Angelus opens his door, and steps out into the dried leaves; he shakes his head sharply, ridding himself of the memories.

"Angelus." Penn's voice catches his attention, and he looks back at his Childe opening the trunk of the car.

"What're you doing?"

"Gathering our supplies, I could use a hand here." Gesturing to the contents of the trunk, Penn waits for his Sire's approach.

Angelus wanders over to the back of the car, his eyes round as he takes in the armory stacked high. "What in the fu."

"First thing you taught me. be prepared." Penn grins at him, and tosses him a grenade.

"Watch it, kid!" Angelus catches it gingerly in his hands and stares at Penn in shock "Haven't you ever seen these in movies? They explode, you know."

"I read the manual, Angelus. I know they explode. but not unless you pull out the little pin thing and release the spoon - which I didn't. so you're safe."

"You're psychotic."

"Rule number two - never underestimate my enemy. So if fists and fangs won't do it, then these certainly will."

"What the hell is that?"

"Heckler & Koch MP5 - 800 rounds per minute."

"And where did you learn this? And do you know how to use it? You shoot me, and I'm gonna be really pissed off, you know."

"I told you, I read a lot. So this little baby," Penn picks up the weapon and spins it around in his hands "is capable of single shot fire, three round bursts, or full automatic at 800 rounds per minute. It's used for various purposes, but mostly for close quarters combat."

"So you enlisted in the Italian army, then?"

"No - would you just listen to me, please! We don't have time to waste discussing where I collected this information. It's of no consequence to what we're doing. and what we're doing is facing an enemy with superb training in dealing with our ilk. Now, are you going to continue your questioning, or can I finish?"

Angelus nods his acquiescence.

"Live fire will create the need for immediate action, we need to maneuver in well choreographed sequences. We will use the pop flares and smoke grenades to create confusion and chaos - emulating the "fog" of battle."

Angelus listens intently at the instructions Penn is laying out for him. He is stunned by the vast knowledge his eldest shows in tactical approaches to armed encounters.

"The squads will get split up and disoriented, that's when we force them through the gauntlet. Multiple and simultaneous 'hits' that they must analyze and react to, suppress fire and get out of the kill zone. The bullets flying everywhere, team members screaming to communicate over the noise, smoke grenades going off and pop flares lighting up the building then fizzling out - sweat and fear and exhilaration and confusion and the ever present desire to perform because they know that their lives depends upon the level of competence of the team."

"Okay, so we'll do a blitzkrieg on them. That's what you're saying, no?"

"Something like that."

"Right, go on."

"You bring something capable of knocking out an armored vehicle. The .50 cal sniper should do it. Do NOT underestimate the enemy, no matter how unprepared or disorganized they appear - there will be doctors among the soldiers, which may throw you off - we have no idea how aware they are of our weaknesses. Conserve your rounds, you may need them."

"And we're going in there to blow the place up."

"Well, yes. in a nutshell. We'll fight on their terms. Tonight they pay for what they've done to Pup."

"Lead the way. and Penn." Penn turns to look at Angelus as he lifts the heavy sack over his shoulder "You'll tell me where the hell you learned all this shit after, right?"

"Yes."

The pitch-black night covers the pair as they coordinate their way towards their destination. They catch sight of a soldier making his way through the trees, lit by a glowing chemlight.

"There." Penn whispers to Angelus.

Angelus raises his weapon to the form, and Penn puts his hand out to stop him. "Conserve your rounds, take this one down quietly."

Penn crouches as Angelus moves to come from behind the soldier, silently he treads through the brush, the soldier turns slightly, a little too late, Angelus is on him, his hands on the man's head, he twists sharply, and drops the form at his feet.

A second soldier approaches, a full rucksack on his back. Penn lifts his revolver, and covers the site between the mans' eyes. "Alvarez." the soldier whispers "Alvarez. c'mon man. stop fuckin' around. where are you?"

The sound of branches breaking behind him, the soldier turns towards the sound, crouching low on one knee and raising his weapon at the ready. His eyes scan the perimeter, and he can see nothing in the blackness. His point is manned by the alternate unit, and he and Alvarez are supposed to be on Roving Patrol. "Alvarez!" This time, his voice is a little louder. "Fucker. if this is another one of your jok." His body drops to the ground as Penn fires a single shot from his revolver.

The pair move in tandem now, quickly cutting off the power to the building and standing in the shadows as the squad of armed men hurry past them, slamming the heavy metal door to the entrance shut. Penn hands Angelus the MP5, and Angelus lets loose a wide spray of bullets into the crowd of armed men. Several of the men drop to the ground immediately, and the flash from the smoke grenade covers the area in a ghostly white. Penn grabs the 50 cal and blows open the door to the bunker. Angelus watches as the younger demon performs a flawless insertion by throwing pop flares into the gaping hole, and jumping in through the haze.

