"They smell good, don't they?" " What?" " Clean sheets." "Like summer." "I wouldn't know." "Right." "I forgot." "I noticed." " I wish I could stay, but..." " No, you have to go." " It's just with..." " Little sis coming." "I know." "So much to do before she gets here." " Now I really have to..." " So go." "Don't let me keep..." "Damn." "Just when we made it so nice." "Are you ever gonna take this thing out?" "So, here it is." "The latest in state-of-the-art combat technology." "It doesn't look that complicated." " So can you repair it?" " Sure." "As soon as I get my masters degree in Advanced Starship Technology." "Why don't we experiment?" "Press some buttons, see what happens." " I'd like to veto that." " Second." "It's called a "blaster", Will." "A word that tends to discourage experimentation." "If it were called the "orgasmator", I'd try your button-press approach." " Just tell me." "Can you repair it or not?" " I'm workin' on it, I'm workin' on it." "If I blow a hole in my mom's azalea patch, the neighbours will not be pleased." "You all right?" "You've been patrolling round the clock for three days straight." " Perhaps you could use some..." " What?" "Some rest?" "There's a demonoid killing machine out there that doesn't only work the night shift." "I was going to say perhaps you could use some backup." "But now you mention it, gathering your strength might not be a bad idea." "Just get the blaster working." "That's all the strength I need." "Are you sure?" "Why?" "Because ray guns aren't in the Slayer Handbook?" "Will, you haven't seen this Adam thing." "He's the Terminator without the bashful charm." "He's deadly, and the last time we met he kicked my ass." "Oh, no." "Blast away, by all means." "I only meant..." "No word about Riley?" "They keep telling me that he's fine." "That's all they'll say." " Maybe they're telling the truth." " Maybe." "I don't know what the Initiative's version of "fine" is." "They could be forcing him onto medication and torturing him, for all I know." "From what we've seen, I doubt they'd try to hurt him." "The only thing I know is that my boyfriend is locked away and I'm not helping." "Maybe Giles has a point." "Riley is their Top Gun guy." "Doesn't make sense that they'd hurt him." "The Initiative has all those brainwashy behaviour-modification guys." "So?" "What happens when they don't like his behaviour?" "Stand down, soldier." "Stand down before I put you down." "You heard the man." "At ease." "The shish kebab that walks like a man." "Looks like you're feelin' better." "Walkin' around, threatening people." "Man was in my way." "I got places to be." "Really?" "And where were you thinking of going?" "You know where I'm goin'." "Don't tell me you're headed toward your girlfriend." "Look at you." "One good conjugal visit and you're back in Intensive Care to stay." " You wouldn't understand." " How about you explain it to me?" " We all friends here, fellas?" " Absolutely." "Riley is about to explain why he's leaving us." "I don't explain, because I don't have to." "I'm the one in charge." " Things change." " Do they?" "In case you failed to notice, we're in a world of hurt here." "It's time to band together, not go off our separate ways." " Forrest has a point, Rye." " We have a problem, we deal with it." "The most important part of the equation is that we keep said problem within the family." "Family?" "Is that what we are?" "Step aside." "You think it's gonna rain?" "Nonsense." "It's a beautiful day." "Eat your sandwich." "I don't know, it's just it always seems like it starts raining right about now." "You're too young and too pretty a girl to start wearing worry lines on your face." "Oh, hey, hey, hey." "Hey there, little fella." "I don't know where you belong, but it's not here with us." "There you go." "You see, there's nothing gonna spoil our time together." "Who wants cheesecake?" "No!" "I told you I had things to do." " Spread out?" " Not too far." "So not a problem." "I've never seen anything like that." "And I can go a long, healthy stretch without seeing anything like that again." " It had to be Adam who killed it." "But why?" " He's studying biology." "Human, demon, whatever he can get his hands on." " Learning what makes things work." " I don't wanna be around for the final exam." "It's not coming to that." "The Initiative created this and they can't stop it." "But we will." "Question." "Will