This story begins when LA is dark and Angel has lost his soul. After Angelus gets free, Connor decides he's had enough of the vampire hordes and leaves the city. He heads to Cordy's home town, and arrives just after the "Potential" episode.
[A graveyard in Sunnydale. Spike has on his vampire face, and is holding Vi from behind. Kennedy, Molly, Rona and Amanda watch as Buffy lectures them about how they should never forget that it is the vampire who has the power. Out of nowhere, Connor arrives and attacks Spike from the left. He punches and kicks Spike in the face. Spike lets go of Vi, who runs back over to the other Potentials. Connor lands a flying right spin kick. Spike faces Connor.]
SPIKE: You haven't a bloody clue what you've gotten yourself into, little boy.
CONNOR: I know what I'm fighting. [kicks Spike in the stomach, punches him in the chin.] Do you? [Connor charges Spike. Spike grabs him and throws him 20 feet through the air. Connor tumbles to the ground but quickly gets back on his feet. Buffy is amused. Nothing like seeing a boy in way over his head get put in his place.]
SPIKE: What is your bleeding problem, kid?
CONNOR: My problem is you're a vampire. But you won't be one for much longer. [Buffy laughs at the boy's idle boasts. He charges Spike, does a forward flip in mid-air, and kicks Spike in the head.]
SPIKE: I sure didn't see that coming. [Connor tries a right spin kick. Spike, realizing this boy's for real, ducks. Connor throws a right punch, which Spike blocks. He throws a left, which Spike also blocks. Spike tosses Connor over his shoulder. Connor flies through the air until his back slams hard into the wall of a mausoleum. He realizes this vamp's for real.]
CONNOR: You fight like my father.
BUFFY: So you were abused as a child. That would help explain the seething rage.
CONNOR: Why don't you help me kill him? He's a vampire!
BUFFY: He's a different kind of vampire.
CONNOR: Let me guess. He's a vampire with a soul. [Connor's least favorite kind of vampire.]
SPIKE: Lucky guess. [The Potentials move towards the mystery guy.]
VI: Was that part of the demonstration? Should we be taking notes? [Connor glances over at the five teenage girls. He forgets about the white-haired vamp and his blonde human protector.]
MOLLY: Is he a Boy Slayer?
BUFFY: [laughs] There's no such thing as a — [laughs some more. Connor leaps 15 feet forward in a single hop, so he's face-to-face with his curious teenage female fans, who gasp at this super-human feat. Buffy's not laughing anymore.]
CONNOR: I'm Connor.
AMANDA: How long have you been fighting vampires?
CONNOR: Since I first saw one. I've fought demons as long as I can remember. Had to kill them just to survive.
RONA: Where did you learn all those cool moves? Can you teach us?
CONNOR: [mischievous half-smile] I could train you. Who's the small woman with the big mouth? [they laugh]
KENNEDY: That's Buffy. She's the Slayer. The top demon fighter. A legend.
CONNOR: Funny. Cause I've never heard of her. [walks over to Buffy] So you slay vampires. I used to live with two women who did that. They were a lot taller and prettier than you are. [what Cordy wouldn't give to see this moment.]
BUFFY: [scowling] What brings you to my town, Connor?
CONNOR: The peace and quiet. This is the safest place I've ever been. [Buffy thinks he's utterly clueless] I think I'm gonna like it here. Anyone up for some training? [Rona, Vi, Molly and Amanda look giddy.]
BUFFY: That's kind of what we were in the middle of. You can join in if you want. Maybe you'll learn a few things. [Connor laughs]
CONNOR: I didn't see training. All I saw was you doing a lot of talking.
BUFFY: It's called teaching.
CONNOR: You need to work on your speeches. You should have met my teachers. They could have taught you a few things. [compared to Angel and Holtz, Connor finds Buffy pretty uninspiring.] You're all welcome to come to my place. Just don't steal all the covers. [Molly, Rona, Vi and Amanda ditch Buffy to follow him.]
