ACT 1
INT THE DINING ROOM-- DAY. Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Xander and Anya gather around the table with Spike standing off at the kitchen door. Willow has her iBook open.
All we've got on Carl Kohl is a few articles from some really boring publications on municipal government and civics.
So at least he really does what he says he does.
Yeah, but these articles are so few and far between. They're not the kind of articles that would let an old semi-retired guy afford to drive a new Mercedes and rent a VIP suite at the Hancock Inn.
Assuming that writing boring municipal government articles is what he retired from.
That's just it. That's his only presence on the Web. We don't know what he retired from.
Spike, can you narrow down what decade and what part of the world you think you know him from?
Can't, Luv. I know it wasn't recent. And a geezer that old, could be almost any decade in the 20th Century.
What's strange is that both you and Xander seem to know him.
I didn't say I knew him, exactly. I said he reminded me of someone, but I can't quite put my finger on it.
And he seemed a little too touchy-feely for just a friend of the family!
That could be just because he was upset. He didn't know about Mom until I told him.
He seems like a nice enough old man. Maybe he really is just an old friend of Grandma and Grandpa.
Dawn, Grandma's friends don't drive around in brand new Mercedes SLs and rent VIP suites in the most expensive hotel in the area.
But at least he dresses like he could be one of Grandma's friends!
Well, duh! Why don't we just call Grandma and see if she really does know this guy?
Well, duh!
Dawn reaches for the phone and dials. A long beat
Hi, Grandma. It's Dawnie. Could you give me and Buffy a call back as soon as you get this? Bye.
She hangs up.
Oh! Maybe she's in Glendale with Aunt Polly. I think her kids are on Spring Break this week too.
Better them than us!
She dials another number.
Oh, cut 'em some slack. Aunt Polly and Uncle Matt did offer to take us both in when Mom died.
Eww! Can you imagine us living with that crowd?
We've got a bigger crowd here, in case you haven't noticed. And getting bigger almost every day.
But at least you're in charge.
No answer at Aunt Polly's. They don't even have an answering machine.
Oh, yeah! Running a dozen girls through a Slayer boot camp in a three bedroom, one bath, fighting off the Stevie Wonder brigade and assorted ubervamps and demons, and having to rebuild the whole house every three days. Why would anyone choose a nice quiet home in Glendale over this?
Well, you haven't met our cousins!
Besides, what would I have done? Commuted three hours one way every day from Glendale to the Hellmouth?
The PHONE RINGS
That was quick of Grandma. Guess she's not in Glendale.
Hello... Oh, hi, Carl! This is Dawn....
The others' eyebrows raise.
That sounds nice. I'll ask Buffy.
He's inviting you and me to dinner at the Hancock tonight.
INT THE LIVING ROOM. The others from the previous scene, the Potentials, and Andrew are gathered and sitting or standing as Buffy addresses them with Willow behind her.
Okay! Everyone listen up. Willow, tell them about the phone call yesterday.
Yesterday, Althenea from the coven called. She said that their seers think that there may be more than one Seal of Danzalthar, and that the Bringers are looking for the others. The First still appears to be in remission, but the Bringers around here are either continuing on some long-term plan that was started before Buffy killed the Ubervamp, or the First is still executing some form of control over them from wherever it's been remissioned to. Or there's another corporeal agent of the First out there who the seers didn't think was here in Sunnydale, who's controlling the Bringers long-distance.
This morning, some old guy calling himself Carl Kohl dropped by here for a visit. Some of you may have caught a glimpse of Dawn and me talking to him. He says he's a freelance writer and an old friend of my grandmother and late grandfather. He's driving around in a brand new Mercedes and staying at a VIP suite at the Hancock Inn, and when Willow hacked into the Hancock's reservation and credit system, she found out he paid for the suite in cash. Now, we haven't gotten through to my grandmother to ask if she really does know this guy, but her friends are more the ten year old Volkswagen and Motel Six crowd.
Dawn and I both shook hands with him, he's corporeal, he's warm blooded. So it may be coincidence, he may be really who he says he is, but we're not taking any chances. As of today, we're at--
What is it? DEFCON One?
