Life Goes On Part 6

After weeks of planning and covering his tracks, Howard sighed a deep breath of relief before hitting the last key.

Watching the screen, he made sure that all of the data he had stored was wiped out until the memory showed a blank page. "Finished," he whispered to himself, his voice heavy from exhaustion and worry.

Now that his involvement in Dekim's lab had been removed from all records, his old friend and assistant was now free to go about his life.

The old 'mad scientist'- as Howard referred to him- was away for the weekend and was certain to be quite upset in seeing how his confidant and friend erased all of his works over the many years that they had worked together. It was a small victory, as Dekim had many of their research logged in old files that would take some time to search through. Still, even a brief delay in his plans was enough at this point.

By the time Dekim came to find what he had done, Howard would be long gone with no way of being tracked. All that the 'mad scientist' would have of him were his memories. Howard made sure of that.

Quickly shutting down his computer, the white-haired man rose from his seat and gathered his long coat from the rack just beside his desk. Taking up his hat as well, he moved to the front door for one last look at his large office that overlooked the city below. Howard kept the look brief. There certainly were not many fond memories to have come from the place.

Still.... ten years was a long time for a person to spend anywhere. Even if it wasn't the most pleasant of experiences. It was ten years of devotion to a cause. Ten years wasted, Howard thought quite bitterly at the time he decided to put an end to it.

His heart still heavy with anger and regret, Howard turned out the office light and stepped out into the hall. Closing the door behind him, hearing the latch click into its home with a metallic ring for the last time, he sighed deeply once more.

That sound signified the end of it all. There was no turning back now.

Keeping his pace rather slow, Howard made his way through the long hallway as he lost himself in his thoughts. Without really thinking about it, he moved into the elevator and pressed the button for the lower level of the facility. All along the way, he thought of how he was going to get through this part of his departure.

It'd been something that he'd been dreading from the moment he decided to leave Dekim's team.

When the doors opened to the basement level, Howard took a deep breath and stepped into the dimly lit room. Before walking into its line of fire, the old man disconnected the observation cameras aiming at his objective. This was to be something private that he did not want the likes of Dekim ever witnessing.

His footsteps echoing off the metal floor from the metal walls and ceiling, Howard approached the large cage set atop a simple table. In that cage, the small ball of brown fur began to stir at the sound of his approach. Peering through the metal honeycomb walls of the cage, the white-haired man watched as the kitten within raised its head in his direction.

As always, Howard's breath caught in his throat when those eyes blinked open to reveal the most haunting shade of violet he had ever seen. His own trained eyes caught the recognition in that gaze.

He'd never expected their experiments to work. But Howard knew. They'd tested the kitten enough to know that the kitten was to the point of thinking, remembering and reasoning just as he could. That much of their experiments proved to be a success. It wouldn't be long before Dekim completed the puzzle to his creation. Before the innocent creature was made into something much more.

The first neko to ever exist. It was something that the old man never thought he would see. And now, it was something that only made his heart ache to know what was in store for the trapped creature.

But what was he to do?

In the end, Dekim was working for the government and should the last experiments be successful, the creation of nekos would be an unimaginable feat. It was bad enough that Howard wiped out everything that he had been a part of over the last ten years. To try and liberate the kitten now, when the first half of the procedure had gone well, he would not only have Dekim on his heels, but every form of law enforcement on Earth and in space. Once caught, he would be tried for treason.

Still, it was killing Howard to have to leave the only real friend he had for the last few weeks. Knowing what was yet to come for the neko once he reached his true form would not be the end of it. His life would be a living hell for the rest of his existence.

Theories of creating such a creature were one thing. But when he actually saw the kitten for the first time, really thought of what was in store for him and having to endure knowing that just the few rounds of procedures and tests were hurting him, Howard could no longer be part of any of it.

When those violet eyes opened fully, the brown kitten mewed excitedly and walked to the edge of the cage. Supporting himself on his back paws, he placed his front on the metal honeycomb wall as his tail swayed behind him.