hiding in a cabin with stockpiled chocolates be part of this plan?" "No." "Told you." " What's first?" " Riley." "I'm not leaving him down there with those people." "I don't care how many guns they have, I'm going in." "OK." "Will, I need you to hack into the security mainframe and buy me a ten-minute shutdown of systems." " That could be..." " Tricky." "Not impossible." "If you can't do it online, then use magic." "Xander, I want any gear you've been saving for a rainy day." " Stealthy stuff?" " No, we tried sneaking in." "This time I'm using force." "I figure I'll go in through the elevator shaft, then blast open the doors and find the infirmary." "Am I really worth all that?" "Riley!" "God, I'm sorry!" "Did I hurt you?" "No, a giant skewer through the ribcage hurt me." "That was just a reminder." " How did you get out?" " I walked." " They didn't try to stop you?" " Oh, they did." "Repeatedly." "But I told them they couldn't keep me without a major ass-kicking, one way or another." " Here I am." " That's great, Riley." "You know, there's no polite way to ask you this, but..." "Did they put a chip in your brain?" " Beg your pardon?" " Forget it." "We're just happy to have you back." "Yeah." "We were pretty worried about you for a while, mister." "Me too." "Hey, look, I know my behaviour was pretty out there." "Forget it." "Tell you what." "You two crazy kids take down an unstoppable killer-cyborg-demon hybrid thingy and we'll call it all even." "Taking down Adam will be tough." "There's no way to predict what he'll throw at us." "You're here." "Whatever comes, we can handle." "Excuse me?" "You know how to get to third floor west from here?" "What?" "I see..." " You need some help or something?" " Graduation." " What?" " Graduation." "I gotta get to Sunnydale High School graduation, now." "Well, you can't." "Sunnydale High School isn't even there any more." " What day is it?" " Friday." " What date?" "The date?" " February 25th." "What year?" " Maybe I should get a nurse..." " What happened to the school?" " Don't you just wanna..." " Just tell me." "Well..." "It was a tragedy, really." "Lots of students died." "The principal, the mayor..." "I really think maybe I should get you some help." "You know, I never stopped thinking about you." "Me neither." "All I had in there was this one little part of you." "It's just the scarf part of me, really." "I'm serious." "Just knowing you were out there." "That you cared." "You think we're bein' watched?" "I don't know." "Does the Initiative do that?" "Maybe." "You seem a little somewhere else." "Is there anything I can do?" "Give me an order." "It's what I do, isn't it?" "Follow orders." " You don't have to." " Don't I?" "All my life that's what I've been groomed to do." "They say jump, I ask "How high?" I get the job done." "Just don't know if it's the rightjob any more." "I know how you feel." "Giles used to be a part of this Council, and for years all they ever did was give me orders." " Ever obey them?" " Sure." "The ones I was going to do anyway." "The point is I quit the Council." "And I was scared." "But it's OK now." "That's where you and I are different." "I just suck at the whole grey-area thing." "It's a choice." "You can go back in there and maybe make some changes from the inside." "Or you can quit the team, fight demons in your own way." "You make it sound so simple." "I don't even know what my way is." "Well, it's time to find out." "I'm a soldier." "Take that away, what's left?" "A good man." " What are you doing?" " I... am looking for brainwashy chips in your head." " Finding any?" " Not sure." "But I should probably keep looking just in case." "You've been strong long enough, Riley Finn." "I'm gonna help you." "And we're gonna find this demon, and we're gonna kill it together." "And in the meantime, you are gonna stop torturing yourself." "Sure about that?" "It's an order." " What do you mean, she just wasn't there?" " I don't know." "I came to check the monitors, like I always do at eight o'clock." "Eight o'clock is my shift." "I got here on time..." " The bed was in this condition?" " Haven't touched a thing." "Get the duty rosters, check the log." "I wanna know what happened." " Coma patients do notjust walk away." " We are checking every room on every floor." "Walk me through this one more time." "You knew she was wanted for questioning in a series of murders." " There's