Story by: Joss Whedon
Teleplay by: Ashley
Gable & Thomas A. Swyden
Directed by: Reza
Badiyi
Transcribed by: AleXander
Thompson
~~~~~~~~~~ Disclaimer ~~~~~~~~~~
I do not own the characters
in this story, nor do I own any rights to
the television show "Buffy
the Vampire Slayer". They were created by
Joss Whedon and belong to
him, Mutant Enemy, Sandollar Television, Kuzui
Enterprises, 20th Century
Fox Television and the WB Television Network.
This is not a novelization
or a script. It is a straightforward and dry
transcript of the episode
"Out of Mind, Out of Sight". It also includes
descriptions of the settings,
action scenes and camera movements where I
felt they were needed.
I made every effort to accurately
transcribe the dialogue from this
episode. If you notice anything
that is transcribed incorrectly, please
let me know and I will post
an update.
rev 98.09.24
This episode was originally broadcast on May 19, 1997.
Copyright (c) 1997 Alexander Thompson
~~~~~~~~~~ Prologue ~~~~~~~~~~
In every generation there
is a Chosen One. She alone will stand against
the vampires, the demons
and the forces of darkness. She is the Slayer.
Sunnydale High School.
Cordelia: I just love springtime.
Cut to the halls. Cordelia
has her arms around her current boyfriend
Mitch, and they and Harmony
are walking down the hall.
Cordelia: Me and bright spring fashions!
Mitch: Spring training.
Cordelia: Me at the end of school dance.
Harmony: The end of school.
Cordelia: Definitely.
My favorite time of year. (giggles) I am, of
course, having my dress
specially made. Off the rack gives me hives.
Mitch: Lemme guess: blue, like your eyes! (laughs)
Cordelia: (laughs) My eyes are hazel, Helen Keller.
Harmony: You two will look so fine together in the May Queen photo.
Cordelia: Well, I haven't been elected May Queen yet.
They've reached the library
doors, and Buffy comes barging out. She
bumps into Mitch and drops
her bag, spilling out its contents: a couple
of stakes, a couple of crosses,
a mace and other stuff.
Cordelia: Uhhh! Behold, the weirdness!
Buffy: (looks up) You're
probably wondering what I'm doing with this
stuff, huh?
Cordelia: Wow, I'm not!
Buffy: Uh, for history
class. Mr. Giles has this, like, hobby of
collecting stuff... which
he lent me... for show and tell. D-did I
mention it's for history
class?
Harmony: She is always
hanging with that creepy librarian in that
creepy library.
Cordelia and company continue down the hall.
Cordelia: (to Mitch)
Hey, did I ever tell you about the time that she
attacked me? At the Bronze?
I don't know why this school admits mentals
like her.
They laugh. Buffy watches them go with a depressed look on her face.
Cut to English class. They are discussing 'The Merchant of Venice'.
Ms. Miller: 'If you
prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we
not laugh? If you poison
us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall
we not revenge?' (looks
at the class) Okay. So talk to me, people. How
does what Shylock says here
about being a Jew relate to our discussion
about the anger of the outcast
in society?
Cordelia: Well, how about color me totally self-involved?
Ms. Miller: Care to elaborate?
Cordelia: Yeah. With
Shylock it's whine, whine, whine, like the whole
world is about him. He acts
like it's justice, him getting a pound of
Antonio's flesh. It's not
justice, it's yicky.
Ms. Miller: But has
Shylock suffered? What's his place in Venice
society?
Willow: Well, everyone looked down on him.
Cordelia: That is such
a twinkie defense. Shylock should get over
himself. People who think
their problems are so huge craze me. Like this
time I sort of ran over
this girl on her bike. It was the most
traumatizing event of *my*
life, and she's trying to make it about *her*
leg! Like *my* pain meant
nothing.
Ms. Miller: Well, Cordelia's
raised an interesting point here. (the
bell rings) Which we'll
pursue at a later time.
The students get up to leave. Cordelia comes up to Ms. Miller's desk.
Cordelia: Ms. Miller?
Ms. Miller: Good observations
today, Cordelia. It's always exciting to
know someone's actually
done the reading.
Willow rolls her eyes behind Cordelia and leaves.
Cordelia: Thanks. Um,
I wanna talk to you about my final paper. I'm
real unfocused. I have all
these thoughts, and I'm pretty sure they all
contradict each other.
Ms. Miller: Well, I
have your outline here, but why don't you stop by
tomorrow after school? We'll
go over it then.
Cordelia: That'd be great! Thanks a lot. (starts to leave)
Ms. Miller: You're welcome. I'll see you then.
Cordelia: Okay! Bye! (goes into the hall) Harmony!
Harmony: Hi!
Cordelia: They called
and said the dress is ready. It's so great! Mitch
is gonna die!
Cut to the boys' locker room.
Mitch comes out of the showers, drying
himself off. He wraps his
towel around his waist and goes over to his
locker. He dries his hair
a bit with another towel, and then reaches
into his locker for his
clothes. Another boy closes his locker and comes
over to him as he pulls
on his pants.
Bud: Hey, Mitch! You goin' to the Bronze?
Mitch: Later. I'm pickin' up my tux first.
Bud: Uh huh.
Mitch: Gotta look sharp for the big dig.
Another boy comes over and joins them.
Bud: Oh, that's right! You gotta look good to be on Cordelia's arm!
Mitch: Oh, it's not her arm I'm lookin' to be on. (laughs)
The boys laugh and then go.
Cut to a shot of Mitch approaching from the
other side. Footsteps can
be heard, and then a girl's giggling. Mitch
hears it and looks around.
Mitch: Who's there?
