[Giles and Wesley enter Wesley's apartment.]
GILES: Let's have a look at your hostage. [Wes opens his closet door. Giles looks at the man crouched inside the cage.] It's a Bringer alright. [Wesley closes the door.] So Master Wyndham, how do we play this one? I do good cop, you do bad cop? You seem pretty stuck in the bad cop persona.
[a knock at the door. Wes goes to answer it.]
WES: Wonder who that could be. Probably Lilah. [opens door. it's the Beast. Wes looks terrified and backs up.]
GILES: This must be your Beasty. Certainly looks intimidating. [Beast ignores both Wes and Giles and slowly stomps his way to the closet.] The hoofs are a nice touch. And the horns add an air of menace. Still, he's only a demon.
[Beast opens closet, rips the front off the cage, grabs the Bringer by the neck with his right hand, and lifts him up in the air.]
BEAST: Are you forgetting the deal we have? Your kind stays OUT of MY domain. [sticks left index finger into Bringer's stomach. Bringer groans in agony.]
BRINGER: We are bound by honor to follow the enemy wherever they travel.
BEAST: You are bound by my will. Do you want me to talk to your boss? Do you know what I can do to your boss? Tell me what I can do to your boss. [Beast prepares to poke another hole in the Bringer if he doesn't talk.]
BRINGER: You can kill him. You can destroy him.
GILES: Pardon me Mr. Beast fellow, but who is this boss? And how can you kill an incorporeal entity? It appears the two of us have common adversaries. [Beast sends Giles a withering glance. Then returns his attention to the Bringer.]
BEAST: Your breach is insufficient to warrant wholesale retribution. Yet I cannot allow it to go completely unpunished. [rams the Bringer's head through the ceiling, then slams him to the floor.] Your enemies shall now enjoy immunity if they enter my domains.
BRINGER: Even if our enemies attack you?
BEAST: Your enemies are not powerful enough to harm me.
GILES: Now just one second there! [Beast turns. faces Giles]
BEAST: Who are you to speak to me? I would kill you if you weren't irrelevant.
GILES: You're the irrelevant one, with your sham apocalypse and your Lucifer inferiority complex.
WES: Giles for godsakes! Get a hold of yourself. Have you been listening? He's offering Buffy and the Potentials protection.
GILES: You're right. The immunity pledge. But why?
BEAST: Because you cover my flank. You are my ally.
GILES: I am most certainly not!
WES: In a way you are. It appears the Beast and the First have a sort of rivalry. The First is a nuisance the Beast doesn't want to waste time eliminating. So he's more than happy to have you do it for him.
BEAST: Now I must kill you for your ingratitude.
GILES: Now hold on! What about your promise of immunity?
BEAST: It applies.
GILES: Then how can you kill me?
WES: Did you leave your brain back at the hotel? It was quite obvious the immunity only applied to enemies of the First Evil who entered Los Angeles after he made the pledge. You were already here. Therefore, you're grandfathered out of the agreement.
GILES: What are you, his lawyer?
BEAST: My lawyers are zombies.
GILES: Is that some sort of dadaist social commentary?
WES: He's being quite literal. I'll explain if you find a way not to die.
GILES: You could be a good sport and help me with that. [Beast slowly approaches Giles] Wesley, don't be such a nancy boy. Quite cowering and help me fight this monstrosity. Oh, bloody hell. I'll do it myself.
[Giles grabs samauri sword from the wall. Charges Beast and slashes his chest. The sword shatters on impact. The Beast hits Giles with a right jab to the chest, sending him into an exposed brick wall. Giles grabs a large Saxon ax, and resumes the fight. The Beast throws a right hook. Giles ducks and drives the ax into the Beast's shoulder. It causes no damage. With his right arm the Beast knocks the ax out of Giles's hands. He grabs Giles by the neck with his left hand and lifts him off his feet. Giles flails his feet and struggles with both arms to free himself from the Beast's grasp. It is to no avail. Wesley doesn't know whether he wants to risk his life in a hopeless attempt to save Giles. After all, Giles did bring this upon himself.]
[Lilah enters]
LILAH: I heard the Beast was in the neighborhood. Try using this. [hands Wesley a large gun.]
WES: I've tried firearms. They're useless.
LILAH: You haven't tried this. .50 Caliber high-powered sniper rifle. Shoots a 6-inch long bullet which can pierce armor at 200 yards. These things can take down planes. They should be able to fend off Big Red.
WES: Worth a shot.
[Takes gun, fires into the Beast's chest. Nearly hits Giles. He's not sure what's worse: getting strangled by a demon or shot up by Wesley. Wesley fires a second shot, hitting the Beast in the stomach. He drops Giles, who tumbles to the floor gasping for air. The Beast now focuses on Wesley. Wesley fires four more rounds into the Beast's chest. They don't seem to do much damage, and Wes is having trouble dealing with the weapon's enormous back kick. He fires two more rounds as he tries to circle away from the demon. When the Beast is at point blank range, he puts two bullets into its face. These knock him back a good ten feet. But the empty clip falls out of the gun.]
LILAH: [hands Wesley another clip.] Try the explosive bullets. Maybe they'll make a bigger impression.
[Wesley loads and fires. The Beast charges, but two shots to its chest slow it down. Two more shots to its face seem to actually hurt the demon. The explosions right on top of its eyes are very unnerving. It puts its hands to its face. The Beast turns and walks to the window. He looks down at Giles.]
BEAST: The answer is among you. [then he flies out the window. Giles gets to his feet and shakes off his injuries.]
GILES: What could that mean?
WES: He said the same thing to us. Means someone in your organization is unwittingly serving your enemy.
GILES: But we've already known that for months.
WES: Maybe he just likes the phrase.
