Chapter three

T'ing Leang

Friday, 9, 1945

Zurich, Switzerland

1200 hours

I was making my way around the track-and-field area of the school. I saw Natasha Romanov trying to place a box of some kind in to her binder. I went over to her and tried to help.

Yes, Natasha told me about this part already.

Really? Oh well. I'll just skip to when I first morphed.

Since I didn't have any afternoon classes, I went for a little hike in the Swiss Alps. I heard of, and disregarded the rumors about increased Snow Leopard population, and started my hike. Besides, if I gave the Leopards their space, they wouldn't attack me. I reached the top of Schnebelhorn (the highest point in Zurich.) when the sun started to dip lower. I was around a third of the way down the mountain when I was ambushed by a Snow Leopard. He pounced on me, and I went down, my face hitting a rock and scraping back some of the skin and breaking my nose. I managed to get onto my back before the leopard got up. He pounced again, slamming me down onto my back, snapping my right arm in several places. I tried, futilely, to get the cat off me, but it didn't work. The leopard was right on top of me now, raising a paw to come down hard on my sternum and kill me. I managed to get my good arm free, and hold the paw of the cat in a desperate attempt to stop the leopard from killing me. It went docile for a few seconds. I ran and grabbed a rock and proceeded to beat the cat to death with it. Then I limped down the hospital at the halfway point of the mountains, normally used for climbers who had accidents. A nurse came out when she saw me stumbling down the mountain.

"What happened?" she demanded.

"Uhhh… leopard… attack… barley got away… uhhh…" I passed out after that.

I woke up some time later in a dark room, probably on a hospital bed. I couldn't tell, it was dark, and the drugs they gave me where still fresh in my system. I started to remember the attack and remembering why I was here. I started to morph into the Snow Leopard, but I didn't notice at the time. My bones reset, the scars and stitches disappeared, and the electrodes they put on me to monitor my heart rate, breathing and vital signs came out. I was semi-awake now, and tried to put them back on. However, as I had paws now, not hands that was difficult. Eventually, I fell out of the bead and onto the floor. My vision adjusted and I could see a lot better now, but the drugs still gave a hazy and wobbly feel to it. A janitor came a few minuets later. He turned on the light, and screamed in terror at the sight of me. With my heightened sense of hearing, it was defining.

HEY! What is wrong with you? I asked, unaware that I was using telepathy. Listen, I'm fine now, do you know a way out of here?

How do I know this isn't an elaborate hoax?

I'll prove it to you later, Commander. Trust me.

He screamed again and ran away in a panicked state. I shock of the noise, and walked out. I got about halfway to the hotel, when I demorphed. I made my way back to the hotel stumbling frequently, and fell asleep.

Saturday, 10, 1945

0930 hours

I woke up when the hotel staff called my room with the wake-up call. I started reading the newspaper. The headline in the "Local" section said "Chinese Exchange Student Missing, Presumed Dead". I read that and became very confused at how a Snow Leopard got into the hospital and disappear without a trace. I also got to the section on the janitor's questioning, however, the police didn't believe him, as they smelled alcohol on his breath.

I remembered what had happened last night, and wondered how I got away from all that. Especially since I had broken bones, massive blood loss, and more then likely, a concussion. I checked myself in a mirror. Nothing. No broken bones, no claw marks, no scars, no bruises, nothing!

I started to think about the leopard, and about 30 seconds later, I was the cat. I thought about my human self and reversed the process.

"Well, this is very interesting…" I said to no one in particular.

I needed to tell someone about this. I got dressed, got something to eat, and left. I knew Natasha Romanov would be at the local health club.

This is where Natasha left off. You told her that you turned into a Snow Leopard.

Well, since you know that, I'll skip to what was said after that.

"Well," she began, uneasily. "Just between us, I turned into a Siberian Husky last night."

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF GOD IS HAPPENING TO US?" I yelled.

"Not so loud!" she hissed. "What exactly happened?"

