Sunnydale High. Giles, Kendra, Willow and Buffy come down the outside stairs and head into the halls.

Giles "Kendra, I've, uh, conferred with your Watcher, Mr. Zabuto, and, uh, we both agree that until this matter with Spike and Drusilla has been resolved that you two should work together."

Buffy "Oh, that'll be a treat."

Kendra "So, you believe dat Spike is attempting to revive dis Drusilla to health?"

Giles "Well, yes, I think that's the dark power that your, your Watcher referred to. You see Drusilla's not only evil, she's, well, she's also quite mad, and, uh, she has visions and if she's restored to her full health, well then, there's no, absolutely no telling what she and those around her might do."

Kendra "Den we will stop Spike."

Buffy "Ooo, good plan, let's go, charge!"

Giles "Buffy..."

Buffy "It's a little more complicated than that, John Wayne."

Giles "Yes, I'm, I'm afraid it is. You see, Spike has also called out the Order of Taraka to keep Buffy out of the way."

Kendra "De assassins? I read of dem in de writings of Dramius."

Giles "Oh, really? W-which volume?" As they exit the hall and walk along the colonnade.

Kendra "I believe it was six, sir."

Buffy "Um, how do you know all this?"

Kendra "From me studies."

Buffy "So, obviously you have a lot of free time."

Kendra "I study because it is required. The Slayer handbook insists on it." Giles smiles at her comments.

Willow asks "There's a Slayer handbook?"

Buffy "Wait. Handbook? What handbook? How come I don't have a handbook?"

Willow "Is there a T-shirt, too? 'Cause that would be cool..." She gets a look from Buffy causing her to roll her eyes.

Giles "After meeting you, Buffy, I realized that handbook would be of no use in your case."

Buffy "Well, what do you mean it would be of no use in my case? What's wrong with my case?"

Giles " Uh, Kendra, um, perhaps you'd like to show me the, the part in, uh, Dramius Six where, uh, uh, where it refers to the Order of Taraka. Really, I seem to have never been able to get through that book. It was a bit stodgy."

Kendra smiles. "It was difficult. All dose footnotes."

Giles and Kendra laugh out loud.

Buffy whispers to Willow. "Hello, and welcome to planet pocket protector."

Giles "Oh, well, B-Buffy, Principal Snyder was snooping round after you."

Buffy stops in her tracks. "Eep. Career fair."

Giles "Best make an appearance, I think."

Buffy "Right."

Kendra "Buffy's a student here?"

Giles "Yes."

Kendra "Riiight, of course. And I imagine she's a cheerleader as well."

Giles " Oh, no, well, actually she had to give up her cheerleading." He changes tack at Kendra's look. "Uh, it was quite an amusing story, actually. Uh, uh, let's go and find the book, shall we?"

The two of them head off to the library. Buffy and Willow continue their walk.

Buffy "Get a load of the she-Giles."

Willow "Creepy."

Buffy "Ew. I wonder if Giles wishes I was more of a book geek."

Willow "Giles is enough of a book geek for the both of you."

Buffy "Yeah, but did you see how they were vibing?" She mocks them "Volume six, ha, ha, ha!"

Willow "Buffy, no one could replace you. You'll always be Giles' favorite."

Buffy "I wonder."

Willow "Of course, you will. You're his Slayer. The real Slayer."

Buffy "No. Kendra carries the line. But no one can replace what this means." She holds up her hand, letting the chaos ring glitter in the hall light.

Willow "Nope. You're unique."

Buffy "I may be unique, but I'm not alone. And I don't have to worry about being alone, ever again."

Willow "Yeppers. We're in it with you for the long haul, baby."

Buffy "I can do other stuff. Career day stuff. I'll never have a normal life but it doesn't seem as bad as it did a month ago. I define my role, the role doesn't define all of me."

Buffy's basement. Cordelia is pacing.

"Could you sit down, or change your pattern or something? You're making me queasy."

