As Oliver pulls back a bow aimed right at Helena's heart she raises the shotgun in her hand prepared to take him out.
She almost laughs at the look of him threatening her, he wouldn't kill her, "You won't shoot me. You're not a murderer, remember?"

"But you are." Oliver reminds her as they continue to stand outside the safe house her father had been hiding out at, he knew he needed to end this the police would be here soon and he couldn't let Helena kill anyone else "And if I let you go, that blood will be on my hands. I'm sorry."

Releasing the arrow he freezes as instead of killing her she catches the arrow in her palm before grinning at him.
He would say one thing...

...he hadn't expected that.

Buffy climbs in through the window at the safe house her feet landing silently before she sprints towards the hallway.
She was in full Slayer mode now, her suit fiery red, her hair in a long braid down her back with the scythe in her grasp.

Pausing in the hallway her eyes widen at the holes in the walls, Helena had been shooting the place up.

Clenching her jaw Buffy glances out the window to her left and spots Helena and Oliver clad in leather struggling against each other, as they rolled across the floor.

Sighing in annoyance she runs forward diving head first out of the window, the glass shattering around her.

As she lands on the grass she runs forward just as Helena wraps an arm around Oliver's neck; Buffy flips through the air landing behind the purple clad woman.
Grabbing her by the back of the neck she throws Helena backwards causing her to go crashing against a tree.

Oliver's eyes widen as he spots another figure in the darkness, all he could see was the glint of red from her weapon.
How the hell she always found him was beyond him.

Buffy glances at Oliver before turning her back on him, turning to Helena who attempts to hit her, Buffy catches her fist and twists it violently.

As Helena cries out Buffy yanks her forward and forces Helena down to the ground, while she kept a tight hold on the raven haired woman's arm, threatening to yank it from it's socket.

"How many times am I going to have to kick your ass back to skank town?" Buffy hisses out before she twirls the scythe and launches it at Oliver causing it to pin his sleeve to a nearby wall so he couldn't stop her.
"You went after someone I care about and I'm not the forgiving type. I'm more like Gandhi."
"Gandhi?" Helena crocks out as she reaches for the gun she had hidden.

Buffy smirks "Yeah he was pissed off too." She informs the other woman before giving her arm a final yank completely separating her arm from it's socket, causing her to cry out in agony.

As she does Buffy kicks her in the back knocking her down before she steps back and takes a shaky breath.

Sighing in relief as she stares down at the crying Helena, Buffy turns her back on her before running towards Oliver, before he could even get a good look at her she steps onto his knee and grabs the scythe.

Using the momentum she pushes herself off him so that she could reach the window above him and pull herself through it, out of sight.

Oliver continues to stare in shock as his saviour again disappears without a trace, he really needed to put a bell on her or something.
Sighing he looks over at the crying Helena who was clutching her damaged arm, moving over to her he aims his bow at her prepared to end it "It's over Helena."

Helena glares up at him however her attention was quickly drawn to McKenna who runs at of the house, her gun aimed at the Hood having no idea that he was actually her boyfriend. "Freeze. Put it down. Turn around. Slowly."

Oliver tenses up at her voice but does as she says he couldn't risk her getting hurt, however his worst fears seem to come alive as Helena grabs her gun with her good hand and shoots at Helena.

"Nooo!" Oliver screams as he runs over to the blood covered McKenna while Helena runs.

"So you know the Hood?" Felicity questions Buffy as the blonde Vampire Slayer moves across the rooftops after managing to quickly evade being seen by the cops as they speed towards the safe house.

"Yep." Buffy answers as she comes to a stop on a roof where her rucksack was resting, she had to be back at work for the nightshift in an hour and she couldn't risk anyone seeing her in this get up.

"Oh. We know the Hood. Why did I not know we knew the Hood?" Felicity almost screeches making Buffy wince slightly due to the loudness. Her cousin definitely had a pair of pipes on her.
"Because the last time we met I threw him off a roof...it was very cartoony." Buffy answers simply as she pulls her mask down and begins pulling her uniform on.

