As Angel wonders through hostile worlds, friends begin to unravel. Faith tries to bond with the devastated Potentials. And Nina tells Buffy the story of her life. Also, Nina tries to explain why she considers herself to be Dawn's real mother.When the gang returns home, they find Connor in the lobby. He looks less happy than usual.
"Where have you been?"
"Recon," Fred replies.
"Just a little scouting," Cordelia adds nervously.
"You've been hurt."
"No we haven't," Wesley responds. "Certainly not today."
"These are from the other night," Gunn explains. Connor is not convinced. Cordy decides to convince him.
"First of all, it's the daytime. Mal may be a super vampire, but sunlight's still a big no-no for him. Second, if we had run into Mal, wouldn't we look a lot worse that this? You know what he can do. We'd be four big bruises." This convinces Connor somewhat. Lorne comes running in through the opposite door.
"There's something you need to see. Well, you don't need to. But it would be educational."
"More victims?," Cordy asks. "I've seen enough corpses this week."
"Not corpses. And not human. You wanna know which demons Mal's been killing? Well, Mal wants you, and a lot of other people, to know. He's set up a museum of sorts in a hangar at the old airport. I won't go on. The picture really is worth a thousand words."
With nothing better to do, the five of them follow Lorne to the abandoned hangar. Inside, Mal has hung from the rafters various parts of the demon's he's killed. "Like what the Lakers do with championship banners," Gunn notes. There are plenty of large, fearsome heads with horns of different shapes and sizes. A few imposing torsos. And the skin of a thirty foot-long giant snake. Its head and fangs reach down to within less than ten feet of tops of their heads. Wesley spots two arms from a Polgara demon with their characteristic skewers. He can identify almost all the demons on sight. Most had never surfaced for Angel to fight. They probably remained underground and in sea caves, minding their own business, confident that no one would be stupid enough to disturb the peace and quiet they enjoyed between rare public appearances. Connor walks around and gets a good look. Unlike the others, this display doesn't worry him.
"I killed meaner-looking things in Quor-Toth," he dismissively tells them.
"Is this supposed to intimidate us?," Fred asks rhetorically.
"No," Cordy responds. "I think it's to scare the demons and impress the vampires. Right Lorne?"
"Two for two on that one, Cordy. But I think it also serves as a warning people who want to take him on."
"If I could do this to them, imagine what I could do to you," Fred explains.
"That pretty much sums it up," Lorne answers with a gulp.
"They're all very strong," Wesley tells his friends. "A few are considered particularly fearsome. But we don't know what weapons Mal used against them. Or if he ambushed the demons. Many of these species spend large amounts of time in hibernation."
"So we shouldn't let this scare us," Connor concludes.
"I think he already did enough to scare us," Lorne counters. Connor's still bruised and limping, after all.
Angel finds himself standing on the roof of a palace situated on a small island surrounded by dozens of other small islands. A demon's idea of Venice, he thinks to himself. The L-shaped building is eight hundred feet long. The shorter part of the L juts out four hundred feet. At the joint where they intersect is a tower that stretches more than two hundred feet into the air. It tapers periodically, to that the tower is one hundred feet-square at its base and twenty feet-square at the top. While the dimension Angel was previously in appeared finished, this one was definitely still under construction. Hundreds of demons moved earth and brought in stones on high, flat-bottomed barges. They were building causeways and bridges, as well as dumping land fill to increase the size of a few islands. Angel saw a stadium and an amphitheater in the distance, as well as long, tall buildings which looked like warehouses and factories. In the distance he could see houses closely packed together. There were a large variety of different demons at work, each species appearing to specialize in certain tasks. A few dozen larger demons stood over the hundreds of smaller demons, holding whips and barking commands. Each of the big demons looked to be from a different species. Angel assumes this is one of the ways Mal prevents rebellion. However, he doesn't see any of the overseers use the whips. The workers appear to be fairly docile, as if they've already had their spirit beaten or bred out of them.
