Act 2
"Camp Pottawatomie" off of the east shore of Tuttle Creek Lake in Kansas: July 1976
It is night and there is the reflection of a full moon on the lake, although none in the sky, indicating that the moon is behind our vantage point. We are looking down at an archery range, which is up on top of a lakeside hill. As our vantage point descends, we see three small figures, two male and one female. The female is being dragged by one of the males and the other male has his hand over her mouth. As our vantage point reaches the level of the ground, the three figures approach us. The girl is young and blond, probably no more than 16 or 17, barefoot, in a t-shirt and gym shorts. The man holding his hand over her mouth is not a man at all, but a vampire, with full ridges and fangs showing. His hair is long, and he looks like as a human being he might have been maybe a year older than the girl. He is wearing a t-shirt that says "Camp Pottawatomie Ecology Camp, 1975: We Care". The other man does not have a ridged forehead and fangs, and he looks older, maybe late 20's or early 30's. His hair is long, and he has a stringy mustache and whispy goatee. As they go by the last target, this man stops and holds up his hand, identifying himself as the leader between the two.
"Let's eat here, then we can dump her over the side of the hill," he says. "It's a pretty steep drop. They might think she got up, wandered here and fell. At least until the autopsy."
"Where's our master?" the other asks.
"Meeting a friend," the older appearing vampire says as his face morphs into ridges and fangs. The girl whimpers again, fearfully. Then, we hear a high pitched hiss, and an arrow buries itself into the back and heart of the younger appearing vampire.
"Huh," the younger vampire says. "That hurt."
Then he dusts.
The remaining vampire pulls the girl to him and moves his hand from her wrist to her throat, putting his other hand over her mouth.
"I suggest the good Samaritan show himself," he says. "Or I tear out her throat right here."
Stepping out from the half open door of a storage shed is a young woman about the same age as the captive. The captive's eyes go wide in apparent recognition as they see the other girl. Her hair is brown and tied up in a pony tail, and she is dressed in blue jeans, black Converse high tops, and a t-shirt that says "Camp Pottawatomie Ecology Camp, 1976: We Take the Long View". She has a quill of arrows strapped over her shoulder. The girl is clearly an older version of the 12 year old Lyssa Carter.
"Let the girl go," Lyssa says.
"Who are you?" the vampire asks.
"Who do you think?" Lyssa says coldly. "I'm the Slayer."
The vampire chuckles, then laughs.
"Young lady," the vampire says. "I know for a fact that the current slayer is woman named Nikki Wood. Last I heard she was in London. She moves around a lot, which is irritating my master to no end. He really wants to catch up to her."
The vampire then looks up and behind Lyssa and smiles.
"Don't you, master?" he continues.
"Nice try," Lyssa says.
"You know," a voice says behind her. "The real slayer would have detected my presence."
In one smooth motion, Lyssa whirls and shoots her arrow. It flies straight and true until it is caught by a right hand just over the heart of its owner. A tall man, with long blond hair, wearing the stereotypical Dracula outfit of formal 19th century dress and a long cape, looks at the arrow and smiles, then snaps it in two one handed.
"Well done, Miss Carter!" he says in a tone conveying genuine respect. "You are Quentin Traver's current potential, are you not?"
Lyssa swallows hard and looks from one vampire to the other and backs away at a 90 degree angle from between the two vampires.
"Amilyn," the caped vampire says. "Let the girl go."
"But master…" Amilyn says uncertainly.
"It's quite all right," the caped vampire says. "I'll take the girl. You can have the potential."
Amilyn smiles broadly at that and lets the girl go, then leaps right at Lyssa, swiping the bow out of her hand. Lyssa reaches into the quill and pulls out not an arrow but a squirt bottle, and sprays it into Amilyn's mouth and face. As his face smokes and he howls in pain, Lyssa kicks him hard in the groin and steps around him and between the other girl and the caped vampire.
"Run, Jennifer!" Lyssa says loudly and authoritatively. "Run and don't look back."
"Do as she says, girl," the caped vampire says. "I like a good chase."
Jennifer looks at Lyssa, then runs away with a sob.
