Chapter Text
Suppressing a yawn, you rubbed at your face. The lights from the monitors were hurting your eyes and your head, but you were so close. Just a few more minutes, a few more scans...
You peered into the microscope, adjusting it until you saw clearly. The green liquid you were analyzing seemed to be shuddering - it was quite peculiar. You'd never seen anything like it, and you'd inspected a lot of suspicious goos in your time. Frowning and pulling back, you jotted down some messy notes in your notebook and bent over the microscope again. You blinked and jerked back in surprise, then peered back down again. What in the hell?
The picture from mere seconds ago had shifted so dramatically it was almost like you were looking at a completely different specimen. What had been a green, shuddering string of bacteria was now a violent purple, with large, black moving dots in it. You grabbed your notebook hastily, perching it just close enough to quickly sketch in it, but when you peered back through the spectacles, you froze. It was back to green and shuddering. Slowly straightening and glancing around the dimly lit lab, you swallowed thickly. You were both excited and nervous - you had never seen something like this before.
When you had taken this job 8 months ago, you knew that you were in for some interesting work. Your job was mainly to inspect various quarantined bacteria and specimens that the company brought in, and report your findings back to your supervisor, who, you assumed, handed your findings off to someone else. You took the job immediately after it had been offered to you, not bothering to questioning the fact that you hadn't even applied for it and you were offered it mere days after deciding to take a break from school. You'd intended on taking a year off for some hands-on experience before you returned to get your Ph.D.
In your 8 months, you only ever worked with three people. There was Baxter, who was the 'supervisor' and gave you the creeps, and two brothers with flaming red hair who barely spoke. You didn't even know their names, which was weird. All in all, even though it seemed awfully dodgy, it was incredibly interesting work and they paid extremely well. Probably to try and encourage silence, you guessed. You didn't even know the name of the company that oversaw all of your research - the laboratory was called B.Stockman Labs, but that was all that you knew. But, hey, you had never been one to turn down a good thing, and your loans were astronomical. You gotta do what you gotta do, right?
You pushed your chair back and walked across the lab towards a cabinet on the wall. Opening it, you grabbed an empty syringe and headed back to the microscope. The only lights in the lab were centered around your work space, which gave the place an eerie, dim light, but you had worked late often enough to get over the initial discomfort. You were still surprised that Baxter let you stay late. Perhaps he thought it was just less work for him to do the next day if he let you stay. As you sat back down, you put the syringe off to the side for later. That was another weird thing you'd noticed - they didn't store all of their specimens like normal labs - they were sucked into syringes after inspection and placed in a medical freezer to be delivered. You didn't question it, though - at almost $70 an hour, who would?
Almost hesitantly, you peered back into the microscope and sighed in disbelief. It was practically morphing before your eyes - the bacteria was expanding and pulsing and the green was slowly shifting to purple. It was amazing. Unsettling, but amazing. You could only see this change under the light - the green goo in the little container you had taken the specimen from remained green. Astounding. But what the hell was it? There were a couple other containers of the same specimen that you had been forbidden to touch, but you were curious now. Was this an anomaly or was it normal for this particular strain? Baxter had been inspecting them earlier today, but he hadn't spent much time on them. What did that mean? Did he see what you saw? You chewed your bottom lip and pulled back from the microscope slowly, turning and eyeing his computer. You were sure that you could hack into the system and take a look at what he found and if he had seen what you did, but... did you dare? This was a cushy job, and you knew that you wouldn't find better anywhere else. Besides, was something like that against the law?
Taking a deep breath, you wrung your hands, a ball of nervous energy settling in the pit of your stomach. But how else would you know if this was a one-off? You didn't know the code for the separate cooler that the other specimens resided, and you knew for a fact that an alarm was plugged into that one. It would be useless to try. But... you knew how to hack computers, and it would be easy to get into the database. You were familiar with the program and knew that there was no encryption that you weren't familiar with. You glanced around the lab - there weren't any cameras in the lab that you knew of, and you just had to know..
Standing, you walked over to the computer and sat down, booting it up and logging into the main page. Hovering over Baxter's user, you bit your bottom lip. Should you do this? Could you do this? You took a deep breath and glanced over your shoulder at the microscope and made up your mind. Solidifying your nerve, you got to work, pulling information from the files and sorting through them, finally managing to break into the system's pass memory. You scrolled through the pages of information until you found what you wanted - Baxter's password. It was a good thing that you knew how to hack into computers, because there would be no way that you would have been able to guess this compilation of numbers. Either he was a psychopath when it came to his passwords, or he had something to hide. Maybe both.
