Arriving at the bus depot, Ares and Hera shifted back to human form behind the building and proceeded to the front of the bus station.
"How the fuck do we know what to look for? A suspicious person carrying a chest?" Hera asked.
"How about a vampire instead?" Ares said, pointing.
Sure enough, there was a vampire walking out of the bus station with the Box in hand. She noticed them and fled.
In hot pursuit, Ares and Hera ran after the vampire, only to be stopped by a crackling swirl of energy that formed itself into Neil's dark side. She smiled at them.
"Are we departing somewhere?"
"Get going, Red, I can handle this bitch." Hera growled at Ares. Ares dodged around her without reply and kept running after the fleeing undead monster.
Hera moved her neck back and forth and said, "Let's get it on bitch."
Apollo and Zeus strode onto the dock and glanced around.
"See anything, dude?" Zeus asked Apollo.
"I don't see shit." Apollo replied. He looked up at the freighter docked at port, and saw two unsavory men walking down the ramp, one of them carrying the Box.
"Well, that was fucking easy." Zeus commented.
"Too fucking easy." Apollo said in response.
As they moved toward the men, Neil's dark side suddenly flipped from off the freighter's deck and landed in front of them, blocking their way.
"I'm afraid I can't let you have that Box gentlemen."
Zeus and Apollo didn't waste time. They charged her.
Walking through the airport gates, Taryn, Lilith, and Artemis cast a careful look around the airfield.
"This is a lot of damn ground to cover." Artemis observed.
"Agreed. As loathe as I am to do so, we may need to split up-"Lilith began.
"Heads up." Taryn interrupted, putting a hand on Lilith's muscular shoulder and gesturing with the other.
Following Taryn's gesture, they witnessed two women carrying the Box across the airstrip.
Hurrying towards them, the three amazonian women jumped back when from the shadows emerged Neil's dark side. She waggled her finger at them in an "I don't think so!" motion.
"Greetings. Why Lilith, how I've missed you. Really."
"How unfortunate I can't say the same."
Neil's dark side sneered as Taryn and Lilith sprang at her and Artemis ran after the Box and its carriers.
Moving carefully through the bushes and trees opposite City Hall, Helen and Diana settled into position.
"Anything?" Helen inquired.
"Not yet." Diana answered. She paused for a moment. Both women saw a truck pull up and two vampires unload the Box from the back. Giving each other a look, they crept across the street until they were directly behind them and staked them quickly with stakes they pulled from their belts. Helen picked up the Box.
"Well, that was simple." Helen said in surprise.
Unfortunately they didn't see the fists which struck her and Diana in the jaw and sent them flying across the road, forcing Helen to lose her grip on the Box. Neil's dark side ran after them and took a hold of it, and prepared to escape, but only managed two steps before Helen swept her legs out from under her. Rolling away, she sprang to her feet and faced them.
"Nothing is ever simple, my dear, sweet, little Helen." Neil's dark side taunted.
"Kicking your ass should be pretty simple!" Helen retorted.
Without another word, Diana and Helen attacked, preventing their nemesis from retreating.
"Boy, that's a relief! Felt like I was floating there for a minute." Xander said in a relieved tone as he walked out of the men's room, only to bump into the last person he wanted to see.
"Hello." Neil's dark side said cheeringly.
"Eep." Xander squeaked.
Fortunately for Xander, Neptune picked that exact moment to walk around the corner to check on him.
"B, aren't we supposed to be, like patrolling? Not heading to City Hall?" Faith asked.
"I follow my gut, Faith, not orders. Besides, Neil's dark side knows everything Neil's personalities do. She probably figured out a way to get the Box past them and to there, so we're gonna catch her in the act."
"Whatever."
"I know what's best Faith, trust me." Buffy said, leading the way ahead of Faith. When they came in sight of City Hall, both Slayers froze.
There was a full-fledged fight scene going on, with Helen and Diana trying to take Neil's dark side down.
"Is that it?" Faith pointed at the Box lying on the ground.
"Must be, she's obviously attempting to keep them from it. Come on!" Buffy and Faith ran towards the battle.
Dance my sweet puppets dance. Neil's dark side thought gleefully.
Damn, this fucking vamp is fast! Ares thought. She was definitely gaining on him, jumping over cars and darting around corners in frantic attempts to evade him.