"You're not going to get her," Lyssa says to the caped vampire in a determined voice.
"Oh, you're right about that," the caped vampire says. "You've earned her life, I'm letting her go."
"Who are you?" Lyssa asks.
"Didn't your watcher tell you?" the caped vampire asks in an incredulous tone. "How utterly remiss of him. I am Lothos, but in watcher circles I'm better known as the 'slayer of slayers'.
"Mr. Travers really should have warned you about me. I'm quite disappointed and more than a little insulted, really."
Amilyn gets up, coughing horribly and still bent over a little. Then he stands up, grins, and blows a smoke ring.
"Blessed by a non-celibate priest with doubts," he says to Lothos. "I'm guessing he'll leave his post, get married, and become Anglican within a year, maybe even Unitarian."
"I believe they call it Episcopalian in this country," Lothos says. Then he turns to Amilyn.
"Time to go," he says.
"But what about the potential?" Amilyn asks, clearly disappointed and angry.
"What about her?" Lothos says. "I only pick ripe slayers, and this one isn't ripe yet, if she ever will be. Besides, I prefer the special slayers, the ones most likely to remember me from…other lives."
"But you said I can have her," Amilyn says reproachfully.
"Yes," Lothos says. "And then she humiliated you and entertained me. In appreciation, I'm letting her live."
Amilyn pouts.
"Oh, don't look at me like that," Lothos says to him. "Besides, I've found you a perfectly wonderful little farm family east of Wamego on the way to the Kansas City airport."
We cut to Lyssa. Her expression is confused, but then becomes alarmed when she hears about the farm family east of Wamego.
"No…" she starts to say, then blinks in confusion. She is now alone on the archery range. She looks around, picks up her bow, and pulls an arrow from her quill. Arrow notched and at the ready, she stands looking around.
Our vantage point switches to a wooded area. Lothos is looking out at Lyssa and the archery range. He chuckles softly.
"Look what I've found skulking around," Amilyn says as he appears within the frame. He has Quentin Travers by the scruff of the collar of his suit.
"Hello, Quentin," Lothos says without turning around. "You've done a good job with her. Well trained but still in the dark where it counts."
"I thought you would be chasing after Nikki Wood," Travers says. "Particularly after she hurt you that last time."
"Oh, I'll take her soon enough," Lothos says. "It really is a nuisance the way Edna Giles and her creature Pendergast keep moving her around. I sincerely hope the next head of the Watcher's Council better remembers old obligations. Let him go, Amilyn."
Amilyn makes a face.
"With pleasure," he says. "This one is really rotten."
Travers scampers away.
"Yes," Lothos says. "Yes, he is. But that is why he has the potential to return the Watcher's Council to its original loyalties."
Lothos reaches up with his left hand to brush away a lock of his long blond hair from his face. There is a large ring on his hand with a red jewel. The jewel is embedded in a setting into which is carved the Circle of the Black Thorn.
Rome: November, 2003
Dawn and Buffy are standing outside of Buffy's personal office bathroom. They look at one another, Buffy with an uncomfortable expression on her face, Dawn with an amused expression on her face. Buffy is wearing sunglasses, presumably to cover her red and yellow eyes.
"OK, Willow," Dawn says. "You're gonna have to come out sometime."
"I can't," we hear Willow say from behind the bathroom door. "I am way too humiliated."
Buffy sighs.
"Will, I am really sorry I overreacted like that," Buffy said. "I plead overprotective older sister instinct."
"Buffy, I have my own boobs now," Dawn says, the amusement in her voice increasing. "Plus, I take gym in an all girls school, and I work out in a slayer academy that has a locker room full of naked girls. I see lots of boobies."
"Dawn," we hear Willow's voice say. "You're not helping. And I don't think Buffy overreacted."
"That's only because you overreacted more than she did," Dawn says. "It's OK, Willow, really."
Dawn turns to Buffy.
"Buffy, tell her it's OK," Dawn says to her sister.
"Willow, it is OK," Buffy says. "And I promise, we'll all forget about it."
"No more talking about sending naked pictures to Giles or Xander?" Willow asks.