Plugging the password in, you waited as it loaded the files. Scrolling through, you did a quick database search for the bacteria in question, and sighed, settling in and starting to scan through the files. As you scanned the pages, you noticed a few terms that kept on repeating - TMNT, Ooze, ANHI. You didn't understand what they meant, but for some reason they made you uncomfortable. As you looked deeper into the account, your brows furrowed. You found the code that you wanted, but you also found a reference to an encrypted file that included the three codes that you had seen referenced before. Your curiosity got the best of you when you scanned the file, noticing that all Baxter had written about the specimens was that he had cracked the mutation on TMNT. The file had been forwarded to someone called ShredXXI, and the title was simply, "TMNT code ANHI active."
Taking a deep breath, you paused for a moment to reflect on the fact that you had definitely bitten off more then you could chew this time. Your mothers voice floated through your head, reminding you that curiosity killed the cat. You grimaced, but you were already too far in to back out this time. As long as you were in here, you might as well quench the curiosity or else you were sure that you wouldn't be able to forget it. It was already almost midnight, but you weren't tired anymore. Far from it.
Clicking on the reference link, you were met with an immediate password demand. Minimizing the page, you reached into your laboratory coat and grabbed a USB stick (you were always prepared), and plugged it into the hard drive. Once it was downloaded and active, you let it scan the computer. It took about 10 minutes to find the code, and once you found it you entered it, only to be met with 10 security questions. Your curiosity spiked as much as your annoyance - what could possibly require this much encryption and security? Sighing, you ran the hack program again and, 45 minutes later, you were in, staring at an email.
Scanning through, you found a file attached with what looked like blueprints. The message was short but it was chilling - Got the ooze DNA. Setting _____ on the fourth specimen to keep her busy, bacteria tainted with that of a calmer strain, so unlikely to show mutations. Project Annihilation is underway; found the general area of the sewers that TMNT reside. Would suggest the smaller bomb over the large - could bring down the buildings on top of sewer. Will report back in morning.
You stared at the words, blood going cold. What the hell was this? Brows furrowing, you opened the blueprint file attached and stared in horror at what looked like... bomb plans. These were unlike anything that you had ever seen before (not that you were familiar with bomb plans or anything!) - they were to be laced with tazer nets that sought out heat points and movement, attached to them and delivered bolts of energy if the victim moved. Underneath the bomb plans were what looked like... You had no idea what you were looking at, but they were blurry security camera photos of humanoid figures with shells and masks. The air rushed out of your lungs and you scrolled down to the last page, your mind having a hard time working through what the fuck you had stumbled on. You had barely read the title of the third attachment when you heard the door to the lab open.
Your heart jumped into your throat, fearing the worst - Baxter had come back, guards were there, whatever - but as you minimized the page and jumped up from the seat, you saw only the elderly janitor. He gave you a friendly smile, but you caught the suspicious look he gave you moments before. You gulped and hoped that he couldn't see how much you were sweating. You tried for a calm smile.
"Oh jeez, you scared me!" You said, laughing squeakily, "This lab at night is always so unnerving."
The janitor smiled at you, his voice calm, "It is, Miss. _____. You always work so hard. You should go home - you need your sleep. It's 1 in the morning."
You nodded, mouth so dry it felt like it was full of cotton balls, "I'll just clean up my stuff here and then I'll let you clean. Sorry for the mess, by the way."
As you stiffly walked to your desk, you heard him chuckle and say, "No worries, Miss. _____. I shall be back when you are done."
He turned and ambled from the lab. No sooner had the door closed behind him, you ran to the computer and quickly sent the three files to the printer to print off copies to look over that night. You logged out of Baxter's account, shut the computer down, grabbed your USB and swept back to the table. You hastily cleaned up your space, shakily squeezing the specimen in the syringe. Your hands shook as you dropped the empty container in the bio-hazard bin and threw your things into your bag. After you were cleaned and packed up, you jogged to the containment freezer. You plugged in the pass code and impatiently waited for the retina scan and fingerprint scan to permit access. You didn't know why, but you were paranoid as fuck. You couldn't shake the feeling that you needed to get the heck out of there. In your haste to leave, your foot caught in the doorway and you stumbled, dropping the syringe. You jolted forwards, letting out a curse as you hit the ground, hard. You heard a sickening crunch and a prickle of pain on your thigh. Shit!
You pushed yourself up frantically - you had fallen over the syringe, crushing it. The glass from the broken tube had cut into the skin of your thigh through your thin leggings. Swearing under your breath, you pushed up onto your knees, peering down at your thigh.
