A cool breeze settled over the city of New York. The sun was just starting to set; silhouettes of the buildings standing out bold against the orange and yellow sky. It was a beautiful sight to the fourteen-year-old. She let the breeze blow through her shoulder-length brown hair as she watched over the central park zoo. Her parents were both zookeepers; closing the zoo often took a little while. But every day after school, she would finish her homework at the library, and rush to the zoo to meet up with her parents. It was Friday; pizza night.

The teen directed her gaze into the exhibit she was leaning on, watching the red pandas chewing on bamboo. Admittedly her favorite animals, the girl could remember the day that each and every one of them was born; she had been present for most all of the births. Her favorite, by far, was the most recent addition; a six-month old male with unusually bold markings under his eyes. The raccoon-like-creature and the teen had formed a close bond almost instantaneously. Even shortly after his birth, the red panda seemed to have a calm air about him. He rarely made noise and rarely got into fights like the other cubs. This was the reason that the girl was allowed to choose the baby's name; her mother had thought it appropriate as she was also a quite child who didn't go looking for trouble. The teen had chosen Heiwa, the japanese word for peace. Granted, red pandas were from the Himalayas, but nobody seemed to mind.

The teen smiled as soon as she spotted Heiwa trotting her way. He had grown quite a bit in the six months of his life, but was still a cub. He wouldn't be an adult for at least another six months. The teen looked around briefly before reaching her hand as far into the exhibit as she could. Heiwa reared up on his hind legs to meet her half way, pushing his head into the palm of her hand, begging for pets.

"Paniga?"

The teen whipped her hand away so quickly it caused the red panda cub to jump a bit, suddenly noticing how dark it was. Bright blue eyes settled on the middle-aged woman before her. The woman laughed. "I'm sorry Paniga. I didn't mean to startle you."

Pan smiled and brushed her hair from her face. "It's okay."

"So are we ready for pizza night?" a new voice reached her ears. Panturned to see her father coming toward them, dawned in a long brown trench coat Pan used to play in as a little girl. Both of her parents wore the typical uniform; brown shorts and matching button-up shirts with high top hiking boots. Her mother's reddish curls framed her face while her messy-haired father smiled under his glasses; bright blue eyes to match Pan's.

"I'm starving!" Pan exclaimed. Turning back to see Heiwa munching on a bamboo stick of his own, she smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow, little guy!"

As if he could understand, Heiwa's ears perked up and tale twitched a bit. Pan smiled before walking between her parents. A shiver crawled it's way up her spine. Even though it was the tale end of summer, the nights were slowly starting to get colder. Pan jumped a bit when she felt slightly heavy fabric draped over her shoulders. She smiled up at her dad as he gently wrapped his daughter in the coat.

"Thanks dad," the teen snuggled into the warmth, inhaling her father's scent. It was soothing to her.

"Hunny, aren't we the only ones left here?"

Pan's eyes snapped up. The office windows were lit as they passed.

"Yes, we were."

Pan began to worry with the tone her father used; not many things freaked him out or caused him to worry.

"Maybe we left the light on?"

"No, I shut it off when we left to collect Pan."

A shadowed figure suddenly passed the window, causing Pan and her mother to gasp in surprise. The teen felt her father's hand grip her shoulder tightly.

"It looks like they are headed toward the infermary; we can't let them harm any of the animals."

"I'll phone the police," Pan's mother pulled her phone out and began to dial. Before she could press the call button, a pink blast came from no where, vaporizing the phone. The family jumped back in surprise as three men came toward them. Pan was curious to see each looked identical' black, slicked back hair, caucasian, and each sporting a black business suit. Though the guns they were holding looked like nothing Pan had ever seen. The best she could describe... It looked alien; a cross between a machine gun and a saw. She noticed what seemed to be a charge indicator on the sides; all three glowing as pink as the blast shot toward her mother.

"Pan, run!" before she had time to mention these facts, her father pushed her behind him. Fear quickly took over Pan as she sprinted as far away from the men as possible.

"Keep running!" she heard her mother yell. "Don't look back! Just keep running!"

Pan was panicking. The only thing she could think of was the red panda exhibit. Quickly she reached her destination and hopped over the fence; her father's coat catching and pulled off of her. The red pandas were no where to be seen; she assumed they had entered the building for the night. All except one. Heiwa bounded over to her the instant Pan landed on the dirt. He quickly climbed up her pant leg and into her arms.

"Heiwa, what are you doing out here?!" Pan whispered. "There are bad people here! They're trying to hurt you!"