He doesn't see anyone, so
he continues getting dressed. He hears the
giggling again, and looks
behind him where he thinks it's coming from.
Mitch: Okay, fun time's over, come out.
He reaches for a bat on top
of the lockers, but it floats up by itself.
The bat swings and hits
him, and he falls down. The bat swings again but
misses and hits the locker
doors. It hits him on his upper left arm
twice. Another swing of
the bat hits him in the face, and he's knocked
unconscious.
Opening credits roll. Buffy's theme plays.
~~~~~~~~~~ Part 1 ~~~~~~~~~~
In the halls at school. Cordelia
hands out chocolates while campaigning
for May Queen.
Cordelia: Now, remember who to vote for for May Queen! As in me!
Boy: Thanks.
She sees Harmony and walks over to her.
Cordelia: Hi! Isn't this the bomb? I'm such the campaign strategist.
Harmony takes one and sees the 'C' on the wrapper.
Harmony: 'C'. For Cordelia?
Cordelia: No, 'C' for
Wilma, little brain! Of course, 'C' for Cordelia!
This way people will associate
me with something sweet!
She absently continues to the next student.
Cordelia: Here's a
chocolate... (sees it's Buffy and pulls her hand
back) Oh. I don't think
I need the loony-fringe vote. (leaves)
Buffy: Well, I-I don't
even *like* chocolates. (to herself) Okay, that
was the lamest comeback
of our times.
Xander and Willow arrive.
Xander: So, what's Cordelia up to?
Buffy: Bribery. She's desperate to be May Queen.
Xander: Cordelia, man, she does love titles!
Willow: (reminded by
that, laughing hysterically) Oh, God! Remember in
sixth grade with the field
trip?
Xander: Right! Right! The guy with the antlers on his belt!
Willow: Be my Deputy!
Xander: And remember the, the hat?
Willow: Oh God! The hat!
Buffy: Gee, it's fun that we're speaking in tongues.
Willow: I'm sorry. (calms down)
Xander: It's just that we had this, uh... You had to be there.
Willow: It's not even funny.
Xander: Really.
Willow: Uh, Cordelia just has a history of trying too hard.
Xander: Yeah, what kind of moron would wanna be May Queen anyway?
Buffy: (turns to her locker) I was.
Xander: You what?
Buffy: At my old school.
Xander: Oh! So the,
uh, *good* kind of moron would do that. The, uh,
non-moron, I mean.
Buffy: (closes her
locker and turns back) Well, we didn't call it 'May
Queen', but we had the coronation,
and the dance, and all that stuff. It
was nice.
Xander: Well, you know, you don't need that anymore. You got us!
Willow: (cracks up again) Be my Deputy! Oh, God...
Buffy feels very left out.
Suddenly Bud comes running down the hall with
news about Mitch.
Bud: Guys! C'mon! (Buffy looks up) Mitch got whaled on! I think he's...
Cut to the door to the gym. Principal Snyder is talking to the students.
Snyder: Dead? Of course not. What are you, ghouls?
They all turn to look when
the paramedics open the doors to the gym and
wheel Mitch out.
Snyder: There are no
dead students here. This week. Clear back, make
room, all of you.
Buffy grabs the gurney and stops it.
Buffy: Mitch, what happened?
Mitch: I don't know.
I, I heard something. I tried to grab a, a bat...
(guffaws, unable to believe
what he's saying) that hit me.
Buffy: What hit you?
Mitch: The bat! By itself, the thing was floating, it knocked me out.
The paramedics wheel him away.
Buffy: (to Xander)
I'd better check out the scene. (starts toward the
locker room)
Snyder: Where do you think you're going?
Buffy: (stops and faces
him) Um, Mitch wanted me to get his comb. He,
he likes his comb.
Snyder: I don't think
Mitch needs his comb right now. I think Mitch
needs medical attention.
Willow and Xander exchange a look.
Snyder: And you need
to stay away from the crime scene. Always sticking
your nose in.
Willow: (loudly) Sue? What did you say? Mitch was gonna sue the school?
Snyder: (diverted by Willow) Sue? Who?
Buffy mouths a 'thank you'
to Willow and Xander and quickly goes onto
the locker room.
Xander: Well, his dad is the most powerful lawyer in Sunnydale.
Snyder: Hold on. What have you two heard?
Xander: His dad, the lawyer. You haven't heard of him?
Willow: Other lawyers call him 'The Beast'.
Cut to the locker room. It's
deserted. Buffy walks quietly and looks
around. She sees the bat
on the floor and goes over to it. She nudges it
with her foot and it just
rolls away. She goes into the nearest row of
lockers where four of the
locker doors are damaged and wide open. She
looks into one of the lockers
and notices a large letter on the door
next to it. She closes all
the lockers and sees the word 'look' painted
in red.
Cut to later in the cafeteria during lunch.
Willow: 'Look'? That's all it said?
Xander: Look at what? Look at Mitch?
Buffy: Maybe. All I know is it's a message.
Xander: And...
Giles: (finds them) Ah, here you are.
Buffy: And monsters
don't usually send messages. It's pretty much
crush, kill, destroy. This
was different.
Giles: I'd have to say you're right.
Buffy: I love it when he says that! Any theories?
Giles: (takes a seat)
Uh, I'm, uh, it's a bit of a puzzle, really. Um,
I've never actually heard
of anyone attacked by a lone baseball bat
before.
Xander: Maybe it's
a vampire bat. (no response from the others) I'm
alone with that one, huh?
Giles: Well, assuming
the bat itself is not possessed, uh, there are a
few possibilities that bear
investigating. Uh, someone with telekinesis,
uh, the power to move objects
at will, uh, uh, an invisible creature,
um, or possibly a poltergeist.
