No Future for You, Part III

Plot

Faith and Genevieve are in a kind of video room. Gigi shows Faith footage of Buffy running on monitors. Gigi explains that this powerful Slayer, the source of their powers, is called Buffy. Faith thinks that Giles brought her in to save the world – and now it turns out it is once again just about saving his golden girl! Gigi says it costs her a fortune to get all this footage of Buffy. She has studied her for months and has come to the conclusion that Buffy is really good, but has too many weaknesses.

Faith asks Genevieve whether she really wants to kill Buffy, though in her head she does not doubt it for a moment. “Kill” sounds too common to Genevieve. To her, Buffy is a misguided leader who has been holding her and the other Slayers back for too long – she deserves to be “eliminated”. And once Buffy is taken care of, their reign begins (she means herself and Faith). Over what exactly, Faith wants to know. Buffy has let the Slayers be the servants of society when they should have been its rulers. Once Buffy is out of the way, Gigi wants to lead the Slayers out of the shadows and into the light of… Roden comes in and interrupts Genevieve. She is forgetting herself, he thinks. He explains that her parents have now left, so they can prepare again for the evening’s battle. Gigi is annoyed and says only he has to prepare – she has long been ready. Instead, Hope (Faith) and she will take care of the more immediate future a little. That is, if Hope’s (Faith’s) dad does not mind her staying a little longer. Faith just says that good old daddy does not care whether she lives or not.

Meanwhile Giles is at the meeting point in the woods. He calls Faith over his radio but of course gets no answer. Still, in case she can hear him but cannot answer, he tells her that he is waiting at the meeting point and has brought help – in the background a kind of dwarf wizard is working on the barrier around the estate. But the magic is too strong. So Giles’ undercover agent in there will have to manage on her own, says the dwarf, Trafalgar – if she is still available. Giles is sure Faith is still alive. That is not what Trafalgar meant. He just reminds Giles that Faith’s target has an upper-class life to offer, and maybe Faith has switched sides. Giles does not answer, but he looks thoughtful.

While Giles worries, Gigi and Faith enjoy a bubble bath in an enormous tub. Faith thinks this would come pretty close to heaven, if she believed in it. Genevieve asks her what might work as an anthem for her coronation ceremony. Of course they agree once again. They are kindred spirits, Gigi says, and she knew it from the first moment. Well, if the two of them are going to be best friends, Genevieve really has to get out more, Faith thinks. Gigi would love to, but her parents always kept her away from common society – which is why she was always privately tutored. Faith asks Gigi where she actually met Roden. At one of her mom’s endless charity parties. At first she ignored him, but then he said he knew about her nightmares. The most terrible and most real dreams – Faith has them too, says Gigi. That is why Genevieve has not slept properly since puberty began. Roden told her he has an old book which says these dreams will stop forever once Buffy is taken out of the picture. Faith asks how she knows he is telling the truth. There is only one way to find out, isn’t there, says Genevieve. But Faith is serious. Maybe Roden just wants her to win enough Slayers over to her side and then pull off something demonic. Hope (Faith) should not be absurd! Roden has always been honest with her, so why would he do such a thing? Faith says she has known a few men like that who only ever used her. They told her what she wanted to hear so that in the end she would do their dirty work for them. Gigi says they are stunning and powerful young women; no wonder they attract the attention of dirty old men. The trick is to let them believe you are letting yourself be used, while in truth you are using them. Unless that is exactly what they want you to believe, Faith replies. She asks Genevieve to forget about Buffy. Gigi likes that Hope (Faith) is worried.

In Scotland: Willow has brought the radar online and Buffy is thrilled. She wonders whether they need sonar too, since their castle has a moat and the military might use frogmen or something like “man-frogs”. Willow wonders how they pay for all this stuff anyway. Buffy explains that they have friends with very deep pockets, though some prefer to remain anonymous. Willow asks what happens if the military and this Twilight group get past their defences. Fighting is a good and very promising idea, Buffy answers. But they cannot kill humans – that is what separates them from the bad guys, Willow reminds her. No, not being evil is the difference. Does Buffy really want to ask that of the Slayers, Willow asks sceptically. Well, they will think about that when…, Buffy begins. Then there is a small explosion and Buffy has vanished – Willow wonders whether it is her fault.

In England: Roden speaks a spell from his book with the Twilight symbol. The next moment Buffy appears and finishes her sentence. She is just about to wonder what happened when she feels sick. Then she looks at Roden and says that whoever he is, he is so going to pay for this. From above, Faith sees Buffy. She cannot believe they have brought her here. Gigi says everything is fine; she should just stay up there and enjoy the show. Then she takes a sword and promises that it will all be over soon. Meanwhile Buffy snaps at Roden that he had better have a damn good reason for bringing her here, or she will do worse than throw up on the floor. Well, the manual says she is going to bleed on the floor. He should rethink that, because it takes more than a little nausea to finish her. Genevieve appears behind her. In the presence of nobility she ought to kneel, she tells Buffy, and kicks her. A Slayer, Buffy notes, and mocks that the club’s admission standards are not what they used to be. At least Genevieve introduces herself before trying to kill Buffy – not that Buffy is impressed in any way. She headbutts Gigi so that her nose bleeds. Gigi finds Buffy brilliant, she says, and attacks again. She mentions that Buffy fights better than the other Slayers she has finished off. Buffy pricks up her ears, brings Genevieve down and takes her sword. She received the Slayer power as a gift and uses it to hurt innocent girls? Other Slayers? Buffy raises the sword. Faith leaps between them. That is how Genevieve learns Faith’s real name – and that the two know each other. Buffy wants to ask what Faith is doing here but does not get far, because Faith simply hurls herself through the window together with her. In her thoughts she keeps begging that they land in the deep end. Then the two of them splash into the swimming pool – in the shallow end, of course, as Faith notes. Buffy snaps that Faith has apparently decided to start her own club: the evil Slayers’ club. She wonders why that does not surprise her and punches Faith. Buffy should damn well calm down and listen, Faith demands – she is on her side. Faith fends Buffy off. Buffy does not believe her, nor that she could ever have believed Faith had changed. Faith tells Buffy that it was her Giles who sent her undercover. Buffy does not believe her, because Giles would not trust Faith any more than she does. Faith throws herself at Buffy, chokes her and pushes her under water – in her head she hears herself telling her to do it. Whenever Buffy is around, she, Faith, becomes the bad one. Once Buffy is gone, Faith would be the hero. Right. And she should never forget how much Buffy hurt her. Faith pulls Buffy up again and says: “Shut up.” Buffy asks Faith whom she is talking to. Faith just wants Buffy to leave. Buffy holds her battered throat and wants to ask something – and there is another explosion…

In Scotland: Willow speaks a spell, and Buffy reappears. Thank God, says Willow. She tried to locate Buffy’s astral signature and accidentally teleported first a Norwegian lorry driver and then two marmosets here before she found Buffy – something strange had Buffy trapped, Willow says. Then she wants to know what happened and who did it. The teleporting makes Buffy sick again, and she throws up. Then she wants them to bring Giles here.

In England: Faith is still standing in the pool. She wonders where Buffy has gone. She realises that she is alone again – as always. But whatever: she is too tired to fight, too tired to… Genevieve appears. Faith let her escape, didn’t she, she asks furiously. And she thought Faith was her friend, says Gigi – an axe raised in her hands, ready to strike.