- [speaking over a comm-link through a monitor]
- Buffy Summers: Professor Walsh...? That simple little recon you sent me on... wasn't a raccoon.
- [Walsh slowly faces the monitor with Riley beside her]
- Buffy Summers: Turns out it was me trapped in the sewers with a faulty weapon and two of your pet demons... If you think that's enough to kill me... you really don't know what a Slayer is... Trust me when I say you're gonna find out.
- [first lines]
- Willow Rosenberg: I implore you, Neisa, blessed goddess of chance and fortune, heed my call. Send to me the heart I desire.
- Xander Harris: [the camera pulls back to show she is holding five cards] You know, magic at the poker table qualifies as cheating.
- Willow Rosenberg: That wasn't magic. I was praying. Two, please.
- [at The Bronze]
- Anya: Xander. You haven't been paying any attention to me tonight. Just peddling those processed food bricks. I don't know why.
- Xander Harris: Well, let me put it in a way you'll understand. Sell bars. Make money. Take Anya nice places. Buy pretty things.
- Anya: That does make sense. All right, I support you. Go sell more.
- Rupert Giles: I don't know how many more ways I can say I'm not interested.
- Xander Harris: Well, try one! Check these flavors: Cherry-Berry, Maple Walnut, ooh, Almond Licorice.
- Anya: Ew.
- Xander Harris: Anya, we don't say "ew" in front of potential customers.
- Anya: Just skip this part and tell him you want money to buy me pretty things. He'll understand.
- Rupert Giles: [sighis] Very well. Um, Maple Walnut.
- Xander Harris: An excellent choice.
- Rupert Giles: [Giles takes a bite, then looks disgusted] Please leave my home now.
- Xander Harris: It's the, uh, the gritty texture, isn't it? Maybe you're more of a Cherry-Berry fellow.
- Xander Harris: You are looking at the new local distributor for Boost Bars. "The natural food bar that provides a nutritional energy boost for active, health-conscience people." Want one?
- Willow Rosenberg: No, Thanks. Those things usually taste... kind of tasteless. And then leave a bad aftertastelessness.
- Xander Harris: Well, don't let the healthy scare you. Check out these ingredients. See? Loaded with fatty goodness.
- Spike: [bursts in with tarp over him; smoking] Close the door!
- Xander Harris: Spike? You may want to give up these morning jogs.
- Rupert Giles: It'll be dark soon... I think it would be wise for you to leave Sunnydale.
- Spike: I'm not going anywhere... not until those bastards undo whatever they did to me. Put me back the way I was.
- Xander Harris: Sure, just explain to the nice scientist guys that you *really* miss killing and torturing innocent people.
- Spike: You think that would work?
- Rupert Giles: Spike, Lord knows why I'm telling you this. It's for your own good. As long as the Initiative is in operation, it's not safe for you here.
- Buffy Summers: No... It's not safe for any of us.
- [last lines]
- Professor Maggie Walsh: Maggie Walsh: So... all right... fine... If she wants a fight, we'll give her one... won't we, Adam...? I've worked too long... too long... to let some little bitch threaten this project... threaten me... She has no idea who she's dealing with... Once she's gone, Riley will come around. He'll understand... It's for the greater good. He'll see that. And if he doesn't... Well, first things first. Remove the complication... And when she least expects it... aah!
- [a long sharp spear suddenly bursts from her chest]
- Professor Maggie Walsh: Adam?
- [falls dead to the floor]
- Adam: Mommy.
- [Xander, Willow and Anya are playing poker]
- Xander Harris: Wish the Buff could've made it. This three-hand poker is not quite the game.
- Willow Rosenberg: Guess she's out with Riley. You know how it is with a spanking new boyfriend.
- Anya: Yes, we've enjoyed spanking.
- [the card deck explodes from Xander's hands, and in his embarrassment he changes the subject]
- Xander Harris: Well, they do seem to fall into the Good Guy camp. I mean, they are anti-demon.
- [Anya gives her a look]
- Xander Harris: But probably pro ex-demon.
- Willow Rosenberg: Well, they do seem to fall into the Good Guy camp. I mean, they are anti-demon.