Heiwa nuzzled under Pan's chin, chirping quietly. Pan was taken aback; it wasn't normal for him to make noise. She held the cub close and quickly hid in a large log in the exhibit. She listened as she heard footsteps; all synchronizing together like marching machines.

"Krang will destroy that which is known as zoo per the request of Krang."

Definatly robotic. Something smashed into the exhibit, causing Heiwa to struggle against Pan's grip, desperate to try to escape it. The glass tube shattered, spilling a greenish ooze from within. It glowed an unatrual glow, and almost seemed to glitter in the moonlight. Pan gasped as Heiwa won the wrestling match and bolted from the log.

"There is one which is known as an animal Krang wishes to use as an experiment to benefit Krang."

Pan heard a dull humming sound; their weapon's ready to fire.

"NO!" Pan quickly bolted from under the log without thinking and threw herself between Heiwa and the blast, loosing a sneaker in the process. Her foot quickly made contact with the green ooze as the shot was fired.

The next thing Pan knew, a sharp burning feeling had quickly traveled up her leg. She screamed as the blast missed and hit the ooze also. Pan collapsed to the ground hugging herself tightly; it felt as if her organs and bones were re-arranging. A splitting pain in her head caused her to scream out louder. It felt as though her brain was splitting apart. And when the pain shot down her spine in a splitting moment, everything went black as she collapsed to the ground, rolling out of the ooze in her daze.

Pan could feel something warm and wet on her face. She struggled to open her eyes. Her head ached and she felt weak all over her body. Sitting up a bit she looked down to find Heiwa chirping and licking trying to lick her face.

"Heiwa?" suddenly remembering where she was, Pan instinctively wrapped her arms around the cub and held him close to her body. He nuzzled into her happily as his churrs got louder. Pan looked around. The zoo was no worse for wear; a few blast spots here and there, a couple of small damages to the fences. The teen stood up, cub still in hand and walked slowly toward the fence. As the cub clung to her now tattered shirt, Pan reached up to climb the fence, but froze when she saw her hands.

They had turned black; her arms as well. She looked and noticed it stopped at her shoulder. And her shoulder was a reddish orange. Gasping, she looked at her feet. They were black as well. Heiwa had jumped down when she lifted up her shirt. She found her stomach was black, but her sides were the same reddish orange... the color of a red panda.

Freaking out, she tried to brush whatever it was off of her arms but instead came into contact with a soft, velvet-like feeling. She could feel the super short fur being brushed by her other hand. This was real. She quickly grabbed Heiwa and jumped the fence, surprised when something pulled her back. She turned around and nearly screamed when she saw a large fluffy tail caught on the fence. It was orange and ringed with cream-colored rings; the last two rings and the tip turning black. She reached for it, surprising herself when she felt it move closer. She grabbed it and tugged a bit, causing a slight twinge to shoot up her spine. It was her tail.

Screaming she ran to a glass exhibit used to house the polar bears and gasped at her reflection. Her human ears were gone; replaced with the semi-pointed ears of a red panda. Her face was reddish-orange that quickly turned to white cheeks. Her nose was gone; replaced with a small black animal nose. Under her eyes stretching over her cheeks were two streaks of dark brown color; Heiwa's own colors.

Her eyes were still blue, but she was shocked at what she saw. She turned to the cub in her arms.

"Please tell me this didn't happen."

Heiwa wriggled out of her grip and ran back toward his habitat. Pan gasped when he dragged a tattered piece of cloth toward her.

It was her father's jacket. The sleeves had been torn off, and there was a split from the center of the back down, splitting the coat. Pan teared up and quickly flung the coat around her shoulders. Her new-found tail fit nearly perfectly in the cut slot as she raced toward the entrance.

She halted in her tracks when she saw police lights. Pan ducked behind a building, Heiwa quickly following her. She scopped the cub up into her arms and listened in, surprised to find her hearing was much better.

"It's a shame what happened here," a gruff man's voice spoke up.

"Two dead. Have you id'ed the victims?" police-woman 2 spoke up.

"Nathan and Maria Jones," the first voice said. "blasted with something. Not sure how they're still in one piece."

Pan gasped as tears ran down her face at the mention of her parent's names. They were dead. Gone. She was alone.

Pan felt Heiwa's tongue licking her cheeks, trying to take her tears away. Well, not completely alone.

"And have you seen some of the freaks running around this city?" a new gentleman's voice presented itself.

"They should all be taken in for research."

Pan had heard enough. Spotting a man hole cover, she quickly pried it open and, with Heiwa in her arms, slowly descended into the swear depths below.