“This is the place.”

Melaka Fray is hitching a ride, on her sister’s police cycle, high up in the Uppers of Haddyn. Erin makes sure that she’s sure – without a licence, she can’t just stop a speeding van. And Jesu, Erin thinks, as her sister defiantly prepares her attack, this thing is speeding! She looks down – they’re high up, the ground invisible below the hovering sky-cars, zooming about, everyone racing about their day. Haddyn never sleeps – just like it did when it was called New York. Melaka assures her sister that’s she’s not gonna get her kicked out of the cops – as long as she brakes when she says!

With this, Mel uses her Scythe, rips open the back of the moving van – and sure enough, there’s a nest of Lurks inside. As Erin struggles to keep her cycle close to her sister, Mel propels herself off the cycle onto the van, leaving Erin both petrified and annoyed: Does she always have to do that? As Erin tracks the van to it’s destination, Mel is falling, Lurk in her arms. She has one question, the same one as always: where is he? Where is Harth?

The van meanwhile, smashes into a statue of that Jesu guy, his hands in a peace sign, and Erin watches as the Lurk – and her sister – collide on top of another moving vehicle. The Lurk is terrified of Melaka and she takes advantage, threatening him as she demands answers. He tells her that Harth has joined forces with the madwoman. The madwoman who has lived for centuries and who speaks in riddles, he details. The one they call the Black Hope. Has more power than any Lurk. After he’s spilled all the details, he begs Mel not to poke him, but she does so anyway. Begging? Weak, she declares as she dusts the dust off her.

After rejoining her sister, Melaka takes her to her new place. It’s an old antiquated room, atop one of the oldest buildings in Versi, the squaller of Haddyn. It’s lined with antiquities, ancient relics, magical totems and volume after volume of Watcher Diaries. Erin is amazed, but would still rather her sister live with her. Mel shrugs off the hint – she’s happy here. She has her spider-monkey, called Gates, after the last Watcher who died at the Battle of Starbucks. Some of the diaries, the more recent they get, the more they make less sense, she explains. But they welcome her, give her a connection to the Slayers of the 21st Century. And she knows that there’s mention of a madwoman in them somewhere.

As Gates jumps up and down excitedly, scaring Erin half to death, Mel begins to look through the first of many large, dusty volumes…

In another location in Versi, the dankest part of Haddyn, Harth Fray, their brother, Mel’s twin and current Vampire Supreme, is talking to his ally, the so called Black Hope. She’s a tall woman, remaining in shadow, but dressed in Victorian clothing, and with dark hair and pale, almost translucent skin. Harth tells her that he remembers a dream about her. A dream that shows him, or rather the Slayer who’s dreams he has instead of his sister, shows them fighting. And that’s the Slayer who is coming. From the past. The Black Hope whispers in her soft, but also maniacal voice: “Tonight. The Princess leaves her Kingdom for the Forest of the now.”

Harth asks her one question: why do you want her here and why does he need Melaka to find her? Aren’t they a threat to their plan?

The Black Hope tells him that his schemes are ingenious, but there is nothing a Slayer cannot overcome. Vampires gain strength from each other. But Slayers, ultimately don’t. What happens now will cause his time to be. Ripples, child, she says. Everything is ripples…

New York City, Manhattan. The 21st Century. On the balcony of their building, Buffy has vanished into thin air and a demon has materialised in her wake – at least that’s what Willow has been able to verify: she thought it was transmogrification, which would have been a whole lot more trouble. Kennedy, sliced by the demon, is getting patched up, not taking her eyes off the demon encased in a mystical field nearby. Willow thinks this demon swapped places with Buffy in the timestream. Kennedy is confused – she thought the whole contact thing via magic was supposed to help them, not make their situation worse. Willow agrees. And since she decided to do this, Buffy’s disappearance is her fault.

In Scotland, green flames, clearly magical in origin, burn through what’s left of Slayer HQ. The Squad Room is ablaze, Rowena desperately checking evacuation plans. Most of the girls got out, she tells Xander, who’s bravely entered the burning castle to help. They’ve lost at least seven girls. Rowena starts to fall apart, but Xander tells her that soldiers die. All the time. We’re not salvaging the castle, we’re getting out of here – and flames shouldn’t be this colour! And they certainly shouldn’t be forming into massive, hulking, medieval snake soldiers either! He points behind Rowena, and the flames have coalesced into a fearsome creature. And his weapons are powerful. Xander urges Rowena to run and bravely takes on the beast.