On an island near the palace, Angel observes a very curious ritual. On top of a one hundred-foot tall step pyramid, demon priests put other demons on an altar and behead them. The heads and bodies then roll down the steps. At the bottom, one demon tosses the body into the lagoon, and a sea monster leaps to the surface and devours it (another good way to prevent rebellion or escape). The head is carried across an arched bridge to another island which contains a fifty foot-tall statue of Mal. Surrounding the statue is a circular colonnade whose columns are made of demon heads. That pretty much settled the Cult of Personality question once-and-for-all. Angel turns around. Behind the palace are islands where more demon slaves are building more housing for other demon slaves to live in. Angel realizes he faces a host of dangers as he attempts to find a way back. Foremost among them is what could happen if he leaves the palace. Angel tries to find a way off the roof. Then he notices that he has company. On towers to his left and right stand twenty demons, pointing their bows at him. They simultaneously fire their wooden arrows at the intruder. Faced with this deadly crossfire, Angel has no choice but to leap off the roof.
Madari, Fadila and Ariella sit on the couch. Rona and Amanda sit in the two chairs. The five of them watch television. Faith walks up and leans against the fireplace.
"How you girls holding up?," she asks them.
"Can't complain," Rona answers. She and Amanda feel guilty for not being injured worse in last night's fight. Madari has a bandage on her neck. Ella and Fadila each have stitches and bandages over their three stab wounds. Their clothes cover these up, so they look better than they feel.
"We're all lucky to be alive," Fadila tells Faith. The Potentials know that Seth and Nina could have killed any of them. So their survival was only due to luck of the draw.
"Can't imagine what you girls go through," Faith responds. "Fighting for your lives, but not having any super powers. Me and B never had to go through that."
"You know what it's like to be hurt, right?," Ariella asks. Faith laughs. Then she pulls up her shirt for a moment to show them the scars on her stomach.
"The one on the right's from a pretty nasty knife. Then I took a dive out a fourth story window. Put me in a coma for ten months."
"Was that when you were evil and tried to kill Buffy and Angel?," Amanda asks, inadvertently providing the context Faith had chose not to mention.
"B tried to kill me cause I tried to kill Angel. I was also gonna kill a buncha other people the next day. Karma can be a real bitch. The one on the left's from a little over a week ago. Vampire staked me. I staked her. She didn't take it so well."
"Was that the vampire who killed Vi and sired Spike, though not in that order?," Amanda asks, this time helping Faith look better by pointing out that she killed a vampire who killed Potentials.
"And also killed the Slayer before me. Dru was a real bitch, too. A real crazy bitch."
"You fought her with Lindsey, didn't you?," Madari asks. The faces of the other Potentials light up. Mentioning him has a way of boosting their spirits. Across the foyer, Anya and Dawn sit at the dining room table going through Giles's books.
"You would think there'd be more brother-sister bad guys," Anya tells Dawn.
"More? You mean you found some?"
"Sorry kiddo." Dawn looks cross at being called "kiddo."
"It should be easy, or at least possible to track them down. Especially since we have their names."
"Maybe those were pseudonyms."
"We need more books," Dawn announces out of frustration.
"Nothing on the net?"
"Zilch."
"I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Seth and Nina have never been to this dimension before." Xander enters and sits down.
"How you two holding up?"
Xander's question surprises Dawn. "How are WE holding up? We're like the only people in this house who haven't been injured."
"You got your new hand," Anya notes.
"Sure did," Xander says as he lifts his left forearm onto the table. "A carpenter with a wooden hand. There's something tragically ironic in that. Or, maybe not."
"It could be just tragic," Anya sadly notes as she touches the hand. Dawn's never glimpsed this sad, tender, human side of Anya's personality. After ten uncomfortable seconds of silence, Dawn decides to change the subject, if only to keep Anya's pity from causing Xander to feel sorry for himself, since she knows that he doesn't like to wallow.
"How's Buffy?"
"Okay - physically." Xander responds. "If not fine, then close to it. But she does seem a little depressed. Same with Willow. Both of them are having morale problems."
