. You have to face it sometime."
"Perhaps." Thailog said. "But, I do not know where to start." Buffy thought for a moment.
"Well, you said that Goliath had a human friend, right?" Thailog nodded.
"Yes, Detective Elisa Maza of the NYPD." Buffy nodded."
"Alright, that's where we start." Thailog stared at her. "Look, do you want to hide for the rest of your life?" He shook his head. "This detective will be able to set a meet with Goliath and the…" She stopped as a vampire approached them, game face on. Buffy flipped over next to him, shoving her stake into his heart. "We're talking here." She said as the vamp was reduced to dust. Thailog chuckled.
"All right, we will do this." He said. Buffy nodded.
"Cool, but we're going to need help." Thailog raised an eyebrow.
"Help?" He asked. Buffy nodded.
"There's only one person we can trust that can find the info we need."
Willow looked around. Even though it had been a fair while since Buffy had been forced to kill Angel, you could still see his signature around the place. "Buffy, why are we here?"
"To help a friend of mine come to terms with his past." Buffy said. "Wills, you can't tell anyone what you see here. Not Oz, not Xander, no one. Alright?" Willow nodded.
"Okay, but…"
"Your worried, right?" Willow nodded. Buffy opened the door in front of them. "That's understandable." She checked the sun. "Nearly time. If what Thailog said was right…" They moved out onto the balcony. The first thing Willow noticed was the large stone gargoyle sitting near the door.
"Buffy, what…" She began to ask, but then stopped. The sun had gone down…
And the gargoyle was cracking.
The two friends watched as the gargoyle cracked, and then shattered with a roar, leaving a large, purple living gargoyle in its place.
"Oh my GOD!" Willow started, hiding behind Buffy.
"Willow, chill out." The Slayer said. She walked up to the…creature, was the best she could think of. "Hey, big guy." Buffy said. "You certainly know how to make an entrance." Thailog grinned as he stretched. Willow gawked.
"B-Buffy, wh-what is that?" She stuttered. Buffy looked over at her.
"Willow, calm down. Deep breaths, 'kay? He's not a demon. He's a gargoyle. This is Thailog." Willow nodded.
"Um, hi." She squeaked.
"Good evening." Thailog said formally. "You are Willow?" The girl nodded. Buffy grinned. She wasn't handling it too badly. "Buffy has told me about you. I have need of your help."
"You do?" Willow squeaked again. Thailog nodded.
"I…need to make amends for something I have done." He gave Willow the quick version of the story. Willow listened intently. Gargoyles? Why not, if vampires could exist…
"So you need to contact Goliath," she said a the end of the story. "but to do that, you need to contact this detective, right?" Thailog nodded.
"My problem is that I do not know how to contact her." Willow nodded.
"Gotcha. No problem, I can do that. Just look up her number on the Internet, I can have that by tomorrow."
"And I can call her." Buffy said. She looked over at Thailog. "You know, smooth things over." Thailog nodded.
"What can I do?" They looked over to the door.
"Faith?" Buffy asked. What the hell…?
"I saw you two doing the whole secret agent thing, so I thought I'd see what was going on." She looked over at Thailog. "I'm Faith."
"So I gathered." He said. "Anyone else spying on us?" Faith turned red. Buffy sighed.
"Well, since you're here, you can help." She thought for a moment. "We'll see where this goes first, okay?"
Faith shrugged. "Five by Five. So, what now?"
"We patrol." Buffy said. "Willow gets the stuff Thailog needs, and …" She stopped. "Damn."
"What's up?" Faith asked. Willow answered.
"Buffy's probably going to need to go with, you know, so he has a friend." She said. Buffy nodded.
"Means mom's going to need to meet Thailog so she understand what's going on."
"I'll go with." Faith said. "I've got no parents to worry about. I can just tell Giles I've to got go to Manhattan to help a friend with something." She grinned. "Semi true."
"You sure?" Buffy asked. Faith nodded.
"Yeah, if it's cool with Thailog." The gargoyle nodded. Then Willow had an idea.
"Hey, holidays start next week, right?" She said. Buffy grinned.
"Duh." She said. "We can all go. Girl's week off. You know, getting to know Faith better. We can say we're staying with her friend." Thailog thought a moment.
"I think I can afford a place for us to stay." He said. The others nodded.
"Well, let's get a move on." Faith said. "Where do we start?"
"WE start on patrol." Buffy said. "Willow, start on the phone number for Detective Elisa Maza." Willow nodded. "Thailog…"
"Organizing accommodations?" he said.
