A/N: Alright, alright. I have learned my lesson. Canon is sacred. I will never, ever attempt to change canon again no matter how silly or that it doesn't make sense. No, wait. Yes I will.

It is said that all art is self-portrait, yet we can only view art through the lens of our own psyche. Therefore, an artist may paint one image and his public see something else entirely. (Anthony Wharem)

Hodgeson's Law: Just repeat to yourself, "It's just a show. I should really relax."

Bellisario's Maxim: You shouldn't analyze this stuff too closely.

Chapter 10.

"Giles, we have to do something! There was a posse out there and it spotted us. They could have Xander!" Buffy cried.

"We are doing something, Buffy. Willow is already doing her not-quite-legal computer thing and finding out all she can about this… posse that spotted you, including where they're likely to take him should he be captured," the watcher said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. Buffy without a clear path was like a hurricane standing still: pent up energy just spinning in place, waiting to be released. And until then, she vented that energy at those nearby.

"Got it!" Willow cried at last. "The search party was organized by the Sunnydale Police force and will be taking anyone captured directly to the city jail."

Assuming he wasn't shot on sight, Giles mused. Still, they hadn't heard any gunshots, which was a good sign. Aloud, he went on, "So, it really was official." Giles was slightly shocked. Still, the claw marks had probably looked like they could have been man-made. It probably hadn't even occurred to those in charge that there could be anything other than another human serial killer.

Buffy said nothing. Instead, she raced to the roof and was off like a shot. The other gargoyles followed behind her as fast as they could.

Giles was the last to make it to the jail. It wasn't his age; he hadn't felt this good in years. No, it was his wings, or rather the lack thereof. Despite being only slightly smaller and thinner in stature than Xander, he had the smallest wings of all the gargoyles. Xander, Amy, and Willow all had proportionate wings to their size—well, maybe Xander should have had slightly larger wings to accommodate his bulk, but he still had the second largest wingspan in the clan. But Buffy, the smallest of them in body, had the largest wings and was thus the fastest and most maneuverable of them all in the sky. And Giles was the opposite.

He landed as quietly as he could. Then listened.

"Thank you all for your time tonight. I'm very sorry that we didn't catch whoever was doing this. But trust me when I say we will find who's committing these heinous crimes and bring them to justice." Someone was finishing an inspirational speech. Empty political promises.

"They don't have him," Buffy whispered excitedly and took off back in the direction of Weatherly Park. Not long after they were all in the air, she pointed. "What the heck is that?"

Giles' gaze followed where she was pointing, and it looked like nothing so much as a giant praying mantis. And it was flying! He looked and realized that its intended prey looked very gargoyle like.

"Xander!" three girls yelled at once.

Xander banked hard and flapped just before the mantis reached him. The monster went flying by. God, she was fast. Not as maneuverable as he was, though; insect wings had one shape and one shape only. Gargoyle wings were bat-like and could be reshaped in an instant, and it made them extremely maneuverable, though not quite as efficient as bird wings. And the maneuverability his wings gave him was the only reason he wasn't being eaten at this moment. She looped around and dove back at him and he twisted the other way this time. He knew he couldn't keep this up long. Noticing just how far she overshot him, he formed a simple plan to let her overshoot again and then dive to the ground and let her crash into the asphalt when she overshot him the last time.

Too bad she didn't want to cooperate with that plan. She flew up so she was nearly level this time and started her attack run from there. Xander was, by that time, plenty far away, giving him enough room to maneuver. He just didn't know what to do. He wasn't sure if he was hearing things or if the thought just struck him, but the words 'Top Gun' suddenly popped into his head. He pulled up hard, lifting him up sharply, though all but stopping his forward momentum. Then he folded his wings back so he was falling right onto the mantis. He was going for her head, which looked like it would be easy to pop off, but she ducked. As she went by, he lashed out with his arms and his legs. His arms went through her wings like they were papier-mâché but couldn't hold onto the fragile things and only tore some tracks through them. His hind claws, not used to being used that way, caught nothing, but after tearing through all four of the wings, Xander's front talons deeply scratched her thorax as she passed. He watched as the mantis started losing height as her damaged wings were unable to provide the lift they once had. Xander felt gravity taking over then and snapped his wings open so he could glide down to meet her on the ground. With her already injured, he felt he could swoop in from behind her and maybe take her head off. He was very surprised when he saw Buffy land on the thing's back and tear its wings right of its body like some horrible child torturing giant insects on her lawn.