"Apparently Nina talks trash, and she's strong enough to back it up," Anya interjects, returning to her usual inappropriateness. "I think they're bothered by Nina being a woman. Sure, they've fought women before, but Glory was a total ditz. And also a deity. I understand their difficulties. It's hard to use the I am woman hear me roar' speech on an enemy who roars back."
"It's just surprise," Dawn begins, coming to her sister's defense. "Seth surprised her. Nina surprised her. The Turokh-han surprised her. They do great in the first encounter. But once Buffy's seen their moves, once she knows what to expect, then she gains the upper hand." Dawn looks at Xander and feels bad about her choice of words. "Sorry."
"Don't worry about it," he responds reassuringly.
"I am worried," Anya counters. "About the world ending. But even more about what happens if it doesn't. I'm worried for you, Xander. You make a living – and a good living – making things with your hands. And now you're missing one of them."
"I'll manage. Hey, like you said, if that's the biggest of my worries, I'll be lucky." Dawn sees that Giles has just returned and walks over to him.
"Hey Giles. How ya doing?"
"Reasonable. Considering the circumstances. Is Buffy still in her room?"
"Yeah. But just since dinner. I'm sure she'll come down if you want her to."
"That's okay." GIles and Dawn enter the dining room.
"I'm sorry. We couldn't find anything on her," Dawn confesses.
"Don't worry. You did your best." Buffy comes downstairs and enters the dining room. Everyone stops talking and looks at her.
"I saw your car pull up. How did it go?," Buffy asks with a look of profound sadness.
"I've arranged for the bodies to be flown back home. Molly's parents took the news very hard. Izora's parents don't speak English, but I communicated with her uncle, and he said they were sad, but proud. They know their daughter died a hero, fighting the enemies of Allah."
"Who's Allah?," Buffy asks. Then she gets it, and feels a little embarrassed. "Oh. Of course. Do they think what we're doing is some religious thing?"
"Fighting evil is almost always a religious thing," Anya explains. "Except, of course, for us."
"We're the first godless evil-fighters?," Dawn asks in jest.
"I don't know about you, but that's how I'd like to go down in the history books," Xander jokes.
"We're anything but godless," Giles objects.
"You're right. We're just not very god-full," Buffy adds. "It's nice to have a couple divinities in your cheering section, even if they are just spectators." For Buffy, it was better to have an absentee god than an active god who chose to let all sorts of horrible things happen to her. Then she gets back to business. "Any word on our new purple-haired pain-in-the-ass?"
"No," Anya answers. "You seem to be the only human being she's ever bothered to torment. Which is sort of an honor."
"Some people get Nobel Prizes for being really good at what they do. I get an evil X-Woman who wants to rip my heart out. Any idea why Willow's magic fizzled, and how to make it not fizzle the next time?"
Giles tries to field this one. "I talked with Willow earlier today. She suspects that Nina is immune to word magic. She may only be hurt by more primal forms of magic. Willow is confident that she can adjust, provided she has a few days to recharge and recover."
"I think we all need that," Buffy concurs. "None of us is in any shape to fight tonight. At least we'll be safe in here."
"I fear that could damage morale," Giles objects. Buffy is quite surprised by this. "There is one other place where we are safe."
"Actually, there are two," Anya corrects him.
Dawn smiles. "You're right!," she exclaims. Then Dawn comes back down to earth. "Except that would be a really long road trip."
Giles remembers that Mal is in Los Angeles, and gets quite worried by this idle suggestion. "Also, I think Angel might mind us getting in his way."
"You just threw that in there to make going to the Bronze sound sensible, right?," Buffy asks. She certainly could do without Angel-related complications for the time being. Of course, none of them (not even Giles) knows that Angel is not in Los Angeles. And, if they had all come down to the Hyperion, Buffy and her friends would have found people even more demoralized than they were.
"You think getting Mal's blood will bring Angel back?," Connor asks Wesley.
