"Previously on Buffy the Vampire Slayer:" "What's goin'on?" "Please get me out of here!" " Call me Caleb." " I'm Shannon." " Now, I want you to deliver a message for me." "It's for the one and only, the original slayer." " Hey, got a spare bed for a wanted fugitive?" "Hello, Faith." " Well, I guess "wanted" wasn't really accurate." "I don't have time for vendettas." "The mission is what matters." "I think you've taught me everything I need to know." " I heard you have something of mine." "I do now." "No...!" "Get them out of here." "I work in mysterious ways." "Xander!" " Hey, you." " Hey." " Can you believe this mishegaas?" "Yeah." "You'd think these people had never seen an apocalypse before." "What about you?" "Just going for a quick spin to 7-Eleven... in Nebraska?" " It's getting bad here." "Really bad." "Hellmouth acting up again, people feeling it, getting crazier." "You can't swing a cat without hitting some kind of demonic activity." "Not that I swing cats, or eat...nope." "Heh." "Cuttin'way back." "Cholesterol...morals." "I mean, morals." " Right." "We've seen some bad stuff in this town before but, you know, this time, it's like it just seems different, more powerful." "I don't think anyone's gonna be able to stop it." "I mean, I'm sure you'll do fine." "Complete confidence in you." "Heh." "Uh, if anyone can do it, you can, because you...rock!" "If you save the world, I'll come back, we'll have drinks." "When." "When, I mean." "When you save the world." "It's gonna be great with all the... rocking." "Maybe... maybe you should just get out of town this time." " Yeah." "I probably should." "You take care of yourself, OK?" "Bye." "~ EMPTY PLACE ~ season 7 ep.19" " Ah, thank you, officer." "We...we appreciate your help." " Oh, no, thank you, Inspector." "We don't get a lot of contact with Interpol, so we're happy to help you with anything you need." "Is there anything else we can help with?" " No." "Thank you." "We're fine." " Right... because..." "Wait..." "Who are...who are you?" "I'm with the Inspector." " You're with the Inspector." "Right." "Well, we don't get a lot of contact with Interpol, so..." "A single step!" "Stay on the sidewalk, folks." " A single step, and it is upon us." "It is nigh!" "From beneath you it..." " Freakin'nutcase." "Ow." " Uh, people are acting up, getting nuts." "Man, you just let us know if you need help with your guy 'cause we are itching to hand out some justice." "He...he doesn't seem like much of a threat." "And...and you are?" "Um, I think it's time we were catching our flight to, um..." "Interpol." " Right." "OK." "Good idea." "My control was fading." "What's up with those cops?" " Oh, same as everyone." "The hellmouth is active again." "Come on." "I want to get back to Xander." "Who was that?" "Um, I..." "I don't know." "Did you get one of these yet?" " No." "What is that?" " Fugitive." "Ran to ground right here in our own backyard." "Yeah?" "Sounds like a situation that needs some justice." " And that you should expect to see some bruising when you remove the bandages." "Bruising around the... area." "The, uh, bone structure and musculature was hit pretty hard." " OK." " Um, also they said that the... the meds may cause you some stomach discomfort, so we're gonna have to be careful with your diet." " I can't taste anything right now anyway." "I keep waiting for my other senses to improve 50%." "Yeah, they should kick in any day now." "Well, we're looking at a possible release as early as tonight." "Um, we're just waiting for your labs to get back, and Dr. Kallet said that should be a couple of hours." " That's great." "OK." "Um, I think we're all caught up then." "Thank you for this." "This was, um, really great work." "Oh." "I thought we were gonna..." "There were gonna be card games." "Oh, no, I just..." "I should really get back." "I want to get everyone started on this." "I think we're really close to something." "It's OK." "It's gotta be done." "And I might see you tonight, without depth perception, of course, but... still." "So, I guess you're stuck with me then, huh?" "Let's order some cherry-flavored off-brand gelatin, and then I think we'll be up for a rousing game of..." " I might need a parrot." " Huh?" " Well, to go with the eye patch, to really complete the look." "I think I still have that costume from Halloween." " Yeah, and don't underestimate the impact of a peg leg." "Maybe the hospital can hook you up with