Xander was moving pretty slowly, his Top Gun move having cost him most of his momentum. He watched as Willow and Amy joined Buffy in the air while he let gravity help him build speed so he could meet the monster on the ground. Giles got there first, though, and was already engaging it with Buffy's javelins, keeping its massive forelimbs busy with both hands. Xander was impressed by the older guy's speed and ferocity. There were obviously hidden depths to this watcher guy and Xander made plans to get more training soonest.

For now, he hit the ground running on all fours. Reaching the battle, Xander took one of the creature's rear legs and pulled so hard that it came off. He staggered at the unexpected result. He had been hoping for a distraction, but that worked too. He tossed away the still-twitching limb.

The girls obviously thought it looked like a good idea as they all landed nearby, grabbed a limb, and pulled as well. Giles took advantage of the distraction and plunged a javelin into the mantis' chest. But it didn't die from that. Instead that only seemed to tick it off. It knocked Giles away and all three girls also came away with rear legs shortly after that.

Then there was just the body and the forelegs flailing wildly.

"Anyone wanna try beheading?" Buffy asked. "That usually seems to work."

"I'll get one arm if you get the other," Xander offered Giles who nodded.

They both rushed in and caught one of the super-strong forelimbs while Buffy jumped atop the monster's back and pulled off its head. Except for some quivering, that was the end of the giant mantis lady.

"Whew. Good timing guys," Xander said to the rest of the clan.

"Good ears, Xander. I was surprised you could hear me yelling for you to pull that Top Gun move," Willow beamed.

"I didn't even know I heard it myself. Must have just barely heard it. Like one of those subdermal things."

"Subliminal," Giles corrected automatically. "And I believe we should discuss this in the air, before the authorities arrive."

Once they were airborne, Buffy had to ask what happened. Xander spelled out the fight with the one-armed vamp and the vamp being scared of a woman walking home with her groceries. How he'd followed her, hoping for an ally, but had instead been drugged and caged. His heroic escape, saving Blayne (he assured Giles that he hadn't spilled the beans about being a gargoyle), and then fleeing in a very manly and not at all cowardly way. Giles had the group go back to Mantis-lady's house to look for more of her kind. They didn't find any, except for some eggs, which Buffy collected to carry back to their camp. After all that, Xander had earned his rest and the rear spot in the formation where he got to draft off of all the others in the flight. He was really looking forward to a nice day of stone rest after that.

Buffy handed off the bag of eggs to Giles as the three women peeled off when they entered the bounds of the National Forest they called home while Giles and Xander made for the camp. Xander curled up in their 'bed' area as soon as he touched down. Until Giles prodded him with his foot.

"Get up. Time to train," he said.

Xander just groaned. He wanted more training, just not now. He told Giles so.

"We are neither of us going to be able to match the girls in the air. Their wing area to weight ratio is far better than either of ours will ever be. Therefore, it behooves us to focus our training on being the ones that attack on the ground," Giles said.

"Tomorrow please?" Xander begged. "I'm really sore right now."

But Giles wouldn't budge. "Learning to fight while tired and/or injured is only one of the lessons you must learn. Now up and at them or I shall attack you where you lay."

Xander was pretty sure that Giles was mostly joking, but it wouldn't pay to test that, so he reluctantly got to his feet and trained with him for several hours while they waited for the women to return from the hunt.

"Sorry we were so late." Buffy said as they landed. "The first deer we got was small and the three of us kinda demolished it. So we found this little piggy instead. Not the friendliest of creatures, let me tell you."

Xander opened his mouth to say something but thought better of it.

Giles didn't hold back what he was going to say. "This is not a 'piggy', Buffy. It's a wild boar. A rather dangerous animal if you recall my earlier lecture."

"Sure. But it's not like he could get to us while we were flying over him. Totally safe," Buffy countered playfully.

"Totally," Willow nodded.

"Very well. So long as you were careful. They are considered a dangerous invasive species and any game warden would be likely to thank you for killing it." He paused. "I was about to tell you to avoid handling the raw meat when I remembered our new forms. Still, I would prefer if we could cook the meat anyway."

"Xander, what happened?" Willow noticed Xander's condition after several more hours of training.

"Training happened," Giles said. "And it's also going to happen to the three of you while Xander gets our meal roasting. Spread out, all of you."

Xander didn't even get out of the group training. Once the meat was going, he got a break every 15 minutes to rotate the food and make sure it cooked evenly. He was one tired gargoyle by the time the food was ready. He didn't think he'd even have the strength to eat, but somehow found the reserves to do so when no one volunteered to hand-feed him.

Sunset greeted them and they woke feeling greatly refreshed. For the first time since their transformation, everyone got to have breakfast before they went flying. Scrambled giant mantis eggs and leftover ham both kept cool and protected during the day in the shade under Buffy's wing while it was stone.