"What?!"
Buffy groans "Liz!"
But her cousin doesn't seem to notice her words "You can't just go around throwing people off of rooftops, that's illegal, right? Oh yeah it is!"

Buffy shrugs she wasn't seeing a problem here, she was sure Oliver got a kick out of it "A lot of things I do are illegal."
"Not the point."

Before Buffy can say anything else she hears a creak behind her, turning her head she instantly finds herself kicked in the face and landing on the other side of the roof.

As she looks up weakly she spots Marcus moving towards her while her cousin's screams filled her ear.
She tries to speak but her head was foggy and suddenly a foot connects with her face again, this time causing her to smash her head against the concrete knocking her unconscious.

Buffy winces as she finally comes back to consciousness, blinking slightly she brings her hand to forehead only to wince at the movement.

Lowering her hand her eyes widen at the blood now all over her fingertips, groaning in pain she wobbly attempts to stand only to find herself chained to the floor.
Her eyes widen in panic and her breathing quickens, this couldn't be happening, she pulls violently at the chains but they weren't even budging at her movement.

"Wouldn't bother." Marcus says from behind her as he walks into the room, which Buffy was now examining.
It was an empty warehouse most probably one of the many abandoned ones that could be found in the Glades.

"They're spelled."

Buffy lets out a small laugh, this couldn't be happening right now, it was almost funny.

Turning her head to glare at him she spits out the blood from her mouth before speaking "So what now?"
"You haven't been taking our threats seriously." Marcus tells her playfully as he circles around the blonde before clicking his fingers "So I've been told to give you a demonstration."

Buffy frowns in confusion before her eyes widen as she spots Dean being dragged in by two men in suits.

"Get the hell off me or I swear to God I'll shove my—" Dean is cut off as one of the men punches him in the face knocking him down to the ground.

"Noo!" Buffy cries as she pulls at her chains causing Dean to turn his head towards her in confusion, his eyes widen slightly as he spots the blood on her face and the chains around her wrists "Buffy?"
Buffy takes a shaky breath as tears begin falling down her face, this was all her fault "Dean...I'm so—sorry...this is all my fault."

Dean frowns in confusion and attempts to move towards her only for Marcus to press a foot on her throat slamming her back to the ground.

"Buffy!" Dean exclaims as he tries to get to her only for the two guards to grab him and forcibly hold him back as Marcus continues to press on Buffy's windpipe.
"Get off her!" Dean yells as he struggles against the men while Buffy coughs violently, desperately clawing for breath.

In that moment a thought came to her, the sweet sensation of death, a part of her wanted it again, to die again to go back to that warm place. Willow's magic was gone, they wouldn't be able to bring her back this time.

But just as the thought occurs it quickly vanishes as she thinks of her friends, of Dig and Felicity all the people she would be leaving behind.

Slowly Marcus releases her before yanking on her chains pulling her to her knees before forcing her head towards Dean who was watching him angrily.|
"Your boyfriend's got a good right hook."

"Come try the left!" Dean yells out as he continue to struggle to get to the woman he loved, despite the fact he hadn't admitted it to her yet, he did love her.

Buffy growls slightly as Marcus cups her cheek "Stay away from us." He tells her before nodding at his men who immediately start kicking and punching Dean.

Buffy's eyes widen as blood begins flying out of Dean's mouth before he crashes painfully to the ground "Nooooo!"

"I'm moving to Coast City to live with my sister. They have the best physical therapy facility in the country there." At his injured girlfriend's words Oliver freezes, slouching back in the hospital chair as he takes in her words.

Oliver pauses attempting to think of what to say, as much as he didn't want to admit it he knew what she was about to do "I'll visit." He tries offering her a small kind smile.

