"Hmm," Kaku said thoughtfully, and flexed his hands around the hilts of his swords. "I don't think we're going to make it out of this one."

"Oh, we'll make it out," Kalifa replied mildly. "In several pieces, perhaps, but we'll make it out yet." She flipped her hair over her shoulder and struck a fighting stance.

"How do you want to do this, then?" Kaku asked. He eyed a few of the nasty and slavering creatures gathered around the two of them in a large circle in a manner meant to keep the creatures at bay for a moment. He supposed that with a keen eye and a certain amount of imagination they could be considered human, or at least humanoid.

"We have two options," Kalifa said, carefully readjusting her glasses. "We can each dive into the fray, as it were, and take out as many of them as we can, or we can fight back to back and kill them off as they come."

"Both are appealing in their own ways," Kaku said, considering this. "How many do you suppose there are? I can't see very far back after the first few rows."

"Oh, a few hundred, give or take," Kalifa said, shrugging. She cracked her knuckles in a sophisticated sort of way that Kaku supposed only she could really pull off. "How many can you take?"

"Half," Kaku replied, without hesitation. One of the beasts tried to make a move, but Kaku lashed out a sword, which apparently made it reconsider. "You've got the rest?"

"Of course." He could feel her smiling behind his back. This was going to be interesting.

"I'm not a romantic by any means," Kaku said, tightening his hands on his swords and testing their weight, "but somehow I almost wish I could have gotten a kiss goodbye, just for the hell of it. I'm sure Lucci would find that terribly amusing."

"Hmm, that's not such a bad idea," Kalifa said, turning her head enough that Kaku could see part of her profile when he glanced back. "How about it?"

"I don't like women," he said, because he figured that it might as well be known.

"And I don't like men." She smiled again. "That's not exactly the point, Kaku."

"Well," he said, and then paused to toss a warning glare at another approaching beast. "I suppose it couldn't hurt."

"Right." Kalifa reached back with one hand to grab the side of Kaku's face and hauled him forward. Their lips met with something that could have been described as panicked urgency coming from average people; it was insistent and deliberate and thorough, because CP9 agents never did anything halfway, and it spoke of a frustration at the million things they would never get to do now, and promise that they would kick ass and go out in a blaze of glory because they owed themselves and each other that much.

"Ready?" Kaku said after a long moment, slightly breathless.

"Go," Kalifa replied, smiling brazenly. Kaku returned it.

They turned to face their enemies as one, geared up for battle, took a simultaneous deep breath, and charged.