- Anya: Maybe. I choose to feel threatened.
- Xander Harris: And why not? There's still heaps we don't know about these commandos. What exactly are they up to?
- Buffy Summers: You're quite the regimental soldier.
- Riley Finn: I am how they trained me.
- Buffy Summers: They? Who they?
- Riley Finn: You know, the government. Plucked me out of Special-Op training for this.
- Buffy Summers: What did they tell you it was for?
- Riley Finn: Didn't. In the military, you learn to follow orders. Not ask questions.
- Buffy Summers: I don't understand. Aren't you curious about all the science and research stuff they're doing?
- Riley Finn: I know all I need to know. We're doing good here. Protecting the public. Removing the subterrestrial threat... It's work worth doing.
- Professor Maggie Walsh: This is your objective. Sub-T-67119. Demon class, Polgara species. Though visual confirmation has not yet been made, we're confident of the target's approximate position, as it leaves behind a distinct protein marker. Dr. Angleman will brief you on its defenses.
- Dr. Angelman: When threatened, bone skewers jut from the creature's forearms during battle. It's imperative when ensnaring it not to damage its arms. That's all you really need to know.
- Buffy Summers: Question.
- Professor Maggie Walsh: Buffy?
- Buffy Summers: Why exactly can't we damage this Polka thing's arms? I-I, um, not-not that I want to. It's just, in my experience, when fighting for your life, body parts get damaged and better its bits than mine. Or ours.
- Dr. Angelman: We wish to study the physiology of every subterrestrial's natural defenses. Part of the research we do here. Uh... Yes?
- Buffy Summers: What do they want?
- Dr. Angelman: Want?
- Buffy Summers: Why are they here? Sacrifices, treasure, or-or they just gettin' rampagy? I find it's easier to predict their responses if I know...
- Dr. Angelman: Uh, they're not sentient, just destructive, I believe.
- Professor Maggie Walsh: They do have keen eyesight, however. You might wanna be suited up for this.
- [Buffy glances at the green-clad commandos around her]
- Buffy Summers: Oh, you mean the camo and stuff? I thought about it, but, on me, it's gonna look all Private Benjamin.
- [some of the commandos chuckle]
- Buffy Summers: Don't worry. I've patrolled in this halter many times.
- [all the commandos laugh]
- Professor Maggie Walsh: Why don't we give our attention to Dr. Angleman...
- [Buffy raises her hand]
- Professor Maggie Walsh: ... and save all questions until the end?
- Dr. Angelman: Actually, I'm finished.
- Professor Maggie Walsh: Oh. Uh, well, Agent Finn, deploy the teams.
- Riley Finn: Okay, listen up. We'll be going in a four-squad setup. Team Leaders: Gates, Taggart, and Stavros. Alpha Team, you're with me.
- Professor Maggie Walsh: Report for TLs for assignments and weapon requisitions. Reminder: this is a zap-and-trap, people. Capture, not a kill. Any questions?
- [sees a raised hand]
- Professor Maggie Walsh: Buffy.
- [Giles arrives at Spike's mausoleum]
- Spike: Hey! Wipe your feet when you enter a person's home.
- Rupert Giles: Ah, yes. Careless of me. Tracking mud all over your, um, mud.
- Spike: I'll admit, it's a bit of a fixer-upper. Needs a woman's touch. Care to have a crack at it?
- Rupert Giles: While I'd love to go on trading jabs with you, Spike, perhaps I'll come to the point. Much as it pains me to say it, um, I owe you a debt of gratitude for the help you provided me in my recent... metamorphosis.
- Spike: Stuff the gratitude. You owe me more than that, mate.
- Rupert Giles: Three hundred. Count it if you... like.
- Spike: I'll do that.
- [starts counting]
- Rupert Giles: Um, thinking about your, um, affliction and, uh... your newfound discovery that you can fight only demons, it occurs to me that
- [chuckles]
- Rupert Giles: I-I realize this is completely against your nature, but I-I-I... Has it occurred to you that there may be a higher purpose?
- Spike: Ugh! You made me lose count. What are you still doing here?