"What?" Dawn says, looking at her sister with wide eyes.
"Best friend teasing," Buffy says. "Nothing more. Already forgotten."
The door to Buffy's office opens, and Karyn McGrath comes in. She is tall, almost 6 feet tall, extremely pretty and blond. She is wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt, and she has a towel around her neck.
"Hey Sunrise, Buffy," Karyn says. "What's up?"
"Willow's in the bathroom and won't come out," Dawn says.
"Really?" Karyn says. "When did Willow come in?"
"About 15 minutes ago on the teleport express," Dawn says.
"Your blood?" Karyn asks.
"My blood," Dawn confirms.
"Cool," Karyn says. "So why is Willow hiding in the bathroom?"
"Don't say anything, Dawn," Buffy says warningly. "I don't want my best friend killing your best friend."
"Buffy, I'm not killing anybody," Willow says from behind the door. "Except maybe for any person who would send naked pictures to Xander or Giles."
"What?" exclaims Karyn.
"That's what I asked," Dawn says. "Buffy said it was a best friend thing."
"Dude," says Karyn to Dawn. "Are we doing the best friend thing wrong? We are so not talking about sending naked pictures to Xander or Giles, especially…"
Dawn quickly puts her right index finger to her lips. Karyn immediately shuts up and makes a locking motion over her mouth. Then she mouths the word sorry to Dawn.
As Dawn shrugs, Buffy knocks on the door to the bathroom.
"C'mon Willow," Buffy says. "Seriously, we need to get started with this."
There is a moment's silence, then we hear Willow say, "OK."
The door opens. Willow comes out in a navy blue long sleeved shirt, blue jeans, and canvas tennis shoes. She walks by Buffy, Dawn, and Karyn, and she is blushing. Buffy gives Dawn a not one word look and follows Willow out of the office, leaving Dawn and Karyn together.
"So, Sunrise," Karyn says. "What exactly was that about?"
Dawn shrugs.
"Remember that outfit that Kennedy's been trying to get Willow to wear?" Dawn asks.
Karyn makes a face as if putting effort into remembering, then her face brightens.
"Oh yeah, that outfit," Karyn says. "So Willow was wearing one of those when she teleported here?"
"Actually, she was wearing half," Dawn says. "The bottom half."
"Willow was sunbathing topless?" Karyn says, her voice rising in disbelief. "That doesn't sound like Willow at all."
"And a thong does?" Dawn asks rhetorically. "But anyway, I don't think that's what happened. I think it just slipped off. Willow's not exactly experienced with bikini tops."
Karyn shakes her head.
"Poor Willow!" she says with feeling.
"Yeah," Dawn says. "Hey, don't tell her I said anyth…"
The office door opens and Buffy sticks her head in.
"You guys coming?" she says.
"Right away, boss," says Karyn.
Nottingham, England
Giles is sitting in an intensive care room next to a hospital bed. He is reading a book, but we can't see the title. Laying on the bed is Edna Giles with an oxygen mask and multiple tubes. Monitors beep around her.
Edna Giles begins to moan lightly, then her eyelids flutter. Giles' eyebrow lifts and he closes his book, then bends over to put it on the floor. As he comes back up, Edna Giles opens her eyes, turns towards him, and smiles. She tries to say something, and can't.
"Don't try to talk," Giles says. "You've had a tube down your throat."
Edna Giles coughs and smiles again, and in a very hoarse voice says, "Well of course I have."
"You weren't expected to live," Giles says.
"Well, of course I wasn't," Edna Giles says. She then coughs again.
A nurse, a matronly woman in her late forties or early fifties, walks in and says to Giles very primly, "Pardon me."
Giles stands up as she checks his grandmother over.
"Hello, Dr. Giles," the nurse says loudly. "You are…"
"…in the hospital due to a gunshot wound." Edna Giles finishes impatiently. "Yes, yes. No need to shout by the way, I can hear you just fine."
The nurse's eyes go wide and she turns to look at Giles.
"Remarkable," she says. "Simply remarkable."
The nurse leaves the room. Our vantage point follows her as she leaves the intensive care area and walks to the nurse's desk.
