AN: So I'm updating this, too. What can I say? I'm in an updating mood.

-------------------------

A few days later, Ratigan pulled the blankets close to his form. His skin still itched like crazy, due to the fact that his fur was coming in, but he just wanted to stay warm.

Basil peeked into the room. "Can I come in?"

"All right."

Basil strode calmly over to the chair by the rat's bed and sat down. "Is your fur coming in all right?"

"Well, it's coming in, but it's making my skin itch like it's on fire."

After a moment of silence, Basil finally said "There's something I have to ask you."

"What?"

"Where..." Basil hesitated, wondering how he could ask the question. Finally: "Where did you come from?"

"Well, as you probably figured out, I was brought here from some kind of military laboratory. Why I was created, I don't know. But I wonder..."

"Wonder what?", Basil asked.

"I wonder what they made me for..."

-------------------------

The director frowned as he stared blankly ahead in thought. It was obvious that, while the officer that had taken Experiment R285426 had been captured and eliminated, the experiment itself had not been returned. He would have to pull some strings to see it returned. But it would have to be done in secret...

Pressing a button on the table, he activated the communications link to the lab. "Mr. Bough, is Experiment R285426 version 2.0 ready?"

-------------------------

In the lab, the rat named Bough sighed. Another experiment, created to be used for who knows what... Personally, he was glad that R285426 escaped through the Worldwide Evil Empire's (WEE) nets.

But he couldn't help feeling a touch of love for the rat that now rested under the blankets. "If only she knew what she was being made to do...", he muttered.

"Mr. Bough!", Gemini shouted.

"She will be ready for instruction by tomorrow", Bough said flatly, hiding the emotion in his voice.

"Very good...", Gemini said wickedly, and the speaker shut itself off.

As he turned towards the female rat again, a tear trickled down Bough's face. He would make sure version 2.0 was sent off, then he would have to escape to warn R285426. But he'd have to be careful...

-------------------------

Basil had left, but what Ratigan had said still echoed inside the rat's mind.

"I was created for something... But what?"

Tsuzuku...

-------------------------

The plot thickens...