McKenna sighs a looks over at him with a guilty smile, at her expression Oliver continues to try and stop her, he didn't want this relationship to end "I told you, I'm a billionaire. Right? I'll move to Coast City."
McKenna chuckles slightly "That's very sweet, but your club just opened and your work is here."

"Don't worry about me." He shrugs offering her a small smile as he plays with her fingers in his palm "It's my responsibility to worry about you."

McKenna takes a shaky breath and looks at him with watery eyes as her voice wavers "Just stop, ok? Listen, you know how I feel about you. Please don't make this harder then it already is."

Oliver takes a long hard breath as he stands outside of McKenna's room, it was over between them and he knew there was no changing that. Hell, he most probably would never see her again.
Sighing he takes a deep breath and leans his head against the wall for a moment before moving to leave the building, he needed to be alone, his head just wasn't in the right place.

Before he could go find his solitary time however, several doctors come barging through the halls with a tall man in blue scrubs on the table, blood covering his face and blood dripping from his stomach.
"BP is low!" One of them yells as Oliver steps back allowing them to pass as they rush the man past him, as they do Oliver freezes as he spots the familiar face.

"Dean." He breaths out in confusion recognising Buffy's boyfriend, however before he could question it a yell draws his attention turning his head his whole body goes rigid as standing there at the end of the hall, blood covering half of her body, a large cut on her forehead, dried blood in her hair while blood was dripping from her hands, was Buffy.

All thoughts of his now ex-girlfriend completely fled his mind as he spots the blonde being held up by two of her fellow paramedics.
His eyes flicker to her as she winces, the blood on her side darkening as blood continued to drip down her side.

Finally after a long moment he forces his feet to move and quickly begins running over to her.

"Stewart I'm fine." Buffy hisses as she clutches her broken bleeding ribs, her eyes not once leaving Dean as he was rolled through the ER.

Her eyes were bloodshot and her face was covered in both her blood and his, the minute Marcus had paid her 'his message' they had left her and Dean there.
Dean had almost bleed out and she wasn't that much better off but she had kept him alive long enough for the ambulance to get there.

Her hands were coated in his blood, both figuratively and literally. This was all her fault, she had been reckless and because of that Dean had gotten hurt.

Taking a shaky breath she pushes Stewart and the other paramedic off her and attempts to move after Dean only to stumble, her legs were weak and she was weak from the blood loss.

She falls into a strong pair of arms and looks up in shock as she stops Oliver now stood in front of her worry filling his eyes as he held her.
She cries out slightly as he moves his arm around her attempting to keep her upright and he instantly freezes "Are you okay?"

Buffy coughs slightly before nodding "I'm good Hawkeye." She mumbles with a small laugh before looking over at Stewart "I wanna see him."
"Buffy..." Stewart says softly "He's gonna be in surgery for a while. You need help..."
Buffy turns to him properly her arm wrapped around Oliver using his body to keep her upright "Stewart please." She begs.

Stewart pauses for a moment before looking in her begging eyes, after a long hesitation he nods "I'll go make sure he's alright. You got her?" He asks turning to Oliver who gives him a brief nod.

Buffy sighs as she watches Stewart and the other medic run after Dean, before she looks up at the worrying blue eyes of Oliver.

"Oliver." She whispers softly before she starts to topple again, Marcus had crushed her leg badly before he had left and she could barely stand.

Oliver's eyes widen as she wobbles again and this time he quickly lifts her into his arms carrying her through the hospital and into a nearby room where he could place her down.

As he places her down on the hospital bed he faces her and pushes the hair out of her face so that he could see her blood covered face, she looked traumatised "Hey what happened?" He asks softly as he cups her cheek in his hand forcing her look at him "Who did this to you?"

Buffy shakes her head and refuses to look him in the eye, when she doesn't answer Oliver takes her face in his hands again so that he could look her in the eye, his expression now one of anger "Buffy, who the hell did this to you?!"
Buffy lets out a small laugh she could see it in his eyes, he wanted to hunt down the person who had down this to her, but if he knew the truth they would kill him.