Once inside, the soldiers come at them in several waves, Penn continues throwing pop flares and smoke grenades - effectively blinding the commando's. One by one, they force the troops further into the building. Bodies drop at their feet, the sounds of dying men moaning through the structure battles with the cries of the living barking out commands to the still viable soldiers. Penn and Angelus remain silent as they pepper the smoke with rounds from their weapons, advancing forward when they're sure the vicinity is clear. Both vampires using their heightened senses of smell and sight to navigate their way through the massacre.

When they near the furthest corner of the building, they're certain they have several men trapped, they stop the onslaught, waiting for the veil of white to clear slightly.

"Are there any Doctors here?" Penn asks calmly.

"I. I'm a Doctor." Comes a meek response from a cowering man.

"Very well, then I'd like to have a few words with you."

"You're. you're not going to kill me, are you?"

"What good would it do to spare you, Doctor?"

"I'm. I'm. a Doctor. I help people. I save people."

"Is that a fact? Well, it would seem to me that you've not taken to heart your Hippocratic oath."

"I have!" Protests the smaller man, obviously offended by the monsters' affront to his ethics.

"You ignorant insect. did you think because you were practicing your arts on creatures other than human that the words of Hypocrites no longer applied? Shall I remind you of your sworn oath? If I utter the words in Latin, will your microscopic mind comprehend it?"

Another Doctor stands in the smaller mans' defense "Listen, I don't know what you're trying to achieve, but you're obviously after the wrong people. We're trying to save people from creatures that harm them."

Penn looks directly at the blonde Doctor "And what of the people that harm other people? Will you implant them with behavior modification chips, as well? Perhaps we should all build armies of soldiers to shield us from whomever we perceive to be monsters. Then the playing field would be level. Wouldn't you agree."

"I don't want to die!" The smaller Doctor cries out, huddling to the floor among the remaining soldiers.

"Shut up, you sniveling fool! I'm going to assume our William murmured nonsensical pleas, much as you're doing now, begging for mercy. begging to be set free. and yet you carried on. carved open my boys' head.. And now you beg at my feet? Beg me for mercy? You call yourself Doctors! You're no different from us. you use scalpels instead of fangs. but no, you know."

Penn tilts his head thoughtfully "You're much worse than us. you leave your victims to wither and die slowly, defenseless, cage them in their own bodies. You don't even have the decency to put them out of their misery. So let's get back to the oath. and let me tell you how you are no Doctors. I'll boil it down to its' simplest form, the essence, if you will."

Angelus smiles at Penn, enjoying the way he lifts the clumped form of the smaller Physician from the floor. Penn leans in face to face with the sobbing man "These words will be the last thing you remember. The oath. Do. No. Harm. Does that sound familiar? Oh. and let us not forget that last part. 'Should I trespass and violate this Oath, may the reverse be my lot!' And it will be your lot, you miserable, putrescent, loathsome disease. I am the instrument of your reckoning, and he," gesturing to the taller man holding what looks like a hand cannon "He - is the Angel of death. and we take our vows very seriously." Glowering into the face of the sniveling Doctor "WE SHALL DO HARM!"

"PLEASE GOD! DON'T HURT ME!" Several of the soldiers stand, and Angelus sprays them with his firearm. The once-standing soldiers fall across the rest that had remained seated in fear against the wall of the bunker.

Penn pulls out a scalpel "You referred to him as Hostile 17. Do you remember him? Did you cut him. like this?" The younger demon draws a deep slice down the smaller man's cheek. The man cries out in pain "Did you think at all about the pain you caused him? Think on it now. if you can." Again, he slices into the man's cheek, making a small cross, the man's wounds ooze blood down his ashen face, as he stands shivering in Penn's embrace "Did you delight in altering his perfect nature the way I delight in altering yours? Oh."

The man begins sobbing like a child "Oh yes. And alter I will. no one will recognize what I leave behind as human." Slipping into game face, he savagely slashes at the wilting form of the Doctor, the man falls to the floor, clutching at his wounds.

"HIS HEAD! YOU CUT OPEN HIS HEAD!" Penn grabs the man's hair, and lifts his face to look at him, with a sneer; he drags the scalpel across the man's hairline, and rips the top of his scalp up with a violent yank. The man screams out in pain, as his body begins convulsing, frothy fluid pooling at his mouth, and Penn drops him.

The men huddled in the corner begin gasping and scrambling to free themselves.

"Ah.. ah.. ah." Angelus points the weapon at the group. "My Boy Penn is very articulate. wouldn't you agree? Oh, I'm sure that you would. However." Angelus grabs the taller blonde Doctor "I'm not usually one for long good-bye's.but I'll make an exception in your case.but just this once, now!" The larger demon tosses his weapon to Penn, and with one arm, throws the Doctor to the floor. "You're about to meet the same fate as your colleague, there. Any last words?"