It was only a small prick. You didn't have time to take a closer look at it, or think about the fact that you had certainly come into contact with the bacteria. Your hands shook as you practically ran out into the lab, grabbing some paper towel in shaking hands, and returning to the cooler. You hastily cleaned up, deciding that you'd just tell Baxter that you dropped the specimen while transferring it (leaving out your snooping, obviously) in the morning. Carefully gathering the broken pieces of the syringe into your hands and mopping up the goo, you poked your head out of the cooler and dropped the mess into the garbage near the door. You closed the door behind you, wiping the excess goo on your hands on your coat. You headed to your station (grabbing the papers you had printed as you passed the printer), grabbed your things, and forced yourself to walk calmly to the door.
As you stepped out of the lab, pulling the door closed behind you, you saw the janitor standing off to the side on his phone. Your blood went cold, but you forced yourself to remain calm. You knew that he had a wife - he was probably just talking to her or his kids. Did he even have kids? He gave you a warm smile as you walked past him, and you returned it. You tried to convince yourself that that proved that you were overreacting, but as you passed him you heard him whisper into the phone,
"She's leaving now, out the north wing."
Your breath caught, and your legs twitched. You wanted to run, but you forced yourself to walk stiffly to the door to the stairs, forced yourself to keep calm. You didn't trust the elevator even on good days (too many horror movies). As soon as the door closed behind you, you booked it, jogging down the stairs almost three at a time. You were on the third floor, so it didn't take long to get down. As you walked through the stairwell door into the main entrance, you looked around. Nobody was there - you took that as a good sign. You reached the door and shakily plugged your security code into the door, heart in your throat. There was a loud honking noise, and you froze as the pinpad flashed red.
Denied.
You tried two more times in vain before turning and running back the way that you had come. You barreled back up the stairs, breathing hard. You were moving on autopilot, fear clouding your senses. You burst onto the second floor and paused, ears straining. Nothing. You walked to the window and looked out. Why the fuck had you come back up here? Why the hell hadn't you stayed on the first floor and called security to let you out? You were breathing hard, but just as you made to move away from the window, movement caught your eye - Baxter and three guys dressed like... like ninjas from some old video game were walking briskly to the front door. Baxter didn't look happy. You let out a soft whine of fear before you could stifle it, cursing yourself for what you had done. Going back down to the first floor was out of the question as was, you were sure, calling security. You turned and ran across the floor towards a closed office door. Thank God it swung open when you tried it. You barricaded yourself in the office, locking the door behind you and moving the desk in front of it. The desk was heavy, but the carpet mostly muffled the movement. There was a narrow window on the door, and you ducked your head down just in case.
Once the desk was in place, you quietly leaned over it and peered out the window, watching with heavy, uneven breaths. Nothing happened for almost a half an hour. You were still shaking - maybe they had gone to the lab, saw you weren't there, and left? No way. From where you were, you would have seen them head to the lab. You could see down the hallway. The janitor was gone. Heart pounding painfully against your chest, you leaned against the door, sitting on the desk, and trying to calm yourself. Through your fog of panic, you suddenly remembered that you had a cell phone! Rummaging around in your bag, you grabbed the phone, resisting the urge to pull the papers out and finish reading them as your fingers brushed them, and turned the device on. It was a pitiful little flip phone that you had had since you were 14, but it worked for emergencies and work, and it wasn't like you had people you really talked to. Your breath hitched, wondering if you had been smart enough to turn the volume off. Thankfully, it turned on without a peep.
Just as you were trying to figure out who to call, (security? police? you had no idea what the fuck you had gotten into, and it was hard to think through your panic) you heard footsteps outside the door. You froze, eyes wide and pulse racing. Would they find you? Gulping, you turned off your phone so they wouldn't see the light through the window, and peered out the window slowly. Baxter came into view, eyes narrowed as they darted around, searching. For you. You didn't see the three ninja guys - maybe they were looking at the other floors? That would be best case scenario, but you still doubted that you would be able to get past Baxter on his own. You slowly eased off the desk. You looked at the office window across from the door and debated. It was only two floors up. It wouldn't be too high. If you had to, you could make it. But could you open the window without Baxter hearing you or seeing you? If he looked through the window, he'd see you for sure. Your stomach clenched painfully - you felt almost sick with panic. Why the hell hadn't you left things alone!?
Baxter's voice made you jump.
"_____? I know you're up here somewhere. I'm going to find you. All we need is for you to come out and give us those papers back. Everything will be okay. We can explain. You aren't in trouble. We just need you to come out." The voice was still in the hall, but it wasn't beside the office. He didn't know you were in that room, but he must know you were on that floor. But...
You felt the urge to just walk out, felt the pull of his voice. It was so calm and so reassuring. Maybe you would even be able to keep your job.
Was it all a misunderstanding?
