With his head feeling dense and swirling with confusion, Hunter’s eyes opened on what appeared to be a dimly lit, circular room. He was laying on another exam table, and his neck was sore and hot.

Dr. Kahn appeared over his head, examining him. “Fine. That’s just fine. That will work famously.”

“My neck? Again,” Hunter asked groggily.

“Your arms and wrists just won’t cooperate,” Kahn said wryly, referring to Hunter’s notoriously hard-to-access veins from before. “But time is not on our side tonight, so I have to do what I can to make the experiment work.”

“Ex…experiment?” Go on, admit to it all, Hunter said to himself.

“Again, you can drop the act,” Kahn said, “I know you went behind the curtains against instructions.”

Play dumb. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He strained to look for a clock.

“I place those curtains in a very specific position,” Kahn said. “When I came back from getting supplies, I found they’d been disturbed.”

“The only one disturbed here is you,” Hunter said. “That woman had an alligator’s scales, Kahn, what was that?”

“The next stage of progress, what else could it be?” Kahn said. He wheeled out a device from a far wall and powered it on. It looked like a sonogram machine. “Temporary animal metamorphosis, I call it. A way for humans to exist in extreme conditions. Say someone is stranded in the desert - why not temporarily change your DNA into that of a snake or another animal adapted for that climate? The snowbound could convert into bears and hibernate until help can arrive. I am developing a service to mankind.” Hunter saw Kahn pick up a scalpel from a bag of gear.

Suddenly, the few lights that illuminated the room died out. The vibrations of air conditioning and other electronics ground to a halt. The power was out. The only light in the room now came from the sonogram machine, which was evidently battery-powered.

Hunter hoped that had been the crew from The Order making their move. He squinted to look at the screen. It read 6:02 PM. Go-time.

“Dratted power,” Kahn cursed under his breath.

“What’s the scalpel for,” Hunter asked.

“Oh, the risk of an unexpected result on this accelerated timeline is quite high,” Kahn said. “Instead of the expected result… in this case, the development of hawk-like feathers along the neckline, you could simply develop a mass at the injection site.”

Like the giant tumor he saw on Alex, Hunter assumed.

“Generally we let those masses express on their own, but we haven’t the time for that. I’ll simply have to excise it at once, and then we can try again.

“You’re insane,” Hunter growled.

“Best not to call names of the person holding the blade,” Kahn said. Taking off his spectacles, he sneered over the end of the exam table as and fussed with the sonogram.

That had to be enough of a threat. “Maybe so,” Hunter said, “but even an idiot would have remembered to tie his subject down while he was unconscious.”

Kahn turned to face Hunter directly. “What?”

Hunter pelted him in the chest with both of his sneakered feet. The doctor doubled over in pain. Hunter rolled off the table, landed on his feet, and bolted for the door. He had to fidget with the lock, giving Kahn a few seconds to gather his wits. As Hunter made his move through the door, Kahn swiped at him with the scalpel.

The blade caught Hunter on the back of the right leg. He seethed with pain as he ran at full pace towards one end of the hallway. With the hall a similar layout as the second and ground floors, he had to assume he was heading for the stairwell.

At least this pain has summoned Kai, Hunter thought. I hope…

He could feel his sock becoming soggy with his own blood. Praying the slice hadn’t gone through a major artery, he fought through the stinging pain and threw himself down the stairs two at a time, hoping to pick up speed. He passed a giant number 3 on the wall next to the door, which he tried to burst through - but it was locked. He heard the door from the floor above burst open. 

Hunter bounded down the next group of stairs. Floor 2 - with the security office. No sooner had the door come into his view, he was knocked down from behind as Kahn tackled him, bashing Hunter’s head into the steel door. The weight of the two men crashing inward caused the unlocked door to unlatch, and they fell into the open hallway.

Hunter wrenched and twisted his body about. Kahn had dropped the scalpel at some point, Hunter noticed. But he had a powerful grip on Hunter’s legs, leaving his arms free.

With a ferocious shout, Hunter grabbed Kahn by the head and jammed his thumbs in the doctor’s eyes. Howling in pain, Kahn released his grip, allowing Hunter to wriggle free. Guided only by the emergency exit lights still gently lighting the hallway, Hunter bolted for the opposite end, where another set of steel double-doors were located.

They were locked. The crash bars didn’t budge. Panicked, Hunter looked behind him in time to see Kahn disappear into that floor’s designated kitchen area. Perhaps he got disoriented. But never mind - through the security glass of the double doors, Hunter could see through to the other side - another in a myriad of large offices cluttered with boxes and desks. There was an explosion of glass as something barreled through, somersaulting expertly across the floor then hopping to his feet like some super powered acrobat.

Kai!

His partner zoomed to the door. He couldn’t open it from his end, either. Kai looked into the glass at Hunter, then yelled, “Look out!”

Hunter instinctively turned around, to see Kahn nose-to-nose, just as Kahn jabbed a large butcher’s knife straight into Hunter’s belly. Kahn withdrew the knife and tossed it to the floor.

He saw stars as his body convulsed. He could hear Kai making an inhuman, high-pitched roar. Hunter sank to his knees in searing pain, putting his right hand against the wound. Kahn grabbed his left hand and began to pull him like a rag doll across the floor. Hunter’s body turned with his feet pointing back toward the double doors.

Hunter watched as Kai began to slam himself against the locked doors. They dented once… twice… three times.

“You’ve got no way out,” Hunter gasped, fighting through the pain. 

Kahn either didn’t hear him or had plunged so far into insanity that he didn’t care. He continued to drag Hunter as they passed the elevator shaft. The lights suddenly flickered back to life, catching them both off guard. Kahn, disoriented, took a step backwards, letting go of Hunter’s arm.

Kai succeeded in bashing through the doors, running at a frenetic pace towards Kahn. The doctor spun on his heels. In doing so, he slipped on a pool of Hunter’s blood that was rapidly spilling onto the floor. He fell. Kai tackled him and without so much as a beat, gripped Kahn’s head and snapped it to one side like it was a twig. The body landed lifelessly and slumped against the wall by the stairwell door.

“Hunter!” Kai scrambled on his hands and knees to his lover’s side. “Oh, ye Gods…” He took his wrist-communicator and pressed the button harder than he’d ever pressed it. “Mugan! V-Medic to Level 2. V-Medic to Level 2.” He pressed both hands into Hunter’s stomach. Blood bubbled through his fingers.

Hunter was struggling for breath already. “Kai… phone… phone…” he murmured.

“Shh. Shh. Save your strength, Hun,” Kai said.

Hunter slapped a bloody hand over Kai’s as he began to gasp. “Zipper. Phone.”

Kai, registering what Hunter was trying to say, reached into Hunter’s pants pocket. He pulled out the phone. The screen was still on the video recording app, and the word ‘REC’ was blinking. The battery had 2% left.

“Evidence,” Hunter panted. “Security office. Tapes… Kai, I’m… I’m…”

“No. No. Hunter, no, you’re not,” Kai said, letting the phone drop to the floor. “I am not losing you. I can’t.

Hunter’s eyes began to flutter. His breath became shallower.

“I can’t,” Kai repeated. His fangs began to descend. “I must, but ye Gods, what if I miss again…”

The sound of Order agents beginning to run throughout the hall and past them began to fill Hunter’s ears. It was so disorientating.

Hunter knew he only had one breath left, two at most. Staring Kai in the eyes, he took one big gulp of air.

“I trust you, love,” he whispered. “Go.”

Kai dove for Hunter’s exposed throat.