Cordelia leans on the washer "Because you're just sitting there. You should be thinking up a plan."

""I have a plan. We wait. Buffy saves us."

"How will she even know where to find us?"

"Cordelia, this is Buffy's house. Odds are she'll find us."

"Well, what if she doesn't? What am I supposed to do? Just waste away down here with you? Haw, haw, no thank you!" She makes tracks for the stairs.

Xander gets up to stop her. "What are you doin'?"

She stops and face spins to him. "Going to see if he's gone!"

"That's brilliant! What if he isn't?"

"Oh, right! You think we should just slack here and hope that somebody else decides to be a hero? Sorry, forgot I was stranded with a LOSER!" She goes back to the washer and leans against it, crossing her arms.

"And yet I never forgot that I'm stuck with the numb-brain that let Mr. Mutant in the house in the FIRST PLACE!"

"HE LOOKED NORMAL!"

"What, is he supposed to have an arrow with the word 'assassin' over his head! All it took was the prospect of a free makeover, and you licked his hand like a big, dumb dog!"

"You know what? I'm going."She heads for the stairs yet again.

He just raises his eyebrows, ready to let her go. She stops at the foot of the stairs and faces him again."

"I'd rather be worm food than look at your pathetic face!"

"Then go! I'm not stopping ya!"

"I bet you wouldn't! I bet you'd let a girl go off to her doom all by herself!"

He nods, encouragingly. "Not just any girl. You're special."

"I can't believe that I'm stuck spending what will probably be my last few moments on Earth here WITH YOU!"

"I hope these are my last few moments! Three more seconds with you, and I'm gonna..."He takes a step towards her.

She steps towards him. "I'm gonna what? Coward!"

"Moron!"

"I hate you!"

"I HATE YOU!"

They look at each other for another second before grabbing each other and engaging in a mad, passionate kiss. It goes on for several seconds before they suddenly release each other and look at each other in surprise.

"We so need to get outta here."

She nods and mumbles in agreement.

She rushes up the stairs with Xander right behind. They stop at the top, crouch down and anxiously look at each other. Xander grabs one end of the tape and pulls it off. There aren't any worms on the other side. Xander moves the broom aside and opens the door slowly. They both look out into the hall for any sign of the mealworms. She comments "He's gone."

Xander steps out and peeks around the corner down the hall to the dining room. The coast looks clear, so he starts to dash for the front door. Cordelia follows a moment later, and as she passes through the dining room door, mealworms begin showering onto her from the ceiling. She screams as they fall on her en masse and runs for the door. Xander throws the door open and dashes into the front yard. Cordelia follows him out, screaming and panicking. "Xander, oh my God! Get them off of me!"

Xander turns to look.

Cordelia: "Get 'em off!"

He runs for the hose.

Cordelia terrified screaming continues. "Get 'em off of me! Oh, my God, get 'em off me!"

Xander grabs the hose and tries to wash the mealworms off of her. She keeps screaming and turns her back to him, then her front again. He keeps spraying as she tries to brush them off. She turns around again to let him spray her back again and reaches down the back of her dress to get some mealworms out. She turns back around. "Okay, okay, let's get outta here! Xander, let's go!"

He keeps spraying her in spite of her protests.

"Okay! Let's go!" She runs for her car. Xander follows her with the hose for another instant, then drops it and follows her. They jump in and she floors it, and they burn rubber into the street. Further down the block she screeches round the corner.

The halls at the school. Buffy and Willow stroll along past the career fair displays holding hands.

Buffy "My tests say that I should look into law enforcement - duh! - and environmental design."

Willow: "Environmental design. That's landscaping, right?"

Buffy: "So I checked the 'shrub' box. Landscaping was yesterday, but Snyder insists I hit both of them so law enforcement it is."

They stop near the steps to the couches in the lounge. Buffy looks around and notices Oz looking over at Willow.

