SCENE 8: [Still in library, continuing from last scene.]
[We see Buffy's stake protruding from the wall behind the counter.
Buffy pulls it out and slips it back into her pants.]
Buffy: So Giles, if it isn't one of those flying monkeys, what is it?
[Giles removes his dirty jacket and hangs it on his office door. He
brushes the dust and debris from his shoulders.]
Giles: Look at the evidence. It came through the air conditioning
grille here. [He walks to grille, examining it.] The pistol itself
barely squeezed through, here, see how the metal is bent? [He
indicates the slightly bent grille slit]. No mortal creature could
survive the crash through the ceiling, only the gun could endure
that... and *that* is our creature. There is no one wielding the gun
-- it is wielding itself.
Buffy: Whoa, you're saying that this gun is acting on its own?
Xander: That would explain why Buffy missed *twice* [Buffy glares at
him].
Giles: My father told me of an occurrence like this during the second
world war. Apparently, some Marines fighting in the Pacific recorded
elaborate accounts of 'invisible soldiers' attacking them. Rifles
floating in mid-air would walk through their lines, bayoneting
soldiers without mercy, while no amount of firepower could stop them.
The odd thing is that there were three separate incidents of such
attacks, each at different times, on different islands, with
different units. These "hallucinations" were of course officially
dismissed as the products of combat stress, heat stroke, and malaria.
It is likely that the pistol that shot Susie is a similar
manifestation.
Xander: You mean we have malaria?
Willow: How could this happen?
Giles: It is some form of magic... likely a sort of autonomous
telekinetic transformation -- autokinesis, if you will.
Xander: Huh?
Giles: I believe the pistol has been animated somehow. An
independent being, made of metal.
Willow: You mean it's alive?
Giles: In a manner of speaking -- although not in the conventional
sense: it doesn't need to eat or breathe. I suppose the only thing
it requires is ammunition.
Xander: [A little disappointed.] So there's no flying monkeys
involved?
Giles: No, considering the evidence: the grille, Buffy's thwarted
attacks, and that dreadful hole in the ceiling... they all rule out
the Flying Monkey Theory.
Willow: I don't understand something. Why would the gun come here?
Xander: Life on the Hellmouth, baby. It doesn't get any better than
this: flying monkeys and animated handguns.
Buffy: [Annoyed] Oh Monkey-Boy, Giles just said...
Willow: No, I mean, why would the gun come here to the *library*?
Was it meant to kill Buffy? Or maybe one of us? [She feels queasy
at the thought of a gun stalking her while she sleeps tonight.] Uh,
I don't think I like that very much. [To Buffy] Could I sleep at
your house tonight?
Xander: [Almost whimpering] Me too?
Buffy: Hold your hormones. Giles, what do you think?
Giles: It's not clear what its intentions were. Perhaps if we had
given it more time -- to see if it might try to communicate...
Xander: Whoa, it was communicating all right. Call it *really loud
Morse Code*. It tried to ventilate Buffy, dammit. If your jacket
hadn't caught the hammer, she'd.... [turns his head, gulps.]
Buffy: Don't worry, I can handle myself. Remember Darla and her
dual-pistol cha-cha?
Willow: [Despairing] But if it came to kill *us*, there's nothing we
can do. [She looks up to the hole in the ceiling.] Somehow I don't
think locking my window tonight will keep it out.
Xander: Does this town have a bomb shelter? There's nothing shameful
about hiding in the ground, is there? Willow, you can log into the
city plans...
Giles: Please, please don't get carried away. It's possible that it
only fired at Buffy as a reaction to her capture attempt. [He pauses
in thought.] There is, however, a more ominous meaning in its
actions.
Buffy: Let's hear it, Explanation-Man.
Giles: [Nodding to himself as he ponders hidden possibilities.] In
particular cases of animation, the non-living object can claim a
right of possession. That is, it can claim the flesh of any creature
it desires -- but only once. Any mortal it touches can be possessed
by it. [To Buffy] I believe it wants your body.
Xander: I'll second that. [Buffy glares at him.]
Willow: [Embarrassed] Xander...
Xander: [Defensively] What? I mean she's a superhuman and
everything.
Buffy: And everything.
Giles: He's quite right. With your body infused with its evil
spirit, there would be no limit to its killing power. You may not
want to admit it Buffy, but you're a nearly perfect instrument of
death -- the genes of countless generations of Slayers have been
supernaturally...
Buffy: Supernaturally combined into yada yada yada. You've told me a
bajillion times before.
Giles: [Reflective] In a way, it's quite a compliment -- the pistol
has refrained from taking another's flesh so that it may have the
best, the top-of-the-line, the cream of the crop...
Buffy: [Raising her hand] Please. But why would it shoot at me if
it wanted me alive? I'm assuming that a dead body is not so fun to
possess?
Giles: Yes, that is correct. It only needs to touch you, and it will
have your body. It tried to shoot at you because it had to be sure
you were the Slayer. It knows... from experience... that any
ordinary human would have failed to escape its attack, as Susie has
shown. Had it wanted to possess Xander, Willow, or myself -- or if
it were simply looking to kill us, I fear we'd all be dead by now --
excepting the one that it chose to possess, of course. Such a fate
is, in many ways... far worse than death. [Adamantly] I am certain
that it will return for you, Buffy. Now that it knows you're the
Slayer, it will *not* flee again. It will be watching you, stalking
you, waiting for the best moment to attack. [He sighs.] As it only
needs to touch you... your chances are not so good. I can give you a
dispel potion to destroy it, but you would have to splash it onto the
pistol. That will be difficult, [looking at the hole in the ceiling]
since it has proven to be an agile adversary.