"It's our best hope," he responds.
"It's our only hope," Fred clarifies.
"He's too good," Connor concludes with despair. "Even for just that."
"No one's that good," Cordy objects. "Say all six of us throw knives at him at the same time. He can't block them all."
"He'd jump up in the air," Connor replies. "Then you'd miss."
"Not if we could pin him in place," Wesley counters.
Lorne runs with this suggestion. "Connor tracks Mal down. He fights him. While they're going at it, we throw cutlery in his back and draw some blood. With all the fisticuffs, he won't hear them coming."
Connor is slightly alarmed. He knows Lorne isn't fond of him. He figures that maybe Lorne doesn't mind using Connor as a decoy who takes a beating. But this crosses a line. "Again. What if he jumps? Then I get five knives in the chest! Or the face. Is that what you want?"
"Not anymore," Lorne quips.
Gunn decides to jump in. "I think we're missing the obvious. Mal knows how to get inside his crib. Mal know we wanna get inside his crib to rescue Angel. Knowing all that, why would he even give us the chance to get a drop of his blood?"
"He already has," Wesley points out. "Twice. No, three times. But the first two times he actually invited us to fight him."
"Then maybe his blood ain't what opens the portal," Gunn responds. "Or, it takes more blood than he thinks we could get. How much CAN we get on a couple blades?"
"I thought you agreed with me that we should go after him tonight?," Wesley asks. He assumed they were on the same page.
"Yeah. To kill 'em. What do you think I was out doin' most of today?"
"Rounding up a posse?," Wes asks dismissively.
"Bringin' on board a few more demon fighters. Close to twenty so far. We'll see how well Mal handles that many enemies."
"You think you can overpower him," Connor concludes condescendingly. "You can't. No matter how many people you have."
"You expect us to fight side-by-side with people we don't even know?," Cordelia wonders.
"What? You got a problem with my old friends?," an offended Gunn asks back.
"It's not like that, Charles. You have to be willing to die for the people you fight with. You have to love them. Okay, not love, seeing how I did work with Buffy. But you have to at least care if they don't make it to tomorrow. You can't have that with a bunch of strangers you've never seen before and won't see again."
"What about the chain-of-command?," Fred asks. "Who's gonna be in charge? How we gonna make sure everyone works together?"
"You can't," Wesley replies, shocking Gunn. "Which is fine. If we coalesce into a massive force, Mal will simply avoid us. However, if we work in small squads, five or six to a car, we have a chance. Mal would fall upon one car, while the other squads moved in to surround him."
"Draw him into a trap," Lorne concludes. "You think he'd fall for that?"
"It's worth a try. He has no reason to assume that the assorted demon fighters in this city will join forces. They've always operated independently."
"And if they keep it up, pretty soon there won't be any demon fighters left," Gunn predicts. "Last night, Mal picked off four more in Santa Monica and two in Van Nuys. Uniting is the only chance they have of surviving. And if we don't help them, what kind of fighters are we?"
"Alive," Connor bluntly responds. "Why don't they just stay home?"
"And let Mal rule the streets?," Charles shoots back.
"He already does."
"You ever consider that we could win if you were fighting with us?"
"Mal would just kill me first. I can't help you." Connor goes upstairs. Everyone's a little concerned by his defeatism.
"Connor's always been kinda grumpy, but this is a whole new kind of surly," Lorne comments.
"It's like he's given up," Fred adds with concern.
"Can you blame him?," Cordy asks provocatively. "He tried, he failed, and Angel isn't here to save the day. Connor's been through more hard times than we can even imagine, but I don't think he's ever felt this helpless."
"Not all of us have thrown in the towel," Wesley remarks.
Finally, something Gunn can approve of. "So you're on board with me?," Charles assumes with a smile.
"Not quite. For the sort of coordination killing Mal would demand, we must train with these demon fighters. We could have them ready in two nights. Perhaps one."