"Right. Everyone follow me to my flat. We'll meet Joyce there and start moving all my books from my place to her basement," Giles said when they were finished.

Meeting there, Giles let them all in and started piling all his books together for the others to carry. Joyce's minivan was very nice to have, as it had exceptional storage capacity once the rear seats were removed, which was quite easy when you had gargoyle strength. Each of the children got to carry one of the rather heavy seats back to the Summers' home where they then helped unload the books as well. Then it was off to the school library again where they removed all the occult books that Giles had brought and several more that he hadn't brought but didn't think needed to be in a public high school library. This time, at least, the children didn't have to carry the heavy seats back with them. After unloading the van a second time and returning Joyce's seats to their full and upright locked positions, it was time for a little late lunch/dinner.

"Thank you for allowing us to use your home as a storage facility, Joyce," Giles said as they ate.

"Oh, I'm happy to do it. Especially if it means you guys spending more time here," Joyce smiled back sadly.

"Yes-yes, I do believe that we will have need to use them on a fairly regular basis," Giles assured her. "Now then, I believe it is Amy's turn to come with me. The three of you are patrolling then?"

They nodded. Buffy had had a bit of mother/daughter night last night and wasn't looking to overdose too soon. And neither Xander nor Willow were looking for a break just yet. Though they thought it would be a good idea sooner or later.

By the time Giles actually got some 1-on-1 time with her, Amy had already developed her own style of fighting thanks to gargoyle strength/instincts, the group training from Giles, and patrolling with Buffy. Instead of being a brawler like Xander and Buffy, or just plunging and moving on like Willow did and Giles tried to do, she was a counter-puncher. She'd wait for the vampire to attack first and then counter attack. With a stake if there was an opening, or with her fists if there wasn't. So while her fights took rather too long, much like Buffy's, she expended far less energy and took less damage than the former Slayer.

She was also very good at maneuvering her opponents when she faced groups so that only one vampire could attack her at a time. So while she didn't use her tail much, she made sure she didn't need to.

He gave her a few pointers, like trying for the kill earlier in each fight and trying to use her tail more. But then everyone but Xander seemed to forget about that appendage in a fight, including himself. And after that, it was up to training and getting real world experience fighting that would make them all better fighters. The good thing about being gargoyles was that they'd likely actually survive getting that initial experience whereas most humans would not.

After checking in with the other team and leaving Amy with them, it was time for Giles' other chore of the evening; contacting the watchers council. He had several reasons for procrastinating this long. Admitting defeat in that they were likely permanently transformed was one of them. Also, there had just been too much to do. Leaving the kids alone to make this call by himself had been too risky for their delicate psyches before now. Besides which, the council would likely take the same action whether or not he called yesterday, today, or in a week.

He flew back to his mostly empty flat and used the phone very carefully. Accidental gargoyle strength had cost Joyce the remote controls for her TV and VCR already, along with several keyboards at the school. The other side connected.

"Hello?"

"Yes, this is Rupert Giles. With whom am I speaking?"

"Dr. Giles!" the other person exclaimed.

"No, I'm Dr. Giles, and you are?"

"Oh, Penelope Clearwater. We thought you were dead. Another Slayer was called and you didn't return our calls."

Giles nodded, not that she could see that. A watcher going down with his Slayer was not uncommon, though they were trained to avoid something like that. "I see. I'm afraid that means that we really were both dead for a bit. And after that, we both had to go into hiding. However, we're both alive and breathing again, though I'm afraid we'll have to remain in hiding for now."

"I see."

"The other Slayer. She's on her way here now, I take it?"

"Oh, um, yes sir," It was clear that Clearwater was fairly new and wasn't sure what she was and was not supposed to tell him. "To make sure the two of you weren't made into vampires. You, weren't, were you?"

"No. Though if I were, I suppose I would probably answer the same way." He paused for a minute and took a deep breath. "I guess I ought to warn you that, though we are not vampires, we have been transformed by magic such that we can no longer simply walk about in broad daylight." That was true enough, and as much as the council needed to know.

"Oh. Oo-oh."

"We retain our human minds and the drive to destroy vampires and demons, however. So be a dear and do give the new Slayer a heads up that not all that looks evil is necessarily so. I shall warn Buffy that the new Slayer is coming. I'll call back later tonight."

"I'll inform Mr. Travers."

Giles hung up. That could have gone better. Then again, he knew the council wasn't big on cooperating with outsiders. Still, they weren't exactly outsiders, even if their form had changed.

A/N: Don't own Top Gun. Also Penelope Clearwater is not the girl from Harry Potter. Just liked the name for an English woman. I actually wrote the name first, then had to Google the name because I couldn't figure out why that name seemed familiar.