[Buffy is thoroughly depressed by Giles' inspirational pep-talk.
Willow is relieved to know that she is not the target of the pistol.]
Willow: What exactly would we do if the gun *did* steal Buffy's body?
Giles: We would have to kill her... or it, rather. [He looks at Buffy
-- he means what he says, and she knows it.] [He chuckles lightly.]
Unfortunately, because of the training I've given her, each of us
would undoubtedly die trying.
Buffy: [Rolls her eyes at Giles' training remark.] Come on campers,
we've gotten through worse than this, right?
[The others mumble in agreement.]
Buffy: We can't just sit around, waiting for that thing to come get
me. We've got to reel it in, and fight it on *our* terms. Giles,
isn't there some spell you could cast to draw it to us?
[Giles strokes his chin. Willow almost shakes her head at him,
signalling her fear at confronting the weapon again.]
Giles: I suppose a love potion could do it. Hmm, yes...
Xander: She wants to kill it, not kiss it.
Giles: Let me explain. [Walks to and cleans a section of the wheeled
chalk-board near the window. The others follow to better see his
diagrams] Here we have the pistol... [He draws a crude handgun] and
here we have Buffy. [Draws a stick-figure Buffy with a stake in
hand.] The gun desires Buffy. [He draws an arrow from the gun to
Buffy.] Your typical love potion -- that is, the simple attraction,
off-the-rack sort of spell, I mean it gets complicated when you try
to factor in sexual desire and... [He blushes. The others look
curiously at each other.] I speak from vicarious experience, of
course. Anyway, a simple love potion will bring the object of your
desires to you. With the proper ingredients, it becomes an
irresistible attraction.
Willow: So we can use this spell like a magnet, to draw the gun to
Buffy?
Xander: That way we'll be ready for it.
Giles: Precisely. Although, we will have to reverse the incantation,
since we are bringing the pistol to Buffy and not the other way
around. There is a problem, however. The spell requires an element
of the desired person, or object in this case, to be mixed with the
potion -- a drop of sweat, some blood perhaps, a lock of hair...
Xander: Ding dong. Hello, Giles? That gun isn't exactly Fabio. I
didn't see any hair on it, did you see any hair on it? Who's with me
on this?
Willow: *I* didn't see any.
Giles: But maybe some grease...
Xander: Wrong again. You can't grease your hair if you don't have
any.
Buffy: Grease?
Willow: No, he meant hair.
Buffy: You mean gun oil?
Giles: [He has a flash of insight.] If there's... [He retrieves his
jacket, inspecting the inside collar, where it snagged the pistol.]
Grease, gun oil, whatever it is... I believe there is a bit of it
here on my coat. [He points out an oily spot.] [Excited] With this,
I can make a very powerful love potion to bring the gun to Buffy at
any time we choose.
Willow: Unless it comes for her on its own.
Giles: Right, we'd better get started.
Buffy: How soon can you make the potions?
Giles: It will take a few hours. [Checks his wristwatch] Classes
are almost over. I'll use the science lab. Willow, can you help?
You can make the dispel potion for me.
Xander: I can help too. With the love potion -- Willow can do the
dispel potion.
Buffy: Good. You guys get those two potions ready. [She gets up to
leave] If that gun is after me, I think I know what happened
yesterday at the debate. I'm going to the hospital. I want to ask
Susie a few questions. [She exits.]
Giles: I'll need a few books. [He goes to his office.]
Xander: [Looking at his Tweety-Bird (?) wristwatch] Wow, look at the
time. I'm famished. I'll meet you later in the sci-lab. I'm
heading for the cafeteria, you want anything?
Willow: [Willow shakes her head.] The cafeteria's closed. You know
that.
Xander: [Silly grin] I know. I like to munch on the scraps that
fall to the floor. Of course it's closed, I meant to say I'm heading
for the snack machine. [He leaves.]
Willow: [Sitting alone, she begins to fidget with her hands. She
startles as the library door slams shut behind Xander. Her eyes roam
every corner of the room, on the lookout for the gun to return.]
[She whimpers.]
SCENE 9: Hospital room
[Buffy knocks on the open door. She has a small bouquet of flowers.]
Buffy: Anybody home?
Susie: Buffy? Is that you?
Buffy: [Coming to bedside] Hi Susie. Are you feeling better?
Susie: Yeah. I'm OK, just a little tired.
Buffy: [Noting the abundant flowers and cards in the room] Gee, you
could open a gift shop in here... [She puts her bouquet in an
already-packed pitcher.]
Susie: Thanks, Buffy.
Buffy: Do you mind if I ask you about the shooting?
Susie: I guess not. What is it?
Buffy: I need to know how our debate team was ordered to speak.
Susie: Ordered? Well, it was extra credit...
Buffy: No, [smiling] I mean when was I supposed to take my turn?
Susie: Hmm, you were just before me.... But you weren't there, so I
went instead. [Her eyes widen.] Do you think they were trying to
shoot *you*?
Buffy: It's possible.
Susie: [Amazed] [Lowering her voice to be discrete] I heard you were
a gang member, but I never believed...
Buffy: It's nothing like that. Promise me not to worry about it.
We'll catch the... person who did this to you, and I'll make certain
they can never do it again.
Susie: OK, thanks Buffy. [Buffy squeezes her hand and turns to
leave.] [Smiling, Susie murmurs to herself.] I've got a friend in a
gang... cool. [Buffy hears this and hesitates, but decides to leave
the matter alone. She departs.]
[END PART 4/5]