"Hey, Kit," Howard greeted with a sad smile. He'd given the nickname the moment he laid eyes on the small ball of fur when he'd been brought to the lab.

Slowly, the old man lifted the wooden lid to the cage and reached inside. The moment his cupped hand lowered inside, the kitten jumped into it. Howard carefully lifted him out and stroked his smooth fur, his smile growing a bit at the soft purr that he heard as well as felt from his palm.

The kitten sat up in the center of the hand holding him and peered expectantly at his visitor. Laughing, Howard nodded, "All right, little one. I know. I know." That said, he reached into his shirt pocket to retrieve the bit of treats that he always brought when looking in on his furry friend. When the food was brought to him, the kitten licked and nipped it up happily.

As he watched silently, Howard's heart only broke all the more. This was certainly a great deal harder than he'd ever expected.

When the kitten finished every last morsel, he sat back up while licking his lips. With his head, he nudged and rubbed up against the now empty hand and purred as loudly as he could in appreciation.

Biting his lip, Howard finally managed, "I'm going to miss you, Kit." At those words, the kitten froze before sitting up with a tilt to his head and wide violet eyes that peered up at the old man. The lab assistant smiled sadly, "I know that we've only known each other a few short weeks, but, you've been a good friend to me during that time."

A confused mew escaped the kitten as he blinked his eyes. Clearing his throat, Howard shook his head, "I'm sorry to have to leave you like this. If there were a way I could get away with it, I'd take you with me without thinking twice about it."

'Kit' nudged his hand as if trying to reassure him, purring loudly. His tail fell limp, however, as the feline understood clearly what was being said to him. There was no question in Howard's mind that the remainder of the change would be a success once the remainder of the experiment was complete.

Lowering his head so that their noses almost touched, the white-haired man said quietly but with a great deal of urgency in his voice, "I want you to listen to me, okay?" The slight tilt of the kitten's head was his way of knowing that he was at full attention. "If you ever manage it, find a way to get out of this place. Run. Don't ever look back."

When he wrapped his other hand around the tiny ball of fur, Howard could fell the tiny, pounding heart under him. Afraid that he might lose his nerve and actually stow Dekim's proclaimed 'lab rat' away, bringing on nothing but endless trouble for the both of them, he gathered the last of his nerve.

Lightly kissing the feline's head, he whispered, "Gotta go. Bye, Kit." Moving quickly but carefully, he lowered his friend back into the cage and replaced the wooden lid. He forced himself not to listen to the pained mewing that called after him as he turned and headed back to the elevator.

Those cried echoed after Howard until the doors finally closed behind him. As the elevator rose to the ground level, he leaned heavily against the walls and reached up to wipe his stinging eyes. His heart broken, he numbly walked out into the lobby and through the front doors into the busy city to begin his escape.

*   *   *   *   *   *

Howard removed his prescription sunglasses that replaced his usual spectacles as he sputtered, "But... but how in the world did you manage to find me after all this time? Dekim tried his damnedest and he wasn't successful."

Smirking, Duo shrugged to the screen, "Along with Dekim's lab results that were recovered and handed over to Sally and myself were some of his journals and other items that I managed to piece together for him." He winked a violet eye, "Besides, I was the only one you confided in not long after I was brought in that you wanted to visit Hawaii."

With a tilt of his head, the braided teenaged stated, "From your knowing my name, I take it that you've been following up on me."

Unable to help himself, the old man laughed, "You always were a bright one." Relaxing at last, he smiled warmly and got a good look at the boy that he helped create. Newspaper clippings and live reports on television certainly were one thing. But to actually be staring full on to the creature before him was something he never thought he'd get to experience.

"From what I've been hearing about you, you took my advice and it seems you've done well for yourself," Howard commented with a small smile before it faded when the guilt of leaving the neko behind that had consumed him for years welled up once more. Lowering his head, he said quietly, "I'm so sorry that I just left you behind like that. I just couldn't stand and watch what was going to happen to you."