"Call Dr. Whitehead, room 214 is awake," she says.
The eyes of the male nurse at the desk go wide.
"The hundred year old gunshot wound?' he says disbelievingly, but our vantage point moves on so don't hear the rest of what he has to say. We move on to the waiting room elevator, which opens to disgorge four people, two of them Lyssa and Caitlyn McGrath.
"Mom, I hate it here," Caitlyn says.
"I know, honey," Lyssa says with a sigh. "I know. We won't stay too long."
Caitlyn goes over and turns on the television. Lyssa shakes her head and sighs again in an exasperated manner.
"So Rupert still has the ability to irritate people," we hear a familiar, very gruff voice say. "I suppose I should not be surprised."
Lyssa turns, her eyes widening in shock. Sitting in one of the chairs, a copy of the Times sitting open on his lap, is Quentin Travers.
Rome
We are back in Buffy's office at the Rome Slayer Academy. Buffy, wearing her usual sunglasses, is sitting on her desk, while sitting in chairs around the front of the desk are Willow, Dawn, Karyn, and Robin Wood.
"So that's it," Buffy says. "It turns out that the old Watcher's Council was allied with Wolfram and Hart from the very beginning, and by shutting down the world's biggest and most active hellmouth, we've now set the stage for the main event. The Scrolls of Aberjian describe the upcoming fight, and our roles in it."
Karyn raises her hand.
"So, uhm, does this mean that I'm a fake slayer?" she asks.
"Yes," Dawn says, looking at Karyn with a very serious expression on her face. "And that means that you have been dusting fake vampires and Turok-Han for the past 6 months, so turn in your stake now."
Buffy smiles slightly behind her dark sunglasses.
"No, Karyn," Buffy says. "You're not a fake slayer, but apparently you and the others are a different kind of slayer from what I am."
Karyn nods, then turns to Dawn and whispers, "Hey, Sunrise, I was kidding. She does know that I was kidding right?"
"Believe me," Dawn whispers back. "She knows. You're maybe half the smartass she was at your age."
"Good to have a new standard to aspire to then," Karyn whispers back, then pantomimes licking a pencil and writing something down. "Be as big a smartass as Buffy Summers, age 18."
"You'll never make it," Buffy says to Karyn. Robin, Karyn, and even Willow look startled. Dawn looks amused.
Buffy taps her right ear.
"Enhanced hearing too," she says.
Then Buffy's expression turns serious.
"Dawn will tell you the rest," she says.
Dawn stands up, stumbling slightly over Karyn's suddenly outstretched foot. Dawn makes an exaggerated face at Karyn, who reflects the face back.
"Ahem," Buffy says to Dawn.
Dawn's expression turns serious as she nods slightly to herself.
"Yeah," she says. "Apparently the selfsame Scrolls of Aberjian that describe the Female Trinity also talk quite a bit about the 'vampire with a soul'."
"Angel," Willow says.
"Yeah," Dawn says. "While we in the Female Trinity duke it out with the forces of darkness, the vampire with a soul is supposed to be the one who will tip the final balance. That probably explains why Wolfram and Hart, particularly the Los Angeles office, has been downright obsessed with him."
"And now Angel's working for them," Robin says. "Sounds like he's made his choice."
"Not necessarily," Buffy says. "Angel's not exactly working for Wolfram and Hart, he literally inherited ownership of their LA office."
"Like a franchise," Willow says. "He inherits their obligations but he doesn't follow orders from them."
"But as he uses their resources to do what he wants to do," Robin says. "Doesn't he start to become dependent on them?"
"I suspect that is their strategy," Dawn says. "Wolfram and Hart's specialty is creating and spreading corruption in law, government and society. One way to do it is by creating dependencies."
"Isn't spreading corruption in law, government and society kind of, uhm, redundant?" asks Karyn.
Dawn shrugs.
"Maybe Wolfram and Hart are the ones who made it that way in the first place," Dawn says. "They've been around a long time. Remember, the Wolf, Ram, and Hart started the old Watcher's Council."
"How much of this do you think Angel knows?" Robin asks.