MOLLY: We'll be back in a bit. It's nice to get out of the house every now and then. [The five of them walk off, leaving Kennedy with Spike and Buffy.]
KENNEDY: "Don't steal all the covers?" Could that boy be any more shameless?
SPIKE: There's something very wrong with that kid.
BUFFY: I know. What the hell is his problem with me? Maybe he has a problem with powerful women.
SPIKE: I'm talking about his not-quite-human abilities.
BUFFY: You think he's a demon?
SPIKE: He's not. I can tell. The boy is human. The things he does aren't. [two vampires come from behind and snatch Kennedy. Buffy and Spike turn around and attack. The vamps let go of Kennedy and flee. Buffy and Spike chase them down and dust them. Meanwhile, Connor heads off in the other direction with 80% of the future Slayer line.
CONNOR: I don't get this Chosen One thing. You want to fight demons, you fight them. You don't wait for someone to tell you it's okay. And why does only one of you get to be Slayer at a time? Who came up with that dumb idea?
MOLLY: See, the thing is, there's the Slayer Line. You have to be part of the Slayer line to be powerful. And only one girl — [Connor puts his left index finger over Molly's mouth to shut her up.]
CONNOR: [whispers] Shhh. Something's coming. [Six Bringers jump out from their hiding spots and descend on the Potentials, who are terrified. They've been waiting for a moment when the Slayer wouldn't be around to protect them. Connor smiles. He walks out towards them, eager for a fight. Two of them throw knives at him. He catches one in his left hand, one in his right. He tosses them back. One Bringer is hit in the eye, the other in the neck. They both fall dead. Connor pulls out his small double-headed ax and charges two other Bringers. They each toss a knife at him. He parries the projectiles with his ax. Then he descends on these two Bringers, chopping and slicing them with a fury and dexterity the Potentials have never seen before. When he's done, each Bringer is in nearly a dozen pieces. Amanda smiles. Vi's sickened. Molly and Rona are a little frightened.
[The other two Bringers turn and run away. Connor tosses his ax, striking one of them in the back of the head. The other Bringer is fast and had a big head start. He thinks he'll escape without too much trouble. Next thing he knows, Connor's standing right in front of him. He takes out his daggers, tosses them to the ground, and raises his hands in the air.]
RONA: What's going on?
AMANDA: I think he's trying to surrender.
MOLLY: I've never seen a Bringer do that before.
BRINGER: I think you're on the wrong side. [Connor reaches his hands out and snaps the Bringer's neck, killing him instantly.]
CONNOR: I wonder if I'll ever get tired of this? Probably not. [he pulls his ax out of the other Bringer's skull and walks back to the Potentials. Buffy, Spike and Kennedy have just arrived.]
BUFFY: What happened? Were you attacked? Did that kid try to hurt you?
RONA: There were six Bringers —
MOLLY: And Connor killed all of them. On his own.
BUFFY: You sure these were Bringers?
SPIKE: [walks over to Connor's first two victims] Looks like it to me.
KENNEDY: [examining Connor's dismemberment of his third and fourth victims] Now THIS is what I call Slaying. It's like a human jigsaw puzzle. [Connor returns to his damsels]
CONNOR: [to Buffy] You missed all the fun. They weren't too tough. It's been a long time since I fought something that weak.
RONA: How did you do that thing where you caught those knives? That was awesome!
CONNOR: It's just timing. Here, I'll show you. [Hands his ax to Buffy, walks 15 feet away] Throw that at me, hard as you can.
BUFFY: You really don't want me to do that.
CONNOR: Okay. I don't want to embarrass you. If you're not strong enough to throw it all the way here, I understand. [Buffy hurls the ax out of anger at high speed. Connor grabs it right out of the air. The Potentials gasp. Spike's mystified.] Want me to toss it back?
BUFFY: I don't do parlor tricks.
CONNOR: [condescendingly] I understand.