no security here?" " You don't understand." "There's no way that girl was gonna wake up." "This can't be happening." " Did you find her?" " Another woman." "Unconscious and beaten." "And she's been stripped." "It's happened." "Send the team." "The puzzle is why Adam has stayed dormant this long." "When he's not making performance art out of other demons." "He's probably working off an autonomic power source." "Because he's straight out of the box, he needs to charge up." " OK." "What's he charging up for?" " Based on the clues, I'll go with killing spree." "And that's a best-case scenario." "I suppose a little fire power would be a good idea right now." "Hey!" "How did you do that?" " Is there an on/off button somewhere?" " Blasters are easy." "Adam won't be." "Since Professor Walsh designed it, any chance she left instructions lying around?" " If she did, they'll be in the Initiative." " Which we can't easily get into." "Speak for yourself." " I'm just sayin'." " A man on the inside would be..." "A really good idea." "Are you sure you wanna be Double Agent Guy?" "I'm not exactly sure what you'd call me, but I will share information." " It's the least I can do." " Riley's right." "It is the least he can do." "Hello." "Yes, she is." "It's for you." "Hello?" "Speaking." "What sort of emergency?" "No." "I haven't." "Thank you." "I'll let you know." "What is it?" "It's Faith." "She's awake." "She beat someone up, took her clothing, and disappeared out of the hospital." "No one knows where she is." "I'd say this qualifies for a "worst timing ever" award." " What do we do?" " Well, we have to find her." "What about Adam?" "I'd hate the pursuit of a homicidal lunatic to prevent pursuing a homicidal lunatic." "Faith's not exactly Low Profile Girl." "I'll patrol and wait for her to make a move." " But then what?" " Ooh, I have an idea." " Beat the crap out of her." " Good plan." "Good on paper." "But we still have a decision to make." "Do we hand her over to the cops?" "They wouldn't know what to do with a slayer." " What about the Council?" " Been there." "Tried that." "Not unlike smothering a forest fire with napalm, as I recall." "Well, the Initiative has containment facilities." " One word: evil." " There's no way around it." "Faith is back and, whether I like it or not, she's my responsibility." "Yeah, too bad." "That was the funnest coma ever." "We have no idea where she is." "We don't know what she's thinking, what she's feeling..." " Who she's doing." " She could be terrified." "Maybe she doesn't even remember." "Or maybe she does and she's sorry, and she's alone, hiding somewhere." "Perhaps there's some form of rehabilitation we just haven't thought about." "And if not, ass-kicking makes a solid plan B." "I'm not gonna rule it out." "First thing, we need to find her." "Then we can take it from there." "Who's Faith?" " What did you tell him?" " The truth." "She's my wacky cousin from England, and whenever she visits high jinks ensue." "It's good you guys have such an honest relationship." "No, I told him the story." "I vagued up a few bits, but no flat-out lies." "That's fair." "How'd you handle the Angel-y parts?" "I did some editing." "It's not that I want to hide anything from Riley." "It's just that that's a longer conversation and I had a Faith hunt to do." " Any luck?" " Couldn't find her." "Don't know where to place that in the luck continuum." "At least you're not alone on this." "I'll bet every cop in Sunnydale is looking for her right now." "Pressure is definitely high." "I'll tell you, if I were her, I'd get out of Dodge posthastey." "You're not me." "So, check you out, B." "Nice." "The big-girl-on-campus thing's really working for you." " I've been looking for you." " I've been standing still for eight months, B." "How hard did you look?" " Are you all right?" " Five by five." "That's the thing about a coma." "You wake up rested and rejuvenated and ready for payback." " So much for pleasantries, huh?" " What did you think?" "We'd go for tea?" " You tried to gut me, Blondie." " You'd have done the same to me." "So let's have another go at it." "See who lands on top." " It doesn't have to be like this, you know." " Actually, I think it has to be exactly like this." " Faith, these are innocent people." " No such animal." "I guess it was too much to hope that you'd use your downtime to reflect and grow." "Could say the same