DEFCON One.
That means, prepare for an attack from the Bringers at any time. When the sun's up, train. Keep the weapons ready. Nobody leaves the house alone, or unarmed. When it's dark, nobody leaves the house, period. No more training in the cemetery, no more touring the demon hangouts. The house is in lockdown. Except for me and Dawn tonight. Carl invited us to dinner at the hotel and we're going to try to get a feel for what he's all about.
INT A HOTEL RESTAURANT-- EVENING. Very plush with a Tudor motif and bay windows overlooking a well-kept garden which is brightly lit. Buffy and Dawn come in the door, both wearing evening gowns and high heels. They are met by the HOSTESS, who is similarly dressed.
Party of two?
We're supposed to meet a Mr. Kohl.
Oh, yes. Follow me, please.
As they follow the hostess, Buffy and Dawn glance around. Most of the OTHER DINERS are dressed at least semi-formally, men in suits and women in dresses or gowns.
Told you we wouldn't be overdressed.
Well, yeah... except compared to him!
ANOTHER ANGLE shows Carl at a table, sticking out by still wearing the rumpled seersucker, smiling as he rises to greet them.
WIPE TO
THE THREE OF THEM SEATED TOGETHER eating their dinner salads.
So Buffy, you said this girls' self-defense class was just a sideline?
Yes. I'm a counselor at Sunnydale High. Where Dawn's a Sophomore. Since we're on Spring Break, we kind of turned the class into a sleepover camp for the week, so it's gonna have to be a short evening, unfortunately.
That's all right. I'm here in Sunnydale for a while, so we'll have plenty more opportunity to meet.
I am impressed, Buffy. I didn't think you were old enough to have finished all the schooling to be a counselor.
I didn't. I'm almost like a peer counselor. The pay's not that good, but it beats flipping burgers.
And it's a good start to a more stable career. So counseling and this self-defense class are how you've made ends meet since you lost your mom?
That and flipping burgers for a time.
We're used to struggling financially.
Well, Mom did all the struggling after Dad left.
What exactly did she do?...
EXT THE SUMMERS HOME FRONT YARD-- NIGHT. Buffy and Dawn walk from the driveway to the front door.
He does seem more interested in learning about Mom than about how we plan to defend ourselves against the First!
But if he really is an old friend of the family, he doesn't know as much about Mom as you'd think he should.
He said he hadn't seen her since before she and Dad got married.
CONTINUING INT THE FOYER as they enter.
So why so much interest?
I don't know, but it's genuine. Buffy, you didn't see the look on his face when I told him she was gone. And after tonight, I do feel a connection to him.
Willow and Xander approach them from the dining room.
Did my grandmom call?
No, but Althenea did. The seers think there's another Potential trying to get here from the Bay Area. And the next bus from there is due in about a half hour.
INSERT A WIDER SHOT as Buffy looks around. Several of the Potentials are asleep on the living room floor.
We're still at FEDCON One...
DEFCON One!
Whatever. Lockdown. And everyone's bedded down anyway. Will, I need you and Spike to hold the fort, use your magics and Spike's strength to protect the Potentials just in case. Xander, can you come with me? I may need the extra firepower.
Sure.
Dawn, you wanna come too? Extra firepower. Plus we need to continue talking about our new friend.
Sure.
I gotta get changed anyway. So you've got five minutes to get out of your prom dress and into something a little more combat-y.
EXT THE SUNNYDALE BUS TERMINAL-- NIGHT. A bus closes its door and backs out of the boarding area slot.
Buffy, Dawn and Xander step out from around the corner, the two sisters dressed much more casually than earlier. Buffy carries an axe, Dawn a broadsword and Xander a crossbow.
Just those two middle-aged couples and the old lady with the walker.
No potential Potentials on that bus.
So the Bringers got her?
Or she just missed the bus.
Or the seers may have missed the bus and this gal may not exist at all.
Well, no more buses from the Bay Area tonight. Just so this little sortie won't be a total waste, let's cut through the cemetery on the way home. Just 'cause we're focusing on the Potentials and the Bringers, doesn't mean we can forget about thinning the vamp herd.