Buffy "Hey, Will, don't look, okay, but..." Willow looks anyway. "Wills. That guy over there is totally checking you out."

Willow looks over with her eyes. "Oh, I saw him yesterday when I walked out of those recruiters."

Oz gets up and starts to walk over.

Buffy "Really? Then why is he on his way over here right now?"

Willow is surprised when she sees him coming. "I don't know."

Buffy: "Told you! I got to go. See you later."

Oz: "Hey."

Willow smiles and looks a little confused before she realizes what the difference is. "Hey! Your hair is brown!"

"Oh, yeah, sometimes. So, uh, I've never seen anyone just walk out like that.

"O"h. Uh, well, it just upset me. I filled out the test and everything and they just ignored it. I mean I like computers and all, it's just their big corporate attitude. What about you?"

"I'm not really a computer person, you know. Or a work of any kind person."

"They why'd they select you?"

"Oh, I sorta test well. Y'know, which is cool. E-except that it leads to jobs."

"Well, don't you have some ambition?"

"Oh, yeah! Yeah. E-flat, diminished ninth."

"Huh?"

"Well, the E-flat, it's, it's doable, but that diminished ninth, y'know, it's a man's chord. Now, you could lose a finger."

Willow nods, understanding flowing from her Halloween memories.

Buffy signs up at the law enforcement table and joins the group. Patrice, the recruitment officer, picks up the clipboard and looks it over.

Patrice: "Alright, listen up, and answer when I call your name. Buffy Summers."

Buffy raises her hand. Patrice calmly puts the clipboard back down. Quickly she draws her gun and aims it at Buffy. Buffy reacts in a flash and pushes the recruiter's hands and weapon up into the air as the first round goes off. As people panic and start to run and duck for cover, Buffy continues to struggle with the officer, and another round goes into the ceiling. A knee to the assassins gut, and she drops the gun and falls to the floor. Buffy starts to run as Patrice gets to her knees and pulls out her backup gun. Another bullet flies as Buffy leaps and plants her feet on a column, kicking off back the way she came and diving behind a table. She stands up again and looks around at everyone.

Buffy "GET DOWN!"

She starts to run again, away from Willow, who is busy diving for cover and Oz. Patrice follows Buffy with her aim.

Oz "LOOK OUT!"

He lunges for Willow but trips over her. The next bullet meant for Buffy hits Jonathon in the arm. Patrice keeps following Buffy with her gun and shoots off the cranium of a skeleton. Buffy has disappeared down the hall, and Patrice carefully makes her way to the wall to peer around it down the hall. She doesn't see her, but senses that she's there, and decides to go to the other end of the wall to come around the other side. On the other side, Buffy is leaning against the wall, breathing hard and waiting for Patrice to make her next move. When she is about to come around the other corner, Buffy leaps over a table and tackles her to the floor knocking her gun free and causing it to slide away. Buffy gets to her feet and takes a fighting stance. Patrice gets back to her knees, pulling out her small ankle backup and aiming it at Buffy as she stands back up. Kendra kicks the gun out of her hands before she can get off a round . She follows it up with a kick to Patrice's face, knocking her flat on her back. She makes her stand next to Buffy. Patrice grabs Oz as a hostage, pulls out a punch dagger and threatens him with it. The two girls watch her slowly back toward the door at the end of the hall with the boy in tow. Halfway there she drops Oz and makes a dash for the door. Kendra doesn't hesitate to give chase. Buffy rushes over to Jonathon and Willow and kneels down next to them. Jonathon is holding his arm.

Buffy "How is he?"

Willow "He's shot! Are you okay?" She asks Jonathon.

Jonathon takes his hand away briefly and chuckles in disbelief. "I, uh, I'm shot! Y'know. Wow! It's weird! And very painful."

Buffy gets up again when Kendra shows back up.

Kendra "She's gone."

Oz "What was that?"

Buffy looks around at the panicking students and faculty.