"I don't know," Buffy says. "But he does know a lot about the way Wolfram and Hart work. In fact, much of what we know about them has come from information Angel supplied to us."
"So, we are going to sneak into his offices to find the Scrolls?" Karyn says. "This isn't making sense to me. Isn't Angel our friend? I mean, he did put us all up after the battle of the Hellmouth in that hotel of his."
Buffy shakes her head.
"Angel may be our friend," Buffy says. "But his office still ultimately belongs to Wolfram and Hart, and we have just identified them as our primary enemies. We think they are behind the recent attacks on us and the Tokyo Academy. We can't afford to think of any Wolfram and Hart office, even Angel's, as safe territory."
"And Giles and I need to see the Scrolls of Aberjian as soon as possible," Dawn says. "So we're breaking into the Los Angeles office of Wolfram and Hart. And we're not tipping off anyone."
"Including Angel," Buffy adds.
"So how are we going to get into Wolfram and Hart undetected?" Robin asks.
"With this," Dawn says, reaching into her purse and pulling out a crystal. "This crystal is one of two that are on loan to us from the Devonshire Coven. Used properly, they create a cocoon of impenetrable illusion. Willow's going to use this crystal to create disguises for the four of us. Our man inside the Wolfram and Hart LA office has smuggled us the files of four employees who are on vacation. We're going to assume their identities, find the Scroll, copy it, and get out."
"Uhm, how are we going to find the scroll?" Robin asks. "Wolfram and Hart is an awfully big place."
"The Scroll is Angel's," Dawn says. "We don't think he would let it out of his possession, especially at Wolfram and Hart."
"So you think he has it on his person?" Robin asks.
"His person or his office," Buffy answers.
Dawn hands the crystal to Willow.
"Willow is going to create our disguises," Dawn says. "As a part of the disguise, we will be getting some background information on the people we are impersonating placed into our short term memory. The implanted memories will last for about three hours, so we will need to have the scrolls copied and be back here by then."
"Uhm," Karyn says, raising her hand. "Exactly how are we supposed to get to LA, much less be 'back here', in three hours?"
Willow clears her throat. Everyone turns to look at her.
"The same way I got here," she says. "I'm going to use the blood of the Key to send you, and to bring you back."
Nottingham, England
Lyssa is giving Quentin Travers a hug.
"What are you doing here?" she asks incredulously. "You were supposed to have been killed by the explosion at the Watcher's Council!"
Travers pulls a small crystal out of his suit jacket pocket and starts to polish it. Lyssa immediately starts to stare at it as if it were the most important thing in the world.
"Actually, most of us were able to get away before the bomb was set off," Travers says. "We had a man inside The First's inner circle, and he was able to warn us."
Travers then chuckles dryly.
"Well, he wasn't exactly a man per se," he says.
"But why didn't you find us, join us, after the bomb went off?" Lyssa asks as she continues to stare at the crystal Travers is polishing. "Giles, Buffy, and the potentials were all off on their own. My husband was killed protecting our oldest daughter, Karyn, from harbringers. Did you know she was a potential? That she is now a slayer? Like I am? Like…?"
"Of course I knew," Travers says. "But we had to stay in hiding because the opposition has its own spies, and I am very afraid that our good friend Rupert has now been taken in by one of them."
"His grandmother?" Lyssa asks, her gaze still focused on the crystal. "I knew it!"
"I'm sorry to tell you that the woman in intensive care is not Giles' grandmother," Travers says. "Or, for that matter, even a woman."
"Some sort of demon in disguise?" Lyssa asks.
Travers raises the crystal to the light, and polishes it some more. Lyssa's gaze continues to follow the crystal in Travers hand.
"A one hundred and two year old woman with her degree of vigor?" Travers says. "What else could she be?"
"Quentin, what do I do?" Lyssa asks, her voice urgent.
"She's a demon, and you are, finally, the slayer I always thought you would be," he answers. "So what you should be doing is obvious, don't you think?"
With that, Travers puts the crystal in his pocket and walks away.
Caitlyn turns away from the television, which is showing an episode of the original Who's Line is it Anyway? Colin and Greg are playing with what look like two purple highway cones.