"Not yet. Too early." Thailog nodded. "Hey, don't worry. We'll get this done, just…hang loose."
"All right. You three had better get going." He said. They nodded and began to file out. Thailog turned towards the balcony. It was strange, relying on others, actually trusting them. Perhaps it was what he had needed all along, friends, people he can trust. He thought about how easy it had been for him to trust the Slayer. He spread his wings and headed towards the park. A quick pass, he thought. Just to burn some nervous energy.
"So, you think this will work?" Faith asked. Buffy shrugged.
"Honestly, I don't know." They had already dropped off Willow at her house and were heading for the park via one of Sunnydale's many cemeteries. "But we have to try. What happened…I don't know. It was, like, at the time, he didn't care. But over the past few months…"
"Since meeting you?" Faith added mischievously. Buffy ignored her.
"…It's been seriously weighing on his mind, like he's…changing." She turned to the other Slayer. "He needs to do this. Why, I don't know, but I just can't shake the feeling that if he doesn't…"
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" The two turned to face the speaker.
"Who're you?" Faith asked, fist clenched. How much had he heard?
"My name is Anton Sevarius, and you are?" Faith flashed a glance at Buffy. Thailog's creator?
"Wondering how long you've been following us." Buffy shot at him. The 'doctor' chuckled.
"My dear girl, I have not been following you. I merely went for a nice walk."
"Through a cemetery?" Faith asked. "Hardly normal, especially for an old guy like you."
"And what of yourselves? Meeting your boyfriends are you?" The two Slayers made face at him.
"No." Said Faith. Not since I killed him, Buffy thought to her self.
"You want to know the truth," Buffy began. "Our boyfriends were attacked by some gang. Supposedly they hang out in one of the local mausoleums. We were gonna find out which one, and then call the cops." Faith grinned wickedly, going along with the lie.
"You know, revenge." She said. Sevarius nodded thoughtfully, hands in his pockets. The two girls tensed, just in case.
"An interesting story, but completely untrue. You two are Vampire Slayers." The two girls stared at him. How did he know that? "I have been hired to ensure that you do not interfere in my employers plans." He pulled out a dart gun. "That doesn't mean I can't have a bit of fun." He fired the gun in Buffy's direction. She dodged out of the way, the dart barely missing her. "I say, very impressive. I may want to have little peak at your D.N.A, see if I can't see something in there that gives you these extraordinary abilities." Faith came up behind him.
"And thought it was just clean livin'." She said, throwing a punch that caught Sevarius on the jaw. The scientist fell to the ground, dazed. "Damn." Faith muttered. "Guess I didn't hit him hard enough." He brought the dart gun up.
"That is obvious." Faith took a step back, ready to move. Buffy began to move towards them. "Another step and we see what effect my mutagenic agent has on Slayers." Buffy froze. Faith looked over at her.
"B, do it. What's the worst that could happen?" The dark haired Slayer hissed. Buffy nodded, and leapt forward. Sevarius grinned, and pulled the trigger.
Xander had gone looking for the girls. Buffy and Willow had been acting strangely, and as for Faith, she'd just disappeared. Giles had guessed that she had gone looking for the others, and that there was nothing to worry about. Xander had disagreed and stormed out to look for them.
He wondered if that was such a good idea.
He gripped the cross he had hidden under his jacket, just in case. No sign of any vamps yet, but this was Sunnydale. Anything could, and usually did happen.
Like the scene before him demonstrated.
The two Slayers were taking on some old guy with a dart gun. The old guy had the upper hand. The girls appeared to need help, and Xander, being Xander, did the only thing he could.
He blocked the shot.
"Xander!" Faith screamed as he fell to the ground. Buffy kicked the doctor in the head. He crumpled to the floor, unconscious.
"Ow." Xander said, pulling the dart out and looking at it. "So what's on this anyway?" He started to rock gently.
"He said some sort of mutagenic thingy." Faith said, staring at him. "What the hell did you think you were doing anyway?"
"I thought it was poison." He said defensively. Buffy moved next to her friend. "Does this mean I'm gonna turn into some turtle or something." Buffy grinned. That's their Xander.
"Yeah, with four eyes." Faith said, all the while thinking that this was her fault.
"Cool. The fifth Ninja Turtle." He said, and collapsed unconscious. Buffy caught him as he fell.
"Xander?" Faith said. "Is he alright?" Buffy shrugged. Then they both heard the sound of something heavy landing behind them.
"What happened?" Thailog asked. The girls pointed to the prone form of Sevarius, and the dart gun lying near his hand. "Sevarius? Here? But how?"