SPIKE: [trying to change the subject before something ugly happens] So Connor, you said you had a place. Where in town are you staying?
CONNOR: I found a house. Stone and glass. High ceilings. Garden in the courtyard. Kind of like where my dad lives, but gloomier. And here's the funny part. There's a stone statue of a demon inside. With two swords sticking out of its chest. I think "Cool, free weapons." Try to pull them out. But they're stuck in real good. Finally, I get one out. But the other won't budge. Then my hand slips, and I cut it on the blade. It comes out real easy. But I look at the swords. The blades are really thin. They both look too flimsy to kill any tough demons. So I decide to put them back. Then I notice there's like this hole in the center of the statue. What's up with that! I put the swords back, the hole disappears. Then I pick the statue up, put it on the porch. Decided it looked better out front. Why aren't you two laughing? Isn't that funny? [Connor heads off with the four girls.]
BUFFY: No. That can't be possible.
SPIKE: Did that boy say he opened and closed Acathla?
BUFFY: Trust me. That's not how you close it.
SPIKE: I didn't know anybody's blood could do the trick.
BUFFY: We need to get that thing somewhere safe.
SPIKE: He sounded like he was done playing with that toy.
BUFFY: Now that he's got my Potentials to play with.
SPIKE: Buffy, they wouldn't. Certainly not all together. If he took one of them, I'd be worried.
BUFFY: Maybe there's safety in numbers.
KENNEDY: Shouldn't we tell Giles about Slayer Boy?
BUFFY: That boy is NOT a Slayer!
KENNEDY: He's obviously something special.
SPIKE: She's right. We better tell Rupert. Especially since Slayer-ish Boy has taken off with four of his girls.
[Buffy's living room. Willow sits on the couch. Kennedy sits to her right, with her left arm around Willow. Giles sits on the chair opposite the couch. Buffy's standing in front of the fireplace. Spike stands just inside the double doors which separate the living room from the hallway. Dawn's upstairs. Andrew sits on the far side of the living room, near the kitchen.]
GILES: You're telling me a human teenage boy single-handedly dispatched six Bringers?
SPIKE: Slaughtered would be the proper word.
GILES: What weapons did he have?
KENNEDY: He had a little ax.
SPIKE: I checked the corpses. He only used it on three of them. Two were killed with their own knives. The other one got his neck snapped.
GILES: Did the young man display any special powers?
SPIKE: He was about as strong as an average vampire. Not as strong as a Slayer. But it wasn't just the strength. He doesn't seem to be very familiar with gravity. And his reflexes were like nothing I've ever seen.
KENNEDY: Like when he caught the ax Buffy threw at him. [Giles and Willow look at Buffy suspiciously]
BUFFY: He asked me to. Practically begged me. Boy's a total show-off.
GILES: What did he look like? Size, build.
BUFFY: A little shorter than Spike. Really scrawny.
KENNEDY: Dark, floppy hair. Big bambi eyes. Kinda cute.
WILLOW: You thought he was cute?
KENNEDY: I mean, for a guy.
GILES: You claim to know where this Connor is. I say we go there and try to find out what he is.
ANDREW: Maybe he's a superhero. With a secret identity. We need to search for the source of his powers. Radiation? Genetic experiments? Or his parents could also be superheros! Wait, can I come?
BUFFY: No.
ANDREW: You know what can happen when you leave me alone.
BUFFY: Then go upstairs and hang out with Dawn. She tolerates you better than any of us. Except Xander.
ANDREW: Why hasn't he come over tonight? He was gonna help me with the Babylon 5 story I'm writing. [Everyone else leaves. Andrew pouts and turns on the television.]
WILLOW: You thought Connor was sexy?
KENNEDY: I didn't say sexy. Why are you acting so paranoid? Just because I've been out since pre-school doesn't mean I can't tell the difference between an ugly guy and a non-ugly guy.
