"She's doing good I think." Tara said, peeking out from behind the cold mausoleum.

"Sure," Xander replied. "If you consider getting knocked around like you're in a giant pinball machine of death doing a good job, than yah! She's swell."

"Well, her self-awareness skills and reaction time obviously need significant work, and her target's completely off...but it's nothing we can't train her to improve upon." Giles said with a hint of pessimism, as they watched the Buffy-Bot spar with three new born vamps that had raised only minutes before.

"Umm...Giles? How exactly do you teach a robot about self awareness?" Willow asked with doubt.

"Well, I don't know," he replied testily. "But we need to at least try if we expect this machine to pose as a believable substitute for..." he didn't finish.

"But that means...she's going to have to be better than Buffy ever was...right?" Anya asked. "I mean...if she gets so much as a scratch through that giant, rubber body condom of hers, and they find wires instead of blood...our cover's blown. How the hell are we gonna pull that off?"

"I have no bloody idea!" Giles snapped. "All I'm sure of is, this robot is our best chance at preventing a total upheaval of the demonic world." The others looked away. " Please, if anyone else has something better to offer, feel free to speak up." He looked around expectantly. Noone did.

"It's just...it seems so...impossible." Willow explained gently.

"I understand that...but–"

"Um...guys... I think maybe we should–" Tara interrupted, pointing to the fight. The Bot had been captured by two of the vampires who held her arms securely behind her back, while the other vampire beat her, laying kicks into her mid section and face. He leaned in for the kill, pulling her head aside by her hair to expose her latex throat.

"Back!" Willow cried, thrusting her arms forward. A thick stream of crackling, florescent blue energy shot from her palms. The streak of magic raced towards the vampires, and then spidered out into three separate tendrils, each blasting one in the chest, and sending him flying backwards. Without words, the scoobies rushed the scene. Xander and Giles tackled one of the downed creatures, Willow Tara and Anya took on the second, while a recovering Buffy-bot charged the third.

"Did I ever tell ya I was a champion soccer player back in highschool?" Xander huffed, charging the vamp full force. With every ounce of determination and courage in his body, Xander Harris raised his foot to make contact with vampire's chin, but instead, slipped on the soggy grass beneath him, and went flying upward. He landed with a sickening thud on his back. "Ok. I lied!" He groaned, as the vampire descended upon him, but Giles was to the rescue, coming up from behind the demon while it stood crouched over. He slammed his stake hard into its back, piercing the heart with perfection. The vampire twisted around and cried in pain before disintegrating into a thin coat of blackened dust. Giles reached down and grasped Xander's hand, pulling him up off the wet, cold ground. "Ok, not one of my shining moments." he panted in utter humiliation, brushing the dust off his clothes. "Can we please pretend it never happened?"

"Pretend what never happened?" Giles asked.

"Lord Bless your merciful heart!"

The girls were having an arguably better time with their vampire, which appeared immobile from the waste down, as though his legs were trapped in an invisible block of cement. Green flecks of magic rotated in sporadic circles around his body, and Willow seemed to be the one responsible with her arms outstretched and a funnel of green, coiling energy flowing from her fingertips. Tara was circling the extraordinarily cranky vampire with stake in hand, but every time she attempted stab him, he would flail his arms towards her and snarl, causing her to leap back with a squeal. Anya watched from a few feet away, offering little besides her exuberant verbal support.

"No! You've gotta get–! No, not like that! You're doing it all wrong!!" She cried, making dramatic stabbing motions with her hand. "The heart! Get the heart!!"

"I'm trying! I'm trying!!" Tara grunted, making another frustrated lunge. "Your more than welcome to come show me how it's done!"

Anya's eyes bugged at the thought.

"You're doin great sunshine! Keep at it! You're a tiger!" she replied quickly, replacing her invisible stake with a double thumbs up.

"Tara!" Giles called, reaching inside his coat and pulling out a small, loaded cross bow. She whipped her head around to the sound of his voice, and he tossed it into her outstretched arms. "Just pull the trigger!" She nodded quickly, and turned to the angry vamp who was spitting obscenities about what he would to do to her mother once he escaped. She aimed, and then looked quickly to Willow who gave her a nod of encouragement.

"Hurray up baby! I can't hold this much longer!"

She took a deep breath and fired. It was a clean shot straight through the heart, and the vamp screamed as he crumbled into nothingness.

"I did it!" Tara cheered in shock. "I staked my first vampire!"

"I'm so proud of you sweety!" Willow beamed with pride, wrapping her arm around Tara's waist and kissing her lips.

"Thanks." She replied with a smile, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her hear.

"Lucky shot." Anya coughed.