Suddenly, just when Xander seems lost, Dawn back-kicks the creature with her hind legs, telling Xander that he has to get on and… um… ride her out of there! As he reluctantly grabs on to her hair/mane, Dawn gallops out of the castle grounds as fast as she can, and the castle explodes behind them. They manage to escape and head into the woodlands surrounding them, not knowing the fate of their friends…

In the 23rd Century, Erin asks her sister if her next plan is a good idea. Mel looks at her and rolls her eyes: “Have I ever had one? The books talk about this place. The last girl came here. And was transformed. They say the madwoman’s power reached through the ages and changed her.” She assures her sister that’s it’s all probably hokum, but she’ll be fine.

In the 21st Century, Willow is explaining what happened to the Slayer Squad in New York: years from now, at an unspecified point in time, someone, somewhere, set the demon on the Slayer, one in the future. But then when he attacked, he went through a time portal instead – which, according to the chat he’s had with Willow, was definitely not in his original job description.

Whoever was – or will be – behind this, is more powerful than them and has made sure Willow heard about the message – she would investigate and then the trap would be sprung. Whoever did this, has played them like pasties. Or ‘patsies’, Vi offers.

Willow bemoans her lack of skill regarding tough-guy talk, but then reiterates: the point is they know nothing of where Buffy is, what the future or their Slayer is like. They also don’t know quite when she is, or, most importantly, how to get her back.

In the 23rd Century, Buffy has just materialised through the portal, Melaka Fray bearing down on her. She’s trying to explain to the strange woman hitting her, but she’s relentless. Buffy eventually gains the upper hand and orders Melaka to stop slaying her. Mel thinks she’s a shape-shifter, but Buffy doesn’t understand what she’s trying to say: “You are talking crazy-person talk. Put your words in word places, please!”

Buffy spins. “We both have Scythes. We both have awesome Kung-fu moves. Turn-offs include smokers, insensitive men and vampires. You with me?”

Melaka looks at her. It‘s not poss, she says. Buffy looks around. She’s standing on a flying, moving, hovering car, surrounded by other fast, moving, hovering cars. Her definition of what’s ‘poss’ right now has exceeded expectations.

She explains who she is: Buffy Summers. Mel says Buffy Summers is dead. Only occasionally, Buffy exclaims. So time travel? she thinks. She asks Mel if there’s somewhere else to discuss this, you know, somewhere less motion-sicknessy? Mel tells her to follow and effortlessly begins leaping from car to car, heading for home the only way she knows how. Buffy just looks after her. “I can’t… I totally can’t do that jumpy car thing…”

When eventually Buffy and Mel are together in the streets, Buffy has realised that she’s in what was once Manhattan. The buildings kind of still look the same. They’re walking through the Slums of Versi. Buffy explains that Willow, her best friend, figured the portal was a way to help them, maybe with Twilight, but Mel doesn’t understand. Buffy explains that in her time, she’s the head of the Slayers, so maybe now that she’s in the future, the other Slayers of this time can help them. Melaka stops her. Others? She is the only Slayer. And technically speaking, since Harth, her twin, got her Slayer dreams and memories, she’s only half a Slayer.

Buffy is astounded. What happened? Melaka tells her what she knows: there was a big battle, and the Slayers were gone. Her brother Harth is the Big Bad of Haddyn – a Lurk. Buffy asks what a Lurk is, until she gets that it equals Vampire. She says that the English language is losing it – maybe she should have treated it better.

Mel has brought them into a dark room. She yells to turn on the lights and the ground illuminates. There’s water in the opaque floor beneath them, and Gunther, a mutated human, purple and with gills, speaks telepathically to Mel. He is her handler – her go-to guy for information, and, whether the sarcastic git admits it or not, the closest thing she has to a best friend. Buffy shrieks and holds her skirt closed – how long has he been under there?

He’s fascinated to meet another Slayer. Mel explains that she’s from the past, and asks Gunther if he’s heard anything. He tells her that she knows he doesn’t deal with magics. He has, however, heard of an ancient woman, a madwoman, who has been alive since ancient times. Buffy sits down in a corner, reality beginning to sink in: God, this is really happening. Mel asks her boss if he has heard the old woman’s name.

Elsewhere, the Black Hope tells Harth that it’s starting. He thinks she means the battle, but she whispers, “No. Buffy. She’s starting to feel the weight of it. Of the world’s loss. Of her failure.” Harth thinks she sounds sad. It’s a great day, he says. The Black Hope asks him why he feels the need to kill Melaka and he shares why: she is the last thing he ever loved. They are connected: “Her pain is my joy. My true love. And what in this world is stronger than love?”

He directs his question to his companion, her Victorian gown, slowly flowing through the shadows. What in this world is stronger than love?

The Black Hope steps forward: it’s Willow, black-haired, black-eyed, Dark power emanating from her, her hands crackling with magic and black veins cracking under her ghostly white skin.

“Time,” she says. “Only time.”