WILLOW: But you didn't say he was non-ugly. [They get in the car. Giles drives. Buffy rides shotgun. Spike's in the back on the left, with Willow in the center and Kennedy on the right.]
KENNEDY: Come on, Willow. You know this is nuts. [runs her left hand through Willow's hair. Willow realizes she was overreacting. She smiles. They gaze into each other's eyes. Kennedy reaches across to put her right hand on Willow's leg.
SPIKE: Hey. That's my leg.
KENNEDY: Sorry. [shudders. moves hand.]
[They arrive at the mansion]
GILES: I don't understand how such a nice house can sit vacant all these years.
SPIKE: Absentee landlord. Owner lives in Europe, almost never visits. Angelus checked it all out. He's very anal when it comes to real estate.
GILES: There's our old friend Acathla. Refreshingly dormant.
WILLOW: Does anyone else find it creepy that he's living in Angel's old place?
BUFFY: It would be creepier if he lived in Dracula's old castle.
WILLOW: That's true.
SPIKE: Or the factory.
WILLOW: Are there any abandoned buildings in this town we don't have a disturbing personal connection to?
GILES: I doubt it. [the five of them enter. Connor and the other four Potentials are in the large central hall training and going over weapons.
CONNOR: Mace is useless against vampires. Never seen anyone hurt a demon with a flail. I knew a girl [Fred] who was good with the crossbow. But I like throwing rather than shooting. [Tosses a stake to his right without even looking. It zooms towards Spike's chest. At the last minute Buffy reaches out and grabs it in midair.]
SPIKE: What the bloody hell was that for!?
CONNOR: Good thing you have her around to protect you. [Spike is not amused.] Rona, let's try that move again. [Connor charges her. She flips him to the ground, then kneels on top of him.]
RONA: Did I hurt you? I thought I might have hit you here. [puts hand under Connor's shirt.]
KENNEDY: [to Buffy] Wonder who she learned that from.
CONNOR: I'm fine. You can take your time and make sure if you want. But Molly looks impatient. I think it's her turn. I'll just show you the reversal. [tosses Rona behind him. Then helps her up.]
GILES: [who is not happy to see Connor getting pawed by his Potentials] You must be the lad everyone's talking about. I am Rupert Giles. Their Watcher.
CONNOR: You're the oldest. That means you're the leader.
GILES: That's how I like to think of it.
CONNOR: You're English.
GILES: Yes.
CONNOR: Like Molly. And everyone else is from here.
MOLLY: Spike's English.
CONNOR: Really? He doesn't sound like any English person I've ever met. [he's moved from dissing Buffy to dissing Spike] This place is getting crowded. I'm getting a lot of attention. Must be quite the curiosity.
GILES: Not in the least. In our struggle against the Primal Forces of Darkness, we appreciate all the help we can get. You appear to be a formidable warrior. I would be grateful if you decided to be a part of our team.
CONNOR: You mean your crew? Your demon dusting crew? [from three months of living with Gunn] Sounds like fun. What's the toughest thing you need killed round here?
BUFFY: I think you'll find plenty of demons to keep you busy. And if you're bored, you can go stand on top of the Hellmouth and wait for the next super-demon to rise.
CONNOR: What's a Hellmouth? Is that like a Hell Dimension?
GILES: You're familiar with Hell Dimensions?
CONNOR: I've heard people talk about them.
GILES: Interestingly enough, the Hellmouth is a sort of portal to a multiplicity of Hell Dimensions. If the portal were opened the world as we know it would cease to exist. Buffy's done a superb job of preventing that from happening. She's saved the world more times than we wish to remember. Yet even when closed, it is an epicenter of dark mystical energy, a veritable volcano of evil. It's our job to help Buffy contain that evil, and it's quite a demanding job to say the least.
CONNOR: Has it ever rained fire? Does the sun ever not come up in the morning?
WILLOW: That's quite an imagination you got there, little fella.
CONNOR: I wish. What's your name?