Gunn is back to disagreeing with Wesley. "We ain't got that much time. Most of these guys, they don't got homes. At least not the kinds you can keep a vamp as strong as Mal from entering. Two nights from now, they'll either be dead or out of town. And then we'll have to fight Mal on our own."
"If the demon fighters are going to unite and fight tonight, I wish them the best of luck. More importantly, I hope we can find Mal and obtain some of his blood before they make their last stand. Because if we can get to Angel, they won't have to."
"You're still goin' with that?"
"We can't kill him tonight. We can't force the demon fighters to hold off. So getting a few drops of Mal's blood is our only viable option."
"Unless you're wrong," Gunn points out. "You don't know if his blood will open the portal. I know a stake through his heart or an ax through his neck will kill him." Cordy and Lorne leave, realizing that they really aren't a part of this debate.
"Listen to you two," Fred begins. "Arguing over whether a couple people should die, or a couple dozen. Either way, you're gonna die. Both of you. And for what? To prove your manhood? To show you can fight the good fight without Angel? Look. I don't know any other demon fighters in this town. So, I really can't get upset if they die. I know that's a horrible thing to say, but you can't mourn for strangers. You two aren't strangers. I love you both. If I didn't think it was hopeless, I would be right by your sides. But I do. The world won't be a safer place if you die trying to stop Mal."
"We have to try," a somewhat surprised Wesley responds.
"We have to fight," Gunn concurs. "It's what we do. It's what I do. It's what I've always done."
"No it's not. Both of you know better. When you two come to your senses, you know where to find me." She starts walking to the stairs, but turns around when she's on the landing. "I can't stop you. I know that. But ask yourselves something: Is this the last time you want to see me?" The two men sit there for a while. Then Wesley gets up and leaves, while Charles walks over to the weapons case. If they backed down every time a fight put their lives at risk, where would they be?
Dawn's upstairs doing homework, Andrew's in the basement doing laundry (anything to feel useful and valued), and Fadila and Ariella watch movies. They're still feeling awful about losing Izora, especially Fadila. Hence, they didn't feel much like going out. Giles decided to stay home with them, in part because he's taking the latest losses hard, and in part to be there for the girls if they need someone to comfort them. Everyone else is at the Bronze. Madari took off her large bandage and just has a butterfly bandage on her neck because that's slightly less noticeable to her boyfriend. Rona and Amanda are also with their guys. Meanwhile, Keith is looking for his girl.
"Hey Amanda. Is Molly here?," Keith asks her. Amanda's face turns ashen. Twenty four hours ago, Molly was in Keith's arms. How to explain his sudden, unexplainable death to an outsider.
"Molly had to go back to England. Family stuff. I'm sorry."
"Oh. I see. Did she leave a number?"
"Sorry. It was pretty sudden. She didn't have a chance to - "
"It's okay. I-I understand." Keith walks away dejected, feeling bad, though not nearly as bad as he would if he knew the truth. She came out of nowhere. So it did kind of make sense that she'd leave without warning. Still, he did feel a certain void.
"My mom worked on a few of your friends," Prashant tells Madari. "She said all of you were very calm and tough." Madari had forgotten than Prashant's mother was a doctor. She knew this raised questions she couldn't answer.
"Okay. Tell her thanks, for helping us heal. And tell her we're doing fine."
"That's a pretty bad cut," Prashant says as he runs his right hand down her neck. "You could have been killed." Madari looks nervous.
"But I didn't. And that's what should matter to you, right?," Madari asks, trying to divert Prashant's attention from why she has this wound.
"Does this make you uncomfortable? I understand. Okay, I don't. But, I've heard things. And my mom's seen things. Apparently there's an epidemic in this town of people getting stabbed with barbeque forks. My point is, well, you just said it. I'm glad you're here." Madari smiles with relief. "Maybe all of you are part of some gang, and you got cut in a knife fight with another gang. But, I doubt that. You don't seem like the type."
"Maybe I don't seem like a lot of things I am," Madari responds with a smirk. "But you're right. I'm not that. Let's go dance."