"He said he's been hired to get us out of the way. He knew we were Vampire Slayers." Faith said. She got up, all the while looking at Xander. She walked over to Sevarius, and picked him up. "Wake up." She said. She slapped him on the face. "Wake up!" Sevarius groaned and opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was an extremely pissed off Slayer. He tried to remember if his medical insurance was payed up. Then he noticed Thailog.
"Well, well, well. This is a surprise." Thailog growled at him. "Oh, what's wrong, not happy to see your daddy?" Just then, Xander screamed in agony.
"Xander?" Buffy shook him by the shoulders. "Xander, what's wrong?"
"It hurts!" He screamed. "Like…my whole…bodies…on fire. GAAAAH!" He screamed again. Faith slammed Sevarius against a tree.
"What's happening to him?" She demanded.
"He's mutating, thanks to the formula inside those darts." Sevarius grinned. Xander screamed again. Faith gritted her teeth.
"What…am…I…turning…in…to?" The boy managed through gritted teeth.
"A gargoyle, dear boy, like him." Sevarius said, pointing to Thailog. Wings exploded from Xander's back.
"AHHHHH!" He screamed. The girls watched horrified as the scream turned into an animal roar. His hands and feet became talons, his entire body changing shape. His eyes began to glow like lanterns, and suddenly, following the girls seemed like a really bad idea.
The transformation stopped, and Xander climbed to his feet. He looked down to get a good look at himself. At least my clothes didn't get totally shredded, he thought. He stretched his arms, his back, his wings…waitaminute, I've got wings?
"Xander?" He turned to Buffy. "You okay?" Xander looked over at her. If Buffy hadn't seen it happen, she would barely be able to recognize him.
"Yeah, sure, I think so. But," His new wings spread at a thought. This was kind of cool. "I have wings. Buffy, I have wings!"
"I noticed. How do you feel?" She saw him looking at his talons. Then he started flexing his newly expanded muscles.
"Fine. Better than ever. Think I can fly with these things?" He grinned that old, goofy grin. Thailog came up behind him.
"Flying is impossible. You can glide, thought." He informed the new gargoyle.
"Gliding only, huh? That's cool." He clenched his fists. "Man, this is intense. My senses are, like, Wolverine-sharp. And my strength…holy shit! I feel like I could take on the Master like this."
"Lookin' good, Xand." Faith said. She dragged Sevarius over to the young gargoyle. "You wanna try that new strength on the creep that did this to you?" He picked the man up by the shirt.
"Now, I'm a bit torn here." He started. "Y'see, half of me wants to thank you for doing this. I'm not useless guy anymore. I can help Buffy and Faith do their Slayer thing. On the other hand," Sevarius gasped as the new gargoyle pulled him closer. "You've turned me into a freak." Xander growled. "I can't go to school, though I suppose that's a plus. I can't hang with my friends, I can't…" Cordelia came to mind. Although they were always fighting, this possibility of loosing her brought things into perspective. He loved her, and now… "I can't be with my girlfriend. So tell me, should I thank you and let you go, or rip you to shreds in two seconds if you don't give me a cure?" Sevarius started stammering. The others watched as wet patch appeared on his pants.
"Has he ever done this before?" Faith whispered. Buffy shook her head. Thailog grimaced.
"I have examined the reports on Sevarius' mutagen. A side effect is a momentary heightened aggression during and after the transformation. It does not last long, but long enough for one of his involuntary test subjects to kill someone." Buffy gasped. Faith looked over at him. Xander didn't look like he was going to back off. Buffy ran over to them.
"Xander, settle down." Buffy put a hand on his shoulder. He growled at her. "Xander! Cool it, it's just me, it's Buffy. Take it easy." Recognition flashed in his eyes, then his concentration went back to Sevarius.
"Look what he did to me, Buff. He's turned me into a freak. I can't walk in the streets anymore. I…I can't hold Cordelia anymore. And it's all his fault!" Xander's eyes flared blood red. "I'm gonna make him pay. I gonna…" He growled.
"Xander, please don't do this. This isn't like you. We can fix this."
"What if we can't?" He roared. Thailog took a stepped forward. "What if I'm stuck like this?" Buffy pulled him away from the frightened man. She wrapped her arms around him as he started to cry into her shoulder. "It's not fair, it's…just not fair." Sevarius began to crawl away when Faith's foot came down on his hand. He yelped in pain.
"Don't even think about getting away, creep." She said. She looked over at the two friends. Now she didn't have a choice. Buffy was going to have to tell about Thailog, before she was ready. This sucked. "That is your fault. Fix it, or else."