Willow: A ghost?
Giles: Yes, and a very angry one.
Buffy: Yeah, I'd say. The locker room was a real scene.
Willow: If it's a ghost, then we're talking about a dead kid.
Buffy: I guess so.
You know, why don't you compile a list of dead or
missing kids? It's probably
a good place to start.
Giles: And, uh, I'll
research all the possibilities, ghosts included.
But, uh, Xander, if you're
not doing anything, would you like to help
me?
Xander: What, so there's homework now? When did that happen?
Buffy: It's all part of the glamorous world of vampire slayage.
Xander: Well, what part do you have?
Buffy: Gonna find out
what I can about Mitch. This attack wasn't
random.
Xander: Well, I want that part.
Buffy: Fine. You can
do it. Ask around, talk to his friends. Talk to
Cordelia!
Xander: Talk to Cordelia? (to Giles) So, research, huh?
Cut to the balcony. Harmony finds Cordelia at the drinking fountain.
Harmony: Hi!
Cordelia: Oh, hi.
Harmony: Cordelia, you weren't in fifth period.
Cordelia: I went to the hospital.
Harmony: Oh, Mitch. How is he? Will he be okay?
Cordelia: Well, the
doctor says he'll be fine. They're gonna send him
home tomorrow. But... you
should've seen him lying there. All black and
blue? How's he gonna look
in our Prom pictures? How am I ever gonna be
able to show them to anyone?
Harmony: Well, they can do wonderful things with airbrushes these days.
Cordelia: You think?
Marcie has a flashback. Harmony finds Cordelia at the drinking fountain.
Harmony: Hi!
Cordelia: Hi! Did you
see Mitch? He just broke up with Wendy eight
seconds ago, and he's already
nosing around.
Harmony: It's shameless!
Cordelia: In the spring,
if he makes varsity baseball, maybe I'll take
him on a test drive.
Marcie: Hi, guys!
Cordelia: What do *you* want?
The flashback is over. Cordelia
and Harmony walk along the balcony
toward the stairs.
Cordelia: I just hope
they can prop him up long enough to take the
picture.
Buffy: (from the door) Cordelia, can I talk to you?
Cordelia: Oh, great.
Harmony: Why is she always try... Uff!
She jerks backward and tumbles
down the stairs. Buffy, Cordelia and
others come running down
after her. Principal Snyder saw it happen, too.
Cordelia: Harmony!
Snyder: Oh, for heaven
sakes! Clear back, everyone! Give her some air!
(to a student) You! School
nurse, now!
The student nods and scrambles to get the nurse.
Harmony: Ow! Oh, my ankle! I think it's broken.
Buffy: What happened?
Snyder: (to Buffy)
Hey! Who's the principal here? (to Harmony) What
happened?
Cordelia: She fell!
She, she, we were standing at the top of the stairs
and she just fell! All by
herself!
Harmony: No! I was pushed!
Buffy gets up when she hears
laughter and footsteps going up the stairs.
She follows the sounds up
the stairs. Snyder bends down and touches
Harmony's ankle.
Harmony: Ow!
Snyder: Don't sue.
Buffy reaches the top of
the stairs and still hears the laughter. She
sees a door close and follows
whoever it was in. Cut inside.
Buffy: Is anybody here?
She feels something bump
her and hears footsteps going into the band
room. She looks around,
confused.
Buffy: Hey! Who's here?
She goes into the band room
and hears activity somewhere. The ceiling
access hatch in the corner
rises up, but Buffy doesn't notice it.
Buffy: Okay, I know
someone's here. Look, I'm not gonna hurt you. I
just wanna talk to you.
The ceiling hatch lowers
back into place. Buffy looks around and finally
leaves. The camera pans
from Buffy up to the ceiling hatch in a corner
above a cabinet.
~~~~~~~~~~ Part 2 ~~~~~~~~~~
The main entrance to Sunnydale
High after school. Students are leaving
for the day. The camera
pans over to two men dressed in black suits
watching the student's activity.
Buffy: Giles, have you ever touched a ghost?
Giles: Uh, no. From
what I've heard, uh, having a, a ghost pass through
you is a singular experience.
It's a, it's a rather, uh, cold amorphous
feeling. It makes your hair
stand on end.
Buffy: You see, that's
my problem. I touched the thing, but it didn't
go through me. It bumped
into me. And it wasn't cold.
Xander: So, we're talking about what, an invisible person?
Buffy: A girl. She laughed.
Giles: A girl on campus with the ability to become invisible.
Xander: That is so cool!
Willow: Cool?
Xander: Well, yeah,
I would give anything to be able to turn invisible.
Well, I wouldn't use my
powers to beat people up, but I'd use my powers
to protect the girls' locker
room.
Giles: It must be a fairly heady experience... having that ability.
Willow: How'd she get it? Is she a witch? 'Cause we can fight a witch.
Xander: Hmm. Greek
myths speak of cloaks of invisibility, but they're
usually for the gods. (gets
looks from everyone) Research Boy comes
through with the knowledge!
Buffy: This girl's sorta petty for a god.
Willow: She's got a grudge. But why Harmony?
Xander: Harmony and Mitch. The common denominator is...
Buffy: Cordelia!
Willow: So what now?
Buffy: First thing
tomorrow, why don't you pull up that missing kids
list?
Willow: Got it. I'll see ya then.
Buffy: Bye.
Xander: See ya. (leaves
with Willow) Oh, hey, do you wanna come to our
place tonight for dinner?
Mom's making her famous phone call to the
Chinese place.
Willow: Xander, do you guys even have a stove?
Giles: (to Buffy) So,
I'll look into ways that you can de-cloak an
invisible someone. What
about you?
