[Giles meets Wesley in the Hyperion courtyard]
GILES: Wesley - you look, well, different. Going for the bounty hunter look?
WES: I trust you're here because of my encounter with the Bringers.
GILES: Why would they come after you? You're no longer a Watcher.
WES: Maybe you should tell them that. There were two of them. Decapitated one. Disarmed and knocked out the other. He's locked in a cage at my place. He's not talking. Another few days without foot and water and I'm pretty sure he'll sing.
GILES: You're saying you dealt with two Bringers - by yourself. You, Wesley Wyndham? New look aside, I have my doubts about that. Can you describe the gentlemen who attacked you?
WES: Black-robed. Ritually scarred on the face, especially above and below both eyes. And they each carried two curved daggers. [drops the four knives at Giles's feet. Giles picks two of them up.]
GILES: These look about right. Congratulations Wesley. Sometime in the past three years, you became a man.
WES: Would you like to join the Bringer in his cage? Keep this up, and you might have a choice. [Giles laughs] Rupert, does it look like I'm joking? [stares Giles down]
GILES: Isn't this cheeky. You've turned into Ripper. Or at least you're trying to. How about we both act like adults and leave the threats for the schoolyard.
WES: And leave the silly taunts for the student union. This isn't the Academy.
GILES: Very well then. I trust you've been apprised of developments.
WES: They cut the Council off at the head. Unfortunately for them, it was the head that was rotten. A large-scale terrorist attack in downtown London in broad daylight - you think CNN would be all over that. Or at least the BBC. For Pete's sakes, they blew up a wing of the Foreign Office. Doesn't MI5 or Scotland Yard investigate that sort of thing?
GILES: I too was struck by the overwhelming public indifference. They claimed it was a gas leak! And everyone bought it! Anyway, the operatives have all been liquidated. The Watchers annihilated. I'm the only one left.
WES: You are the Council. Isn't this what you always wanted? A fresh start. The dead wood cleared out. I'm sure you abhor the means. But don't tell me you're not satisfied with the ends.
GILES: That's rubbish. You're completely off your rocker. You know that, don't you?
WES: So what happens now? Let me guess. You gather what's left of the Potentials and place them inside your Sunnydale citadel with Miss Summers. Then what? Wait for Faith to die. Keep the Chosen One, send the nominees packing. Wait for the next batch of nominees to turn up. [grins] Or do you activate all of them. Kill Faith, bring her back a few seconds later. Take the new Slayer, repeat the process, and so on. Before you know it, you've created a New Model Army of Slayers. Don't tell me it hasn't crossed your mind.
GILES: I don't appreciate the Cromwell reference.
WES: Maybe you should. You know what Oliver's problem was? He never groomed a competent successor. After him, it all fell apart. What happens when you go? Or have you even thought about that? You'll need a Watcher training program. Slayers are born. Watchers are made. Someone has to make them.
GILES: Are you applying to be my successor?
WES: Hardly. You go rebuild the Council. I'm too busy saving the world.
GILES: Actually I'm doing both.
WES: Right. I know about the First Evil. A degenerate cult and their mystical parlour tricks. I'm sure Buffy can handle whatever goblins get belched out of that Hellmouth. She's only used up 2 or 3 of her nine lives. You should be planning ahead, taking the longview.
GILES: That's easy for you to say, sitting here outside of the battle.
WES: I'm the one who's in the battle. Rupert, in case you haven't noticed, the venue's changed. You're in Sunnydale, fiddling while Los Angeles burns.
GILES: I see you've lost none of you're imperiousness.
WES: I'm not saying the triumph of the First Evil won't destroy the world. I'm merely saying it will be easier to defeat than The Beast. But that still means it could be pretty bloody difficult. When that Bringer talks, I'll tell you what he says.
GILES: He'll die before he talks.
WES: He'll be tortured before he dies. Everyone talks after enough torture. If my methods fail to do the trick, I can always call in Angel. [Wes doesn't know Angelus tortured Giles]
GILES: Just don't let him near a chainsaw. [Wes looks confused] Perhaps he could bring junior along, teach the boy a few things. He seems like the sort who would enjoy that.
WES: So you've met Connor.
GILES: While he had a knife to my throat. Kid's a natural.
WES: A natural what?
GILES: That I don't know. And probably neither do you.
WES: And probably neither does Connor. [Giles chuckles]
GILES: I was just on the phone with Buffy, and the Potentials wanted to know if there was such a thing as a boy slayer. [Wes gets the joke, snickers] So I'm standing here, looking at Connor, and I'm thinking "as if my job weren't complicated enough." [they both laugh] Can you imagine? [more laughter]
WES: He would do more ravaging than Wallenstein during Thirty Years' War! [Giles laughs at the historical joke.]
GILES: Good one, Wyndham. I would have gone with Papenheim, but witty none the less.
WES: That is, if he's interested in girls his own age.
GILES: Yes, I heard about how Cordelia made a man out of him. And to think, she didn't go for boys his age when she WAS his age. Remember when you worried she was too YOUNG for you.
WES: Fortune always favors the ironist.
GILES: True. Because without irony, their lives and our lives and the lives of everyone else we know would merely be disgusting and odious. If you can't laugh at life, sooner or later you blow your bloody head off.
WES: Or get your throat cut.
GILES: I suppose that's another way of putting it.
WES: Enough small talk. What brings you to this town? Forgive the pun.
GILES: Wild goose chase, actually. Turns out Cordelia's glowing caused a seer to mistake her for a Slayer. Talk about irony!
WES: And now that you've sorted out the misunderstanding, you're heading back?
GILES: Eventually. At the moment things are tranquil in Sunnydale. We're in between existential crises. And there do seem to be some fascinating phenomena in this town. Plus, you have that Bringer. Perhaps we can make him talk.
WES: So you plan to stay awhile. For your own safety, try to be gone before sundown. I know you've seen a lot over the years, but you've seen nothing like this Beast.
GILES: All of you give him raving reviews, but I wonder if his bark is worse than his bite.
WES: You don't want to see his bite. Also, sundown may come earlier than normal today. We believe the Beast is trying to blot out the sun. [Giles laughs] It's not funny. [Giles laughs some more.]
GILES: Of course it is! Haven't any of you seen The Simpsons? That is exactly what Mister Burns did! Ahhh. That's a wonderful show. The only thing worth watching on American television. Sounds like your demon has a sense of humor. [laughs some more] All you need now is to find a baby to shoot him. Then all your problems will be solved!