"You're lucky you weren't in school yesterday. It was insane. People fighting for no reason. Animals running through the halls," Preston tells Amanda.
"Sounds like I should have been there," she responds. "To protect you." She puts her right hand under the table and onto his left knee. Preston smiles and takes her left hand in his right.
"Yeah. You do have a way of being there when I need you."
"Weird," Amanda responds with a smile. "I was about to say the same thing about you."
In another part of the club, Rona sits on a bench with Clarence. He has his right arm around her shoulders.
"Let's just say I'm glad we wear pads when we play lacrosse. And in chemistry someone unhooked one of the bunsen burners and tried to set the whole lab on fire. I know this may sound a little wimpy, but I was so glad when I made it home and knew I was safe."
"Nothing wimpy about that. I know the feeling." Rona kisses him. Behind the dance floor and underneath the balcony, Buffy sits with Spike, Xander, Anya, Willow, Kennedy and Faith. Ska band Less Than Jake is onstage playing "The Science Of Selling Yourself Short."
"Girls seem to be enjoying their conjugal visits," Faith tells Buffy.
"Near-death experiences have a way of making people wanna snuggle with their honeys," she responds.
"Speaking of honeys," Xander says as he spots a particularly striking woman on the dance floor.
"She's okay," Spike comments sarcastically. "If you go for long legs and a tight - ," Spike pauses when he remembers Buffy's two feet to his right. "High heels."
"Yes. The shoes are nearly as tight as that dress," Anya jokes. Out on the dance floor is a tall woman with long black hair. She wears a short red dress and five inch black heels. She's surrounded by five or six very eager men. She's facing the stage, and thus has her back to Buffy and friends. Then, while she's dancing, the woman turns around. When they see her face, Buffy, Willow, Faith and Spike shiver and sit straight up in their chairs. Kennedy starts hyperventilating.
"Bugger all," Spike says.
"Oh, oh . . . whoa," Willow adds, not quite capable of forming words.
"Is, is she - ?," Xander asks.
"I think their speechlessness means yes," Anya concludes. Xander looks at his friends. When he realizes that Anya's correct, he gets nauseous. He's never been turned on by one of their Big Bads. "Oh God. Oh God. I just, I just. Oh God. I really have to step checking women out before I see their faces."
"Tell me about it," Kennedy comments, to Willow's profound surprise. She was supposed to say that.
"I assume she wasn't wearing that last night?," Anya asks.
"Not even bloody close," Spike answers.
"What's she doing here?," Faith wonders.
"Looks like the same thing we are," Spike responds.
"No," Anya counters. "We're not reeling in men by the truckload. Though I'm sure we could if we wanted to."
"Why would an agent of the First want to kick back?," Willow asks.
"She can blend in a lot better than the uber-vamp," Xander jokes.
"She can't hurt us. Not in here," Buffy reminds them.
"What about on our way to the car?," Kennedy inquires.
"Stalking us? Waiting for us to leave? That's beneath her," Spike concludes.
The song ends. "She's Gonna Break Soon" begins. After bobbing her head to the beat for a few seconds, Nina walks towards Buffy. She's smiling, evidently getting a kick at how nervous she makes her enemies.
"She must know I'm a demon magnet," Xander mutters under his breath. "Well tough luck. This time, I know better."
Nina stops at their table and looks down at Spike. "You know what happens when you rip out a vampire's heart? They stand there, like a statue. Awake, alert, trapped forever. "Or, until the sun hits them or they get beheaded. Course, I could make sure neither of those things ever happens to you."
Spike tries to hide that he's intimidated. "Thanks for the tip, love. I'll be sure to remember it when I'm watching someone smash your head in."
Nina ignores Spike and stares at Buffy and Faith. "Well would you look at us? Three hot mamas out on the town. So where are your men? I know. Maybe you're taking it easy tonight." She points at a bruise on Faith's left cheek. "You should put some ice on that. Or, you could learn to duck." Then she looks again at Buffy. "Me and blondie need to talk. Not you, bleach bum. Just the lady." Naturally, Buffy doesn't look very trusting. "Relax, babe. I won't bite. Unlike some people here. Besides, I can't hurt a fly in here. No, I guess I could. Just not any humans or demons. That about covers all of you."
