Mai Mingle bent down and reached under the chair. On the underside of the seat, she felt a knife held in place with duct tape. The tape came off with a RIPPPPP, and Mai Mingle stood up, knife in hand.
Mai Mingle pulled a stun baton from a prop box.
Mai Mingle grabbed a bottle of liquor from the shelf behind the bar and smashed it against the corner of a table. The bottle shattered with a crisp crack. Clear liquid cascaded down from the jagged, razor-sharp shards of glass.
Mai Mingle turned and ran.
It might have seemed ridiculous, but after ducking to dodge half a brick thrown by a Mai Mingle, her first instinct as she ran was to fumble for the "Extracellular Telomeres" on her body.
When her hand pressed against her lower abdomen and felt the long, coiled serpent sleeping there, her heart, which had been in her throat, dropped back into place. The slightly raised, strip-like Illusion was still wrapped tightly around her body.
So, she was *the* Mai Mingle.
