L: Hello everyone! I am incredibly sorry that I took so long to update! Writers block got in the way, and small surgery got in the way, family got in the way... you know. Life in general. But here is the next chapter up a LOT later than I planned.

V/S: You wouldn't believe all the times she blamed us for her writer's block.

Disclaimer: I don't own, really wish I did, but that's not going to happen.

Warnings: Language, pilot pain (physical and mental), just plain creepiness.

Duo shuddered silently in pain as he felt his body slowly start to morph into an alien shape. His hands began to change shape and his nails grew thick, pointed, and sharp; his body grew as it twisted from its norm, and he could not help but let a brief cry of agony twist from his lips as his spine elongated. Along with this, his skin darkened, as did his hair, which now grew to cover his entire body.

In just under two minutes, Duo Maxwell, pilot 02, had completely transformed. He was now the creature that had ran amok through an Oz base, slaughtering close to two hundred soldiers; every single one of them.

A thick glossy tail gently twitched along the grass it lay on, before coming to curl beside an enormous, deadly clawed, hind right paw. Sunlight glistened off shimmering onyx fur, glancing around powerful muscles and curves, to light upon the finely structured face and muzzle of a feline. His tongue lolled out of his mouth as he panted from the pain of the transformation, but did not make a sound aside from this as his predatory amethyst eyes adjusted to their new range of focus and he flexed one large paw experimentally.

A sudden rustle in the nearby bushes immediately caught his attention and rounded ears perked up before what could be considered a feral smirk pulled lips away from knife like teeth before a playful growl rumbled from his throat as he crouched to pounce.

Duo Maxwell, Gundam pilot 02, Shinigami, had become a black Siberian tiger.

When he was finally able to fully appreciate his new form, the American was floored by all the new scents, visuals and sounds that assaulted him. He knew without seeing, that the stag he had encountered earlier was only 50 yards away from his present position by the stream. And the smells… he was amazed by how much his sense of smell had improved from its already improved state. He could smell the wild roses that stood just by the entrance to the forest from the safe house, as if he had them right under his nose. It was then that another scent grabbed his attention.

Humans were approaching... and they had guns.

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Heero, Wufei, Trowa and Quatre sat around the computer that held the details to their next mission. It was simple enough; Heero and Trowa were to infiltrate the base even as Quatre and Wufei distracted the Oz personnel by attacking with the Gundams. While Oz scrambled around trying to get rid of the two attacking, Heero and Trowa were to locate a suitable computer, and download all the information onto a disc. They would then set a virus into the system that would, after about five minutes, lead to the rather explosive end of the base.

"The layout of the building is essentially easy to memorize on short notice, so I don't think that this should be too difficult to pull off." Heero's monotone cut the silence after a moment and his statement received nods of agreement from his companions. But a sudden sigh from Quatre caused heads to swivel in his direction.

"The hardest part of all this will be telling Duo that he can't accompany us on the mission." He shook his blonde head, " You realize that he's going to be rather annoyed." Wufei and Heero shared a look of brief guiltiness before nodding in union.

The Chinese pilot stared at the ceiling, wondering how the violet-eyed boy would take the information. He snorted at the sudden vision of Duo pulling out a gun, threatening to kill them, before running off to complete the mission on his own. Actually, Wufei could truly see that happening. Duo had no exactly been his chipper self, with various rather grumpy moods threatening to overrun his normally hyper persona.

" Maxwell will most likely act angry, ignore us for a day or two after we get back, then proceed to pull a scandalous prank on all of us before returning to normal." Quatre chuckled lightly at Wufei's thoughts on how Duo would react. He quickly sobered as he fixed the two Asians with a look that even had Trowa raising an eyebrow.

" When are you going to tell him?" at this, Trowa raised both eyebrows, and the other two pilots looked to the ground. They all knew that the blonde was not talking about the mission.

"We're not even sure he'd accept…" the sudden glare that appeared on Quatre's face quickly cut off the mumbled answer that fell from Heero's lips. The Arabic boy stood and stalked over to the two, raising his hands to poke the two in the head.

"You two are such fools."

"But he already had Hilde."

"You're wrong Wufei. He thinks of her as a sister. Nothing more."

"That's right you two. The pair of you are so blind, that you need someone else to open your eyes for you!"

"You're really one to talk Quatre. Who was it that set you and Trowa up? Duo I do believe."