"Sorry," I said. And I began to retell my story.

She retold her story and I noticed that the only thing we had in common was that we both touched the cube.

"So," she said after a long silence. "Whatever this is, it seems to be thought based. That's how we're able to turn into the animals we touched."

"so what do we do now?" I asked.

"since I found the cube in the first place, I'll keep it in a safety deposit box in the Bank of Zurich. Nobody is going to be able to get it except for me."

"Good idea. I'll keep testing this ability out, maybe I'll find something else out about it."

So I started to test the morphing ability out. I tried acquiring other animals and morphing them, it worked.

Natasha Romanov

Zurich, Switzerland

Saturday, 10, 1945

0930 hours

I went back up to my hotel room to find and lock the blue cube away. I opened the drawer where I put it last, and it was missing!

I panicked and ransacked the room, thinking I misplaced it somewhere. I searched the room again, but I found nothing. I heard in my mind a few seconds later, hello? Natasha, can you hear this? I figured out how to talk while we are morphed. I just decided to call the process that. Also, it's defiantly thought-based. Hello? Can you hear me? I somehow knew it was Leang. That gave me an idea, if the process that Leang dubbed "Morphing" was thought-based, I could try it myself. I focused on Chikzoki again, and about 30 seconds later, I was the Siberian husky once again. I started sniffing the drawer, and now the thief's trail was laid out as if traffic cones had been placed on it. I started to follow the trail, dodging pedestrians and a few hotel staff until I got to the basement. I slowed down, and started to look around. (Not the easiest thing in the world to do in a dark place looking for a blue cube with colour-blindness.) But, my sense of smell kept pointing me in the right direction. I came to a dark grey (at least, that's what it looked like to me) I carefully pushed open the door and peaked inside. I heard someone, a female voice to be exact muttering. As I got closer, I heard "how do I take this thing apart? ACHOO! Dammit! Why am I sneezing so much? ACHOO!" shit. Alexis must have thought the cube was my science fair experiment. Well, I knew how to get her to give the cube back to me. I growled, she turned, and threw a screwdriver at me.

"GO FETCH!" she yelled. It bounced off my head, and I started barking. She grabbed the cube and threw it at me. I jumped up, grabbed the cube in my mouth and ran.

LEANG! We have a problem! Alexis got hold of the cube! I said, telepathically.

I ran back upstairs, through the main lobby, and out the front door. I went to where Leang was as quickly as I could. When I got there, she was just demorphing. But what surprised me was that she managed to figure out how to morph with some cloths on. I demorphed and got dressed, taking the cube out of my mouth I asked "How did you learn to morph clothing?"

"You just have to concentrate on yourself with clothing on. It only works on skin-tight cloths though." She explained.

I later went back up to my hotel room, where I saw Alexis dismantling something. She turned around when she heard the door open.

"Natasha, I swear I didn't find out what that cube was!" she began.

"It's all right, Alexis," I said. "That dog won't hurt you. If the authorities ever found out, I suspect I'll get deported!"

She looked up, apparently confused.

"what?" she asked. "are you some kind of werewolf or something?"

"Nyet, I don't even know what's happening to me, but that dog that ambushed you last night? That was me."

"also," Leang began. "did you hear about the Snow Leopard that broke into the hospital?"

"yeah…"

"that was I. Although, the news reports mixed up the fact that I was breaking OUT, not IN."

Leang and I both retold our stories, stopping when Alexis looked like she was about to pass out. Eventually, when we where finished, I went to the Depository Bank of Zurich, opened a long-term Safety Deposit Box, and placed the cube in it. I left, not knowing I was being watched.

In the middle of the night, someone must have snuck into the bank, stolen the deposit box, and left, all without ever being detected.

Boris Romanov

Base Dragon, Command Centre

China/Tibet Border

1500 hours

Natasha and Lang stopped, and I asked, "So now who do I talk to?"

"now, you talk to Hassassin Kassad. I believe you know him as "Prince Kassad."" Natasha said.