Giles Meets The Avengers…Oh, Dear

"I'm afraid that when Xander was requested by myself to properly apologize to you, his reaction could be best described as 'Not gonna and you can't make me!' In that case, I decided to come here instead on his behalf," finished Rupert Giles in the Avengers Tower conference room.

Turning to Captain American who like the others of the superhero team there were listening with growing incredulity, Giles continued, "Mr. Rogers, please accept my deepest regrets from the New Council. Our previous organization knew you quite well from the Second World War period. For my own family, I have a personal connection through Wellington Giles the Fourth who assisted you during one of your missions against Baron Blood."

"Wellington Giles the Fourth?!" Tony Stark repeated in his most disbelieving tone.

Turning to this billionaire industrialist, Giles courteously responded, "That branch of our family had an ancestor who fought at Waterloo and named his first son after the Duke. The tradition continued, naturally."

Steve then said thoughtfully, "I remember him now. Good man, stood his ground throughout everything, and helped us drive that vampire traitor off."

"Thank you, sir," a pleased Giles nodded. "I'll gladly pass that compliment along to his son, the Fifth, one of the few Watchers who managed to survive both the Bringers and the First Evil's bomb. All right, then…"

Facing the very large bearded man with a massive hammer lying atop the table before where he was seated, Giles concentrated and spoke to him in a foreign language which sounded like rocks falling down an echoing stairwell.

Thor appeared startled at first, and then broke out into a beaming smile. When Giles continued in the same strange language, Tony, Clint, Natasha, and Steve each looked around at each other and found that none of them had any idea at all what their guest was saying.

Under his breath, Tony asked, "JARVIS, what's that language?"

Modulating his transmission into Tony's right ear, JARVIS the building's AI had to confess, "I don't know, sir. It isn't to be found anywhere within my databanks."

Tony's eyebrows went up in surprise. JARVIS possessed the sum total of human knowledge and that definitely included all forms of spoken communications, even those which were presumed to be long extinct.

When Giles finished to then have Thor raise his right hand in a commanding gesture and intone several more words presumably in that same dialect, Tony barged into the conversation with his usual tactlessness.

"Hey, Point Break, want to share with us? Because we didn't understand a damn thing you and him just talked about. JARVIS couldn't either, which takes some doing."

Both Thor and Giles bestowed identical scowls at Tony for being so rudely interrupted.

Though, Giles then responded civilly enough, "That's because Ancient High Norse was never put down in runes, only taught verbally among the Scandinavian priesthood for special ceremonies with their gods."

He looked pensive for a moment before continuing, "I might be the only one left from the Old Council who still knows it. I'll have to do something about that soon."

"Aye," Thor rumbled.

The thunder god sent a dirty look at where Tony was seated. "My forgiveness was sought and I decided to grant it for a honest warrior, tested and true in battle. If he is worthy of the Nátt Hunters' trust, I will overlook his impudence this once."

"Night hunters," JARVIS translated for Tony who was still having a hard time over the whole Slayers thing.

Ignoring Mr. Stark's current grouchy expression, Giles leaned forward to open his briefcase lying on the tabletop. He took from there a decidedly strange object, a metallic-yellow arrow shaft which was skewering a sheet of paper.

Handing this arrow and its linked accessory across the table to where a surprised Clint accepted it without thinking, Giles informed the SHIELD agent, "We have a good many people with us who don't share Xander's opinion about your skills. One of them asked me to give you this as an, um, souvenir if you want it."

Glancing down at a photo of Xander Harris with his eyes crossed and tongue sticking out with the arrow having gone through the exact tip of that man's nose, Clint barked an amused snort.

He then heard from their guest, "You're also invited to the Cleveland House whenever you like, to possibly give our Slayers an archery demonstration. There will also be a rare privilege of admission to our weapons vault to see for yourself Artemis' Khryselakatos with which Ms. Summers herself fired that gold arrow from a mile away to still make a direct hit."

Clint's gaze abruptly snapped around to gape at Rupert Giles steadily looking back at him. Clint choked out, "That's just a myth!"

"What is?" Steve wanted to know.

Instead of answering right away, Giles folded his hands together on the table and stated to the Avengers, "Myths are our business, sirs and madam. The bow of the Greek goddess Artemis, who was later known as Diana the huntress by the Romans, is quite real and bears the name 'of the golden shaft'. We have been in possession of this since the fall of Rome in 410 CE when a Watcher rescued it from Alaric's sacking of the city."

"He speaks truth, good bowman," Thor addressed Clint with a slightly nervous glance sent at the golden arrow. "I can sense the trace of godly essence yet remaining upon that, meager though it be. Go and gaze upon Artemis' bow, but be warned: only women may touch it without being harmed."

"Okaaayyy," Tony drawled, fed up with all the woo-woo stuff being thrown around lately.

He glared at Giles. "Your minion lipped off at me, somebody who could buy and sell him a hundred thousand times over! If you're going to apologize to me for him, go ahead already!"

Giles' eyes went flat and deadly.

The Englishman spoke in a very composed voice, "Well, it's true Xander doesn't care much about money, turning just about all of his salary over to the New Council trust which runs girls' schools in Africa that he mostly built with his sweat and labor in the first place. They can always use more funds, though, so do you by any chance remember just who owns the land this building stands upon, Mr. Stark?"

Taken aback, Tony sputtered, "Uh, some stuffy old-time European consortium who have no idea how valuable Manhattan real estate actually is…" He trailed off in horror at seeing Giles' merciless baring of that man's teeth at him.

"The Watchers' Council as far back as Phoenician times knew that empires rise and fall, banking institutions come and go, but land will always be there. We have financial rights to an appreciable percentage of what's above sea level worldwide, and all Stark Enterprise facilities we lease to you including Avengers Tower will now pay triple their previous rent. Good day, Mr. Stark."

Arising to his feet, Giles collected his briefcase and made a formal bow to Natasha leaning back in her chair. "It was a pleasure seeing you again, Ms. Rushman. Your beauty hasn't lessened the least bit since my days at Oxford. Out of curiosity, did your presence there have anything to do with Professor Willoughby's decapitated head being found one morning nailed to the All Souls front entrance on High Street?"

Ignoring how Stark was moaning quietly in his chair at how much of a hit this was going to do to his corporation's bottom line, Natasha gave Giles a stunning smile.

"A lady is entitled to her little secrets, Director Giles. Or, should I say 'Ripper'?"