Quatre went slightly red at this comment, but spoke again.

"True as that may be, he also set the two of you up thinking that you only had eyes for each other. Not for him as well."

Heero opened his mouth to reply to Quatre's stinging remark, when a very flustered looking Duo burst into the room. All the other four occupants went shock still as they waited for a reaction to their conversation. A reaction that would never happen, as Duo had never heard the conversation because he had just ran back from the woods to enter the safe house. He panted out through wild motions and wide eyes, the one sentence that they had all hoped to never hear.

"Oz… they found the safe house."

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"They what!?" Quatre's outburst quickly remedied the other three pilots of their trance like state. Heero quickly set about erasing their presence from the safe house, first by folding up his laptop, and then by gathering the rest of their equipment from the room and placing it in a large black duffel bag. Wufei quickly went into the single bedroom of the house, and grabbed all five of the remaining bags, dragging them into the room he had previously left, whilst Trowa nimbly ran into the kitchen making the room appear as though it hadn't been used in many years by spreading a fine layer of dirt over everything. Quatre went about doing the same in the other two rooms. Fortunately, there wasn't much to be done in order to make the building appear as though it had been deserted for years, as none of them had bothered to clean the grimy windows in case something like this actually occurred. When everything was said and done, they met outside behind the safe house. It was Trowa who spoke first.

" How much time do we have left?" Duo shook his head.

"I'm not sure." At the looks he received, he continued. " All I know is that a set of fifteen Oz soldiers were marching straight towards the safe house. I couldn't tell for sure that they know that we're here, but in about ten minutes they'll be within sight of the safe house."

"Actually, pretty boy, those fifteen soldiers where a decoy. We're already here."

The five teenagers turned slowly to look at the Oz soldiers emerging from the forest and each paled considerably at the malicious glint that appeared in the speakers' eyes as he spoke once more.

"Pity we have to take you alive."

Not even Heero had time to issue a death threat as they were all shot with stun guns at the same time, their vision flowing to black as they all cursed themselves for letting their guard down.

The last sound any of them heard, was the booming laugh that seemed to issue from the throat of all of their adversaries.

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"I brought them alive, just as you requested Commander Alsin." A bow found its path along the body of the soldier as he addressed his superior. "Though why you wanted them alive I'm unsure." A deep chuckle found its way from Commander Alsin as the other spoke.

" At the genetics base, the personnel there managed to capture pilot 02 and perform a highly advanced altercation with his genetics." He paused for a moment to savour the slightly sickened look on the other mans face before continuing. " I was able to watch the process, so I am vaguely aware of what they did to him, but not of the end result as I was required at a very important meeting. I did, however, see the base and the corpses after 02 escaped. It was a rather sickening sight I must say. Mutilated bodies littered the hallways, blood painted not just the floor, but the walls and ceilings as well. Intestines were strewn about the place, and then I lost the video feed because the others blew the base up." Alsin shook his head despairingly at the tragic demise of the base. "Can you imagine all the work that was lost? All the research and the test subjects… gone in the blinks of an eye… all save for two."

" Two, sir?" the question the soldiers eyes elicited yet another deep chuckle from Alsin's throat.

"Yes." He nodded his head as firmly as he spoke. "Another test subject survived other than 02. He had already been released as a horrible failure. Of course…" this time it was a shake of the head. "I saw him for what he really was."

"Sir?"

"The perfect weapon to use against the Gundam pilots should we ever capture them." Just then, an Oz soldier popped his head into the room.

"Commander Alsin, the pilots are beginning to regain consciousness." A malign smile formed on the Commander's face.

"Excellent. Now raise the wall separating their room from Derek's."

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"02 report status." The first sound that Duo heard was Heero's tense voice just inches away from his right ear, slightly behind him. Suppressing the urge to groan, he replied;

"Awake with a serious urge to decimate some Oz ass." He sat up slowly, taking in their current holding room. It appeared as though the others were all awake, and Duo snorted in annoyance. Before anyone could speak, a grating noise filled the room, and the far left wall began to rise. When the noise finally stopped, another sound could be heard from the darkness of the expanded room. A chilled unnerving voice sang childlike from within the gloom.

"Ring around the Rosies, pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes, we all… bleed… dry…"

Well? What did you think? Was it up to your standards?

S: I doubt it. You also took like... what. Three months to update or something?

V: You have to hate life when it gets like that don't you.