"You must really like being where you're not wanted," Buffy responds.
"Oooh. The popular girl's being tough on the new kid. It's not like I'm asking for a dance. I'm saving those for someone else." Nina glances flirtatiously at Willow. "I know you must have a million questions for me. I wanted to give the answers to the dashing older gentleman. But he's not here. So you'll do." Nina gestures over to the bar. Buffy doesn't see the harm.
"Just so we're clear on something, this is because you're lonely and you have no friends?," Buffy sarcastically asks Nina.
"I used to have friends. Something took them away from me. I'll tell you what. Because you're nice. Sometimes I like 'em nice. Other times I prefer nasty." She then shoots Willow another look before walking away. After a few steps, Nina turns around. "Come on. You must be desperate to know more about me." Buffy looks at her friends. They don't see the harm in exploiting this possible opportunity. So Buffy goes over to the bar with Nina. The rest of the gang is pretty shaken by the encounter. And a little perplexed.
"Is it just me, or was she hitting on Willow?," Xander asks.
"She was doing the same thing last night," Willow explains. "It's her lame way of trying to get under my skin."
"Then what's her deal with Rupert?," Spike wonders. He thinks this woman's clearly insane to overlook him and fixate on Giles.
"She said he was handsome," Anya responds. "That's just stating a fact. It in no way means she has a thing for him. Though I'm surprised she completely ignored you, Xander. Her being evil and all."
"I must be losing my touch."
"What will it be?," Nina asks Buffy as they sit on their bar stools.
"What part of I hate you because you kill people I care about' don't you understand?," Buffy shoots back.
Nina gets the bartender's attention, which isn't hard. "White wine for the lady. And another round for everyone over there. On me." While she talked, Nina stared into the bartender's eyes. He gave Buffy her drink, and had a waitress bring refills to Buffy's friends. He doesn't even think of asking for payment. "Men," Nina jokes to Buffy. "You can make them do anything you want. But there's so few who are worthy. The humans are so underwhelming. What's a girl to do? I already tried a vampire last night. Five hundred years old. Supposed to be the most famous one in this world. Goes by Son of the Dragon, Dragon Son, something like that. Showed me around a place called Bucharest. You ever heard of it? It's supposed to be the capital of some nation, which I guess is supposed to make it important. He went on-and-on about how he built half the town when he was king, like that was supposed to impress me. Said things like "You and I, we are not so different." Who dumb's a girl gotta be to fall for that?," Nina asks before laughing a little. "Then we finally got to the good part, and it wasn't even that good. Vampire couldn't handle me! Said I squeezed too hard and broke his hip. Whatta wimp. You ever see a tall, skinny vampire with long black hair and high cheekbones who walks with a limp, tell him Nina says he cries like a little boy after climax. Though the crying coulda been because of the fractured pelvis, not his meager performance. You think a guy with the name of Dragon Son would have SOME power. That's our curse: we're too good to find a man who deserves us."
"Are you actually trying to bond with me? It's just so, eerily, desperate."
"Why? I hate demons. I kill them. I fight and fight again and again, and I always win. Still, it never seems to make a difference. I'm never free. After a while, you only do it out of habit. I've always won, I'm very competitive, so I don't want to lose. I don't want to break my streak. That's why I fight. That, and the fact that the only other option I have is to not exist."
"Maybe you should've thought of that before you signed up. And, not to be condescending, but the First Evil doesn't seem like the right place for someone who hates demons."
"That's where you're wrong. We use demons. But only as fodder. We exploit them to achieve our goals. One of those goals being, ironically enough, the annihilation of all demon races in this dimension. Demons are a short cut. They're evil by nature. No free will. Once you have the humans on your side, you don't need them. I'm going to finish your work in this dimension. Once you're no longer standing in my way."
