Act 2
Fade In:
Int.
Comic Book – Same Time
Faith and Willow still stood face to face.
“No, really. What are you doing here?” Willow asked the figure before her. She turned to Rowena. “How did Faith get inside?”
Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Coven Room – Same Time
“I’m right here,” Faith said as she looked over Rowena’s shoulder.
Cut To:
Int.
Comic Book – Same Time
Willow looked up to see Faith standing next to Rowena. “If you’re there, then she must be…”
“Annoyed,” Comic Faith replied. “What are you doing here Red? You’re supposed to be back in Cleveland.”
“I am in Cleveland,” Willow began, but then she shook her head. “Just forget it. Where are we?”
“You’re in the middle of my stakeout,” the cartoon answered.
Willow pointed in front of her. “Can’t you see them out there?”
“Who?” Comic Faith asked.
“Everybody,” she replied, still pointing. “Buffy, Rowena –”
“You feelin’ okay?” Faith asked. “There’s nothing there – just empty space and a wall.”
“Only we can see you guys,” Willow told the human onlookers.
“Who are you talking to?” Comic Faith asked, growing annoyed.
“Like I said,” she replied to the comic version of Faith. “Just forget it.”
“Is it safe to come back?” Andrew asked, his head peeking inside the frame.
“Come on over,” Willow waved.
“Him too?” Faith replied.
“And me,” Dawn said as she stepped into the frame.
“Look,” Faith sighed. “You guys just stay out of my way and out of trouble, okay? I’ve got work to do,” Faith answered.
She began to walk away, but Willow grabbed her arm. “Wait, you can’t leave us here.”
Cartoon Faith looked at Willow’s hand on her arm for a moment and gave a slight grin.
“Then come with me, but be quiet. There’s a vamp nest someplace in here I’ve got to wipe out,” she replied.
“Looks like we’re on the move,” Willow told Rowena. “Just…keep turning the pages.”
Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Coven Room – Same Time
The images from the frame began to fade and materialize in the next one.
Cut To:
Int.
Comic Book – Same Time
Willow, Faith, Dawn and Andrew all stood around a large wooden door. Faith put a finger over her lips.
“Wait,” Willow whispered. “I want to try something.” She began to rub her hands in a circle in front of her, then spread them further apart. A ball of light began to materialize in front of them. “Stand back,” she told them.
Everyone moved away from the door and Willow walked a few feet away to stand in front of it. The glowing ball still shimmered in her hands. With all her might, she threw it at the door and it busted open, splintering wood all over the place.
“Ha! Magic works!” Willow exclaimed.
Faith kept her position at the side. Seeing what lay waiting for them on the other side of the door, they all appeared to decide that blowing it up probably wasn’t such a good idea. Willow, Dawn and Andrew watched in horror as about twenty vampires poured out of the opening, fangs bared.
Picking up pieces of the shattered door, Dawn and Andrew began to fight off the attackers.
A vampire came barreling at Willow and she threw a binding spell around him, stopping him in his tracks. She smiled and looked at her hand, then began to cast spell after spell, wrapping up the vampires closest to the council team.
One vampire got the jump on Andrew and knocked him to the ground. As he fell, his head hit the cement floor with an audible smack.
Almost as quickly as Willow bound the vampires, Faith began to dust each one trapped in the webs.
Once all of the vampires were gone, Dawn helped Andrew to a sitting position and gently felt the back of his head. As Willow and Faith came over she showed them her hand.
“Guys, he’s bleeding,” Dawn told them.
“Sometimes you get hurt in this job,” Faith replied.
“No,” Andrew said, holding his head. “When you’re a cartoon, you can fall off a cliff or get hit with an anvil and still stand up.”
Willow looked back up at the gang, still watching them from the Coven Room. “Guys? If Andrew can get hurt…”
Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Coven Room – Same Time
Willow didn’t need to finish the sentence. Rowena already had her phone out again and was handing the comic book to Tracey. She motioned Jeff toward her as she stepped away from the huddle, phone to her ear.
“Al?” the watcher began, “Skip the plane. We need you here now. I know it’s risky, but I’m going to have Jeff set up a teleportation station here at the Council. They might be in serious danger…How long?” Rowena turned to Jeff and asked, “How long to get set up?”