a nice one." "Maybe they have a 2-body-parts for the price of one kind of deal." " Oh, you know what the best part is?" "No one will ever make me watch jaws 3-D again." "Yeah, and, you'll never have to..." "Oh, Willow... please don't." " And so we know that a battle is coming." "Ubervamps galore." "We also know that the Ubervamps are hard to kill..." "Hard...to...kill." "But I have been out talking to some of my old contacts, and they've provided some surprising bits of news." "Yay for them!" "Uh..." "OK." "For example, Ubervamps can be staked... right through the heart." "Zing...poof." "Just like regular vamps." "Um...we didn't know this." "Of course, these guys have incredibly strong sternums, so it's a lot like driving a wooden stake through solid steel." "But you guys are all super-strong, right?" "Um...no." "Right." "OK." "Um... but still, heart information, still good to know since holy water seems to run off these guys like they've been scotch-guarded." "And, well, sunlight would work, but guess what... they're not coming out during the daytime." "Uh, also, beware of their, uh, teeth and the claws they use to shred flesh." " OK, you know what?" "I used to be really afraid of these Ubervamp guys." "But then the scary preacher blew into town, and now I'm mostly terrified of him." "Right, well, um... we're working on getting info on that guy." " Why bother?" "Nothing works." "Nothing will." "OK..." "I know you're all upset... and I, myself, would much rather be sitting at the bedside of my one-eyed ex-fiance than killing time here with you people in this over-crowded and might I add increasingly ripe-smelling basement." "And I would be, too, if not for a certain awkward discussion he and I recently had right over there on that cot immediately following some exciting and unexpected breakup sex." "But..." "I need to give him some space... so I'm doing what I can do, contributing any way I can... and so will all of you." "You still need to know this information." "We can't stop just because something else is trying to kill you, too." " You got enough to share?" "Trade ya for a carton of cigarettes and some soap." "Sorry." "Habit." "Shouldn't you be down at Hogwarts?" "Probably." " All right." "Playin'hooky." "Score one for the boarding school brat." "Anya's technique's probably a little different than what you're used to." "Do you think there are gonna be questions about her sex life on the test?" "'Cause I really hope I don't have to study all that." "Yeah." "Whenever she starts talking about getting all sweaty with Xander like that I just remind her I had him first." "Shuts her right the hell up." " Thing is... what's the point?" "Studying demon hot zones and pressure points doesn't do a hell of a lot of good when preacher man's out there, ready to finish the job he started." " No one's come up with any info on Caleb yet?" " No." "Nothing is working...not research, not Anya's contacts." "We're lousy with dead ends around here." "Everyone's feeling pretty pointless." "We don't even have a place to start." " Hey, who's here?" " Hey, Buffy, how's Xander?" "He's doing really well." "He's ready to come home, I think." " Whatcha got?" " Info that Giles and Willow were able to pull off the police database." "We figured with Caleb's, you know, overt religiosity thing if we wanna learn more about him, let's find out where he's been." ""Incidents of violence and vandalism connected to California religious institutions in the last 10 years."" "Looks like this gives us a place to start." "Yeah." "I figure we start with California." "We don't find anything there, we'll expand the search." "But a guy like Caleb didn't just get in the game." "He's been playing for a while, and I wanna know where." "Whatever it takes." "You good to help?" "Well, I was gonna do lots and lots of homework, but darn the luck, they went and canceled school, so looks like I got the time." " Good." "Hey, Buffy..." "How was Xander's mood, you know, exactly?" "And did you get a chance to talk to the doctor about the meds?" "Because it seemed like..." " Hey, pipsqueak, why don't you go get some of the stuff you've already gotten from Giles?" " Or, um, we can talk about this later, maybe." "OK." "Yeah." "I'll be right back." " Try to find anything that looks like Caleb, his church, his ring..." "His ability to render a slayer useless in just one punch." "I didn't... that was stupid." "I don't know why I said