"Mom, can we …" Caitlyn stops and looks around. "Mom?"
But Lyssa is no longer in the waiting room.
Rome
Willow is sitting cross legged on the floor staring intently into the crystal from Devonshire. Her hair has white streaks and her eyes are emitting a blue light. A similar glow is illuminating the room. Then, the glow in the room and from Willow's eyes fade, and her hair returns to its normal red color.
"OK, that's it," Willow says.
Willow looks at the three young women and one man in front of her. One of them, a tall brunette in a very lawyerly outfit, says in Buffy's voice, "How do we look?"
"Just like four high powered attorneys," says Willow.
A short blond says, "Ewwww." The voice is Dawn's.
The tall sandy haired man, obviously the oldest of the four, but still relatively young, says, "Dawn's right. No need to rub it in." The voice is Robin's.
Karyn is looking at the skin on her hands. She is disguised as a pretty young black woman, about the same height as the disguised Dawn.
"Cool," she says. "I don't suppose we will be able to keep these clothes."
"The clothes, like the bodies, are illusions," Willow says.
Then Willow whispers to Buffy.
"Is she always this dense?" she asks.
"What?" Buffy whispers back. "Doesn't that sound like something I would have said under the same circumstances? In fact, I probably would have said it if she hadn't beat me to it."
"No, you wouldn't," Willow whispers. "You're way too serious and all 'Miss Professional' in front of the new slayers."
Dawn has taken a mirror out of her purse and she and Karyn are looking at it and admiring their reflections. Robin is looking over their shoulders.
"Short and blond," Robin says to Dawn. "You kind of look like your big sister."
"Hey," Dawn says. "Watch it."
Dawn then closes the mirror.
"OK," she says. "Time to go."
Dawn replaces the mirror in her purse and pulls out three vials of blood. She hands them to Karyn, Robin, and finally Buffy.
"What's this for?" Robin asks.
"You drink half it when it starts to glow green," Karyn says. "You'll be inclined to gag at first but then…what a rush."
Willow has resumed her cross legged sit on the floor and started to recite a spell under her breath. Dawn picks up the crystal and puts it into her purse.
"What are you taking that for?" asks Buffy.
"I'm going to be the conduit through which Willow maintains the illusion spell," Dawn says. "The conduit needs to be in possession of the crystal to maintain the illusion over such great distances."
Our view switches to Karyn looking intently at her vial. When the liquid begins to glow a bright green, she pulls off the stopper and drinks about half. Then she looks at Dawn.
"Why aren't you drinking some of this stuff?" she asks Dawn.
The whites of Dawn's eyes, as well as a few of her veins, are glowing bright green.
"Oh yeah," Karyn says.
A green glow arises from all four of the disguised people. Then, in rapid succession, there are four loud pops of imploding air, and the four are gone.
Los Angeles
The disguised Buffy, Dawn, Robin, and Karyn enter into Wolfram and Hart. All around them is chaos. Phones are ringing, and several employees are arguing with a tall black man.
"This place is shut down," he says. "No one goes in or out until I can inform management of what is happening."
"Well, that creates a problem," the disguised Robin whispers as the four walk by.
"There's some sort of chaos spell here," Dawn says. "Localized and strong. It should burn itself out in a couple of hours or so, but we should stay on guard."
"Will this keep us from teleporting out of here once we get what we came for?" asks Buffy.
"It might," says Dawn grimly.
"OK, Robin, let's move around like we belong here," Buffy says. "See if we can find Angel's office. Dawn, you and Karyn try to find our contact, see if he can tell us anything."
"Right," says Dawn.
We follow Dawn and Karyn as they move through Wolfram and Hart.
"Excuse me," Dawn says to a person passing by. "Can you tell me where the library is?"
The woman she stops looks at her like she's lost her mind.
"Peggy, you work in the library," she says to the disguised Dawn.
"Sure I do," Dawn says, not missing a beat. "We're just checking to make sure that most of the employees know where we are. Library use is not up with projections."
The woman shakes her head.