Buffy: I think Cordelia's
gonna be workin' on her May Queen dress
tonight. Maybe there'll
be some action. Guess I'm gonna start the hunt.
Giles: How exactly do you propose to hunt someone you can't see?
Buffy gives Giles an inquisitive
look. Cut to the halls that night. The
shadow on the floor shows
the doors opening.
Giles: You may have to work on listening to people.
Buffy: Very funny.
Giles: I thought so.
Buffy comes into the hall
and hears activity to her left. She finds the
room where Cordelia and
her friends are getting her dress ready. They
fuss over the dress. Buffy
hears the conversation and laughter coming
from the room.
Cordelia: Should I wear my hair up? Do you think I should wear it up?
Buffy peeks through the door to watch.
Cordelia: How does the, um, hem go? Is it, is it long enough, or...
Buffy smiles.
Cordelia: Isn't it beautiful?
Buffy looks down and remembers
her own experience as Prom Queen. As she
turns to go she hears a
flute playing. She begins to follow the sound.
Cut to the library. Giles
comes up the stairs and stops when he hears
the music, too. The music
stops, and he continues into the stacks. He
hears a squeaking and stops
again.
Giles: Who's there?
After a moment he takes a
few steps to a glass-enclosed bookcase and
sees his reflection. He
turns away and is startled by Angel standing
there. He looks back at
his reflection but doesn't see one for Angel.
Giles: (exhales) A vampire casts no reflection.
Angel: Don't worry. I'm not here to eat.
Giles: Buffy told me you don't feed from humans anymore.
Angel: Not for a long while.
Giles: Is that why you're here? To see her?
Angel: I can't. It's, uh... It's too hard for me to be around her.
Giles: A vampire in
love with a Slayer! It's rather poetic! In a
maudlin sort of way. What
can I, uh... What can I do for you?
Angel: I know you've been researching the Master.
Giles: Yes, the vampire
king. I've tried to learn as much as I can
about him for the day that
Buffy must face him.
Angel: Something's
already in motion, something big, but I don't know
what. You've read all the
Slayer lore there is, right?
Giles: I-I've studied
all the extant volumes, of course. But the, uh,
most salient books of Slayer
prophecy have been lost. The Tiberius
Manifesto, the Pergamum
Codex...
Angel: The Codex?
Giles: It's reputed
to have contained the most complete prophecies
about the Slayer's role
in the end years. Unfortunately, the book was
lost in the 15th century.
Angel: Not lost. Misplaced. I can get it.
Giles: (exhales, astounded)
That would be most helpful! Uh, m-my own
volumes have... been rather
useless of late.
Angel: (looks at Giles' book) Legends of Vishnu?
Giles: (a bit embarrassed)
There's an... invisible girl terrorizing the
school.
Angel: That's not really my area of expertise.
Giles: Nor mine, I'm
afraid. Uh, it's fascinating, though. By all
accounts it's a, a... a
wonderful power to possess.
Angel: Oh, I don't
know. Looking in the mirror everyday and seeing
nothing there. (cut to Giles'
reflection) It's an overrated pleasure.
Cut to a girls' restroom.
Marcie is having another flashback. She looks
at herself in the mirror.
Cordelia and her friends come in.
Cordelia: God! I am
never sitting through another one of those alumni
lectures again. Two hours
of 'My Trek Through Nepal'. Hello! There is
nobody caring.
Marcie: And did you
guys see his toupee? I mean, it looks like a
cabbage.
Cordelia: And those
slides! 'That's a mountain. That's a mountain, too.
Now look at some mountains.'
Harmony: I swear, he had three slides and just used them over and over.
Marcie: I know, but
did you guys see his toupee? I mean, it was, like,
the worst!
Harmony: (to Marcie) We're talking, okay?
Cordelia: Oh! And did
you guys check out that extreme toupee? Yeah,
that's realistic. It looked
like a cabbage.
They all laugh. Cordelia
and her friends leave the restroom. Marcie
stays behind and feels very
left out.
Snyder: The winner is Cordelia Chase!
Cut to the quad where a stage has been set up.
Snyder: Let's bring up our new May Queen.
The students in the quad
all applaud. Xander and Willow walk out of the
crowd.
Cordelia: Thank you
for making the right choice, and for showing me how
much you all love me. (applause)
Being this popular is not just my
right, but my responsibility,
and I want you to know I take it very
seriously.
Cut to Buffy leaning on a
nearby pillar. Willow and Xander come up to
her.
Cordelia: It all began when...
Xander: So, Giles said you'd be here. Why are you being here?
Buffy: Last night was a bust. But I still think Cordy's the key.
Willow: This is the
dead and missing list. I pulled up their classes,
activities, medical records...
Buffy: Good work.
Willow notices the two men in black suits loitering by some stairs.
Willow: Has Cordelia hired a bodyguard or something?
Xander sees them too, and he and Willow exchange a look.
Buffy: Hey, you guys,
check out this one. It's the most recent one,
Marcie Ross, disappeared,
like, six months ago.
Xander: I don't know her.
Willow: Me neither.
Buffy: Her only activity was band. She played the flute.
Willow: So?
Buffy: Well, last night
when I was hunting, I heard this flute, but I
couldn't figure out where
it was coming from. And it was in the band
room that I lost Miss Invisible
yesterday. You know what, this all
tracks. I'm gonna check
it out. See you guys later?
Xander: Okay, we'll see you after geometry.
Cordelia: (still giving
her acceptance speech) Ask not what your school
can do for you, ask: Hey!
What am I wearing to the Spring Fling?
Cut to the band room. Buffy
looks around and almost runs into a chair.