Fuck this.
Retrieving a stake from his pocket, he aimed carefully and threw it with unerring accuracy. It sailed through the air and struck the vamp in her heart from behind with bone-shattering force. It dusted instantly, and the Box dropped to the ground. He ran toward it as fast as his legs could carry him.
He wasn't in time to prevent some fucking idiot from running it over with his truck though.
Hera landed a couple of punches on her foe, only for her to catch the third and smash Hera through a window.
"You can "handle me", can you?" Neil's dark side snorted, only to receive a kick to the mouth.
"How about less of your fucking mouth and more of me kicking your irritating ass up and down this fucking street?!" Hera snarled.
Colliding with the evil woman, Apollo and Zeus found themselves being hurled backwards into stacks of crates, smashing most of them into kindling. Getting to their feet, they were the unhappy recipients of a spin kick to the face, knocking them down again.
Meanwhile, the two men had gotten into a waiting car and were driving away, picking up speed.
Acting on instinct, they kicked their overconfident enemy's feet out from under her and hurled some of the intact crates at the escaping vehicle. Driving wildly to avoid the projectiles, they lost control and sailed into the ocean, getaway car and all.
Acting on a quick glance from each other, Zeus ran toward the spot where the car vanished into the sea, but Neil's dark side barred his way.
"And where do you thin-"
She never finished her sentence, because Apollo punched her in the gut and thrust his foot into her face, knocking her on her ass, and Zeus hopped over her prone form and dived into the dark waters.
Flipping to an erect stance, Neil's dark side gave Apollo the evil eye.
"Sent your boyfriend to do your dirty work, did you? How distressing you will soon be his ex."
Apollo's only response was a forearm to her nose.
Taryn and Lilith uppercutted Neil's dark side together, sending her smashing into the side of a nearby hangar, denting the metal. However, she recovered quickly, and leaping at and seizing Taryn, threw her at Lilith, who casually caught her lover, and kicked her opponent's kneecap, buckling her leg, leaving her open to a Taryn haymaker which smashed the monstrous woman completely through the wall!
Tearing through an undamaged part of the wall, she hefted a drum of aviation fuel over her head and tossed it at them. They leapt aside and narrowly dodged the explosion.
"Still living, how very bothersome." Neil's dark side chuckled as Lilith and Taryn clambered to their feet.
"We're so regretful to dissatisfy you. Perchance we can make it up to you." Lilith sneered, and then she and Taryn violently counterattacked, keeping her off balance, before finally grabbing and throwing the evil bitch into the fire that she had created.
And then they realized their mistake as she ran out of the inferno, fully ablaze, before finally collapsing on the runway.
Artemis picked a heavy metal rod and cast it at her quarry's legs, sending them tumbling into a heap. Reaching them at last, she put the Box on her shoulder and backed away in preparation to leave, only to have the two vampiresses headbutt her in her ripped stomach. Grunting in pain, she smashed the Box in both their demonic faces, knocking them unconscious, then taking hold of the Box in one hand, she pulled her stake with the other and dusted them both.
Walking back to the others, she paused when she saw the burning body on the pavement.
"Is that-?"
"Yes." Lilith replied somberly.
"If she's dead, why aren't we vanishing?" Artemis wondered.
Lilith looked at the roasting corpse, troubled, before saying: "We need to return to the library, now."
"What are you thinking?" Artemis questioned.
"I'm thinking we've been had."
Receiving a double kick from Helen and Diana, Neil's dark side slammed into the truck door, before rising, snatching the truck, and trying to bring it down on top of them. Nimbly dodging the attempted crushing, they elbowed her in the sides of her head, sending her staggering backward, but she quickly retaliated with a roundhouse kick to their heads, sending them sprawling.
She turned toward her prize, and was enthusiastically greeted with a Buffy punch to the face. Shaking that off, she rammed Buffy's cranium into the side of the truck, before tossing her aside. Helen and Diana tackled her from behind, but she buckled them off, palm-striking Diana in the nose, knocking her down, before placing her hands around Helen's throat, preparing to snap her neck, until Faith's boot made itself known, kicking Neil's dark side in the throat and off Helen.
"Get away from her, you fucking cunt!" Faith hissed.