that." "Uh, it's OK." "Um...you know, I..." "I have to go to the school to pick up the rest of my stuff." "I really didn't mean..." " It's fine." "Really, it's fine." "Don't worry about it." "Hey, uh... isn't Anya doing that thing for you guys today?" " Yeah." "We were." "We probably should head down there now." "OK." "I'll be back soon." "See that everyone else gets started on this." "Yeah." "Oh, now, look..." "Things don't go exactly your way, so here come the waterworks." "Ain't that just like a woman?" " Get out of here." "Now, now, little girl." "Manners." "I do imagine that firebrand tongue of yours has inflamed many a man, weak as they are." "This here's a, uh... public school, ain't it?" "Kinda deserted." "Only just, I suppose." "Folks work so hard at keepin'the Lord out, and look what happens in return." "He abandons you." "Not that He could do you much good now, anyway..." "Ah, ah, ah." "Wouldn't do that were I you, swee'pea." "Fightin'back didn't do you much good last time, did it?" "And how is poor, sweet Xander?" "Let him know he's in my prayers, and any time he's willin', I'm ready to... finish the job." " Go near Xander again, and I will end you." "Mind your manners." "I do believe I did warn you once." "You're angry... frustrated, scared." "I like that in a girl." "You really should relax a little." "Look at where you are." "History's gonna look back at you, at me, at this place, and they're gonna see the glory." "Great things are happenin'now, right here." "This school, the seal... it's all gonna be a part of the great sweeping'tide of change, and you're gonna be a part of it." "Now, why would you wanna miss that?" "More importantly, why would you want to get in its way?" "I guess I'm just ornery." "Ha ha ha!" "Oh, I knew you'd be a wild one..." "I'm gonna take such sweet pleasure in taming you." "I'll see you soon, little lady." "OK, well, here's the one that stood out." "It's, um, a mission up north in Gilroy." "Um, Mr. Giles, Faith stole the last meatball-and-mozzarella-flavored hot pocket out of the freezer even though I had called dibs on it." "I don't see anything." " Exactly." "No vandalism at all." " Then why is it in the file?" "The place was abandoned." "Um... locals started noticing after a few days that no one was going in or out." "6 members of the order lived there, but when the cops showed up... all gone." "Unsolved." "Yup." "See, the post-it's still here: "Andrew's." "Please do not eat." But the box is empty now." " Oh." " Oh?" "Oh, good?" "Not sure." "Here..." " See, it's not the hot pocket itself... even though it did have that new-and-improved thicker tomato sauce... it's just the fundamental lack of respect." "Shut up." "Pay attention." "Dawn, what do you see?" " What am I looking for?" " On the back wall, A... knothole." " That's not a knothole." " Amanda, would you go down to the basement and get Spike?" " Maybe this'll help...if this does bring us closer to Caleb." "Sounded like there was news." "What's up..." "Rupert?" " Spike, I have a mission for you." " Oh, really?" "'Cause, you know, sometimes our missions end up with you trying to kill me." "I'm not fond of those." "This is bona fide... with real ramifications." "Take a look at this." " Looks like our boy's been here." "You want me to go check it out?" "I need someone who can take care of themselves in case Caleb has... left some souvenirs." "Are we gonna get to the food-stealing issue soon?" "Take Andrew." "What?" " Well, you are always saying you wanna get out of the house more." " Yeah, but..." " There may be demons..." "lurking about." "You never know." "He's a demon expert." "He can help." " Oh, please." "Well, he can bring his pan flute thing along." "Excellent." "Off you go." "So, see?" "That's something, right?" "We'll have some news soon." " Sure." "Maybe that'll get us somewhere." "Maybe." "In the meantime, the troops here gotta sit and stew, feeling crappier by the minute." " We should keep them occupied." " Yeah." "I know how to keep them occupied." "What kind of band plays during an apocalypse?" "I think this band might actually be one of the signs." "# Rock city news." "You gotta pay your dues... #" "Hey." "Guys, how's it... going?" "Buffy." "Are you hurt?" " Oh..." "Caleb came back looking for seconds." " My God, is h-he..." "Still able to make me see cartoon birdies all around my head?" "You betcha." "The short lack of consciousness was nice." "I feel rested." "So...how