"Hey." He says more softly drawing her attention "These people hurt you, Buffy you have to tell me what happened."

As he stares at her waiting he couldn't stop the different emotions running through him, anger, worry, fury that someone had done this to her. But what he couldn't understand is why she couldn't even except his help.
"This is all my fault." She whispers out finally making his eyes widen and his mouth drop open slightly, he had no idea what the hell she was talking about.

"I did this." She sobs out softly as she turns her head to look up at him and for the first time he could see exactly how broken she was "Oliver this is my fault."

As she begins sobbing Oliver's eyes widen "Hey, hey..." He whispers softly before doing something so surprising to the both of them and wrapping his arms around her pulling her against his chest as he ran a hand through her messy hair.

Buffy freezes at the contact at first before slowly her hesitant arms wrap around his waist and she continues to sob.

After her breakdown with Oliver and Dean's doctor refusing to let her see her boyfriend till he was conscious, Oliver had driven Buffy home.

So now hours later here she stood freshly showered, no longer coated in dry blood and mud.

Her hands were still shaking, what had happened had reminded of her of something she had almost forgot, how horrible it felt to watch someone you love be hurt because of you. She had watched too many people she cared about die in front of her eyes but still that feeling was so strong, it never lessoned.

"How you feeling?" Xander asks as he places a cup of coffee in the blonde's hands before sitting opposite her, watching her with a worried frown.

When Buffy doesn't speak Xander frowns in worry and glances over at Felicity who was stood nearby with the exact same look on her face that he had.
"BB?" Felicity speaks softly as she moves to sit beside Xander both hoping to get the blonde Slayer to open up.

Buffy takes a shaky breath before blinking back tears as she looks up at her best friend and her cousin before running a shaky hand under her chin "I almost forgot." She speaks softly her voice wavering as she does "I was wrong. To think I could have it both ways, it always ends up this way. With blood on my hands. I was wrong to think that this time I could do what I do and still have some aspect of a normal life. With anyone. I'm not normal."

Felicity's eyes widen in horror unlike Xander she wasn't aware of what had happened with Angel and Lincoln and all the loss Buffy had dealt with in the past five years "Buffy you can't know that. You deserve to be happy."

Buffy lets out a small dry laugh, "No I don't. Everyone I've ever been with is dead. Angel, Spike, Riley, Lincoln. They all died because of me."

Xander tilts his head and watches her carefully "Do you love him? Dean?"

Buffy's eyes widen as the idea that she might love Dean hit her, but as quickly as the thought entered her brain she shook her head, she couldn't love him "I can't...Xander it doesn't matter how I feel, I can't be with him...I can't be with anyone...one girl in all the world...she alone..." Buffy pauses as she remembers back to the original description she had been given when she had become the Slayer "I wanted so desperately to believe the alone part wasn't the case for me but look at my track record...Angel, Riley, Spike, Lincoln all men I have loved who have died and Dean almost died tonight. I bring nothing but death to any man I love. I need to be alone."

Diggle's eyes widen as he spots Oliver walk into The Foundry dried blood covering his grey T-Shirt he moves over to help his friend but Oliver shakes his head.
Diggle frowns in confusion and glances at Willow who was equally as confused.

Oliver takes a nervous breath and looks at the two of them a little unsure of how to explain to the two of them what condition he had found Buffy in "It's not my blood...it's Buffy's and Dean's."

As the words leave his lips Diggle instantly stands and makes his way to the door not even waiting for Oliver to finish as he practically runs out of the building to go to his best friend...his little sister.

Oliver sighs before turning to Willow who was basically about to do the same but he holds out his hand stopping her "Wait Willow...she's okay I got her home. Dean's in the hospital but he'll live."
Willow sighs she just wanted to go check on her best friend she couldn't understand why Oliver was blocking her path.

Oliver takes a deep breath before looking at the red-head "I know Dig told you about the woman in red. She keeps showing up and saving my life. I wanna meet her in person and I need your help."