She notices a boot print
on it, guesses it was used as a step to climb
and looks up. She notices
in the corner of the ceiling that there's an
access hatch. She climbs
up onto the cabinet and crawls over to the
hatch. She lifts it up and
puts it aside as she pokes her head in and
has a look around. She climbs
up onto the ceiling and begins to crawl
through the space. Near
a skylight she finds Marcie's things. Her flute
is there, and Buffy picks
it up to look at it. The camera shows Marcie's
view as she watches Buffy
go through her stuff. Buffy picks up her teddy
bear, looks at it and puts
it back. She looks under some sheet music,
finds Marcie's yearbook,
pulls it out and opens it.
Buffy: Marcie Ross. So it is you.
As Buffy sits there and reflects,
a knife floats in midair behind her
left shoulder. Buffy closes
the yearbook and takes it with her as she
starts back to the hatch.
In the band room she closes the hatch and
climbs back down from the
cabinet.
Cut to Ms. Miller's classroom.
She's waiting for Cordelia to show up.
Marcie walks in and closes
the door.
Ms. Miller: Cordelia, could you possibly be on time?
She looks up from her desk
and sees no one's there. She goes back to her
work as Marcie walks around
behind her and giggles.
Ms. Miller: Who's there?
Marcie slips a plastic bag
over Ms. Miller's head and ties it off. Cut
to the hall. Cordelia arrives
at the door and knocks. Cut inside. Ms.
Miller is slumped over on
her desk. Cordelia comes in.
Cordelia: Ms. Miller?
(sees her) Oh, my God! Ms. Miller! (lifts her up)
Oh, my God! (pulls the bag
off) Are you okay?
Ms. Miller draws a sudden deep breath and begins coughing.
Cordelia: Ms. Miller, what happened?
Behind her at the chalkboard
a piece of chalk floats up and begins to
write.
Ms. Miller: Attacked. Didn't see.
The piece of chalk makes
noise on the board, and Cordelia and Ms. Miller
turn to see it finish writing
the word 'listen'.
~~~~~~~~~~ Part 3 ~~~~~~~~~~
The library. Giles is sitting at the table.
Giles: A nest?
Buffy: It looked like
she'd been there for months. It's where I found
this.
She opens the yearbook and
puts it on the table for Willow and Xander to
see.
Willow: Oh, my God!
(reads) 'Have a nice summer. Have a nice summer.'
This girl had no friends
at all.
Giles: Uh, once again I teeter at the precipice of the generation gap.
Buffy: 'Have a nice
summer' is what you write when you have nothing to
say.
Xander: It's the kiss of death.
Buffy: You guys didn't know Marcie Ross?
Xander: Never met her. Why?
Buffy: 'Cause you both wrote it, too. (points to Xander's signature)
Xander: 'Have a nice...' Yeesh!
Willow: Where am I?
(Buffy points) Oh. 'Have a *great* summer.' See, I
cared!
Buffy: You guys don't remember her?
Xander: No, I probably
didn't see her except to sign the book. I mean,
this is a big school.
Willow: (looks at her
printouts) Xander, we each had four classes with
her last year.
Buffy: So, no one noticed her, and now she's invisible.
Xander: What, she turned invisible because no one noticed her?
Giles: (hits the table)
Of course! (gets up) I've been investigating
the mystical causes of invisibility
when I, I should have looked at the
quantum mechanical! (gets
looks from them all) Physics.
Buffy: I think I speak for everyone here when I say, huh?
Giles: (gets a book)
It's a rudimentary concept that, that reality is
shaped, even, even... created
by our perception.
Buffy: And with the Hellmouth below us sending out mystical energy...
Giles: People perceived
Marcie as, as, as invisible, and, and, and, and
she became so.
Cut to Ms. Miller's class, where Marcie has another flashback.
Ms. Miller: So, who knows the answer to this one? Think about it.
Several students, including Marcie, raise their hands.
Ms. Miller: Cordelia?
Cordelia: Well, just
because the story's about him, doesn't necessarily
mean he's the hero, right?
Ms. Miller: Exactly. So, what do we call him? Willow?
Willow: Well, the protagonist.
Ms. Miller: Xander?
Xander: Why can't he
be both? I mean, he did do some things that are
pretty heroic.
Ms. Miller: Absolutely. Who doesn't agree with that?
Several students including
Marcie raise their hands. Ms. Miller points
to one.
Ms. Miller: Okay.
Marcie raises her hand again. Ms. Miller points to someone else.
Ms. Miller: And how about you?
Marcie becomes weary of constantly
being passed over and sighs. She
looks at her hand and watches
as it becomes translucent and then
transparent. Her flashback
is over. Cut to the library.
Buffy: This isn't this
great power that she can control. It's something
that was done to her. That
*we* did to her.
Willow: No wonder she's miffed.
Xander: What does she want?
Buffy: Just what we thought. Cordelia.
She turns the yearbook to
Willow and Xander to show them the marked up
picture of Cordelia. Cordelia
comes into the library and overhears her
name.
Cordelia: What? I knew
you'd be here. Buffy, I, uh, I, I know we've had
our differences, with you
being so weird and all, and hanging out with
these total losers...
Willow and Xander can't believe
that she just said that in front of
them.
Cordelia: Ooo! (exhales)
Well, anyway, despite all of that, I know that
you share this feeling that
we have for each other, deep down...
Willow: Nausea?
Cordelia: Somebody
is after me! They just tried to kill Ms. Miller? Uh,
she was helping me with
my homework. And Mitch! And Harmony?! This is
all about me! Me, me, me!
Xander: Wow! For once she's right!
Buffy: So you've come to *me* for help.
