Rogue Project.

Summary: When a plucky intern named Mona Lisa becomes a victim of experimental ooze, she is forced to adjust to life as a mutant. But the man who mutated her is dangerously obsessed with keeping his hands on his most prized experiment.

Chapter 1: The Late Shift

Disclaimer: I definitely do not own the ninja turtles. If I did, I'd make damn sure Mona Lisa was in more than one stinking episode. Hell if I know who owns them now. The point is I'm not making any profit off of this story, so enjoy. :)

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When Dr. Filch asked the interns if they were willing to work late, they all nervously blurted out excuses on the spot and left the laboratory as quickly as they could. All except Mona Lisa, of course. She'd practically fantasized about working extra hours, and gladly accepted the chance to work one-on-one with her brilliant boss.

But first things first, she needed her caffeine fix.

Around 10 pm, Mona stumbled back into the lab, finishing off the most legally caffeinated thing she could find. Earlier, she'd choked down a Red Bull to be more alert for lab work and observations, but she'd also developed a dangerously high tolerance to the stuff and the average energy drink stopped having much effect on her.

Feh. Red Bull gives you wings? She thought bitterly, Crap. Total crap.

Now she chugged a "Pumped!" energy drink and sighed with relief as it kicked in. It was just what she needed to get through the night.

Mona Lisa was a twenty-two year old college senior working vigorously to finish her degree double majoring in physics and genetics. She graduated high school as the valedictorian and was determined to keep that record going. She was at the top of her game, about to earn a degree from a prestigious college and she would no doubt graduate summa cum laude.

Mona took great pride in her hard work, and the achievements she'd earned from it. She was one of four interns hand-picked by Dr. Phineas Filch himself

She'd never guess that it was precisely her hard work that would change everything.

As she made her way in, Dr. Filch greeted her with a smile. "Good evening, Mona Lisa. I hope this late shift isn't interfering with your schoolwork. It's completely optional, you know."

"Oh, of course I understand," Mona replied, "And don't worry, Dr. Filch, I finished my homework hours ago."

This was a complete lie, of course. She still had what felt like a truckload of homework to do for her very last physics class and chapters upon chapters to study for organic chemistry. Such was the demanding life of a diligent college student. But she was spending this time working under the Dr. Phineas Filch himself. Mona was absolutely certain that Dr. Vick and Dr. Kim would completely understand. In fact, she imagined they would scold her if she even thought of passing up such opportunities. Besides, she was enough of a pro by now to pull another all-nighter. It wasn't like she hadn't had to do these things before.

"Actually," Dr. Filch declared, "I'm glad you're the one who ended up staying with me for the late shift. I have to say, you're one of the brightest scientists I've ever worked with."

Brilliant? It took all of Mona's willpower not to gush right there. And he called me a scientist. Is this even real life? She kept it together outside, but in her mind she performed an extensive victory dance that would make a Rocketeer proud. "Haha, Dr. Filch, I'm not that smart, I just work really har-"

"On the contrary," her boss interrupted, "you are very intelligent. You see, Mona," he began walking and motioned for her to follow, "it was your labwork and your reports and findings that helped me to perfect my formula. Had you never worked for me, I might never have completed my dream project."

"Dream project, sir?" Mona inquired.

"Yes. A long time ago, I worked for a highly secret government company known to the public as TGRI. I was helping them work on a classified project, but I quit shortly after my son, Ezra passed away to branch out and do my own labwork. After years of struggling, I finally decided to branch out even further.

"I thought maybe having young and open minds around would help me to discover exactly what I was missing, and I was right. It was your brilliant contributions that helped me to work the kinks out of my project. Tonight, I was planning on running a test with my new formula for the very first time, and I wanted my interns, specifically you, there to witness it."

"I…" the girl was stunned. "I don't know what to say. But of course I'll watch you run the experiment." Mona had literally never felt such excitement in her life. She grinned like the Cheshire cat, and feared she could wake up from her scientific Wonderland at any moment.

Finally, Dr. Filch led her into a room. It was bright, white, and completely empty, save for one lab table with a glass cage and a canister of ooze on top of it. They walked over to it.

"Truth be told, if all goes well tonight, I'll definitely have a special guaranteed position open for you at the lab, Mona Lisa."

Now, Mona's heart just about leaped out of her chest, and it wasn't from the excess caffeine. Did he mean it? Did he really want her working full time at the laboratory? Discreetly, Mona pinched herself, ecstatic when it hurt.

He reached into the cage and picked up the small lizard. Though she could identify many animals, Mona Lisa did not recognize this particular specimen. Was it even a lizard? A salamander of some kind? She honestly couldn't tell.

"You're not squeamish, are you?" Dr. Filch handed the creature off to her.

Mona Lisa? Squeamish? Psh, she was a scientist. She didn't have time to be squeamish. Mona took the little lizard from Dr. Filch and gently held it in her palm. She watched as he pulled a small needle from his pocket and flicked it.

"Oh, are you going to use that to sedate the experiment?" Mona asked.

"As a matter of fact," Dr. Filch answered, the corners of his lips upturning into a smirk, "I am."

Before Mona could react, he jammed the needle into her neck. At once, everything went fuzzy, and she dropped Dr. Filch's lizard thing. Before she blacked out completely and fainted on the laboratory floor, the last thing Mona remembered was Dr. Filch catching her just as her body went totally limp…

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