[Wes and Giles. In Wesley's apartment.]
WES: That certainly wasn't what I expected from a Bringer.
GILES: Talk about the banality of evil.
WES: I should call Angel. Tell him about seeing the Beast. [picks up phone. Gunn and Fred enter. Wes puts down phone.]
FRED: We heard the Beast was in the area.
WES: In the area? He was in my living room. Where is Angel?
GUNN: Takin' the sewers. He'll be here soon. Who's the old guy?
GILES: [mutters] I'm young enough to still have all my hair.
WES: This is Rupert Giles. A former colleague of mine.
GILES: I fought the Beast while Wesley cowered in the corner.
FRED: You don't look like you fought the Beast. You're in one piece, and you ain't bruised all over.
WES: I saved his neck.
GILES: Like hell! You were going to let me die until that Lilah woman came over with the big gun and the exploding bullets.
GUNN: Damn, that's a nice piece of hardware. [picks up gun, looks it over. Fred also checks it out.]
FRED: .50 caliber, long-barreled, air-cooled, high-powered semi-automatic. Firing mechanism's a little sticky. Barrel needs to be cleaned. Sight appears to be two degrees off-center. Nothing a little routine maintenance couldn't fix. [Gunn and Wes both look shocked.] I did a little huntin' back in Texas. Won the youth division tri-county target shooting championship when I was 13. Daddy always said I was a natural shot. [Gunn and Wes are both oddly turned on by Fred's apparent proficiency with firearms.]
GILES: Sorry, but I didn't catch your names.
GUNN: Charles Gunn.
FRED: Winifred Burkle.
GILES: My, what expressive and symbolic names you have. Pleasure to meet you both. You two work for Angel?
GUNN: WITH Angel.
FRED: We kinda run the business, since Angel's so caught up with all his personal matters.
GILES: Of course. That's understandable. Considering - [Angel runs in]
ANGEL: Did you see it?
GILES: I did a lot more than that. What are you doing with that sword? You plan to fight the Beast with that thing?
ANGEL: It's my favorite broadsword.
GILES: That may be so, but you should know from experience that it is also the LAST weapon you should be attacking this Beast with. I learned that about three seconds into our battle. You might as well try to kill him with a wet noodle. That demon's got armour for skin. A slashing sword won't leave so much as a scratch. An ax would be better. But what you really need is a bludgeoning tool. A hammer. To drive him backward, maybe even knock him down. Buffy has this very heavy Hammer of Thor which proved of great value against Glory. That's the sort of weapon you need.
GUNN: More bashing, less slashing. I'm down with that.
FRED: He does make a lot of sense. It's simple physics. With a sword like that, the force of the blow is dissipated over the entire length of the blade. You need a weapon which concentrates your energy in a single location. Like a sledgehammer. Or a high-powered rifle with exploding rounds. You do have the exploding rounds, right? Those puppies pack quite a punch. One of em can blow apart a tree trunk. Or so I've heard.
WES: The ordinary rounds distracted the Beast. The exploding rounds, when shot into his face, actually appeared to hurt the creature. At the very least they annoyed him and caused him to flee.
ANGEL: What was the Beast doing in your apartment?
WES: He was after the Bringer I had captured. Apparently the Beast and the First Evil have some sort of turf war. The Beast was upset that one of the First's agents was in his city. Threatened to kill the First Evil for this breach of protocol.
ANGEL: So the Beast is more powerful than the First Evil. I told you it was, Rupert.
GUNN: What's the First Evil?
ANGEL: Something they're fighting down in Sunnydale.
GUNN: Oh. A suburban Big Bad. A mini-Big Bad.
GILES: I'll have you know there is nothing miniature about it.
GUNN: Chill pops. I'm sure it's a big deal in your little town.
GILES: You people are so insufferably arrogant. I'd like to see any of you last a month on top of the Hellmouth. Bloody amateurs.
ANGEL: Have any of you seen Connor?
GUNN: I thought he was with you.
ANGEL: Oh no. He's all alone, and the Beast is probably going after him.
CONNOR: He wasn't. But another demon was.
ANGEL: Connor! You're okay. What demon was it?
CONNOR: Don't know. Had a funny looking face. Called me the Anointed One. Tried to kill me. I took its head off. [shows them the severed head of the Bringer.]
ANGEL: Connor, what did I tell you about taking trophies?
WES: I believe that's our Bringer.
GILES: Splendid work, young man.
ANGEL: He called you the Anointed One?
CONNOR: Yeah. What does that mean?
GILES: He tried to kill you? So it's a good thing. Not that I welcome someone making an attempt on your life. But since he's evil, and since he's part of an all-consuming evil, he recognized you as a powerful force for good. Unlike, say, that other Anointed One. The child who worked for the vampire your mummy and daddy used to work for.
CONNOR: You mean the Master?
ANGEL: How do you know about the Master?
CONNOR: Holtz told me about him. How he sired mother and taught both of you to be the wickedest of Satan's creatures. Is he dead?
GILES: Yes. Dead as dust.
CONNOR: That's what Holtz thought. He said the Master was powerless without his two proteges. And that without the Master, and with mother gone, there would be no one left to protect you.