did those police files work out?" "Were they helpful?" "Uh...uh... yes." "Very much so, I think." "Um... there's evidence that Caleb may have established a foothold up north." " That's great." "That's..." "I, um..." "I sent Spike to look into it." " Spike?" "Is this a mission from which you intend Spike to return alive?" "Yes." "I sent Andrew with him." " Again I ask the question." " Buffy, you weren't here." "Decisions have to be made in your absence." " Yeah, well, those are the ones that have been scaring me." " I did what I thought was right." " You sent away the one person that's been watching my back...again." "We're all watching your back." "Funny... that's not really what it feels like." " Buffy..." " Where did everybody go?" " What?" " Faith." "The girls." "Where are they?" " Um..." "Faith thought that the girls could do with some time off their studies." "I thought..." "She took them to the Bronze." " You know what I figured out tonight?" "Every high school in this country, from one end to the other, smells exactly alike." "Now, why do you suppose that is?" "And how was our best girl?" " They always think they should put up a fight." " Did you lay the proper groundwork?" "That I did." "Reckon she got the message, even if she doesn't know it yet." "So now the big strong slayer goes back to those girls... she's just so ready to walk them right into it." "And all we have to do is give her that one final gentle nudge." " Excellent." "This is so cool." "Buffy would never let us do this." "You are so cool." "This woman is so cool!" " Hey, hey, how old are you?" " 17." "Yeah, we're gonna get you a real nice 7-up, OK?" "Hey, I was wondering what was taking you boys so long." "Where you been?" " We're gonna have to ask you to come with us, miss." "Outstanding warrants." "Yeah, or we could try this one on instead." "How 'bout you guys buy me another drink, and we see where the evening takes us." "Hey!" "What's going on?" "It's cool." "I got it." "It's nothin'." "Get...get off me." " Shut up." "I tell you right now, I'm not goin'back to jail." " Who said anything about jail?" " Stay back." "This doesn't concern you." "You can't keep us in here." " It'll be over before you know it." " Trust me...the best thing you can do is wait here." "Don't listen to him." "He won't hurt us." "You know what?" "I'm just gonna go borrow the phone." " Best thing you can do is wait... here." "You're gonna have to shoot us all to stop us." "It doesn't really bother me." " These cops are really gettin'hell mouth." " Back up!" " No!" "What?" "Faith!" "What are you doing?" " Just blowing off steam." "Well, it started that way." "Turned when the cops went evil on us." "Girls, go home." "I need to talk to Faith for a minute." " Buffy, we weren't..." "Dawn... you, too." "Go." "What is this?" " They needed a break, all right?" "They've been running themselves into the ground." "Things just got out of hand." " Taking a break is one thing..." "I get blowing off steam...but they were fighting." "And those girls were drunk!" "What were you thinking?" "!" " Seemed like a good idea at the time." " Yeah, what if someone had gotten hurt?" " They didn't." " Faith, I need to know that these girls are gonna be safe when I'm not around." " No one got hurt, B. Look, you don't even know these girls." "Maybe you should have a little more confidence in 'em, let them mess up sometimes, you know, get down and dirty." "How the hell else are they gonna learn?" " Learning from your mistakes is one thing." "But you don't throw children into..." " They're not children." "That really isn't the point." " What about the vineyard?" "What?" " How safe were they when you dragged them off to meet Caleb?" "How safe was Rona or Amanda or Molly?" " You sure you don't wanna stop and pick up some burgers or something, you know, road trip food?" " It's not a road trip." "It's a covert operation." "Right." "Right." "Gotcha." "I..." "I bet even covert operatives eat curly fries." "They're really good." "Not as good as those onion blossom things." " Ooh, I love those." " Yeah, me, too." " It's an onion... and it's a flower." "I..." "I don't understand how such a thing is possible." " See, the genius of it is you soak it in ice water for an hour so it holds its shape." "Then you deep-fry it root-side up for about 5 minutes." " Masterful." "Yeah." "Tell anyone we had this conversation, I'll bite you." " Right." " The big meeting