WILLOW: I'm Willow. Buffy's friend.
KENNEDY: She's a pretty powerful witch. Got some serious magical mojo working.
CONNOR: Magic. Like what? What can you do?
WILLOW: Well, there are spells. Protection spells. Locator spells. Helpful, non-lethal stuff like that.
CONNOR: Do don't do memory spells? The kind that go wrong and make everybody forget who they are and try to kill each other?
WILLOW: We didn't try to kill each other! Wait a sec. What are you talking about?
CONNOR: Some people I knew. One of them had amnesia.
WILLOW: And they tried a spell to recover the memories? Was there a bottle or an urn? Do you know which incantation they used? There's a Greek and a Latin, but the Greek is much more reliable.
GILES: You mean the Attic Greek or Aeolian Greek?
WILLOW: I didn't know there was an Aeolian Greek text! Where did you find it?
CONNOR: I came by after it had gone wrong and everyone was kind of nuts. When things were back to normal, they told me they all thought they were sixteen.
GILES: How odd. Your friends must have been real amateurs to botch the spell that badly.
BUFFY: Sounds to me like there's some Band Candy floating around out there.
CONNOR: Now we're gonna do that thing I told you about.
AMANDA: All right! I was getting a little impatient. [Connor goes into the next room. He comes out dragging a vampire by a chain tied around his neck.]
CONNOR: I thought they could use some practice. So I went out and grabbed this thing. Don't worry. If anything goes wrong — [he yanks on the chain, pulling the vampire to the ground. The vampire gets up.] See what I mean? [yanks it again, hurting the vampire.] Happy hunting.
WILLOW: Wish me nightmares.
BUFFY: Giles, shouldn't we put a stop to this freak show?
GILES: This isn't as unorthodox as it may look. Such training techniques used to be quite common. Ironically, the Council abandoned them because they didn't put the Slayers in sufficient danger, and therefore didn't teach them survival skills.
[Connor slackens the chain to let the vampire move. Rona takes first crack at it. She hits him with two left jabs to the face. He growls. She throws a right hook. He grabs her right arm and tosses her to the ground. Molly steps on up. She circles around, looking for an opening. She fakes a right punch to the face, then connects with left kicks to the stomach and chin. When she tries to follow up the attack he decks her with a left spin kick. Vi goes next. As you would expect, she looks scared and hesitates. The vampire senses her fear, lunges at her and throws a right cross. She moves left, avoids the punch, and hits the vampire with two lefts and a right. He throws a left hook. She blocks it, hits him in the mouth with a left jab, grabs the stake with her right hand and goes for the kill. The vampire grabs her right arm with both hands and stops the stake when it's about two inches from his heart. Then he tosses her into the mantle. Amanda waited till the end cause she thought all the other girls would whiff, though Vi's near-success gave her a little scare. She stares down the vamp.]
AMANDA: Connor, drop the leash. I like it better when they can squirm. [Finally, someone who scares even Connor. He decides to take the risk, since he's there if anything goes wrong. The vampire, elated at his new freedom, charges Amanda. She ducks down and sweeps his legs out from under him. Tripping the vampire up. He gets up, turns around, growls, and leaps at her. She steps out of the way, grabs him while he's still in midair, and uses his momentum to toss him to the ground. He rolls into the wall. She kicks him in the back, grabs him by the neck, and smashes his skull twice into the concrete floor. He rolls onto his back. She goes down to the ground and stakes him. Everyone's quiet for a few seconds.]
CONNOR: I like the thing you did with the floor. Wish I had thought of that. [Amanda smiles and blushes. She's glad she impressed Connor, since she figures her ordinary strategy of beating up boys she likes wouldn't work too well with him.]
GILES: Now Connor, I'm wondering where you learned that particular training technique?
CONNOR: Learned? I just thought of it. [he doesn't want to be forced to say anything about his past.]
BUFFY: Hope everyone enjoyed this little field trip, but it's late and we should be getting back.