“Give me ten minutes,” he said, going to the workbench.
“In ten,” Rowena answered. She looked up to see Giles enter the room. “Okay, I’ll see you in fifteen. I’ll call to confirm when we’re ready here…Thanks Al.” She hung up as Giles and Becca began to walk over. “Thank you Jeff,” she called in his direction.
“Not a problem,” he answered.
“So,” Giles began. “We have something about a…comic book?”
“Andrew was just hurt during a fight in the comic, nothing life threatening, but hurt nonetheless,” she answered.
“So they’re trapped inside the book?” Becca asked. “And they can be hurt?”
Rowena nodded. “Al’s teleporting here.” Rowena paused and looked around them. “Where’s the youngin’s?” she asked.
“With my sister, Roxanne,” Becca answered. “She’s visiting, so she’s looking after them.”
“Needed a break, eh?” Rowena asked.
“Yes,” Becca and Giles both sighed.
“From the kids or from the Roxanne?” Rowena teased.
“Roxanne,” Giles and Becca answered at the same time.
Rowena grinned for a moment before looking serious again. “Well, Al’s on her way,” she said, running her fingers through her hair. “But if you’ve got any ideas, Giles, I’d love to hear ’em.”
“Well, Becca a-and I can maybe start looking through some of the texts. See what we might come across?” he offered.
“That’ll be great,” she told them.
“We might need a few more eyes of people familiar with magic,” Giles said as he looked around the room. “Where are Kennedy and Skye?”
“I’m not sure,” Rowena replied. “We’ll find them ourselves.” She walked away, on a new mission.
Becca and Giles nodded and walked over to join Jeff at the workbench. He gave Giles a handshake, then pointed them over to the far wall to a bookcase. As they walked away, Jeff went back to his task.
Cut To:
Int.
Comic Book – Same Time
Willow was tending to the back of Andrew’s head when Faith came over to kneel beside them.
“He gonna be okay?” she asked.
“Yeah, he’ll make it,” Willow replied with a grin. “It’s a little knock to the noggin’.”
Suddenly, Andrew began to feel around inside his pocket and pulled out his action figure. This time it was missing a leg.
“Just great,” Andrew sighed in frustration. Before shoving it back into his pocket he added, “Now he looks like Robin.”
Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Coven Room – Same Time
“Hey,” Robin said indignantly. “I might be missing a leg, but I’m not a white hobbit dude. And I do still have two arms, unlike him.”
“Two hands too,” the real world Faith said slyly.
Robin grinned.
Cut To:
Int.
Comic Book – Same Time
“Who’s Robin?” Comic Faith asked.
Willow, Andrew and Dawn looked at each other.
“Your boyfriend,” they all answered at once.
Cut To:
Int.
Coven Room – Same Time
Robin’s grin fell.
“Fiancé now, thank you,” Robin corrected them. He turned to Faith. “I’m not in this comic?”
Faith rubbed the back of her neck. “They thought it would be better if I was single, well, she was single,” she said, pointing to the book.
Cut To:
Int.
Comic Book – Same Time
“Actually, Robin’s your fiancé,” Dawn amended.
Comic Faith laughed. “You’re trippin’. I’m not hooked up with anybody but…I gotta admit, Red…” Faith said with a sexy grin. “You and me handled those vamps pretty good together. We’d make quite a team.”
Everyone inside the book stopped what they were doing and turned to the cartoon version of Faith.
“What?” Faith asked. “You driving stick again now, or I’m not good enough?”
Willow turned to the group outside. “Help me,” she whimpered. “Somebody help me, help me now, just…help. What is going on?”
Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Coven Room – Same Time
“Faith’s not the straight arrow we thought,” Xander offered, and all eyes fell on the Faith standing next to them.
She looked over at Robin first. “Like this is a problem for you, Mr. Everyman’s Fantasy.” She grabbed the book. “Look guys, it’s a comic book. I can’t control what she does.”
“Obviously,” Buffy replied dryly.
Frustrated, Faith gave the book to Buffy. “I’m gonna go find Ken,” she said as she left the room.
Cut To:
Int.
Comic Book – Same Time
“You’ve been cut, Red,” the comic book Faith told her. She began to push back Willow’s hair from her forehead, where a tiny trace of blood sat.