- Rupert Giles: Talking to myself, apparently.
- Spike: Well, piss off, then. This bit of business wraps up any I got with you and your Slayerettes. From here on, I want nothing to do with the lot of you.
- Rupert Giles: Your choosing to remain in Sunnydale might make that a little difficult.
- Spike: Well, you and yours will just have to show a little restraint is all. Now get out... And I don't want you crawling back here, knocking on my door, pleading for help the second Teen Witch's magic goes all wonky or little Xander cuts a new tooth. We're through. Got it...? Honeymoon is over.
- Professor Maggie Walsh: Your visitor's pass. And I've assembled some reading material to bring you up to speed.
- Buffy Summers: Oh. And I thought I was never gonna get homework from you again.
- Professor Maggie Walsh: You can't take that home. That's classified material. Highly sensitive. When you're through reading those pages, you'll have to eat them.
- Riley Finn: She's joking.
- Professor Maggie Walsh: Don't worry. Doesn't happen very often. Shall we...? Much of our hands-on research with the HSTs is performed here. We call this "The Pit."
- Buffy Summers: And what do you call those?
- [Buffy sees a pair of green squid-faced demons lying on two tables, while scrub-clad techs work on them]
- Riley Finn: Tough. It took eight of us to bring those two down.
- Professor Maggie Walsh: They'll be under our control soon enough. Doctor Angleman! Head of our science team. He's a leader in the field of xenomorphic behavior modification.
- Buffy Summers: Behavior modification?
- Professor Maggie Walsh: We've made significant advances in reconditioning the sub-terrestrials, bringing them to a point where they no longer pose a threat.
- Buffy Summers: So I've seen.
- [Walsh and Riley look at her]
- Buffy Summers: On the Discovery Channel. With gorillas and sharks. They-They made them all nice. You haven't seen it?
- Spike: Soldier boys are out in force. I've been trying to keep 'em off my scent, run 'em in circles, but they just keep coming.
- Rupert Giles: And... how is this our concern? Seeing that you've expressed a desire to have nothing more to do with us.
- Xander Harris: Spike said that?
- Rupert Giles: Mm-hmm.
- Xander Harris: [to Spike] That hurts.
- [Professor Walsh running a testing mission at night]
- Professor Maggie Walsh: Lights...! Took the patrol team 42 minutes to track you. And you neutralized them in 28 seconds.
- Buffy Summers: I was just lucky.
- Professor Maggie Walsh: I see. Well, still. Very impressive.
- [leaves]
- Buffy Summers: [to Riley] I was just being modest with the whole lucky thing. You got that, right?
- Riley Finn: I got it.
- Graham Miller: Awesome, Buffy.
- Forrest Gates: Pfft!
- Riley Finn: See? You're a hit. Everybody loves you.
- Riley Finn: Talk to me, Forrest.
- Forrest Gates: Signal's somewhere in this neighborhood. Estimate within a two-block radius.
- [in his apartment, Giles is digging into Spike's wound with the tweezers while Anya holds the flashlight for him]
- Willow Rosenberg: It feels and looks like the ionizing spell is wearing off.
- Xander Harris: Giles?
- Rupert Giles: Uh, I've got it. I've got it!
- [holds up the tweezers with a two-inch dart with a blinking red light]
- Rupert Giles: [cut to Beta Team getting closer]
- Riley Finn: Okay, we wanna keep the hostile contained. So no one is to make a move without my...
- Forrest Gates: Wait. Signal's cleared up.
- [points]
- Forrest Gates: There.
- Riley Finn: Let's go!
- Rupert Giles: Um, go!
- [Giles give tweezers to Xander who races down the hall]
- Riley Finn: [cut back to Beta Team] What?
- Forrest Gates: It's on the move.
- Riley Finn: Heading?
- Forrest Gates: Straight at us, forty meters and closing. Moving fast.
- Graham Miller: In broad daylight?
- Riley Finn: Look alive, people. Weapons at the ready.
- Forrest Gates: Twenty-five meters... twenty... fifteen.
- Riley Finn: Where?