"Angel and his 'openness' policies," she says with disdain, making airquote motions while saying openness. Then she pauses and looks horror struck. "You aren't going to tell anyone I said that are you?"
"It'll be our secret," Karyn says.
The woman does not look reassured.
"So do you know where you could find us?" Dawn asks.
"Take the main elevator down to sublevel 2, second door on the right," she says. Then she walks away before she can be asked anything else.
"Nice save, Sunrise," Karyn says.
"Yeah," says Dawn. "Let's go."
Dawn and Karyn start to make their way toward the main row of elevators. Karyn looks up and then our view shifts to see what she sees. What we see is a quick view of Spike leading Harmony by the hand.
"Wait a minute," Karyn says. "Sunrise, did you see that?"
"Call me Peggy, and you are Olivia," Dawn says.
"Come with me," Karyn says. "We've gotta take a look at this!"
"No," Dawn says. "What we've gotta do is contact our inside guy."
"And we will, but we really have to take a look at this first," Karyn says. "If I saw who I thought I did, it's important."
"Who do you think you saw?" Dawn asks.
"I don't wanna say," Karyn responds. "You'll think I'm crazy."
With that, Karyn starts to climb the stairs.
"Karyn," Dawn whispers forcefully. "No, we need to stay away from there. Let Buffy and Robin look up there. We need to find Sir…"
"Call me Olivia," Karyn whispers back airily. "And…and…uh oh."
Karyn stops climbing the stairs about three steps from the top, allowing Dawn to catch up and grab her by the arm. At the head of the stairs, Angel is standing with Charles Gunn.
"May I help you?" Gunn asks. "Are you two lost?"
"Sorry," Dawn says. "My friend thought she saw someone she knew up here."
Dawn looks significantly at Karyn.
"But she made a mistake, didn't you Olivia?" Dawn says.
"Uhm, yeah, I did," Karyn says, an embarrassed look on her disguised features. "Sorry to disturb you two, see you later."
As Dawn and Karyn rapidly descend the stairway, we see Gunn and Angel standing together.
"Don't those two work down in the library?" Angel asks.
"Yeah, they're Wes's all right," Gunn says. "When the cat's away, the mice will etc. etc., I guess."
Gunn then shakes his head.
"Funny thing though," he says. "I thought Wes told me that those two hated each other."
"Let's go to my office," Angel says. "I really think we need to discuss what just happened with Spike, much as I don't want to."
Angel and Gunn turn and walk away. The phones continue to ring incessantly. We follow Angel and Gunn as they walk up to large double doors and go through them. Angel is ruefully looking at the drained coffee cup in his right hand as the door closes behind him.
In the hallway outside of Angel's office, the disguised Buffy and Robin walk into frame.
"Well, there it is," Buffy whispers nervously.
"Now what?" Robin asks.
"Now we wait for them to come out again, then we do a quick search of his office."
"That…that does not exactly strike me as a brilliant plan," Robin says.
"Hopefully, we'll be able to find what we are looking for and Willow can get us out before anyone is the wiser," Buffy says. "Fortunately, Willow says we don't all have to be standing together for her to get us out."
As Buffy and Robin talk, Lorne walks by.
"What kind of demon is that?" Robin asks. "Can't say it looks familiar."
"I dunno," Buffy says. "Maybe a tacky suit demon or a…wait a minute. I think Willow mentioned him as being one of Angel's friends. Lawrence…Len…something like…"
"Hey, partner," we hear Lorne's voice say out of view. "I need to hey! What are you doing with that…"
"Replacethe goddamn toner!" a man's voice yells. "That's all I ask!"
DONG!
"Come on," Buffy says, jogging quickly in the direction that Lorne took. Robin follows, also at a jog.
Buffy and Robin round the corner, and we are in a copier room. One man is lying on the floor, his face hidden but blood running from the top of his head. Lorne is lying on his back, his right hand up defensively. Standing over him is what appears to be a madman with blood running out of his eyes. He is raising a fire extinguisher over his head like a bludgeon.
"Hey!" Buffy saysloudly.
The man turns around and rushes Buffy.
"I'm going to kill you!" he screams.
