Warren Mears remembers that night so clearly. Of course he does. It was the last night he clearly remembers, and for the most obvious of reasons. But he mostly remembers what she said. “Bored now.” He walks around the table, taunting Willow, strapped down, magical powers sapped by magic restraints. Amy watches nearby, grin on her face as Warren tells a terrified Willow how he survived.

“Do you know that she had maybe a four-second window after my skin came off before I died of shock alone?” he says, telling her that Amy was watching Willow and, as a result, him, the night Willow hunted him down. While he died for a second, her magic restored him and kept him breathing, albeit, skinless. They made a teleport look like her burning of his corpse and fled. And Willow was too hyped up on power to even notice.

He also mentions the hex that Amy put on her, just months before Sunnydale fell, when Willow transformed into Warren. That was them too, he says. So he has to wonder, he asks, moving his scalpel closer to Willow’s eyes… “Are you bored now?”

In Scotland, an angry Dawn punches a wall – and it hurts. Buffy tells her that she is not as proportionally strong as she is tall. Dawn knows, but Willow is missing and she’s worried. She also feels useless, stuck in mega form, and wishes she could be of more help. She tells Buffy sincerely, without any bad intention, that Willow is the closest thing she has to a mom.

In the dungeon, Buffy doesn’t want to talk to Xander about what her sister said. She just wants Willow back home safe, and is losing patience with the slowness of magic and their mystics. Xander says that it won’t be much longer, but it will only be big enough for two. Buffy wants to take Xander, but he says she needs someone stronger than him. And he wants her to remember, at all times, that Willow is stronger than all of them.

Willow is shaking. Whatever Warren is doing, she’s trembling in agony, but she’s not screaming. Her eyes are blank. He decides to take one of them out.

Somewhere, five mystical beings watch on.

Buffy is in Scotland. She chooses Satsu to be her partner in the mission through the portal to rescue Willow.

Outside Warren’s lab, Amy stops General Voll and his aide from entering. The witch is Warren’s. Willow’s screams are now echoing through the base.

Somewhere, five mystical beings grant her access.

Satsu’s fellow Slayers congratulate her on being picked to work with the one and only Buffy. Satsu shrugs it off. Don’t embarrass us, they tease. As Buffy prepares to enter the portal, Satsu stands next to her, ready as she’ll ever be. Buffy asks to borrow her lip gloss and Satsu obliges.

It’s cinnamon flavoured.

Somewhere, five mystical beings are comforting Willow Rosenberg. This is only a temporary refuge, they warn: they cannot interfere with what Warren is doing out there in the real world. They show her a visceral image of people burning alive in agony, and Willow realises it’s a manifestation of her current situation. Warren is killing her. Lobotomising her. And she needs a plan.

As the portal begins to open in the bunker, they aim a massive cannon where it’s expected to breach their base. When it opens, the General orders his men to fire, and an intense laser of energy slices through the portal and emerges in the castle dungeon – only to be reflected back by a magical shield. The blast reverberates back into the bunker and as the men sound off and recover, Buffy, scythe in hand, Satsu at her back, emerges from the smoke and tells them to panic.

The two Slayers work in tandem, like clockwork, dodging and weaving their way through the soldiers, not killing any of them. When only the General is left, Buffy stands over him and tells him with fierce determination that is men are dying: “There’s one person in this complex powerful enough to heal them. You can tell me where she is… Or…”

Shortly afterward, she and Satsu round a corner, closer to Willow. Xander can see what they’re doing and has some news for Buffy: the GPS puts them two miles south of Sunnydale. Buffy stops. Well, I’m the one who wanted to go home.

On the mystical plane, Willow is told that she is almost dead. Yet, she’s unafraid. Why? Willow asks if she ever told them about her best friend. They’re a part of each other, even when they’re not together. They are always with each other.

In the bunker, Buffy manifests magical weapons and uses them to confront Amy. Amy knows it’s all just a borrowed light show, but Buffy tells her that she also saw Amy’s dreamscape and she knows what truly frightens her.

Using Willow’s magic, Buffy conjures an image of Catherine Madison from her mind. As soon as Amy sees her mother’s face, she freaks, letting her guard down and allowing Satsu time to blow a grenade, knocking Amy out.

As Buffy bursts through the door of Warren’s lab, it takes her a second before she realises who he is. He yells that he’ll get her next time, and Amy teleports behind him, as they vanish from sight together. Buffy is horrified by the state of Willow, but Willow gets up, power restored and magically healed, not a scratch on her.

As they head out, Willow preparing to heal the injured soldiers, Buffy notices a door, marked with the number ’30’. Remembering Ethan and the Initiative and his Roman Numerals, Buffy decides to let Ethan out – providing he leaves off the pet names for her – but is stunned when she enters the room.

Ethan’s body is slumped to the ground, a bullet wound in his head. It’s Voll, who’s just executed his prisoner. As Buffy throws him against the nearest wall, his shirt opens, exposing the symbol – the beautiful sunset – on his chest. The mark he says, is called Twilight.

“Twilight is coming. For you, for all your monstrous spawn… It all ends very soon.” Buffy asks if he’s really talking about her and the girls protecting the human race from the forces of darkness. He laughs at her: “Evil? Demons? Where do you think your power comes from? Oh, wait: you already know.”

He looks Buffy straight in her eyes as he continues. “You’ve upset the balance, girl. Did you really think we were going to sit by and let you create the master race?”

Buffy scoffs at him. This isn’t about Slayers or Demons. This is about women having power? And he hates those two words together, doesn’t he? This time he scoffs at her.

“You think it’s only men who want to bring you down? You’re not human. You’ve been to war with the demons, with the First, but believe me, you picked the wrong side. Cause God help us, if you win. Then you’ll decide the world still isn’t the way you want it and the demon in you will say just one thing: slay.”

They won’t let that happen, he says. It’s not just the monsters anymore, he claims. Now the Slayers are at war with the entire human race. Buffy looks at him.

“Oh,” she says, with realisation.

“Kay.” She confirms.