Cordelia: (nods) Because
you're always around when all this weird stuff
is happening. And I know
you're very strong, and you've got all those
weapons... I was kind of
hoping you were in a gang.
Buffy can't believe what she's hearing.
Cordelia: Please! I don't have anyone else to turn to!
Giles gets up and offers her a chair.
Giles: Please. Sit down.
Cordelia: Okay. Thanks.
Giles: You know, I... I don't recall ever seeing you here before.
Cordelia: Oh, no, I have a life.
Buffy: Okay. (exhales) Cordelia, your attacker is an invisible girl.
Xander: Who is really,
really angry at you, which I... can't imagine
personally, but it... takes
all kinds, y'know?
Cordelia: Well, I don't care what it is, just get rid of it!
Buffy: Well, it's not
that simple, it's a person, it's... (shows her
the yearbook) It's this
person. Now, do you have any idea why she'd be
so...
Cordelia: Oh, God! Is she really wearing Laura Ashley?
Xander: So homicidal?
Cordelia: (exhales)
I have no idea! I've never seen this girl before in
my life!
Cut to the crawl space in the ceiling.
Marcie: (maniacally)
I won 'cause you didn't see me coming. Cordelia,
you don't remember me. I
remember you, all your idiot slut friends, I
hate them. They take your
life and they suck it out of you! But then
they didn't see me coming.
They gotta learn. They gotta learn.
Cut to the library.
Giles: According to
what you told us about the attack on Ms. Miller, we
now have two messages from
Marcie: 'look' and 'listen'.
Willow: Messages we don't understand.
Buffy: I don't think
we're supposed to... yet. Marcie's not quite
ready. But from what she
did to Cordelia's picture, I would say that
she's wigged on the whole
May Queen thing. Maybe she's gonna do
something about it.
Willow: Stop the coronation
tonight, maybe. Keep you guys away from the
Bronze?
Cordelia: Nothing is keeping me from the Bronze tonight!
Xander: Uh, can we just revel in your fabulous lack of priorities?
Cordelia: If I'm not
crowned tonight then, then Marcie's won! And that
would be bad. She's evil,
okay? Way eviler than me.
Buffy: Cordelia has a point.
Cordelia: Buffy's with me on this.
Buffy: Anyway, continuing
the normal May Queen activities may be the
best way to draw Marcie
out. We can use Cordelia as bait.
Cordelia: Great! Bait?
Giles: Willow, Xander,
you'll help me begin our research anew. Unless
we find a way to cure Marcie's
invisibility, then Buffy will be...
Marcie is there now looking down from the stacks.
Buffy: A sitting duck.
They all get up to do their tasks.
Buffy: (to Cordelia) C'mon.
Cordelia: Well, I have to try on my dress. And am I really bait?
Cut to the halls. Buffy and Cordelia are walking.
Cordelia: So, how much
the creepy is it that this Marcie's been at this
for months? Spying on us?
Learning our most guarded secrets? So, are you
saying she's invisible because
she's so unpopular?
Buffy: That about sums it up.
Cordelia: (exhales) Bummer for her. It's awful to feel that lonely.
Buffy: Hmm. So you've read something about the feeling?
Cordelia: (stops Buffy)
Hey! You think I'm never lonely because I'm so
cute and popular? I can
be surrounded by people and be completely alone.
It's not like any of them
really know me. I don't even know if they like
me half the time. People
just want to be in a popular zone. Sometimes
when I talk, everyone's
so busy agreeing with me, they don't hear a word
I say.
Buffy: Well, if you
feel so alone, then why do you work so hard at
being popular?
Cordelia: Well, it beats being alone all by yourself.
She continues down the hall.
After considering that for a moment Buffy
quickly follows.
Cut to the library. Willow hears a flute play.
Willow: Shhh! Listen!
They all listen for a moment and look in the direction of the music.
Giles: Come on.
Cut to the hall. They come out of the library.
Giles: We could...
talk to her. Perhaps reason with her. Or possibly
grab her.
Willow: There are three of us.
Xander: Let's go!
They start down the hall.
Cut to a mop closet. Buffy opens the door and
turns on the light.
Cordelia: If you ever tell to anyone that I changed in a mop closet...
Buffy: Your secret dies with me. (looks around) Looks okay. But hurry.
Cordelia: Okay.
She leaves the closet and closes the door behind her.
Cut to the basement. Giles,
Willow and Xander come down the stairs and
look around. They all listen
for the next direction to take. Xander
hears the flute through
a pair of heavy metal doors.
Xander: Over here.
He opens the door and they all follow him into the boiler room.
Giles: Marcie? We know
what happened to you. Please, can we talk to
you?
Willow: We're sorry we ignored you.
Xander follows the sound
of the flute over to a shelf where there's a
tape recorder playing.
Xander: Can you say 'gulp'?
Marcie can be heard running
from the room and slamming the door behind
her. The main gas valve
has been opened and is hissing.
Giles: What's that sound?
Cut to the hall. Buffy is talking to Cordelia through the door.
Buffy: You know what
you were saying before? I understand. Somehow it
doesn't seem to matter how
popular you are when...
Cordelia: You were popular? In what alternate universe?
Buffy: In L.A. Th-the
point is, I did sort of feel like something was
missing.
Cordelia: Is that when you became weird and got kicked out?
Buffy: Okay. Can we
have the heartfelt talk with a little less talk
from you? (no response)
Cordelia?
She hears noises inside the closet and some muffled screaming.
Buffy: Cordelia!
She tries the door, but it's locked.
Buffy: Cordelia!
She punches through the door
and reaches in to unlock it. As she comes
in she sees Cordelia being
pulled through the ceiling.
Cordelia: Buffy!