Willow looked increasingly uncomfortable under Faith’s gentle touch.
“No one is answering my question,” Willow said, her voice shaking. “Help? What is going on? Somebody? Anybody?”
“Romance issue,” Andrew muttered. “That’s it!” he exclaimed, making them all jump. “It’s the romance issue. Faith is supposed to hook up with someone. She thinks you’re her…hook-up,” he told her.
“Hey, doll boy,” Faith began.
“Action figure,” he corrected. “They’re called action figures.”
“Whatever,” Faith sighed. “I don’t know how you would know I’m supposed to hook up. But I do know, of everyone here, Red’s got a better shot than any of you.” She motioned to Dawn and Andrew.
“Hey,” Dawn and Andrew said indignantly.
“Sorry, Pal,” Faith replied to Andrew. “I like men and not boys, and as for you,” she said, pointing at Dawn, “hooking up with you would go over like gangbusters with B. I like having a functioning jaw.”
“She is rather controlling,” Dawn replied. “I’ll give you that.”
Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Coven Room – Same Time
“Enough, already,” Buffy replied. “I am not controlling, so…just be quiet.”
Cut To:
Int.
Comic Book – Same Time
“Does anyone else see the irony of her last sentence?” Dawn asked.
“Look, Faith,” Willow said. “I’m flattered. I am, but…I’m not Cartoon Willow. I’m Real Willow, and we got trapped in this book.”
“Are you sure you didn’t get a jolt to the head too, Red?” Faith asked. “We’re not in a book.”
“Yes, we are and…whatever.” Willow closed her mouth and looked over at Andrew and Dawn instead. “Let’s just try to stay alive and unhurt until someone out there,” she said, emphasizing the words, “gets us out of here.”
Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Coven Room – Same Time
“We’re working on it, Will,” Xander replied.
Cut To:
Int.
Comic Book – Same Time
“Oh yeaaaah, well, work quicker!” she snapped back.
Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Skye’s Room – Moments Later
Rowena knocked, then opened the door of Skye’s room to see her lying in bed.
“Rise and shine,” Rowena told her. “You need to get downstairs.”
“Five more minutes,” Skye mumbled.
Rowena looked over to the window for a moment, then walked over and snapped the blind up, filling the room with light.
Skye began to smoke and then whooped and hollered before rolling out of bed, hiding on the floor.
“Fine, I’m up,” she said.
Her hand quickly reached up and pulled the bed sheet over her for protection.
Rowena re-closed the blind. “Dawn’s in trouble,” she told her.
Skye peeked up from the mattress with the cover still around her head.
“What kind of trouble?” she asked.
Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Slayer Gym – Same Time
Mia was pumping a barbell as she lay on her back. Kennedy stood watch behind her.
“So,” Mia said, continuing to raise and lower the bar. “How’s Kadin?”
“Are you sure you want to have this conversation while you’ve got three hundred pounds over you?” Kennedy asked.
“Good a time as any,” she said as she continued to push the weight up and down. “I really don’t see you that often anymore.”
“Things are good,” Kennedy answered. “Not great. but good.”
Mia gave a small grin but said nothing.
Faith entered the room and looked around to see Mia lifting weights and Kennedy spotting her. She quickly walked over.
“Hey,” Faith said nervously. “Remember that thing I told you about – that thing where if you told anyone, I’d kill you.”
“You have to be a little more specific than that,” Kennedy replied, not taking her eyes off Mia. “You’ve told me lots of ‘I’ll kill you’ things, Faith.”
“That…cartoon…thing,” she whispered.
“Oh yeah, the comic book,” Kennedy replied. Faith gave her a look that said she needed to keep her voice down. “All the girls know about that by now,” Kennedy added.
“Fine,” Faith relented. “But here’s something not everyone knows. Willow, Andy and Dawn are trapped in one of them.”
Mia almost dropped the weights on her chest in surprise and Kennedy was too busy looking at Faith to notice. Quickly, Faith reached over and pulled the bar off Mia before putting it in its resting place.
“Not a word to anyone,” Faith warned Mia. “We don’t need it getting out that we have a coven of cartoon characters at the moment.”
“No doubt,” Mia replied. “You guys talk. I’ll run,” she said, moving toward the treadmill.