- Forrest Gates: To the left. Ten meters... five!
- Riley Finn: Anyone?
- Graham Miller: I got nothing.
- Forrest Gates: This doesn't make sense. It went right past us.
- Spike: Ow! Watch it. That hurts.
- Rupert Giles: It doesn't appear to be a bullet. It's too deeply embedded to be a tranquilizer dart.
- Spike: Also not tranquil.
- Rupert Giles: Some sort of illumination emanating from it... It's blinking.
- Spike: I don't care if it's playing "Rockin' the Casbah" on the bloody Jew's harp. Just get it out of me!
- Rupert Giles: All right, Anya, there's a bottle of Cognac in the, uh, cabinet next to the sink. Will you get it for me?
- Spike: What, you're gonna get snockered now?
- Rupert Giles: It's not for me, you prat. If I'm gonna operate on you, I need you anesthetized. this'll take some time.
- Xander Harris: We don't have any. That blinking thing. My pseudo-soldier memory bank tells me that's a tracer.
- Rupert Giles: A what?
- Spike: A what?
- Xander Harris: It's like a homing beacon. And if commando guys are reading the signal, they're coming home.
- [Anya hands Spike the Cognac, and he begins to guzzle it]
- Rupert Giles: Well, we need to buy some time. It's in deep and I'm no surgeon.
- Professor Maggie Walsh: It's a small job. Reconnaissance. Probably a waste of a Slayer's abilities, but my boys are on assignment, so I...
- Buffy Summers: No, it's okay. I'm up for some action.
- Professor Maggie Walsh: I doubt you'll get any on this one. We have a reading of a class-three subterrestrial moving through the sewer tunnels just on the edge of town.
- Buffy Summers: Class three?
- Professor Maggie Walsh: It's a low-level threat. Minimal aggression. Meager defenses.
- Commando: Professor Walsh.
- [approaches and hands her a taser rifle]
- Professor Maggie Walsh: They barely show up on the scanner and occasionally turn out to be raccoons.
- Buffy Summers: [looking at the gun] Wow. You're not crazy about raccoons, huh?
- Professor Maggie Walsh: We always take precautions. All we need you to do is get a visual on this thing. This will feed me back an image, and I can advise you from there. I don't wanna put you in any unnecessary danger.
- Buffy Summers: Oh, that's okay. Danger's my birthright. Sorry. Um, Professor Walsh... there's, um, there's still some stuff about all this that I'm not clear on.
- Professor Maggie Walsh: Well, when you get back, we can have a talk.
- Buffy Summers: Good. Okay. When I get back... Am I supposed to salute you?
- Professor Maggie Walsh: No.
- [Willow, Xander and Anya have been waiting for Buffy at the Bronze; now she shows up with Riley, Forrest, Graham, and others]
- Buffy Summers: Oh, you know, I didn't think that you would mind. Uh, Riley and the guys were throwing a little impromptu celebration in my honor. And it made it, like, impossible to not invite them.
- Willow Rosenberg: Oh, that's neat about the celebrating. I-I just thought this was supposed to be, you know, us. Just the Scooby corps, you know? I mean, I could have invited somebody else if I knew it was an open free-for-all.
- Buffy Summers: I'm sorry. I had no idea. My total bad. So, who did you want to invite?
- Willow Rosenberg: What?
- Buffy Summers: You said you wanted to invite someone.
- Willow Rosenberg: No, not... No one. I mean... I meant a hypothetical someone, which is to say no one.
- Professor Maggie Walsh: I think we've got a situation.
- Dr. Angelman: The Slayer?
- Professor Maggie Walsh: She's becoming a liability.
- Dr. Angelman: We knew that was a danger. Does she know about the project?
- Professor Maggie Walsh: She knows it exists. She already holds too much influence over Riley, over Agent Finn.
- Dr. Angelman: We move to the contingency scenario?
- Professor Maggie Walsh: Right away.
- Dr. Angelman: It's too bad. She could've been a powerful ally.
- Professor Maggie Walsh: I know.
- Dr. Angelman: And Finn will take it hard.
- Professor Maggie Walsh: That's why sooner is better.