about you." "You're still the same old "better than thou" Buffy." "I knew it." "I kept having this dream, I'm not sure what it means." "But in the dream this self-righteous blonde chick stabs me." " And you wanna know why?" " You had it coming." "That's one interpretation." "But in my dream, she does it for a guy." "Try it, Red, and you lose an arm!" "I wake up to find that this blonde chick isn't even dating the guy she was so nuts about." "She's moved on to the first college beefstick she meets." "Not only has she forgotten about the love of her life, she's forgotten all about the chick she nearly killed for him." "So that's my dream." "That and some stuff about cigars and a tunnel." "But, tell me, college girl," " what does it mean?" " To me?" "Mostly, that you still mouth off about things you don't understand." "Uh-oh." "I guess somebody knows you're here." "You took my life, B. Payback's a bitch." " Look who's talking." " See ya around." "Thanks for coming with." "Hunting for a psychopathic superbitch is in the above-and-beyond category." "It's OK." "Really." "So what do we do if we find her?" "Run." "Flee." "Maybe skedaddle." "We're not here to engage." "This is strictly recon." " What?" " You said recon." " You're, like, Cool Monster Fighter." " Well, technically, Faith isn't a monster." "And as far as fighting, I'd be lucky to bruise her fist with my face." " Oh." " What?" "Face punching." "I'm not so good with the whole..." "Swimming?" "Violence." "Don't worry, we're sure to spot Faith first." "She's this cleavagey slutbomb walking around going "Oh, check me out." "I'm wicked cool." "I'm five by five."" "Five by five?" "Five what by five what?" "See, that's the thing." "No one knows." "Buffy can handle Faith, and you're plenty safe with me." "So we recon till nightfall?" "Then the ritual hiding begins." "The point being, I could be the target here." "Faith finds Mr Xander Harris still in town, odds are she goes tighter than catgut." "Got a lotta pent-up feelings there." " I'm only sayin'." " Yes, I'm sure." "See, I can't be held responsible for the effect I have on women." "No." "Faith and I have this thing between us called history." " Spike." " What are you doing here?" "Me?" "Hey, I'm not the one out of place here." "For your information, smarty, we've got a rogue slayer on our hands." " Real psycho killer, too." " Sounds serious." " It is." "What do you know?" " What do you need?" "Her." "Dark hair." "Yea tall." " Name of Faith." "Criminally insane." " Have you seen her?" " Is this bird after you?" " In a bad way." "Yeah." "Tell you what I'll do, then." "I'll head out, find this girl, tell her exactly where you are, and watch as she kills you." "Can't any one of your damned Scooby club at least try to remember that I hate you all?" "Just because I can't do the damage doesn't stop me aiming a loose cannon your way." "And I thought the evening would be dull." "Go ahead!" "You wouldn't even recognise her." "Dark hair, this tall, name of Faith, criminally insane..." "I like this girl already." "We're dumb." "Faith!" "A friend sent me." "I got a little remembrance from him." "Hello, Faith." "If you're watching this tape, it can only mean one thing:" "I'm dead." "And our noble campaign to bring order to the town of Sunnydale has failed, utterly and completely." "But on the other hand, heck, maybe we won!" "And right now I'm on some jumbo monitor in the Richard Wilkins Museum, surrounded by a bunch of kids looking up at my face, filled with fear and wonder." "Hi, kids!" "But the realist in me tends to doubt it." "Now, Faith, as I record this message, you're... sleeping." "And the doctors tell me that you might never wake up." "I don't believe that." "Sooner or later, you will wake up." "And you'll find the world has gone and changed on you." "I wish I could make the world a better place for you to wake up in, but, tough as it is to accept, we both have to understand that even my power to protect and watch over you has its limits." "See, the hard pill to swallow here is that, once I'm gone, your days are just plain numbered." "Now, I know you're a smart and capable young woman in charge of her own life." "But the problem, Faith, is that there won't be a place for you in the world any more." "Right now, I bet you're feeling very much alone." "But you're never alone." "You'll always have me." "And... you'll always have this." "Go