Freefall, Part Two

"Freefall, Part Two " was the second story from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine.

''With the destruction of the seed, the fight against Twilight was brought to an end, and magic’s connection to our earth was severed. No more Slayers will be chosen. No more Slayer army. No more gang: Buffy is a waitress sin San Francisco; Dawn and Xander are attempting normal domesticity; Willow is struggling with the loss of her powers. It’s a new(ish) world, but there are still demons and vampires to slay – even as their popularity with the masses continues to grow – and Buffy is on point to do what she has always done…She is the Slayer. ''

Summary
Issue 2 opens with one resolved question: not all the mysterious victims are women and this latest one's a young guy in a tie. As Detectives Dowling and Cheung discuss him, the view pans out to show that he's just one in a room full of bodies like him.

Back to Buffy, Willow, Spike, and the debt collecting demon. He threatens Buffy with bad credit, and she retaliates by choking him, but Willow and Spike pull her off, reminding her of the futility of killing him. The demon gets all sad-faced and talks about being trapped in this realm and needing a job. Buffy finds an ATM and gives him all her money, which he says isn't nearly enough.

Spike asks Buffy what happened to all her jewel thief money, it seems she gave it back when Riley negotiated an amnesty between Slayers and Interpol. The demon departs with a final warning, and Willow picks up her argument about how Buffy isn't seeing how her actions affected everyone. Willow leaves and Spike picks up his warnings about "rumblings".

El Draco breaks into Buffy's apartment and begins searching it. Tumble hears him and thinks it's Buffy, but Draco escapes out the window before Tumble can see him.

Dowling and Cheung are in the morgue looking at the unmarked bodies with files and pictures on them. Dowling has found missing persons files for several of the bodies, but all are from the '60s or earlier, and there's no sign of aging. He comes up with a theory they are, or were, vampires.

A sharp-dressed man, is running from a vampire. Buffy hops down from a rooftop to save the day, thinking all the while about her money and magic-less issues. The stranger says he can help, but Buffy orders him to leave. She stakes the vamp and is immediately caught in a spotlight and at a cop's gunpoint.

Next page, we see her in cuffs and in an interrogation room. Our detectives are back, asking her if any of the photographs they have of their "victims" look familiar. They know she's a Slayer, though apparently there's some info on her that the feds won't give them. Buffy educates them on how a vampire turns to dust when it's slain, which is immediately turned on her as she's reminded of the vampire she just "killed".

The detectives argue privately about the case and conclude that they're not letting her go until they learn more. They return to the interrogation room and Buffy's gone. We see her on the rooftop outside looking down at some shouting police officers, wondering if she should have waited for a lawyer.

At Xander and Dawn's apartment, Buffy comes in through the window to find them watching her face on TV. Xander congratulates her for being a fugitive. Dawn asks who's really responsible for the bodies, and Buffy says she'll have to find out or never show her face in public again. She then asks for a place to crash and is denied - Xander and Dawn have apparently been fighting, and Xander's occupying the couch. Buffy doesn't press the issue, but she's not too happy about it.

Spike finds her at the top of a skyscraper. He asks how she got arrested, she explains and laments being the Chosen One. He says he'd be dead if she wasn't, and that he's investigating her pursuer(s). She seems cheered as she leaves, but still worried about evading the law while she's trying to solve the case, especially since she almost instantly spots another vampire.

This one's fighting the same guy as before. Again he says he can help, and "I'm a Slayer. Like you." Buffy forgoes the obvious gender jokes to point out his lack of stake, and runs off after the vamp, chasing him into an alley. As she's about to finish him, she sees that at least a dozen more have cornered her there, and the original one leaps at her.

The vampire's face begins steaming and then shifting from vamp to human face. The stranger is revealed behind the body as it falls, his eyes white, saying "I told you I could help." Buffy is fascinated and asks "How what why, please."

The stranger explains "He's not a vampire anymore," and the view pans out to a lot of markless bodies once more. "None of them are."

"You trying to put me out of a job?" asks Buffy. Then she smiles. "'Cause I might be okay with that."

Individuals

 * Robert Dowling
 * Miranda Cheung
 * Buffy Summers
 * Spike
 * Willow Rosenberg
 * El Draco
 * Tumble
 * Severin
 * Dawn Summers
 * Xander Harris

Species

 * Loan Demon
 * Unspecified Demon - El Draco
 * Vampire

Weapons and Objects

 * The Siphon
 * Stake

Deaths

 * 10 Vampires

Collections

 * Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9 Volume 1: Freefall

Quotes
"One creature of the night to another, cut her a little slack. She didn’t even finish college, you know. And we’re talking U.C. Sunnydale."

- Spike

"This is what I’m talking about, Buffy. You don’t realize how the destruction of the seed affected everyone. You only think about how it affected you. All the Slayers, even the demons with magical mojo. You all got to keep your power because it was inside of you. But everyone else got cut off from what made them tick. For me, it was magic. For that demon, his home."

- Willow Rosenberg

"Congrats! You are now a fugitive."

- Xander Harris

"You trying to put me out of a job? ‘Cause I might be okay with that."

- Buffy Summers