I peered through the bushes at Dr. Genital Herpes's (hee hee!) house, feeling decidedly spy-like. Until Fang managed to sneak up on me and tap me on the shoulder.

"Wagh!" I emitted a high-pitched shriek, and turned to glare at him. "Would you freaking stop that?"

The corner of his mouth twitched. "There's eight guards on the east side of the house all spread out."

I shoved aside my annoyance. "Guns?"

"I didn't see any, but that doesn't mean anything. Might be concealed."

I nodded. "I'll go around this side, you go around that side. We jump them at the same time in in thirty seconds." I waited for a confirmation; he nodded, agreeable as usual to my plan. "Go!"

I darted around the corner, not looking back. We had to do this quickly; if the guards had long enough to call for reinforcements, we would be screwed. We're good, but not that good. Well, maybe. But I didn't want to risk it.

I peered around the edge of the building, still counting. There were eight guards, just like Fang had said. I could take down the four closest to me easily... Twenty-eight, twenty-nine... Thirty!

I sprang out silently and knocked out one of the guards immediately with a well placed flying side kick to the chest. As I turned toward the others, I saw Fang owning the guys on his side and knew I didn't have to worry about him.

One of the guards near me pulled out his gun. "Whoa!" I said with fake concern, holding my hands up. "Watch where you point that th-" in the middle of my sentence I karate chopped his neck. He collapsed, unprepared. Two down; two to go.

The other two were a little harder to evade; they'd seen what I'd done already and were more ready. Although, it was easy to dodge their gunshots. These guys were clearly amateurs.

I'd already spent two minutes on these guys; time totally wasted. So I decided to get it over with. I gave them both quick front kicks, and while they were looking dazed, I knocked their heads together so hard that they fell unconscious. Incredibly satisfying.

I surveyed my handiwork for a moment more, then joined Fang, who was already inside the building. He was fighting two more guards. With unspoken agreement, he took one and I took the other.

While he knocked out his adversary,I slammed mine against the wall and put on my most ferocious face. This was easy to do. I just imagined that my flock was dead, and this was the guy that had killed them.

"Where's the serum?" I snarled into his face. "Where is it?"

"I- I don't know!" The guy wailed, totally freaked out. "Please- I don't know-"

"Do you want to wake up in this world, or wake up in the next one?" I screeched at him. "'Cuz that's the difference it'll make if you tell me. I know you know!"

His face was white, his eyes wide. "What are you?" He whispered, his voice shaking.

"Your worst nightmare!" I spat. Okay, cliche, but it did the trick. He spilled the beans.

"It's upstairs. In room 312. I swear, that's where he put it. That's the last time I saw him put it anywhere!"

I slammed his head against the wall in response. His eyes closed and he slumped. I dropped him.

"You're getting more violent every day," Fang said. You wouldn't know it if you didn't know him as well as I did, but I could detect the lightness of his teasing tone.

I gave Fang a quick glance. A couple minor scrapes and bruises- nothing too serious. "Let's go," I said.

We found the room quickly upstairs, leaving a trail of unconscious people in our wake. I held my breath as Fang pushed the door open. It was full of glass cabinets and metal tables that reminded me too much of our old days. I shuddered. These kinds of places gave me the creeps.

"You okay?" Fang touched my back gently. I nodded.

We searched around the room, looking for telltale labels like "MAX'S SAVIOR", or more realistically, "TELOMERASE-STRENGTHENING SOLUTION", or something. There were tons of bottles, all right. I just couldn't make any sense of them. After ten minutes, I was frustrated. Plus, more guards would be coming soon.

I punched a cabinet, wincing as it shattered and sliced up my knuckles.

"Watch it," Fang called from across the room. "Hey, is this the one?" He held up a vial with an orange liquid in it.

I crossed the room quickly. "Why do you think so?"

He held it up so I could read the label. It was a bunch of sciencey gibberish words, with the word "telomerase" sandwiched in between.

"It's a long shot," I sighed. "At the same time, I don't want to take the wrong one and end up turning into a bear." This earned me a full-fledged grin, and I felt a happy jolt even though our circumstances sucked.

I knelt beside him and took the vial from him. Our fingers brushed together. I swallowed hard and managed to ignore it. I turned the vial over carefully in my hands, examining it, wondering if maybe this was the one...?

The door opened with a bang. We both jumped up and then immediately looked at each other again. There were at least twenty guards at the door. We were, um, how to put this delicately?

Screwed.

But we'd won against the odds before, and I was betting we could do it again. So, without hesitation, I jumped at the nearest guard with a roar.

And all hell broke loose.

I couldn't tell what was happening- someone had gotten a hold of a gun and was shooting around, apparently oblivious to the fact that he was destroying his boss's life's work. What an idiot. Meanwhile, four steroid-pumped men rounded on me, holding knives. Apparently more intelligent then the gunman in the room, they'd gone for the next-best weapon, and a weapon that was a lot less likely to damage the Hanselator's specimens.

I could take them down, all right. The knives just made it a little more complicated. Without even knowing what I was doing, I dropped the vial. I cursed myself inwardly but took advantage of the situation by kicking one of the men, who were momentarily distracted by the patch of carpet sizzling before them. So. It had been some sort of acid, and not the life-saver we'd initially thought.

I couldn't tell what else was happening- I could just guess that the other, oh, fifteen guards had gone for Fang. Because Fang was male. What sexists.

I pounded one of the non-sexists into the wall and turned toward the others. More had joined the fight against me, and I was having to dodge a lot. I occasionally took a punch or two, though. I'm not invincible, contrary to popular belief.

I risked a glance at Fang to see how he was doing; he was fending off the attackers- with difficulty, of course.

Looking at him proved to be a mistake, as in the next second I felt an explosive pain in my right shoulder. I swallowed a scream, but staggered for a moment. The guards took full advantage, hitting my head so hard against a glass cabinet that (obviously) the glass shattered, and I saw stars for a moment. Another managed to get a kick to my kidney.

Even in such intense pain, I could tell they were getting ready to deliver the death blow; one took out his gun, probably confident he could get a clear shot without hurting the doc's merchandise. He was wrong; I shook of my sluggishness and knocked the gun at his hand. I wacked him in the head with it and turned to the others.

I'm not a fan of guns, so I didn't shoot them or anything. I just kept fighting them. I was a lot slower now, with my injuries, plus my right arm was out of the game. So they got a lot more hits in. But they went down in the end anyway.

Fang hurried over, his concerned eyes taking me in. I could hear more voices down the hall. We needed to get out of here. "Max!" His hands reached for me, to help me stand. I shook him off.

"I'm fine," I managed to say before I fell over and passed out.

Oh no, they couldn't get the serum? All hope is lost!

Or is it? R & R, as always! :D