Buffy easily catches the descending fire extinguisher with her left hand while knocking him out with her right, obviously not really thinking about being in disguise.
Robin walks over to Lorne.
"Are you OK?" he asks.
"Call security, pronto," Lorne says to Robin. "Before that guy wakes up and tries to brain us all again. Good thing the young lady's got moves that could get her cast in a Jackie Chan movie. I can arrange that by the way."
"Uhm," Robin says. "I'm sorry, I don't have my cell phone."
"Me either," Buffy says.
Lorne stays seated on the floor and holds his head.
"What kind of lawyers are you kids?" he asks. Then he pulls out his own cell phone.
"Security?" we hear Lorne say in the background as our viewpoint centers on Buffy and Robin.
"We need to get out of here," Buffy whispers to Robin. "This sort of thing is going to attract Angel's attention."
Suddenly, Dawn and Karyn appear in the frame as well.
"Hi guys," Dawn says. "What's up?"
"What are you two doing here?" Buffy asks. "Did you find…?"
"No," Dawn says. "He wasn't in his office. And Angel is now downstairs with his friends Gunn and Fred."
"He'll be back up here soon enough," Buffy says, stepping aside to reveal Lorne speaking on the phone while holding his head, the unconscious "toner man", and the body of his late victim. "Let's make sure we're all elsewhere before he shows up."
"Excuse me miss…Victoria, right?" a familiar voice says. "Are you all right?"
Buffy, Dawn, Robin, and Karyn all turn to see Wesley Wyndam-Pryce.
"Uhm…" Buffy says. "I'm fine. Just fine."
Wesley's eyebrows raise speculatively.
Buffy lowers her voice and speaks again with a very fake sounding southern accent.
"Ah'm really fine, thank you kindly, good sir," Buffy says.
Dawn gives her an "I don't know you" look. Wesley shakes his head as if waking up from a daydream and moves away.
"Better stay put," he says. "I'll see if this madness is going on anywhere else."
"Hey, folks," Lorne says from behind them. "That wasn't by any chance…?"
Lorne then shakes his head as if answering his own question.
"No, couldn't have been."
"Couldn't have been what?" Dawn whispers to Buffy.
"Or who," Buffy whispers back. "We really need to get out of here before anyone else decides to ask us questions."
"Speaking of not drawing unwanted attention to ourselves, what was that with the really fake southern accent?" Dawn asks Buffy.
"Virginia, the lawyer I'm impersonating, is from…" Buffy says.
"Virginia?" Dawn finishes.
"No, Kentucky," Buffy says.
"That was supposed to be a Kentucky accent?" Dawn whispers. "We're doomed. Wesley's really smart, he'll probably see through that accent as well as I would."
"Shut up about the accent and let's get out of here," Buffy whispers back.
The four walk away, quietly but quickly. Robin appears to bump into someone who isn't there. A man in a wife beater tee-shirt, covered by tattoos, briefly becomes visible. The man is Lindsey McDonald. Robin's true features also briefly appear, but before either man can look the other, Lindsey vanishes and Robin's mystical disguise returns.
Buffy stops, turns, and whispers to Robin.
"What now?" she asks. Karyn and Dawn continue on their way.
"Don't know," Robin says. "It felt like I bumped into someone."
Meanwhile, up ahead Karyn gestures to Dawn to follow her around a corner.
"Karyn?" Dawn asks.
"I think whoever it was I saw went this way," Karyn says. She looks into an office. Then she stops.
"Oh wow," she whispers softly. "Dawn, I was right. You've got to see this!"
Dawn approaches the window and looks in.
"Dawn," Karyn whispers. "Doesn't that look like…?"
Our viewpoint shifts to the inside of the office. Two people are seriously "dry humping" on the desk. One of them is clearly…
"Spike!" Dawn whispers disbelievingly. "That looks like…"
"Uhm…" Karyn whispers in a forced conversational tone, "Is he…?"
"Yeah," Dawn says. "He is, and that better not be…oh God oh God!"
Dawn shakes her wrists as if she has just touched something disgusting.
"Ewwwww! Harmony! He's back and he's boinking Harmony!"