Roaring in anger, she grasped Faith's neck instead. Faith struggled uselessly against her superior strength.
"Perhaps I will crack your pretty little neck instead my dear!" Neil's dark side spat in Faith's agonized features, grinning maliciously.
Helen's fist spoke volumes of what it thought of that idea. The enraged blow spun her completely around, freeing Faith, and then Diana's nasty left hook knocked her out cold, sending her spinning in mid-air to finally fall to the unforgiving pavement face-first.
"You okay?" Diana and Helen asked Faith and Buffy.
"Yeah. Man, that bitch can grip." Faith grimaced, massaging her sore neck.
"Anyone get the number of that dinosaur that tried to stomp my brains in?" Buffy moaned, rubbing her head.
Hearing a vampire growl from behind them, they looked over their shoulders to see a crowd of vampires emerge from the City Hall building.
"Time to go!" Helen announced, reacquiring the Box. They all piled into the truck, which Faith quickly hotwired, and they sped away, leaving the vamps behind.
Of course, in their haste, none of them noticed another truck pull up to the building, and an identical Box unloaded.
Neil's dark side hit a series of punch combos to Neptune's face, but he parried the last and kneed her in the abs and socked her right between the eyes.
Xander kept acting like he wanted to jump in, but then continued backing up repeatedly.
Willow, Oz, Cordelia, and Giles ran around the corner, weapons in hand. Giles waited until Neptune was clear, and fired a crossbow bolt at Neil's dark side. She caught it with ease, smirked, and cast it at back at him. Giles' eyes widened until Neptune caught it and stabbed her in the shoulder with it. She casually looked at the offending object sticking out of her shoulder and smiled at him.
"Was that supposed to harm me? It sort of tickles."
Then she grabbed his head and shoved it through the lockers. He collapsed to the floor.
Raising her muscular leg to crush his face, she was suddenly hit with a flying desk, courtesy of Xander. She looked at him in annoyance.
"Oh please."
Giles, Oz, Cordelia, and Willow ran up to her and swung their weapons at her, only for her to disarm them with ease and knock them backwards. Xander tried a full out rush only to be seized and thrown into the rest of the Scoobies.
Smiling in a predatory fashion, she advanced on them when Neptune grabbed her from behind and threw her through the school doors, knocking them off their hinges.
Getting back up, she faced them once more.
"It's been fun children, but I really must be running along. Ta ta."
The darkness swallowed her up and she was gone.
The bolt dropped to the pavement with a clink.
Zeus popped out of the water with Box in hand and prepared to clamber up the dock to the top, only for Apollo to land on top of him and send him back under.
"And that is that." She wiped her hands and strutted off, just to suddenly bump into Zeus and Apollo, soaking wet and fully vamped out. Zeus nearly shattered the Box over her skull, and Apollo yanked her hair back and tossed her cocky ass into the drink.
"Now it's your turn to get fucking wet." Zeus said smugly.
"And that is that." Apollo mimicked.
They strutted off.
Both Hera and Neil's dark side circled each other warily, bearing signs of their struggle, battered and bruised and bloody. Hera casually spit blood out of her mouth before once again commencing the attack, forcing her into an alley.
The two women traded blows until Neil's dark side threw dirt into Hera's eyes, and taking immediate advantage, slammed the smaller woman into the walls over and over again, at least until Hera utilized her potent lower limbs to propel herself backwards and do a little wall slamming of her own, loosening her grip.
Quickly recuperating, she swiftly snatched Hera's hair; and rammed her knee in her face, knocking her to the ground. But before she could do anything further, Ares shoved her into the wall with his free hand. She struck him with a spinning backfist and knocked him on his back. Picking him up, she prepared to send him into the wall, only to receive a surprise gift from Hera in the form of a dumpster which flattened her against the back of the alley!
Hera advanced on her only for Ares to wave her off.
"Come on, we got what we came for. Let's jet."
Hera backed off reluctantly and followed her boyfriend, and gave one last parting shot as they left:
"I'll see your pathetic ass later, you worthless cunt."
She flipped her the bird and they ran off with the Box in tow.
Everyone was tending to their bumps and bruises when Faith, Buffy, Diana, and Helen walked through the swinging library doors. They stopped in shock at the sight of their battered friends and allies. Helen sat the Box on the counter and ran up to check on Neptune.