hasn't started yet, has it?" " God, I hope so." " Faith?" "You must be Principal Wood." "Heard a lot about you." " It hasn't really started yet, has it?" "'Cause I, uh..." "I hate being late." "Troops are still gathering." "I think you're safe." " Looks like someone banged you up pretty well." " Yeah." "Cops." "Mostly." " Mostly?" "Yeah." "This one's from someone who just thinks she's a cop." "It's my favorite of all my current bruises." "So someone who thinks she's a cop, huh?" "You gonna have to, like...ice her now or something like that?" "I'm not gonna kill her." "Wanted to, but didn't." "By the way, bully for me since no one else said it." " For what?" "For not killing Buffy?" " It's this new thing I'm tryin'." "She told me about you." " Believe every word." " So what changed?" "I mean... why didn't you fight back?" "Other things matter more." " I think you're worried about her." "I think you need to brush up on your Buffy and Faith history." "All right, if you say so." "But I read people pretty well." "It's a thing I do." "You, uh, live around here, right?" " Uh, no, not exact..." "Well, it's the center of town, really." "This town, walking anywhere after dark is like an extreme sport." "Someone who didn't know you very well might think you were out lookin'for a fight or something." "Maybe you got bigger issues than what's wrong with B." "I read people, too." "Xander's home." " No one's here." "These kinda places make me feel funny inside." " I'll buy that." "You and me got something else in common after all." " Spike!" "Oh, God." " We didn't have time to do more." "You have to pretend there's a big party here." " That's fine." "Parties in this house," "I usually end up having to... rebuild something." " Welcome home, Xander." "I wanted you to be here for this." "I think you'll be interested in what I found out." " W-what did you find out?" "I-it's about the cellar." "Look, I know that night wasn't fun for any of us... but I figured out some things about that place, and I realize now what we have to do." "We're going back in." " Tell me about the mark." "Oh..." " Hey!" "Are you part of Caleb's faction?" "No!" "No!" " Then tell me what happened." "I c-can't." ""Can't" is a 4-letter word!" "I'm Andrew." "I'll be your bad cop this evening." "You don't start singing, my associate here..." "We're trying to fight him." "Caleb." "We need your help." " You can't fight him." "You can't stop him." "You can only run." ""Run" is a 4-letter wor..." "A 3-letter word." "Talk." "I'll do better." "I'll show you." "One night, some time ago, a man arrived at our doors." " And you said, "come in, do some damage"?" " We are...we are a benevolent order, and, yes, we welcomed him." "We offered to feed him... but he had come for something else." "Behind this, he revealed something even we didn't know was here." "A secret room." "He was excited, talking the whole time... destiny, that sort of thing." " Yeah." "We hear he's a real smooth talker." "He was going on about this ancient inscription." " Neat." " He read it... and he didn't like what it said." "His temper..." "He was the purest evil I've ever seen." "He burned his mark upon me." "And then I ran and I hid... and I listened to the others die." "Running away...saved your life." "What does it say?" ""It is not for thee." "It is for her alone to wield."" " Look, I know what you're thinking, but I had a visit at the school today from Caleb." " Buffy, why didn't you..." " I'm fine." "I mean, it wasn't fun, but I'm fine." "I'm better than fine." "I..." "I figured something out." "He kept making all this noise about the school." " Is it that seal again?" " Do we need to try shutting it again?" " No, that's just it." "We've spent all this time worrying about the seal and the hellmouth." "Why isn't Caleb guarding them?" "Why doesn't he have someone there protecting it?" "Why is he camped out at the vineyard?" "The bad guys always go where the power is." "So if the seal was so important to Caleb and the First, they would be there right now." "They're protecting the vineyard or something at the vineyard." "I say it's their power, and I say it's time we go in and take it away from them." "Or, in the alternative, how 'bout...we don't?" "I mean, it's a neat theory, B, but I'm not going back in that place, not without proof, and neither should you and neither should they." " I'm not saying it's gonna be easy." " I think Faith had the floor." " Maybe