"That's your big plan? Become a Slayer imposter by knocking off all the real Slayers?"
"I'm much more more powerful than a Slayer. And I lack your human disabilities. I don't eat. I don't sleep. I can go anywhere I want, anytime I want." Nina disappears. Five seconds later, she reappears on her bar stool. "It's raining in Tokyo. Sushi?" She slides the food along the bar over to Buffy, who pushes it into the trash. "Usually, Seth plays the bad guy and I play the good guy. When's the enemy's extra tough, like yourself, I have to play both bad guy and good guy. Which is easy, because before I become the hero, I kill all the people who think I'm the villain. But then, my work done, I die. Until the next job. So, as you might guess, I like to stretch out each gig as long as possible. Take time to savoy the joys of existence."
"Why not? Everyone loves the joy of evil triumphing over good. Okay. I get it. You want me to think you're not evil."
"I'm not. And Seth isn't. We didn't have a choice. Live was peaceful, and everyone was happy. No death. No hatred. No poverty or disease. The way life's supposed to be. But then they came. By the thousands and millions. Too many demons for us to hold back. They destroyed our world. Killed everyone I cared about. Except for Seth and my. We were the last. Too brave, to determined to give up, even when we knew our world was past saving. That was why we were rescued."
"Let's call this what is. You made a deal with the Devil to live forever."
"Not the Devil. One of the Primals."
"Yes. The evil one. Don't act like you're some innocent victim of circumstance."
"Don't you get it? We would have loved to work for the Forces of Good. But they weren't there to help us. They didn't lift a hand when my parents were ripped apart by those awful abominations. When have they ever helped you?"
"My friends and I, we help ourselves. You whine about how unfair the world is while you're trying to make it even more unfair. You had a choice. If you weren't evil, then you would have refused their offer. But you didn't."
"You know what's worse than Evil? Chaos. That's the state of things in most dimensions. Mindless cruelty. Senseless oppression. I leave people happier. I make sure the weak are protected. I give them security. I take away their suffering. Used to be that ninety nine out of a hundred dimensions was what you'd call a nightmare. A hell dimension. I change that. Let me put it this way: if you learned that you were being sent to another dimension, you would pray to end up in one that I've been to."
"Well then. Clearly you should be cleaning up one of those. Because, in case you haven't noticed, this planet may have problems, but it's not a hell dimension."
"Chalk that one up to unintended consequences. It's my fault I'm here. I love killing false gods."
"And how exactly do you do that?"
"By killing all of their followers. Without anyone to worship them, a false god cannot exist. There was a war amongst a triumvirate. I was sent in to help two gods defeat a third. I couldn't quite understand why. But it meant I got to kill a whole lotta demons, so I was totally on bored. I'll never forget the god's face right before I killed her. I held her last worshipper's head in between my hands. Then I crushed it. I do believe I saw her cry. Nothing like making a god cry. Only yesterday did I found out what was going on. My boss wanted to send her here, in a rather unflattering human package, if I may say so. I thought I was killing her, not setting her loose in another world. I am truly sorry for setting her upon you. On the other hand, I did give you a sister. You might even say that I'm her real mother!"
Buffy slaps Nina in the face. "Get out."
"Can you hit me again?," Nina asks mischievously. "I liked it."
Buffy stands up. "You say you've never lost. This is where your streak ends."
"I always die. Killing me won't actually kill' me. It will keep me from coming back here. Course, they same thing will happen if I win. So your threats are both empty and idle."
"You didn't let me finish. I'll make it quick, and largely painless. Unless you come after my family. Then you'll curse your master for sending you after me."
"Why would I come after your family? I can only kill the people who matter. When your boo-boos are healed, you'll know where to find me. Sorry, you won't. But I'll know where to find you." Nina goes back out onto the dance floor. Buffy sits there for a couple seconds, stewing in her own juices, before heading over to her friends.
NEXT: Mal achieves several smashing victories. And one minor defeat.