"I. I. Please.I have a family. A wife. Two children." The man trembles on the floor underneath the weight of Angelus' foot.

"Well, it would seem we have something in common, then. You see - Penn here. he's MY family. and William. Or. Hostile 17, as he's known around here. Well now. you have a favorite, don't you doc? Because I sure as hell do. and my boy William. Yes. he would be my favorite. and tell me. what would you do if someone were to harm one of your precious children? Exactly what I'm going to do now. that's what."

Angelus bends to pull the scalpel from the dead Doctors head "Oh. don't worry, it's sanitary." Slicing into the shirt of the blonde Doctor, he digs the scalpel in the writhing man's abdomen, the man screams out in horror as he watches Angelus perch himself on his haunches beside him, the scalpel grotesquely standing up in stomach, and bobbing with each flex of the muscles it is embedded in.

Angelus speaks smoothly "You know Doc. what the best part about this is? Well, I'll tell you, since you seem to be rather occupied at the moment. The best part of being a Doctor, and having someone systematically torture you, is that you know exactly what's being done to your body. Step by step. you know what the names of the muscles are that I've cut into, you know how much blood you can loose before it's too late, and no amount of transfusions will help you. You know when you're dying."

With that, Angelus reaches into the deep laceration, and grabs a handful of dripping intestines, the man shrieks as the hand is removed from his body, his head turning side to side, his lips trembling the words no. no. no. as the demon sadistically rips the organs from him. The body seizes brutally against the hard concrete, the head banging rhythmically against the ground. "Death rattle," Angelus muses "Innit great?!" He looks at Penn, who is smiling his approval.

"The rest of you." Penn gestures to the living who remain "really aren't worth any trouble. so we'll be leaving you to it, then."

The pair make their way to the entrance as they hear the collective sigh of relief coming from the troop.

"On second thought." Penn adds, pulling out a grenade "I think I may have a little more time." removing the pin, he tosses the grenade at the cowering men, who begin to scramble and claw at the bodies that are trapping them.

"Seven more seconds, lads." Penn calls out, as the pair dash from the bunker and race towards the car.

"That was. great." Angelus muses as the pair reach the car.

"Just like old times, eh?" Penn grins at him.

"Well, yeah. you're a stone cold fucker when you want to be. you know that, Childe?"

"Learned at the hands of the Master."

"Yes. I suppose you did pick up some of that along the way. But I suspect it had more to do with William than with my teachings."

"Hmm. six of one. half dozen of the other." Penn mock juggles invisible balls with his hands.

Angelus snickers at his Childe's exaggerated gesturing.

"You know. Sire." Penn tilts his head and looks contemplatively at the taller man.

"Hmm?" Angelus replies.

"Nothing - nevermind."

Angelus saunters closer to Penn, leaning his body against the younger demon. "I already know."

"You're all cleaned up now?" Penn asks, steering through the winding road.

"Yeah, I think I've got everything. Take a look, tell me."

Penn turns his head to face his Sire, who has changed his shirt, and cleaned his face from the traces of blood spatters. "Yes. you've got it."

"So - where the hell did all that guns 'n ammo crap come from? That's not really your style, Penn."

"Uhm. I had a lot of free time in Italy."

"That explains everything. I wonder why I didn't think of that myself. it's so obvious."

"I kept myself up to date on current events, wars and such. read a lot. Took a real liking to military tactics. Reminded me of the hunts we used to take William on. you know."

"Okay. makes sense. if you're an idiot. Now why don't you tell me how you really learned all that shit."

"I told you."

"I know when you're lying, Childe. and that explanation was the weakest I've heard you come up with."

"Nevermind Angelus. just let it go."

"Whatever - hey. there we go. pull over there."

"What? Why?"

"Because I have something I need to take care of. You and William wait for me. I'll be bringing dinner home tonight."

"Uh. Angelus?"

"Uh. Yes?"

"Okay, now I'm not one to question," Angelus snorts at Penn's comment, unfazed, Penn continues "but you let the room service walk off tonight. I'm dropping you off in a graveyard, and you're saying you're bringing home dinner. are you seeing a pattern here?"

"Don't worry about it, Childe."

"Well, okay - but I will anyway - explain yourself. why are you hunting in a graveyard?"

"Look - want me to drop your sudden shift into General Patton? Then you can drop needing to know why I'm going out for a snack here."

"Fine, Sire. you're the boss. Out ya go, then. I'll be with William at the room, when you're ready to come home."

"Tell Pup I'm bringing him his present." Angelus laughs out as he steps from the car.

"Yes." Penn adds dryly "I'll be certain to mention that you're bringing him home a nice trinket from the cemetery."

Angelus leans into the open window of the passenger seat "You really are a smart ass, you know that?"

Penn just smiles and drives away.

*****