“What do you need from me?” Kennedy asked. “I’m not that good with the magic…it’s kind of hit or miss.”
“Research,” Faith told her. “Giles needs all the magically inclined eyes he can get going over the books.”
“Okay, I’ll give it a shot. Lead the way.”
Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Coven Room – Moments Later
Skye walked in with Rowena at the same time that Kennedy arrived with Faith. They all walked over to the small crowd around the book.
Skye looked over Buffy’s shoulder. “So they can see us, huh?” the vampire asked.
“The ones trapped, yes,” Buffy answered. “Everyone else in the comic, no.”
Cut To:
Int.
Comic Book – Same Time
“Skye!” Dawn said, pointing.
Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Coven Room – Same Time
“That’s freaky,” Skye commented.
“Yeah, my sister as a cartoon is pretty unnerving,” Buffy replied.
“Actually, I was talking about the size of Willow’s boobs,” Skye replied.
Kennedy snickered as Jeff walked up to Rowena.
“We’re ready, if you want to call Al,” he told her.
“Oh, thanks Jeff,” she said as she dialed her phone.
“Things are kinda serious here, Skye,” Buffy replied. “Andrew got hurt, so anyone in there can get hurt, including Dawn.”
“But she’s immortal,” Skye replied.
“Out here, yes. But in there, maybe not,” Buffy replied. “We really don’t want to test the theory.”
“Well, what are they up against?” Skye asked.
“How would we know?” Buffy asked.
“Haven’t you ever read the last chapter of a book before?” Skye asked. “You know, to find out how the story ends.”
“Yeah, how does this story end?” Kennedy asked.
“That’s the thing,” Faith said, “The pages are materializing as we flip them.”
“Yeah, but what about a comic that’s not enchanted? Has anyone read it?” Kennedy asked.
They all looked at each other without speaking.
“I don’t believe it,” Kennedy replied. “We certainly are the great minds protecting humanity, aren’t we? As Carlos Mencia would say, ‘Dee deedee!'” she replied, rolling her eyes. Skye began to chuckle although no one else did. “I’ll find a copy somewhere around here, I’m sure,” she said, before leaving the room again.
“We really should have thought of that sooner, huh?” Buffy asked. Rowena only nodded.
Suddenly, a brilliant light illuminated behind them and they all turned toward it, shielding their eyes. As the light subsided, Althenea stepped from the circle drawn on the floor.
She began to feel various places on her body and then smiled in Jeff’s direction.
“Good job,” she commended. “All here in one piece.”
Rowena gave a relieved sigh as she and Althenea walked to meet each other. They embraced and Rowena pulled back to walk Althenea over to the book, her hand still around her hip.
Buffy handed the book over to Althenea.
“Looks like you’ve got yourself in a pickle there, Love,” Althenea teased Willow. She then turned to Xander. “She does look like Jessica Rabbit. She’d be a dead ringer if her hair was straight.”
Cut To:
Int.
Comic Book – Same Time
“Are you gonna stand there and make jokes, too, or are you going to help?” Willow asked.
Cut To:
Int.
Coven Room – Same Time
“Testy ‘toon, isn’t she?” Althenea said to Rowena. before looking back to Willow in the book. “Yes, the plan is to release you, Willow, but give me a few moments to assess what we have,” she added as she handed the book back to Buffy.
Kennedy came to the doorway, winded, with another comic in her hand. “Did they face off against the twenty vamps yet?” she shouted over.
“Yeah,” Buffy answered.
“Well, it’s about to get worse,” Kennedy told her. “I didn’t finish yet but the next villain might be difficult. They even kill Faith’s love interest in the story.”
“What?!” everyone collectively shouted.
“Willow is the love interest,” Buffy told her.
“Since when?” Rowena asked.
“Willow? It says here it’s a witch named William,” Kennedy pointed out.
“Apparently that’s changed,” Buffy said, “It’s a witch named Willow now. Faith’s been making goo-goo eyes at her.”
“Oh, crap,” Kennedy sighed. “If the book follows along, then that means that they’re going to have to face, and I quote, ‘an unstoppable foe’.”
“Who?” Buffy asked.
“A member of the Presidium, back for revenge,” she replied, throwing the new book over to Faith.
Black Out
End of Act Two