"I can't." Sevarius said, as calmly as possible. "The changes are genetic. They can't be reversed, not without…"
"If you can do something in the first place, then I'm sure you can undo." Xander turned to face her.
"Faith, don't worry about it." He looked down at his hands again. "I guess I can get used to it. It's fine. Besides, he's probably right. I guess I can live like this." Xander walked over to the prone doctor, who was still gasping in pain. "You can get off his hand now." Faith obliged. Sevarius rubbed his hand, trying to get the blood flowing again.
"What will you do with him?" Thailog asked. Buffy shrugged.
"Hand him over to the police, I guess. We could charge him with illegal tampering with genetics, or…something." Xander picked the doctor up and flung him over his shoulder. Thailog picked up the dart gun and handed it to him.
"Ah, the mutation weapon." Xander quipped. "Thank you, Watson." Thailog chuckled. "Uh, think you could give me a hand with these?" He gave his wings a flick, hitting Sevarius in the process.
"You'd better give him to me. It wouldn't do well to drop him." He took the terrified scientist from the boy. "As tempting as that is. We'd better find a take off point." He pointed to a near by mausoleum. "That will do."
"Uh, question; how do we get up there?" Xander quizzed. Thailog walked over to a tree nearby, and propelled himself to the closest branch. Then, he jumped over to the roof of the mausoleum. "And for those of us who would probably miss the tree?" Buffy rolled her eyes. Thailog looked down at his new pupil.
"Use your claws to climb up the side." Xander looked at his talons.
"Oh, yeah." He dug his claws into the side of the building, and began to climb. "Alright, this deal is getting slightly cooler." He clambered up beside Thailog. "What now, teach?" Thailog grinned.
"Your first gliding lesson." Thailog spread his wings. "Your wings can carry you depending on the strength of the wind current. Your entire body is designed to for this, so you will be able to tell if the current is about to break or increase. Understand?" Xander shrugged.
"Experience is the best teacher, right?" Thailog sighed. This was going to take a while. He looked down at Buffy.
"Tell the others what has happened. We will meet you at the library." Buffy nodded. Thailog looked pack at his new pupil, who was trying to get the feel of his new wings by holding them at different angles. "Follow me." He said and jumped off the building. Xander grinned, and followed, fell about half away, then caught the wind. Buffy and Faith couldn't help it, they laughed out loud as they watched him stagger (that was the only description either could label his lopsided flight) through the air.
"Hey, would you wait up." Xander yelled as the two gargoyles disappeared into the night.
"Come on." Buffy said. "We'd better go fill the others in."
Cordelia stared at the two Slayers. No more making out in the closet (or anywhere else for that matter). At least she didn't have to worry about Harmony and co. giving her grief about her choice of boyfriends. But still…
"Are you sure this…Thailog is alright?" Giles asked for the fiftieth time. Buffy exhaled sharply. Willow rolled her eyes. Giles had gone all protective father on them the moment they had mentioned the gargoyle.
"Yes, Giles. I'm sure he's all right. I think if he was going to try anything, he would have tried it by now." Faith nodded.
"Yeah. He seemed generally pissed off over what happened to Xander." She thought for a minute. "Although that could just be the effect Sevarius has on him." Suddenly there was a crash outside, followed by a yelp of pain. The four of them rushed outside. They found Thailog helping a rather disgruntled Xander to his feet. Cordelia gasped. When Buffy and Faith had told them what had happened, she thought she was ready for the worst, but this…
"I told you to slow down on the approach." Thailog said.
"Well, excuse me, kemosabe, but I've never done this before, remember?" Xander grumbled. He dusted himself off. " 'Slow down' he says. How?"
"Xander?" Cordelia breathed. He spun around, realizing for the first time that his friends were there.
"Oh, uh…hey, Cordelia." Xander suddenly wished the sun would come up. Anything to get away from the look on her face. "How do I look?" Cordelia just stared for a moment, then fainted. "Well she took that well." He said as Giles caught her. The Watcher looked up at the young man. "Geez, take a picture, G-Man. Lasts longer." Giles couldn't help it. He grinned. It was still Xander, just in a different packaging, he supposed. Xander turned to look at Willow, who was trembling slightly. "Hey, Wills. You gonna faint to?" Willow threw herself at her friend, hugging him tightly. "Guess that answers that question."
"Are you alright?" Willow asked as she pulled away. Xander shrugged.