They walk off. The camera pans down the street in the opposite direction and zooms in on Carl's Mercedes a half a block down, with him at the wheel watching the three intently.
EXT THE CEMETERY-- NIGHT. Buffy, Dawn and Xander converse softly as they walk.
So he seemed normal.
Almost too normal, other than the funky suit and the Robin Leach lifestyle.
Didn't ask any questions about the house or the Potentials?
No, and I may have given him too much.
Mostly questions about Mom and Grandmom....
Buffy raises a hand and they come to a halt about 25 yards from a crypt marked "DAVIDSON". By staring at it, Buffy draws the others' attention to it. The front door and gate are ajar.
Okay. The Davidson crypt looks active. It's a small one but there could be up to a dozen in there. I'll go in alone. Xander, you work your way around and cover the back with the crossbow. Dawn, you cover my back and stay outside, and take out anyone I flush out the front. Your strong suit is the broadsword and decapitation, so give yourself plenty of swinging room for that. Don't follow me in unless I call for help, and if I do, you leave the sword outside and come in with your stake ready. The place is so small inside, the sword's gonna be pretty useless. In fact, I'm leaving my axe with you because that's gonna be pretty useless inside too.
She hands Dawn the axe.
Buffy, I think I heard something out there.
So did I, but it sounded like a cat or a raccoon. But just in case, you two try to keep each other in sight.
The camera zooms back and then tilts down to reveal, a few rows of graves back, Carl crouching behind a large monument and listening in amazement.
A CLOSER SHOT OF THE DAVIDSON CRYPT as Buffy opens the gate, kicks in the inner door and charges inside with her stake raised, Dawn putting down the axe and grasping the broadsword two-handed, standing a few feet away. We hear BUFFY'S GRUNTING, VAMPS SNARLING AND SEVERAL CRASHES, PUNCHES AND THUDS.
CARL darts forward from the monument and dives behind a regular-sized headstone several yards closer for a better look, extremely amazed.
SEVERAL VAMPS start bursting out the doorway of the crypt. Dawn lunges forward and swings the sword at the throat of the first vamp with a forehand swing, decapitating and dusting it, then reverses her body spin and decapitates the second vamp from behind with a backhand swing as it runs past, dusting it.
A total of five more vamps pour out the doorway as this happens, but the fifth dusts in the middle of the doorway, revealing Buffy standing behind it drawing back her stake. As Dawn holds the other four at bay with her sword, Buffy forward somersaults toward the axe, picks it up and decapitates and dusts another of them.
Xander appears from the back of the crypt, leveling the crossbow.
The surviving three vamps give Buffy and Dawn a wide berth and run off in the direction where Carl is.
As the first vamp passes the headstone behind which he is hiding, it stops, doubles back, lifts Carl by the jacket collar and throws him over the headstone to the ground. All three vamps pile on top of Carl as Buffy, Dawn and Xander watch in shock.
Buffy sprints for them with Dawn close behind. Xander drops to one knee and fires the crossbow. The bolt hits a vamp in the leg but barely fazes it. Before Buffy and Dawn can reach or Xander can finish reloading...
The three vamps explode in rapid succession, leaving Carl covered in a coating of dust and holding up his carved, polished stake. He sits up, dusting himself off and catching his breath.
INSERT CARL'S POV of Buffy, Dawn and Xander standing over him, staring in open-mouthed disbelief.
I'm too old for this crap!
First Principal Wood, now this guy! Is this, like, an invitational for freelance vamp-stakers or something?
My God, Buffy! You're the Slayer! And the girls at your house are Potentials!
Xander levels the crossbow at Carl, as Buffy has the axe and Dawn the broadsword at the ready.
All right, Old Man! Talk to us! Who are you?
I... I really am a retired investigative reporter. But I used to specialize in tracking murder cases and mysterious deaths that appeared to involve vampires and other supernatural beings. My real name's Carl Kolchak.
END ACT 1. INSERT COMMERCIAL BREAK