You pulled the papers silently from your bag and looked at them, the word annihilation pounding into your head like a knife. What else could that possibly mean? And who were these TMNT people? A group that stole their information? And blueprints for a bomb...? You steeled your courage, shoving the papers back into the bag and knelt to all fours, quietly crawling to the window. You glanced over your shoulder at the door window - you didn't see anyone through them, and you could hear faint footsteps disappearing down the hall, away from you. You were probably good. It was now or never. You turned your attention to the window above you and scanned it. It didn't appear to open from the bottom pane, like you had hoped, but from what you could see in the moonlight, it opened from the top. You looked back over at the window and tried to gather your thoughts.
You were in down town New York. You were only 2 stories up. Why were you so scared? At worst, you'd sprain your ankle, and you were sure that that would be better then waiting around in this room would be. Still, the urge to just go out there and give yourself up to Baxter pulled at you. You cast one more longing look over your shoulder at the door before you made up your mind. Legs jello, you stood, scared to death that they would see you. Shoving the phone still clutched in your hand into your back pocket, you slowly and (thankfully) quietly pried the window open. The sounds of downtown filled the room, and you knew you probably had seconds to get out before they heard.
BANG.
Less. You looked at the door - you saw Baxter's face through the window, staring at you as he tried to open the door. He called your name, and the calm voice from before was gone. He was angry. Very angry. You let out a small yelp as you jerked into action, turning and punching the screen from the window. Baxter yelled your name again, and screamed at someone that you couldn't see. Probably the scary ninja dudes with him. You didn't know, and you didn't have time to figure it out. You managed to climb up and through the window, pulling yourself through just as they barreled into the room. You cast one last terrified look into the office, meeting gazes with Baxter. Then you dropped.
You heard him screaming for them to get downstairs, but that was the last thing you heard as wind rushed into your ears. You were higher up then you had thought, (you'd never jumped from a second story building before) and you hit the ground hard. Your ankles screamed, and you felt one snap. You let out a howl of pain through your clamped jaws, tears prickling your eyes. You had no time to stop, though - you knew that they were going to be on you in minutes. You looked around through watery eyes - you had dropped into an alley that was thankfully empty and fairly dark. Ignoring the pain radiating up your leg, you pulled yourself up and started to run (hobble) further into the alley, taking a left turn as it appeared. You cursed the loud slapping of your sneakers on the pavement, hoping that the regular New York sounds drowned you out.
You kept moving, the alley thankfully full of turns into adjacent alleys. Unfortunately, it didn't take long before you hit a dead end. Chest heaving and ankle screaming, you staggered to the wall and tried to stay quiet, listening. At first, you thought you were fine, thought that you had gotten away, but you heard footsteps running your way after a few moments. You looked around frantically, looking for somewhere, anywhere to hide, and your eyes landed on a propped open manhole. You didn't really have many choices, and you staggered over to it, somehow managing to step down onto the ladder without falling. You pushed the wrench holding it open and, body screaming, slowly lowered the top over you. It barely made a noise. You tried to gracefully move down the ladder, but your ankle gave out at the bottom, and you dropped past the last few rungs. You let out an anguished cry that was drowned out by the rush of water. You barely noticed the smell.
Sitting on the damp concrete, you held your throbbing ankle and listened, straining to listen. You couldn't hear anything other than the rush of sewer water, and nobody tried to pry open the sewer hole, so that was good. You sat there for who knows how long, catching your breath and taking inventory of everything. Your ankle was probably broken, (running on it hadn't helped), and your other ankle was bruised, but okay. Your head and chest hurt, and you had all of your things still. Your phone was in your pocket - you hoped falling on it hadn't broken it. Your hair was falling out of your ponytail, and your thigh burned. It took you a few seconds to remember what had happened before - you had fallen on a shattered syringe filled with some kind of bacteria that had mutated underneath your microscope.
Cursing softly under your breath, you shifted enough to pull your (thankfully not broken) phone from your back pocket. You opened it and, from the dim light of your screen, looked at your thigh. It seemed to be swelling under your pants. You had to get some sort of medical attention. Stat. Pulling yourself up slowly, shakily, you decided that, even if you didn't hear anything from where you were, it might not be safe to go back up just yet. You didn't know the sewers well, obviously, but you knew that manholes were everywhere. You'd probably be safe if you surfaced somewhere else. Then you could go to a clinic or something. You picked a direction and started limping, deciding to take the first one that you found this way.
You were fine for a little bit, leaning against the wall and limping, but after almost 10 minutes, the burning from your thigh started to get worse. Almost worse than the burning and throbbing of you ankle. 20 minutes passed, and you fell, your entire body alive with fire ants, the pain making you shudder, mouth foaming. The last thing that you remembered before you lost consciousness was a shape moving above you. You clutched your bag to your chest, and pain swallowed you down.