No Future for You part 3.
Starts out with Faith thinking about Buffy as Gigi lets her in on the master plan. "It's always about her." Gigi's been studying Buffy for months in order to prepare to assassinate her. She believes that Buffy is a misguided monarch who's been holding the new slayers back for too long (Have I mentioned yet that Lady Genevieve is nuts?) She's kind of a stereotypical aristocrat who doesn't want to be serfs to the larger world but to rule over the masses. Not too different from Faith's ideology in season 3, despite them coming from vastly different places. Each believes that slayers are superior and deserve special rights. And Gigi adds to that the idea of empire, that she should run the other slayers and the world. Faith has learned better than that at this point, she knows where that thinking leads, but she has to feel some kinship born of understanding where Gigi's coming from.
As soon as Buffy's picture and name entered the picture, Faith got depressed. I do think they made some peace with each other in season 7, but Faith's been feeling ever more the outsider since the Hellmouth collapsed, and I think it's throwing her back into her insecurities regarding Buffy. She's also resentful of Giles again, assuming he lied to her about her mission being for the world when in fact it's about saving HIS slayer.
Roden comes in briefly to try and get Gigi to strategize. She's more concerned about her new buddy, Hope, and finally being able to share her plans for death and domination with someone she immediately views as an equal.
Meanwhile, Giles is outside, still trying to contact Faith, and hanging out with a dwarf(?) named Trafalgar who's attempting to break down Roden's barrier with the Hammer of Hamner. Not working. He suggests to Giles that maybe he's not hearing from Faith because she's switched sides. (And he doesn't even know Faith).
Cut to Faith and Gigi in a huge bubble bath. And let the fan fic commence. Done now? Okay then. Faith is enjoying the luxuries, and girl could definitely use some luxury in her life. The girls bond over music and slayer nightmares that Gigi calls night terrors. She says Roden claims Buffy's death will end them. I wonder if the slayer nightmares are more intense now with all the new slayers? I wonder if some of them are not only of the past lineage, but of the present battles. Are they synced up like periods?
Anyway, "Hope" tries to warn Gigi that Roden might not be trustworthy, alluding to the Mayor without talking directly about him. She wants to save this girl who seems so like herself. Angel's influence maybe? Remember when Angel tried to hard to save Darla? He never accepted he could ever balance his own scales, but he somehow felt if he could save the woman who sired his evil self, it would make a difference somehow. Not the same sitch with Faith, but it does remind me of that, and of Angel's attempts to help Faith in Buffy S3 too. You see someone making the mistakes you made in the past and think if you can save this one, maybe you can save yourself.
And then we're back in Scotland with Willow and Buffy. Willow's helping with the hi-tech defenses and asking a seemingly casual question of how they can afford this stuff. Buffy says they have anonymous donors with deep pockets. Then Will again brings up the question of what they're going to do if attacked by humans, moral dilemma-wise. "Not killing humans is what separates us from the bad guys" is Willow's position, while Buffy maintains that "not being bad" is the difference. Unfortunately, the Slayer's belief in the rightness of her cause is kind of a problem these days when there's so many of them. Buffy doesn't know what to do about Voll's army yet. But then she fwoomps out of there...
...and to Lady Genevieve's place, courtesy of Roden's magic. Faith is looking on and freaking out, not having known what was going down. Gigi's kitted up for battle, thinking cake walk. Buffy's barfing up her chicken caesar wrap. Then the fight is on.
They fight and banter, and Buffy finds out Gigi has been killing other slayers. She's about to finish Gigi off when Faith jumps in. They go out through a window together (again) and land in a swimming pool. Buffy is not in a good mood. She immediately and unfairly I think assumes Faith is behind the whole thing. I know you've been through a teleport and an attempted assassination, B, but think it through. She just figures Faith is trying to start up a rival group of slayers under her leadership, and she should know better.
So they fight in the pool, even though Faith starts by trying to talk. Tells her about Giles' undercover mission, which is not going to go over well. It's funny, Buffy's first reaction is to believe the worst of Faith and disbelieve that Giles would leave her out of the loop on something, which is the opposite of where they ended up in season 7. Faith freaks out at being called a liar and starts choking Buffy and holding her underwater, reminiscent of Buffy's season 3 dream in Consequences. Faith is still stuck in the past too, thinking "whenever she's around, you're the villain" and "never forget how deep she cut you." But she comes out of it and let's Buffy go.
And as they finally have a moment where they seem to be able to start talking things through, Willow pulls Buffy back to Scotland. Damn it! After barfing again, Buffy grimly says, "Get me Giles."
Back at the manor, Faith is tired, depressed and not all that happy about living. Luckily? Gigi has a solution for that. The issue ends with Gigi saying something to Faith that resonates for Faith and Buffy as well. "I thought you were my friend."
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