Duo gave a dismissive wave with a hand and his tail as he shook his head, "It's all right, Howie. I know that you did what you had to."

The white-haired man raised an eyebrow, "Howie?"

His violet eyes brightening, the neko smiled, "Yea, I shorten all of my friends' names." He raised a hand to count as gave the examples, "Ro, Quat, Fei, Tro, Lena, Sal-"

Blinking in surprise, Howard whispered, "Friend? You mean you still consider me a friend even after all this time? Even after my leaving you the way I did?"

"Of course," Duo grinned without hesitation. Behind him, his tail swished lazily as he reassured the man on the monitor, "Like I said, I understand your reasons for doing what you did. And you were the one that gave me the idea to try and get out of that place. Of course I consider you a friend of mine."

Small tears brimmed the retired scientist's eyes and he breathed, "Thank you, Kit." he shook his head and corrected himself with a grin, "I mean Duo." His smile turned into a smirk. "Now, you wouldn't have gone through that much trouble to find me just to catch up, I'm willing to wager. So, what else is going on?"

Nervously playing with his tail, his ears sinking along with the corners of his mouth, Duo replied in little more than a whisper, "It's what was done to me to make me this way." He bit his lip in hesitation before saying, "I think it's reversing."

Howard's eyes widened as he took in the announcement. "Are you really sure?" he asked. "I mean, what makes you think that?"

Taking a deep breath, Duo went on to recant everything that had happened to him from the time of his collapse to the nails that were growing in long and sharp every day that he had to file down. As he sat back in his chair, listening to it all, Howard would occasionally nod or ask questions for more detail to exactly what had been taking place.

At the end of the neko's retelling, the old man rubbed his eyes and covered his face with both hands. "Damn it," he hissed through his palms. "We'd been afraid of something like this happening."

With a deep sigh, he lowered his hands and frowned deeply, "I'm afraid that your assumptions of what is happening to you is correct, Duo. There were bits of your DNA coding that were needed to complete the transformation that we had questions about. Creating a neko such as yourself was something that had never been done before, and so we were flying blind in our assessments. It appears that some of those bits are coming undone, pulling back into the strands that they originally were."

Shaking his head frantically, Duo cried, "What can I do? There has to be a way to stop this! I don't want to go back to the way that I was! I have a family now!" He sniffled as tears rolled down his cheeks, "I have someone that I love that loves me, Howard! Please! There has to be something!"

Resolve filled Howard's eyes. He'd let the boy down once before. He wasn't about to do that again. It was time to make up for what he had done. Straightening in his chair, he nodded firmly, "I can't make any promises Duo. But, I'll do whatever I can. While I destroyed my hand in the research involving you, I did save what had been worked on up until the time I left for myself. I'll be over there as well to talk to your friend, Sally-"

"No!" Duo shouted, his violet eyes wide with panic. "Sally will tell Heero what's going on. I don't want him to find out. Not until I can find the nerve to tell him myself." His mind racing to come up with a solution, he gasped, "Treize. Sally gave the doctor my records from her own findings so that if he ever needed to treat me he could. I'll talk to him and we can keep this quiet for now."

Raising a white eyebrow, Howard frowned, "I don't like the thought of you not telling that boy about this, kid. I think that he deserves the right to know."

Already nodding, Duo promised, "I know. And I will tell him if there isn't a way of stopping this. Until then, I don't want him to know. It'd kill him" He wiped at a few more tears that began their roll down his face.

Finally, Howard smiled sadly, "All right, Duo. Now we can't waste any time with this thing. I'll be on the first flight back to the States tomorrow morning. I'll be in touch with you as soon as I arrive."

Swallowing hard, the braided boy whispered brokenly, "Thank you, Howard." The connection was cut and the screen went black.

With one last wipe to dry his eyes, Duo hugged his legs to his chest and lost himself in his thoughts and fears.

The race against whatever time there was left had begun.

TBC...

 

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