Buffy Logo 'Gone'
Story Code '6ABB11'

by David Fury
Buffy

Buffy and Dawn help Willow to clear all her magic items out of the house; Dawn is unhappy that they are getting rid of absolutely everything, but Buffy tells her there should be nothing left to tempt Willow. Buffy then finds Spike’s lighter. Across town, the three geeks are using the diamond they recently stole to power-up their invisibility ray. The next morning, Buffy tries to get Dawn to go to school on time. They are interrupted by the appearance of Spike, looking for his lighter, but when Buffy accuses the vampire of coming up with lame excuses just to see her, he starts flirting with her, commenting on her hair. Xander arrives to pick up Dawn for school, and reminds Spike that he does not have a chance with Buffy. As Buffy hustles Xander and Dawn out the front door they are greeted by Mrs. Kroger, a social worker, who informs Buffy that she is being monitored closely and is under probation. Mrs. Kroger asks her several uncomfortable questions, but Buffy makes a mess of her answers, and by the time she leaves, Mrs. Kroger is convinced Buffy is running a lesbian drug house, and threatens Buffy with possible loss of guardianship. Spike takes his lighter from Buffy’s pocket and finally leaves. Angry and upset, Buffy goes to the bathroom, grabs a pair of scissors and starts chopping off her hair. Later, as Buffy leaves a hair salon, she is unaware that the three geeks are across the street, fighting over their gun; seeing Buffy they panic and accidentally shoot the gun - rendering Buffy and several other objects invisible. At the ‘Magic Box’, Xander and Anya bicker over the seating arrangements for their wedding; they are surprised when Buffy interrupts them from out of nowhere, announcing that she is invisible. After Xander decides to look for clues, Buffy decides to go for a walk. Anya surmises that Buffy may be the victim of a spell, which leads Xander to confront Willow, but the witch has no idea what he is talking about, and is hurt that he thinks that she would have fallen off the wagon so quickly. Enjoying her invisibility, Buffy makes fun of a woman’s hat, picks on a bully, and then steals a parking officer’s scooter and heads for the Social Services building. Here she makes Mrs. Kroger appear mad to her fellow workmates, before messing up Dawn’s case file, ensuring that the case will have to be started again. When Xander finds Willow at the spot where Buffy got zapped, they both discover an invisible fire hydrant with paint scrapings on it, indicating that it has been hit by a black van; they recall the black van that Buffy has seen several times, and Willow decides to do some research. Spike is watching television in his crypt when invisible Buffy pays him a visit. Meanwhile, Xander and Anya have taken an invisible traffic cone back to the magic shop for studying, but when Anya touches it, it turns to a gooey, pudding-like substance. They become worried that the same thing could happen to Buffy. While the three geeks work on the invisibility ray Warren lets slip about molecular degeneration; Andrew and Jonathan are concerned for Buffy, as they never wanted to hurt her. Xander bursts into Spike’s crypt looking for Buffy, only to find Spike doing some strange naked exercising in his bed. Uncomfortable, Xander leaves, telling Spike that Buffy is in danger and needs to be found. As soon as he has left, Spike tells invisible Buffy he feels that if he cannot have all of her, then she should leave. At the ‘Espresso Pump’, Willow uses her computer to search for answers. Buffy arrives home, and uses her invisibility to play tricks on Dawn, who runs away upstairs. Buffy goes to follow, but sees there is a message on their machine: it is from Xander, urgently informing them about the side effects of the invisible ray. Having tracked down the owner of the black van, Willow leaves the coffee house; she enters the geeks’ lair and finds the blueprints for the invisible ray. However, the geeks have made themselves invisible, and they grab her. Buffy is about to leave her house when the geeks call her, telling her that they have Willow, and instructing her to meet them at an arcade. Warren tells the others he is going to reverse Buffy’s invisibility, but Willow notices that the gun is set to accelerate the degeneration, and manages to warn Buffy. The geeks and Buffy get into a fight, but Willow manages to grab the gun, turning everyone visible again. Buffy is confused, as she recognises Warren as the builder of the robots, and Jonathan from High School, but she has no idea who Andrew is until he tells her that she once beat up his brother for unleashing hell-hounds on Prom Night. Warren claims that they are now her ‘arch-nemesises’, and they manage to escape. As Buffy and Willow make their way outside, Willow confesses to Buffy that her first day without using magic has been difficult, but she is proud she has made it. Buffy feels guilty about her treatment of Dawn, and admits that finding out that her life was in danger scared her, and has made re realise that she does want to live. Willow remarks that they have both made important first steps today.

Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), James Marsters (Spike), Emma Caulfield (Anya), Michelle Trachtenberg (Dawn), Danny Strong (Jonathan), Adam Busch (Warren), Tom Lenk (Andrew)
Directed by David Fury

TX (US): 8th January 2002
TX (UK - Sky One): 14th March 2002

Notes:
*Featuring Buffy, Xander, Willow, Anya and Dawn