MOLLY: [whining] But you have us packed in like bloody sardines. Can't some of us stay here?
RONA: We'll be safe in Connor's hands. He can protect us.
CONNOR: I'm going to set up traps on the windows and doors to catch anyone who tries to break in.
GILES: Really. What types of traps? Catch or kill?
CONNOR: Catch. Like animal traps. But with trip wires. I've found that dart-shooting booby traps are too easily disabled.
GILES: Quite right. So you've employed these defensive measures in the past?
CONNOR: I don't want to be killed in my sleep. Places I used to live are a lot more dangerous than this quiet town. Demon population here is pretty low.
GILES: You haven't been here very long, have you?
AMANDA: So can we stay? Connor can protect us. He killed six Bringers. The last one even tried to surrender to him.
GILES: What do you mean by surrender?
AMANDA: I mean he threw down his weapons and put his hands in the air. But Connor snapped his neck. It was really graceful. You have to teach me that motion.
CONNOR: It's easy. [demonstrates on Amanda] Right hand on the chin. Left hand on the back of the head. Pull with the left. Push with the right. Right foot comes forward with the right hand. [lets go, does the motion] Just remember to follow-through.
AMANDA: So can we?
WILLOW: Kill humans with your bare hands? Absolutely not.
AMANDA: No. Can we stay here?
RONA: What do you mean WE. I called it.
MOLLY: I called it first.
CONNOR: There's plenty of room upstairs for all of you.
BUFFY: But there's only two beds. I mean, I just assume there's not enough to go round.
VI: And there are enough at your house?
BUFFY: You're too young for Giles to allow you to spend the night alone with a boy. [Giles and Willow start snickering]
BUFFY: Especially in a strange house we know nothing about. [Giles and Willow struggle to contain their laughter]
GILES: Sorry. [stops laughing]
WILLOW: I mean, come on. [laughs at Buffy's hypocrisy for a few more seconds before Buffy's glaring causes her to stop.]
GILES: Connor, I appreciate your "chivalric" concern. But the Potentials must live with the Slayer. She and I are responsible for their safety. You are welcome to come by in the morning, young man. I'm very eager to train you, to hone your abundant natural gifts. But we must be going now.
CONNOR: It's okay. I'm used to being lonely. [tries out his sad doe-eyed look on the girls] It was really nice meeting all of you. [smiles at the Potentials.]
MOLLY: Bye Connor.
AMANDA: See you soon.
VI: Thanks for, you know, saving our lives.
RONA: Later Slayer Boy. [Buffy groans and rolls her eyes. Giles ushers the Potentials out the door. Connor's alone.]
CONNOR: Girls my age who fight demons. I love this town.
GILES: I will drive them home. You four can walk. Buffy, I'm sure you know the way. [Giles gets in the car. Amanda rides shotgun. Neither Molly nor Rona want to challenge her for the front seat. Buffy, Willow, Kennedy and Spike walk home. Kennedy and Willow hold hands.]
WILLOW: You were right. He is a cutie. All that pouting vulnerability. No wonder Giles is nervous.
BUFFY: He's not that good looking. Just some brat who pretends to brood. And trust me, he's not very good at it.
SPIKE: [derisively] After all, who knows more about dark brooding tortured souls than you?
BUFFY: And did you see how hot Giles was to become his Watcher? Am I the only one who can see through his overwrought adolescent angst? Kid's a poser.
KENNEDY: How do you suppose he faked all those super-moves?
BUFFY: So he's quick and a little acrobatic. Big deal.
WILLOW: I'm just glad he hasn't gotten his hands on Dawny.
SPIKE: [sarcastically] Wouldn't that be a nightmare. He's so much worse than Teen Vamp who tried to kill her or Jock Spell who nearly caused her to commit suicide.
BUFFY: You're not saying you think they should — ?
SPIKE: Course not. I don't fancy someone I care about dating anyone who tries to kill me.