(Wes & Gunn walk towards Harmony's desk, argueing)

WESLEY: I say we make a pre-emptive strike. Remove him before he and his followers go underground.

GUNN: Assassination?

WESLEY: We're talking about an evil warlock here. The longer we wait, the more powerful he becomes.

GUNN: I don't plan on waiting.

WESLEY: Really? What is your plan?

GUNN: We open a can of Machiavelli on his ass.

HARMONY: (rolls her eyes) It's Matchabelli, Einstein, and it doesn't come in a can.

GUNN: Is he in?

HARMONY: Is who in?

(Wesley and Gunn both roll their eyes, then walk toward Angel's office.)

WESLEY: What you're proposing could take weeks. We can't afford the delay.

GUNN: 48 hours, maximum. There are at least 2 initiates to his inner circle who'd jump at the chance to overthrow him.

WESLEY: You're overlooking the tactical merits of my assassination scenario.

ANGEL: Guys—

GUNN: Hey, in my plan, he still wakes up dead by Thursday.

ANGEL: Guys! C.E.O., right here, in the dark.

WESLEY: Sorry, Angel. Lucien Drake. He's a warlock.

GUNN: An evil warlock and a cult leader. Got over a thousand followers. We're pretty sure they sold most of their children down the Hades river in return for some serious demonic mojo.

WESLEY: One more religious fringe group stockpiling weapons, but in this case, the weapons are black magicks of the most dangerous variety.

ANGEL: And you want Wolfram & Hart to stop them.

GUNN: Not so much stopping as... (looks at Wes)

WESLEY: (looks at Gunn) ...as redirecting their energies.

GUNN: See, a cult this big has alliances, connections. If we confront them directly, it could be very bad for business.

WESLEY: But if we eliminate their leader covertly...

GUNN: ...then they spend the next billing cycle fighting among themselves to hack out the new pecking order.

ANGEL: Uh-huh... So are we doing this because it's right... or because it's cost-effective?

GUNN: Uh, well, a little of both actually.

WESLEY: Yes, oddly, once again we find ourselves in a bit of a gray—

ANGEL: Don't...

WESLEY: —area.

ANGEL: ...say that! Can we just get through one damn day without saying that? OK. Explain it to me again.

(...)

GUNN: I know how these people think, Wes!

WESLEY: And I know what we have in our arsenal, Charles!

FRED: (arriving) Guys, I can hear you out in the lobby. The week's lab reports, Angel.

WESLEY: Fred, doesn't the Wolfram & Hart satellite have lethal capability?

FRED: What?

WESLEY: I mean, couldn't we eliminate a target from the air, untraceably?

FRED: Well, we do have an orbital-range microwave cannon up there. Focuses the satellite's communications signals into a pinpoint beam. It can raise the temperature of the targeted area 1,000 degrees in less than 5 seconds. So, yeah, in theory, we could. That is, if we did that sort of thing. (to Angel) Do we do that sort of thing?

WESLEY: It might be the thing to do.

GUNN: Think someone won't notice us firing a sci-fi death ray from outer space?

FRED: Well, actually, the beam reads like cell phone static on most atmospheric scanning equipment.

ANGEL: Let's kill them all.

(Everyone looks at Angel.)

FRED: What?

ANGEL: Warlocks, minions—they're all evil. Sold their kids to the devil. Let's just wipe 'em all out. We got the power to do that, right?

WESLEY: Yes, but, Angel—

ANGEL: (wild eyed) Why don't we? Let's just get back to the basics: Good versus evil. Offing the monsters where we find them.

GUNN: We have to tread light here, Angel. We can't afford to— Are you all right?

ANGEL: (drooping) I'm just...tired. Gunn, get a meeting with your best Judas. Feel him out, but don't tip your hand. Any hint of him carrying word back to Drake, we go with Wes' plan.

FRED: Are you sure you're all right?

GUNN: You don't look so good.

ANGEL: Yeah, I, uh, just... need to get some rest.

FRED: Go. Rest. And maybe sleep in tomorrow.

ANGEL: No, there's too much on our schedule.

WESLEY: There's nothing we can't handle.

GUNN: Yeah, anything earth-shattering comes up, we know where to find you.

• Wesley & Gunn
• Wolfram & Hart

written by: Brent Fletcher; Original transcript by CariCranberry. Edited & formatted by me.. Full transcript at:
http://www.buffyworld.com/angel/season5/transcripts/5x10_tran.php