"I'll show you who's the biggest bad of all!" The Buffy bot cried as she scrapped with the last vampire. The others turned to the fight, almost having forgotten about her in the confusion of their own battles. Suddenly, With all the strength of a live slayer, the bot leaped up and landed a spinning kick directly to the vampire's face. He flew backwards and landed with a crack against a large tomb stone. With the demon still dazed, Buffy Bot went for the kill. " Crime doesn't pay, Buster!" she cried sanctimoniously, jamming her wooden stake into the vamp's chest with perfect aim. The creature quietly poofed outward into a soft rain of dust. The robot nodded her head decidedly at a job well done, and turned to the others who stood staring gape-jawed at the impressive kill.

"I think she'll do." Willow said. The others nodded with compliance, their eyes still fixed on the bot, who looked around at the group with a dumb grin.

"Was that satisfactory?" she asked around hopefully.

"Uh, yes. Yes! You did a splendid job Buffy...bot." Giles reassured her.

"Yah, you were swell!" Anya agreed. "Your moves were right on the money, ya little go-getter."

"Why thank you Anya!" The Bot replied. "You enjoy money!" Anya snorted.

"Your preachin' to the choir sister."

"Quiet!" Giles hissed, interrupting the chatter. The rest of the scoobies followed his gaze across the glistening cemetery. Their eyes landed on two vampires occupying space in front a tomb stone about 10 yards away. Each had a shovel, and one was methodically plunging it into the soft, grassless earth of a fresh grave, while they conversed with excitement. As the scoobies neared, the creatures' hyper voices hit them with clarity, but they didn't need to hear what was being said to understand the situation that was playing out before them. Illuminated by the moonlight, Buffy's friends watched in horror as their Slayer's resting place was desecrated.

"Man, I told you she was dead!" The brown haired vampire said as he removed dirt from the cold ground. His blonde headed companion circled the small head stone in shock and amazement, reading the name engraved upon it over and over, to reassure himself it was true.

"I can't believe it! This is like...huge, man! No more slayer! We are gonna own this town." He growled, relishing in his new found liberation.

"First thing we're gonna do, is rip her to shreds." The blonde vampire nodded enthusiastically in agreement, licking his lips in anticipation. " Then I'm gonna tear her head off, and jam it on the end of this shovel." He breathed between heaves, a hungry grin crawling its way onto his face. "We're gonna take it down town...show the others that they don't have to be afraid anymore... that Sunnydale is FUCKED!" His companion cackled at the thought.

"Yah man...It's fucked, and it's ours."

"I beg to differ." Giles said, thrusting a stake into the chief violator before he had a chance to turn around. He dusted instantly as the others came running up. The blonde vampire spotted the Buffy Bot immediately. "Oh, shit man!" He cried, taking off at lightening speed, but Buffy Bot slung her stake with unstoppable force, and it pierced his chest, sending him flying face forward in the air. He was dust before his body could make contact with ground. The threat having been removed, the others inched closer to the vulgar scene.

"Oh God..." Willow moaned, bile rising in the back of her throat. Enough dirt had been removed so that the top of Buffy's coffin was now exposed to the chilled night air.

"Oh baby, don't look! Come here." Tara pulled Willow close to her, cradling her head in her hands. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Willow was again amazed by this woman. Tara handled any situation, however horrible, with a soothing grace that was akin to aloe on soar and burning skin.

"Christ..." Xander mumbled, putting his hand to his face in an attempt to hold back his nausea The nausea won, however, and he staggered a few feet away, doubling over to vomit in a nearby bush.

"We should...we need to fix this up before someone else sees..." Anya reasoned, battling her own disgust. Giles stood frozen in time; his eyes were fixed on the scene, but his mind was distant. He remained in his detached universe until Buffy Bot spoke up, a thin, cheery voice that had no place in the morbid taboo.

"Buffy...Anne...Summers...That's me! Am I down there? I mean...the other me." she explained, as to clear up any confusion. "I hope I'm not afraid of the dark." Willow sobbed into Tara's warm, comforting body.

"This is a nightmare." Xander mumbled miserably, putting his hands on his head.

"Get out of here, all of you." Giles ordered. His was voice shaking, but cold as stone. "I'll take care of this."

"But Giles –" Anya interjected.

"Just go!" He barked, making the others jump. "Quickly...before someone else finds it." His voice was teetering on the edge of something fierce and deep, so the remaining scoobies gathered each other, along with the Bot, and made there way slowly out of the grave yard. When there were out of site, Giles picked up the shovel from the ground and turned his face to the icy moonlight, separating himself further from reality. He knew it was the only way he would get through this task. When all feeling was locked securely away, and the key tossed into the black hole in his heart, he buried his slayer for the second time.