GILES: [looks at Lilah] Thanks for you assistance. Wesley wasn't man enough to help me. Fortunately, you were. I don't think I've heard of you?
LILAH: Lilah Morgan.
GILES: Nice to meet you, Miss Morgan. I'm -
LILAH: Rupert Cornelius Eustatius Giles.
WES: Eustatius? [laughs]
LILAH: Battle-scared. Erudite. English. Just how I like my men.
WES: You have GOT to be kidding!
LILAH: What's the matter, Wesley? Jealous? I thought you had lost interest in me.
GILES: So you two -
LILAH: Pity sex. Felt sorry for him. It's in the past.
WES: Now that is just patently absurd.
GILES: I agree. It's absurd that this stunning woman would even give you the time of day. How did you procure such powerful weaponry? Stolen from a military base? Purchased on the black market?
LILAH: You can buy them in just about any gun store.
GILES: Really? But surely the exploding bullets must have been difficult to come by.
LILAH: Over-the-counter. Two dollars a cartridge.
GILES: Well then. For once I am grateful for America's scandalously permissive gun laws.
LILAH: Is that a Bringer with a chest wound crouched down on the floor? What a wimp. I got poked by the Beast and I walked away from it.
GILES: You know about the Bringers?
LILAH: How couldn't I? They've crossed paths with my law firm on three continents. Word of advice: they don't hold up well under torture.
WES: She's a lawyer for an evil law firm.
GILES: Now Wesley. Just because a lawyer defends evil people, or evil corporations, doesn't make them inherently evil.
LILAH: Actually it is an inherently evil law firm. [smiles] We do evil work. For evil clients. And we're planning an apocalypse.
GILES: How terribly cliched.
LILAH: Thank you Dumbledore. How do you think Hogwarts School for Slayers is holding up without it's Headmaster? Aren't you worried Black Magic Woman will try to see what more men look like underneath their skin? Or that Power Puff Slayer will resume getting impaled by the bleached undead? Then who will watch over and protect your precious Chicklets?
GILES: You seem to know an awful lot about me.
LILAH: The intelligence reports from your cow town make for hilarious light reading. Always a great way to relax after a hard day of evil doing. It's fun to read about all the demons who aren't strong enough or bad enough to make it in the big city.
GILES: Seeing as how you like to keep abreast of developments, do you have any information in the First Evil?
LILAH: Do you want to know what it is, what it plans to do, or how to defeat it?
GILES: All three if you don't mind.
LILAH: Why should I do you such a huge favor? What have you ever done for me? [turns around and starts to walk to the door.]
GiLES: Now hold on. We can negotiate. What sort of doing did you have in mind? [Lilah turns around.]
LILAH: Dream on, old man. [Wesley loves that] You have a Slayer. There is a certain vampire offspring we would like to capture and study. Could your Slayer take care of the capturing? I'm sure she could. Angel beats up Connor. Buffy beats up Angel. Shouldn't be too hard for her to knock the boy out. We can handle the rest.
GILES: You cannot be serious.
LILAH: Why not? It's a small price to pay for saving the world. And you don't even have to pay the price. Connor does. And so does Angel, indirectly. As Faustian bargains go it's pretty pain-free. And there are so many wonderful ways it could go down. She has that pseudo-sister. We know Angel likes 16 year-olds. Why wouldn't Connor? He seems to be a fast operator. And I'm guessing Buffy's a very protective pseudo-big sister. She sees Wonder Boy heading for home on his first at-bat, she'll try to put a stop to his fun. They both have violent temperaments. They're both justifiably paranoid of strangers. Not too hard imagining a knock-down, drag-out fight. Buffy knocks Connor down. After she leaves, we drag him out. Hell, she never even has to know what she's a part of. That was just off the top of my head. I'm sure I can think of something even better.
GILES: Don't waste your time.
LILAH: I should have known. You're above that sort of thing. Even though I just saved your life. Suit yourself. I don't need your help to exploit your gang to hurt Angel.
GILES: You really seem to have it in for him. Didn't think hurting a cursed vampire was such a lucrative market.
LILAH: It pays surprisingly well. And mostly we just sit around and watch his own friends and loved ones make his life a living hell. But sometimes it's nice to have people who AREN'T his friends hurt him. Do you know anyone in Sunnydale who isn't Angel's friend? Who might take pleasure in causing him pain? Don't answer that. You're probably a lousy liar. Point is, the train's leaving the station. Whether you're on it or not is your choice. [sidles up to Wesley] All this scheming has got me pretty worked up. And I can tell from here that it's gotten you going as well. Too bad you don't want to see me anymore. Like you said, the world could end any day now. Means if I walk out the door you may never see me again. Oh well. [turns and leaves]
[Wesley and Giles both hang their heads out the door to watch her walk away. Welsey's mouth is open. He's a bit shocked at the way she turned the tables]
GILES: She is certainly something.
WES: Yes. She's definitely that.
GILES: And you had sex with her?
WES: Many times.
GILES: Kudos. Did you ever try to get her to switch over to the good side?
WES: She has too much pride to do that. She made her choice long ago, and she's sticking to it.
GILES: She does have a soul. So I don't see why she couldn't forsake evil.
WES: True. But then she'd be far less fun. Let's face it. When femme fatales become good girls, they lose their sex appeal.
GILES: Quite the paradox you've weaved. You won't date her because she's evil. But if she becomes good, you'll no longer be attracted to her.
WES: It's what I need to do right now. I'm scheming to win the love of another man's woman. I can't properly go about that if I already have a girlfriend.
GILES: My goodness. Your dating is more dangerous than your demon fighting.
WES: They feed off one another. [both men notice the Bringer is beginning to stir.]
[I'll post the next chapter when I get responses to this chapter.]