ANGEL: I don't need protection.
GILES: You seem to forget all those times Buffy saved your life when you lived in Sunnydale. I recall at least two occasions when you were utterly helpless and unable to defend yourself.
WES: And if I hadn't come to the rescue you would still be trapped on the ocean floor. Guess even champions can sometimes be damsels.
CONNOR: But what does it mean? Anointed One?
WES: I'll have to do some research. We always knew you were very special. This could give us a clue as to how special.
ANGEL: Who would have anointed him?
WES: Maybe you did. Remember the earthquake? The fire. You fled the room. Some debris hit you, and your head was bleeding profusely. Connor was barely two months old. You held him in your arms. And large drops of your blood fell down onto him. That could be considered an anointing of sorts. [Wes remembered it so vividly because it was the moment he became convinced Angel was going to kill Connor. Now he had found a way to put a positive spin on that moment.]
CONNOR: That's sick. You're saying I was baptized in his blood?
WES: Not literally. Certainly not intentionally. But it's the only thing which comes to my mind. And it makes sense symbolically. You were born to be a champion. To follow in your father's footsteps.
CONNOR: You're saying I'm going to be like him? That's not good. That sucks.
ANGEL: That just means you're going to fight evil. That you're a champion. But then I already knew that.
GILES: Who started this champion nonsense? Have you abandoned all pretense of modesty and reserve? By the way, can I have that head? [Connor tosses it to Giles] Thank you. This will be very good for morale. We can toss it to his mates next time they come round, as a warning of sorts. [gets worried looks from Wes and Angel] Oh come on! He murdered my friends and colleagues. I'm entitled to a tiny scintilla of blood lust. They're evil, for crying out loud! [looks at head] What exactly did you cut it off with?
CONNOR: I didn't cut. I twisted. Snapped his neck. Thing fell right off.
ANGEL: That can happen with humans. If you don't let go before the follow-through.
GILES: I forgot about your neck-snapping days. Thanks for that most unwelcome reminder. [looks at the windows] Why are the shades closed? Shouldn't they be open so we can see what havoc you Beast may be wreaking? Seems like the prudent thing to do. [opens windows. Ray of sunlight shines on Angel, causing his right hand to catch fire. He grimaces and moves to the corner of the room, putting it out. Giles glances at Angel, letting him know this was his way of making Angel pay for reminding him what Angelus did to Jenny. Connor smirks. He remembers this trick for later.]
[Lorne barrels in. He's obviously distressed.]
LORNE: Why are you always in the last place I think of looking? Cordy's gone.
CONNOR: Was it the Beast?
LORNE: Yes. But not exactly. She had a vision he was holding her captive. San Pedro dockyards. Warehouse on Pier 21a. About 45 minutes from now. She figured why fight fate, and decided to beat him to the punch. She went down there to wait for him, and sent me to tell all of you.
ANGEL: I don't get it. Why didn't she come here so we could protect her?
LORNE: She said she wanted to be "proactive."
GILES: Wouldn't surrendering be the antithesis of proactive?
FRED: It's not surrender. It's thinking two moves ahead. This is actually the least dumb thing Cordy's done since she came back.
LORNE: That's really not saying much, pumpkin.
[Everyone grabs their weapons and leaves. Angel takes the tunnels. Fred and Gunn go in Gunn's truck. Wes goes in his own car, with his arsenal in the trunk. Giles takes his beamer. Lorne heads with his new amigo Giles. So does Connor. He's still trying to figure out this new English guy. This creates some tension, given Lorne's dislike of the demon spawn. Lorne rides shotgun. Connor's in back. Giles calls Buffy at school to give an update.]
GILES: Buffy, it appears I'll be detained here for a little while longer. I'm helping Angel fight a particularly bothersome demon. It's a long story, and it involves the torture and beheading of a Bringer, but I don't have time to explain. You need not worry. I'll be back before dark.
BUFFY: So the Slayer search was a wild goose chase.
GILES: Yes, but it's become so much more than that. Right now I'm driving with two gentlemen who grew up in demon dimensions, and only one of them is a demon.
BUFFY: That sounds farfetched even by my standards. But I have to go. [she hangs up]
WOOD: Just the person I wanted to talk to.
BUFFY: Hey there, Principal Wood.
WOOD: Please, it's Robin. I've been batting around an idea in my head which is so crazy I figured you were the only person who could take it seriously.
BUFFY: That was a strange non-good sort of compliment.
WOOD: I feel an unexplainable urge to fill the basement immediately below my office with concrete. Make it solid from my floor to the bedrock. I don't know why. Something about the void beneath my feet makes me nervous. What's your take on this?
BUFFY: I, uh, think, well, it's not a bad idea at all. Follow your instincts on this one.
WOOD: So you see nothing irrational about my intuition that I'm perched on top of some vacuum which could suck me down to my doom?
BUFFY: Just because it seems irrational doesn't mean it's not absolutely, positively, 100% correct. Have you noticed anything in particular down there? Beneath you?
WOOD: Just I vibe I keep getting. I've always had a fear of underground spaces. Ever since my mother was murdered on the subway.