"What happened?" Buffy asked worriedly, "Is everyone alright?"
"We had a wonderful visit from Neil's worse half." Giles explained.
The Slayers and Diana and Helen looked at each other.
"What is it?" Willow asked, looking from one woman to the other.
"We were just battling her at City Hall." Diana explained.
"She can be in two places at once?" Oz commented.
"Remarkable. And potentially terrifying." Giles said in the understatement of the year.
"Why did you go to City Hall?" Cordelia asked, "Didn't we all agree that was a crazy idea?"
"We figured there was a possibility she might find some other route and bypass us, so we thought we would head her off at the pass, so to speak." Helen said.
"See, that was my idea, but Faith was all like, "whatever B", blah blah blah." Faith just rolled her eyes in response.
"Buffy, shush." Diana scolded her.
"You're not my mother! You can't tell me to shush!"
"If I were your mother, I might be sorely tempted to turn you over my knee."
Buffy stuck her tongue out at her and sat down at the table. Diana sighed in exasperation.
"I see Buffy took her immature pills this morning." Helen commented. Buffy stuck her tongue out at her too. Faith smirked at Helen's comment and Buffy's reaction.
Xander and Willow started giggling. Buffy gave them a look.
"Whose side are you on?" Buffy griped at them.
"Sorry Buff, that was funny." Xander apologized.
"Yeah, come on, Buffy, Buff it up. Buff it up." Willow giggled at her little joke.
"Have you two been drinking too much mocha again?" Buffy said.
"Xander always acts like he's drunk too much caffeine." Cordelia said snidely.
"Hey!" Xander yelled.
Giles began opening his mouth to reprimand them when Ares and Hera walked through the doors with a slightly smushed Box of their own.
"Hey all. We got the Box, even if some dumbass drove over it with his truck." Ares paused when he saw the Box sitting on the counter. Hera paused as well.
"What the fuck is going on?" Hera growled.
They all looked from the Box on the counter to Ares' and Hera's Box and back again.
"It looks like you brought in two identical Boxes." Oz said.
"Exactly how many Boxes of Gravbax are there anyway?" Buffy asked.
"Gavrock." Giles corrected. "My research into the Box that I was performing while we were investigating possible counterspells says there is only one. So one of these must be fake."
"I believe all the ones we possess are fakes." Lilith said as she, Taryn, and Artemis strode through the doors, carrying another Box.
"My word." Giles said.
"That means Apollo and Zeus is going to be coming through those doors any minute with a fakey Box of their very own?" Willow asked.
"It would seem so." Lilith agreed. Artemis dropped her Box in disgust.
"So I got my little head rammed into the side of a truck and a happy headache for nothing?" Buffy said, irritated.
"Looks like it, B."
"Great."
"So what now?" Xander asked.
"Now we are back at square one. She has the real Box." Lilith sighed. "I assume she attacked everyone tonight, trying to prevent them from acquiring the Box?"
"Big time." Ares answered.
"Yes." Diana replied.
"We were besieged as well." Giles put in.
"Then that proves it without a shadow of doubt. She can observe us."
"This would seem to be definite proof." Giles agreed.
"So how can we beat her if she can see and hear everything we say? She's like a stalker." Cordelia observed.
"The answer is simple. We can't." Lilith said pointedly. "And she undoubtedly assaulted here in order to disrupt research into sorcerous countermeasures."
"What can we do Giles, if she has the power to do all that?" Buffy asked.
Giles pondered on this for a moment, and then responded: "I believe it's time to contact the Council and make use of their expertise."
Apollo and Zeus walked in with a Box, noticed the other Boxes, and began to open their mouths, only to be interrupted with a chorus of "It's a fake. They're all fakes." in infuriated tones.
"So we got wet for nothing?" Zeus said in disbelief.
"That's the funny size and goofy shape of it." Xander replied in a depressed voice.
The girls were too busy checking out the drenched Apollo and Zeus to offer a reply.
"Buffy, Cordelia, Willow, and Faith, please stop staring at the handsome soaked gentlemen and set yourselves back to task. Willow, please fire up the computer and start browsing for any possible counterspells right away. Everyone else please, get yourselves a book." Giles ordered.
"We're going to have a long night ahead."
He proceeded into his office to phone the Council.