it ends OK the way you wanna play it, but maybe it doesn't." "And right now," "I don't think I want you playin'the odds." " Did you come here to fight?" " Listen, we're fighters, all of us, but you gotta give me something to fight, something real, not..." "Windmills." " There is something there." " Maybe." "But we can't be sure of that." "This is a hell of a lot to ask." " Too much." "I..." "I don't understand this." "For 7 years," "I've kept us safe by doing this... exactly this, making the hard decisions." "And now, what... suddenly you're all acting like you can't trust me?" " Didn't you say to me today you can't trust us?" "Maybe there's something there that should be addressed." " Is that why you sent Spike away, to ambush me?" "Oh, come on." " You know what?" "I am sick of your deal with this Spike guy." "This isn't about him." "This is about you." "You're being reckless." "What?" " You are!" "I don't even know you, and I can tell!" "You are so obsessed with beating Caleb, you are willing to jump into any plan without thinking." "That's not what I'm doing." "Well, that's how it feels to us." "People are dying." "Kennedy..." "Why are you always standing up for her?" "I'm not." " What do you mean, you're not?" "With everything that's happened, I..." "I'm worried about your judgment." "Look, I wish this could be a democracy." "I really do." "Democracies don't win battles." "It's a hard truth, but there has to be a single voice." "You need someone to issue orders and be reckless sometimes and not take your feelings into account." "You need someone to lead you." "And it's automatically you." "You really do think you're better than we are." " No, I..." " But we don't know." "We don't know if you're actually better." "I mean, you came into the world with certain advantages, sure." "I mean, that's the legacy." " I..." " But you didn't earn it." "You didn't work for it." "You've never had anybody come up to you and say you deserve these things more than anyone else." "They were just handed to you." "So that doesn't make you better than us." "It makes you luckier than us." " I've gotten us this far." " But not without a price." " Xander..." "I'm trying to see your point here, Buff... but I guess it must be a little bit to my left... 'cause I just don't." " Look, I'm willing to talk strategy," "OK, I'll hear suggestions on how to break this down, but this is the plan." "We have to be together on this or we will fail again." " We are clearly demonstrating that we are not together on this!" "Which is why you have to fall in line!" "I'm still in charge here." " Why is that, exactly?" " Because I'm the slayer." " And isn't Faith a slayer, too?" "What?" "Whoa, whoa, whoa." "So not what I meant." "I'm not in charge chick." "I think B here needs to just...chill out for a little bit, take a siesta or something." "But I'm not the one you want." " Maybe we need a vote... to see who wants Faith to have a turn in charge." "No." " No, what?" " No." "You don't get to vote until" "I've had my chance to pal around, you know, get everybody drunk." "See, I didn't get this was a popularity contest." "I should have equal time to bake them cookies, braid their hair..." " Learn their names?" "You're just lovin'this, aren't you?" " You have no idea what I'm feeling." "Come in here, take everything that I have..." "You did it before." "Did you tell them that?" "Did you tell them how you used to kill people for fun?" "Hey, you guys think that's nifty?" " Buffy, that's enough!" " I didn't come here to take anything away from you, but I'm not gonna be your little lapdog, either." "I came here to beat the other guy, to do right, however it works." "I don't know if I can lead." "But the real question is... can you follow?" " So we vote." " Wait." "Guys..." "I can't watch you just throw away everything that..." "I know I'm right about this." "I just need a little..." "I can't stay here and watch her lead you into some disaster." "Then you can't stay here." "Buffy, I love you, but you were right." "We have to be together on this." "You can't be a part of it." "So I need you to leave." "I'm sorry, but this is my house, too." " Ding dong, the witch is dead." "Shut your mouth." "Hey." "Look, I swear I didn't want it to go this way..." "Don't." " I mean it, I..." "Don't...be afraid to lead them." "Whether you wanted it or not, their lives are yours." "It's only gonna get harder." "Protect them, but lead them."