"Guess so. Still a bit weirded out, but I can deal. Kinda like when we all became our costumes on Halloween, but not." He looked over at Cordelia. "Better get her inside." They all nodded and marched in. Thailog stopped at the door. Buffy looked at him.
"What, you need an invite or something." She said with grin. Thailog shook his head.
"Perhaps I should return to the manor." He said. Buffy put a hand on his shoulder.
"Why?"
"I do not belong here. This is for you and your friends to deal with. You do not need an intruder." Buffy glared at him. Did all the guys in her life have to have a major martyr syndrome? "I will see you later."
"Oh, for crying out loud. Would you please stop acting like Angel?" Thailog stared at her. "He had the same problem at the beginning. 'I don't belong here, I'm not human.' Tough." She pointed towards the school building. The Slayerettes were staring their way. "In. Now. Before I beat the crap out of you." She looked up at him, a determined look on her face.
"Better do what she says, man." Xander said, Cordelia still limp in his arms.
"Yeah." Willow agreed. "She's got a 'resolved face' on."
"I suggest you follow their advice." Giles added. Thailog groaned.
"All right." He said walking in the direction she was pointing. Buffy walked beside him. "Happy?"
"Much." She said. Then she punched him in the arm. He glared at her. "That's for taking so long to follow my advice." The others chuckled. Thailog shook his head. This was going to take some getting used to.
Back in the Library, Cordelia had finally come to. Oz had arrived from his gig at the Bronze and been brought up to speed.
"You sure you're going to be all right?" The werewolf asked. "I know how much transformations like this suck."
"It's cool." Xander said. "I got it. It's under control." He looked over at Cordelia. She was watching Willow's computer screen intently, only staring over at him when she thought he wasn't looking, quickly looking away when she realized he was. Dammit. It wasn't fair!
"I've got it!" Willow suddenly shouted. "I found her number."
"Way to go, Red." Faith said, patting the girl on the back. Willow grinned.
"It took a little longer than I expected though." Giles said. Willow's face went redder than her hair.
"Willow?" Buffy asked. "What did you do?"
"Nothing!" Willow said defensively. "Well, okay, I hacked into the phone company's database." They all stared at her, all except Xander. He knew Will could hack with the best of them. The only reason he hadn't flunked out yet was Willow's judicial use of her hacking skills. "What? It was a silent number, what else could I do?"
"You should not have put yourself in danger for me." Thailog said. Willow waved it away.
"No prob. Easy. A child could have done it." She said. "Of course, it did get close. There was someone else on there, tried to kick me out of the system." Willow thought quietly. "Funny thing is, they'd been tracking me since I'd done the search to find the detective's number, like they were trying to protect her. Wonder who it was."
New York City.
"Goliath, we may have a problem." Lexington said. Goliath, the leader of the clan, moved over behind him.
"What is it, Lexington?"
"Well, I was just surfing the Internet when I came across someone breaking into the telephone company's database." Brooklyn walked over to where his leader and rookery brother were talking.
"What does that have to do with us?" He asked, puzzled. "It's not like we have a phone."
"No, but Elisa is, and that's who they were looking for." A low growl escaped from Goliath's throat.
"What?" He growled.
"I tried to kick whoever it was out, but they got her number before I got a chance." Brooklyn looked over at Goliath. The detective maws the only real friend they had in this new world. If someone was looking for her…
"Do you think its Xanatos?" The orange gargoyle asked. Goliath shook his head.
"He would already have this information. Why would he need to do this?" Brooklyn shrugged. The large lavender gargoyle looked back to Lexington. "Do you know who did this?"
"Sorry, couldn't get that. Managed to get a position thought."
"Where?"
"Sunnydale, California." Lex pointed to the map on his screen. Goliath nodded.
"I will go and warn Elisa. The rest of you, stay here and guard the clock tower." He looked down at Lex. "Try and get more information on this…hacker." Lex nodded.
"Got it." Goliath moved outside and spread his wings. He thought a moment. Who would go to such lengths to find her number? Was it connected to Xanatos? He did not know and as he took off, he came to one conclusion. He did not care. Who ever this was, if they endangered Elisa…
He would protect her.
Detective Elisa Maza of the NYPD had just gotten home after her shift. Quick shower, then head to the clock tower to say good morning to the guys. She was about to get in when the phone rang.
"This had better be good." She said as she picked it up. "Maza."
"Detective Elisa Maza?" The voice was that of a girl, maybe eighteen. She seemed nervous.
"That's me, who is this?"
"My name I Buffy Summers. I'm a friend of Thailog's. He wants to speak to Goliath."