ahead." "Open the box." "Don't worry." "It's not gonna bite." "That's my job." "Go ahead." "Open it." "Surprise!" "See, you don't get these in any gumball machine." "When you're around as long as me, you make friends." "Some of them forge neat little gizmos like the one you're holding right now." "And here's the good news." "Just because it's over for my Faith doesn't mean she can't go out with a bang." "She's a very dangerous woman." "OK, I get it, really." "Faith bad." " Do I look like I'm arguing?" " Not yet." "You always make that innocent face right before you start." "Figured that out, huh?" "Damn." "Took Mom 12 years to catch that one." "All I'm saying is, if you're in trouble, I wanna help." " You can't." " Give me one reason why." "That's one." "OK." "I'm not exactly Action Guy." "But there's gotta be somethin' I can do besides wait for you to pummel this gal." "Riley, the fact that you just called Faith a gal proves you don't know her." "I've never seen anybody get under your skin this way." " What did she do to you exactly?" " It's a long story." "I'm from Iowa." "We drive four hours for a high-school football game." "Try me." "I told you, OK?" "She hurt me and people that I care about." " Did I mention psycho killer?" " There's something you're not telling me." "Riley, I have to go." "She's out there." "All right." "I'm just sayin', I think you're holdin' out on me." "Riley, this isn't ajoke." "There's a criminally insane woman out there with superpowers, who thinks that I'm responsible for ruining her life." "I know Faith." "She'll come after me and she'll come after the people that I love." "Hi, Joyce." "Mind if I come in?" "Ruby Sunset." "Burgundy Skyline." "Harlot?" "Way to go, Joyce." "Normally I wouldn't go with a colour this dark, but I read in a magazine eight months in a coma will damage a girl's natural skin tone." "Good thing pale is in this year." "Or was it last year?" "Anyway, for real now." "I'm gonna ask you something, and you gotta promise to be honest and not spare my feelings just cos I could kill you." "You promise?" " I promise." " OK." "How do I look?" " Psychotic." " I was shooting for sultry, but hey." " Bet I know what you're thinking." " Really?" "You're thinking "You'll never get away with this!" Warm?" "Actually, I was thinking my daughter will kill you soon." " That a fact?" " More like a bet." "Whoa." "You got a pair on you, Joyce." "I like seein' that in a woman your age." "Guess you can afford to talk that way." "In Joyce's world," "Buffy is gonna come crashing through that door any minute." "But look what I found." "Buffy Summers." "Buffy Summers." "Buffy Summers." "Buffy, Buffy..." "A lot of letters." "She hasn't been by in a while, huh?" "And you'd think, with a crazy chick like me on the loose, crazy chick with a wicked grudge against her, she'd call and give you a heads-up." "But Buffy's too into her own deal to remember dear old Mom." "You don't know the first thing about Buffy." "Or me." "Don't I?" "I know what it's like." "You think you matter, you're a part of something, and you get dumped." "It's like the whole world is moving, but you're stuck." "Like those animals in the tarpits." "It's like you just keep sinking a little deeper every day, and nobody even sees." "Were you planning to slit my throat any time soon?" "Don't tell me you don't see it, Joyce." "You've served your purpose." "You squirted out the kid, raised her up, and now you might as well be dead." "Nobody cares." "Nobody remembers." "Especially not Buffy, fabulous superhero." "Sooner or later, you're gonna have to face it." "She was over us a long time ago, Joyce." "Too busy climbing onto her new boy toy to give a thought to the people that matter!" "You're her mother, and she just leaves you here to die!" " Hi, Mom." " Hi, honey." "You thought I'd go after the clean marine." "He's a cutie." "Looks like he could use a good roll in the sack." "You're not his type." "He's not big on sleaze." " He's probably never tried it." " Going for the boyfriend again?" "That's tired." "Just something to remember me by once I've moved on." "Ever occur to you, Faith, that the reason we all forgot you is because we wanted to?" "Hello, Rupert." "Cops." " You OK?" " All things considered." " What is that?" " Weapon of some kind." "Didn't work, whatever it was." "Oh, the police." "She's their problem now." "You sure you're OK?" "Five by five."