Buffy tries to jump and grab
her legs, but she's pulled through too
quickly. Buffy steps back,
takes a running jump up to grab a pipe and
swings herself up and through
the opening.
Cut to the basement.
Giles: It's gas. (checks
the furnace) She's snuffed out the pilot
light! The gas is on full!
(looks around) I can't find the shutoff
valve.
Xander finds the valve handle on the floor.
Xander: Is this it?
Willow: Okay, that's bad. How 'bout the door?
She and Xander slam themselves
into it, but it doesn't budge. Xander
spots a bar, grabs it and
starts to swing it at the door like a ram.
Giles: NO! One spark and you'll take the whole building with us!
Cut to the ceiling crawl
space. Buffy looks around and finds Cordelia
lying there.
Buffy: Cordelia! (kneels
next to her) Cordelia! (takes her pulse) Oh,
my God!
She's looking around for
what to do when Marcie kicks her. She rolls
away and falls through a
ceiling panel and onto a desk below, smashing
it and getting knocked out.
Marcie drops a medical bag next to her and
opens it. Buffy wakes and
lifts her head to look around. Marcie gets a
syringe out of the bag and
goes over to Buffy. She sees the needle at
the last moment as Marcie
injects her in the neck. Buffy's vision blurs,
and in just a few seconds
she falls back to the floor unconscious.
~~~~~~~~~ Part 4 ~~~~~~~~~~
Outside the Bronze. Cut inside.
Cordelia and Buffy are tied to the May
King and Queen thrones.
Buffy wakes up.
Cordelia: Buffy? You're awake?
Buffy: (a bit disoriented) Yeah.
Cordelia: I can't feel my face!
Buffy: What do you mean?
Cordelia: My face. My face is numb. What is she doing?
Buffy: I don't know.
Cordelia looks at the curtain. 'Learn' is written on it in glitter.
Cordelia: What does that mean?
Buffy: I don't know.
Cut to the basement. Giles
tries to turn the gas valve off with his bare
hands with some success.
Giles: That should
give us a few minutes, but we b... If we don't get
out of this room soon...
Willow: Why is Marcie doing this?
Giles: The loneliness,
the constant exile, she's... (coughs) she has
gone mad!
Xander: Ya think? (coughs)
Cut to the Bronze. A tray wheels itself over to Buffy and Cordelia.
Marcie: Uh, I'm disappointed.
I'd really hoped you guys had figured it
out by now.
Buffy: Well, why don't
you explain it? C'mon, Marcie, what are we
supposed to learn?
Cordelia: Yeah, what do you wanna teach us!
Marcie: You don't get it. You're not the student. You're the lesson.
Cordelia: What did you do to my face?
Marcie: Your face.
That's what this is all about, isn't it? Your
beautiful face. That's what
makes you shine just a little bit brighter
than the rest of us. We
all want what you have. To be noticed,
remembered. To be seen.
Cordelia: What are you doing?
Marcie: Well, I'm fulfilling your fondest wish.
She pulls off the cloth covering
the tray, revealing several surgical
instruments. Cordelia gasps
when she sees them.
Marcie: I'm gonna give you a face no one will ever forget.
Cut to the basement. Willow
is slouched on the floor, weakened by the
lack of oxygen. Giles takes
off his jacket and wraps it around the pole
Xander found to prevent
sparks.
Giles: One, two, three!
The two of them ram the door
with the pole, and it makes a deep, loud
boom, but it doesn't budge.
Giles: Again!
The door still won't budge.
Cut to the Bronze.
Buffy: Marcie, you can't do this.
Marcie: What are you gonna do? Slay me?
Buffy: Marcie, you know this is wrong.
Marcie: (punches Buffy)
You shoulda stayed outta my way. Y'know, I, I
thought, I thought you would
understand my vision, but you're just like
them.
She takes a scalpel from the tray and swings it at Cordelia's face.
Cordelia: (gasps) Please
don't do this! (watches the blade float in
front of her) Nooohohoho!
Marcie: You should
be grateful. I mean, people who pass you in the
street are gonna remember
you for the rest of their lives.
Buffy struggles to reach
for the tray while Marcie concentrates on
Cordelia.
Marcie: Children are
gonna dream about you. And every one of your, your
friends who comes to the
coronation tonight will take the sight of the
May Queen to their graves.
Cordelia: Wait!
Marcie: No, we really
have to get started. The local anesthetic's gonna
wear off soon, and I don't
want you to faint. It's less fun if you're
not awake.
Cut to the basement. Willow
is unconscious. Xander and Giles are on the
floor now, too.
Xander: You guys are... I'm blacking out on you.
He collapses onto Willow.
Cut to the Bronze.
Marcie: Let me see.
I think we should start with your smile. I think it
should be wider.
Cordelia: Marcie, I know you think I don't understand, but I do!
Marcie: Yeah, I'll
*bet* you know how I feel. I'm sure you can just be
with all your friends and
feel so alone 'cause they don't really know
you. You're just a typical,
self-involved, spoiled little brat, and you
think you can charm your
way out of this, don't you?! ISN'T THAT WHAT
YOU THINK?!
She swings the scalpel and
cuts Cordelia's cheek. Buffy looks at her in
shock.
Marcie: I see right through you.
Buffy has freed her legs
and kicks the instrument tray into Marcie. She
stumbles back into the curtain.
Buffy quickly pulls the rest of the
ropes off and gets out of
her chair.
Cordelia: Oh, my God! Get me out of here, please!
Buffy: (starts working on Cordelia's ropes) Hold still!
Marcie can be heard getting
back up, and she kicks Buffy away from
Cordelia. Cordelia screams.
Cordelia: (crying) Uh, huh, huh, oh, my God!
Cut to the basement. Giles
is weakly slapping against the door. It
suddenly opens, and Giles
falls through it. Angel stands in the doorway
and looks around and down.
He quickly grabs Giles and helps him up.
Angel: Come on!
He helps Giles out of the
room. He pulls Xander up, and he wakes and
gets out by himself. Angel
picks Willow up in his arms and carries her
out. Giles slams the door
closed. They all cough and try to breathe.
Xander: What happened?
Angel: You tell me.
Willow: (waking up) I'm up, mom.
Xander: (notices Angel) Hi! What do you want?
Angel: I brought you
the Codex. (hands the book to Giles) I came in
through the basement. I
smelled the gas.
Giles: Yes, w-w-well
shut it off, otherwise, uh, the whole building
will go up!
Angel: I'll get it. It's not like I need the oxygen.
Giles: Come on, let's get out of here.
He leads Willow and Xander
up the stairs as Angel watches them go. When
they're gone Angel goes
into the room to shut off the gas.
Cut to the Bronze. Buffy gets up.
Buffy: Y'know, I really
felt sorry for you. You've suffered. There's
one thing I really didn't
factor into all this. You're a thundering
loony!
Cordelia: Buffy, are you okay?
Buffy tries to get up, but Marcie kicks her back down.
Cordelia: Oh, my God! Oh, my God!
Buffy tries to get up again,
but Marcie punches her and knocks her onto
the chair.
Cordelia: (screams) Buffy!
Buffy falls off of the chair
and tips it over onto herself in the
process.
Cordelia: (screams) Buffy! Oh, my God!
Buffy gets up again and takes a blind swing.
Marcie: Hey, moron!
I'm invisible! (knocks Buffy down) How are you
gonna fight someone you
can't see?
Cordelia: Oh, my God!
She is in hysterics, and it's distracting Buffy.
Buffy: Cordelia, shut up.
Cordelia: (meekly) Okay.
Buffy closes her eyes and
tries to sense where Marcie is. Marcie slowly
walks around her. The floor
creaks under her foot and Buffy spins around
and lands a punch right
on target. Marcie staggers back into a red
banner, and it wraps around
her and gets pulled down with her. She gets
up with the banner draped
over her head.
Buffy: I see you.
She punches Marcie again,
knocking her down once more. The side door
opens, and several FBI men
come in.
Agent: Everybody stay where you are.
Two agents run over to Buffy and Marcie.
Doyle: (gun drawn) FBI! Nobody move!
Manetti: (holds out
his hand to keep Buffy back) Okay, we'll take it
from here now, ma'am. (helps
Marcie up)
Buffy: Take what from where?
Doyle: I'm agent Doyle, this is Agent Manetti. We're here for the girl.
Buffy: Well, where
were you ten minutes ago when she was playing
surgeon?
Doyle: I'm sorry, we came as fast as we could.
Marcie: (to herself) Oh, my God!
Doyle: (hands Marcie off to another agent) We'll take it from here on.
Agent: C'mon.
Buffy: You can cure her?
Doyle: We can rehabilitate her.
Manetti: In time she'll learn to be a useful member of society again.
Marcie is led out of the Bronze by the other agents.
Marcie: Where are we going?
Doyle: Very useful.
Buffy: (realizes) This
isn't the first time this has happened, is it?
It's happened at other schools.
Manetti: We're not at liberty to discuss that.
Doyle: It would be best for you to forget this whole incident.
Buffy: Do you know that you guys are very creepy?
Doyle: Thank you for your help.
Manetti: Oh, and, uh... have a nice day.
Buffy watches them go.
Cordelia: Can I get untied now?
Buffy turns to Cordelia and
kneels down to untie her. She smiles up at
Cordelia.
Cut to the school halls the
next day. The team is walking to the
library.
Buffy: I just can't
believe how twisted Marcie got. By the way, how did
you guys get out of the
boiler room?
Xander: Oh, well, when the gas was coming down, we...
Giles: Janitor, um, found us. Shut the valve off.
Willow: We were lucky.
Buffy: I'll say.
Cordelia comes down the hall toward them at a fast walk.
Cordelia: Hi.
Buffy: Hey!
Cordelia: Look, um,
I didn't get a chance to say anything yesterday
with the coronation and
everything... but, um, I guess I just wanted to
say thank you, all of you.
Xander: That's funny, 'cause she *looks* like Cordelia.
Buffy elbows him in the chest.
Cordelia: You really
helped me out yesterday, and you didn't have to.
So, thank you.
Buffy: It's okay.
Willow: Listen, we
were gonna grab lunch in a minute if you wanted
to...
Mitch: (comes up behind
Cordelia) Whoa, whoa. You're not hangin' with
these losers, are you?
Cordelia: Uhhh! Are
you kidding? Heh! (takes his arm and leaves) I was
just being charitable. Helping
them with their fashion problems. Heh.
You think I really felt
like joining *that* social leper colony? Puh-
leeease!
Xander: Boy, where's an invisible girl when you really need one?
They head into the library.
Cut to an FBI building. Doyle and Manetti escort Marcie to a classroom.
Doyle: I think you'll be happy here.
Manetti: You should fit right in.
Marcie doesn't answer, but
just goes into the classroom. The only person
visible in it is the teacher.
Teacher: Welcome, Marcie.
Marcie: Hey.
Teacher: Class, this is Marcie.
Class: Hi, Marcie.
Teacher: Sit down.
Marcie takes the chair on the end of the second row.
Teacher: Okay, class,
let's get started. Everybody turn to page fifty-
four of your texts.
Marcie opens her book and
flips through to page fifty-four. The title of
chapter eleven reads 'Assassination
and Infiltration'.
Marcie: Cool!