Bomp. Bomp. Bomp. Bomp.

That sound. That unearthly sound.

Bomp. Bomp. Bomp.

It made her fur stand on end, her tail twitching involuntarily. The monotonous buzz of the electric lights only seemed to add to its terror factor. The only air circulation was a small cheap fan she'd plugged in hours ago, the vents sealed off to prevent them from getting in.

The bloons had come days ago, swarming gradually over her entire research laboratory. Her colleagues had either escaped or been taken by the ghostly horde; she had remained in a desperate bid to complete the formula she'd likely just spent her life on cooking and delivering to the monkey superiors at the home metropolis.

Bomp. Bomp. Bomp.

She couldn't take it much longer. She'd blown hours away playing a deadly game of tower defense with the invaders, shutting off or turning on various doors, sentries and tack shooters to keep them all away, but shooting some down seemed to only cause more and stronger bloons to appear. Eventually she'd been forced to seclude herself entirely in her personal lab, doors magnetized shut, vents sealed...

And still they came. Bomp. Bomp. Bomp.

She sat in utter silence, arms around her knees, staring wide eyed at a screen, the only light she could afford to have lest the power run out faster. The bloons continued to push against the doors as she waited for the only thing she could do before being overwhelmed by the bloons. The computer ran the final test agonizingly slowly with only the automated utensils and graspers in the testing room. It was all she could do to remind herself that running out to force the experiment would prevent her from sending whatever relevant data would accrue. If she even made it that far.

Bomp. Bomp. Bomp. Beep.

Beep? Beep! The stressed, terrified monkey girl rubbed her tired eyes and squinted at the screen. The experiment had finally finished. The results stated a 500% increase in corrosion efficiency in the prospective new glue solution.

500%. She couldn't believe her eyes. She'd expected a hard press for even twice the efficiency, but five times the efficiency? Ten layers of bloon evil per second, that meant. She downed the last of her water with a double dosage of muscle relaxant and let her hands do the work, typing and clicking at the keyboard and mouse as she did the math in her head.

Ten layers per second. The highest record of bloon thickness short of a MOAB class blimp was eighteen from the strange and mystical ceramic bloons. Two seconds to destroy the strongest bloons in the world. Combined with the splash effect from the canister decompression technology...

She smiled ecstatically. No bloon could get past that kind of defense! She heard metallic thunks against the doors, signaling the arrival of the heavy lead bloons. She knew they could get through the doors, no matter how sturdy they were, but it didn't matter now. She'd succeeded beyond her wildest dreams. She pressed enter on the keyboard and lifted her dainty hands, staring at the screen expectantly. Several seconds passed.

She threw her hands in the air, cheering and letting her suppressed tears flow freely. The blueprints had been uploaded and the shipments of special jungle glueflowers had been cleared for automated delivery. She sniffled and wiped her nose with her arm, standing and looking to the doors. They were still sealed, but she could see dents beginning to form. Not much time now... But plenty for one last thing. Acting quickly, she used the computer to issue the prototype supercorrosive glue gun to the lab. She could hear the engines whir as they collected it up from the testing room and carry it towards her lab.

Shoving her chair over in the process, she sprinted to a sealed locker on the far side of the room, turning the lights on so she could see, and struggled to open the thick glass doors of the locker, pulling out the protective bodysuit and desperately slipping into it, securing the harnesses. As she fitted the goggles over her eyes she saw the doors lift open. Bloons piled into the room and her heart skipped a beat. She closed her eyes, exhaled into the mask, and charged forward into them.

In seconds she was held on the spot by bloons. The mechanical arms carrying the prototype hovered before her, dangling from the ceiling. The bloons had sabotaged it. She began to scream as the bloons piled onto her one by one and she tugged with all her might, managing to fling herself towards the prototype. She reached out as she fell forward, pulling it to the floor with her, and fumbled in search of the trigger as her vision was blocked by bloons. She found it and held it down as her flesh began to burn from leaking bloons seeping through even her protective suit. She held the trigger until the burning stopped, opening her eyes and unclenching her teeth. She was on the floor in a knee high sea of simmering glue and bloon bits. She hesitantly got to her feet, glue dripping off of her clad body.

Even through the mask she could smell the foul stench of melted bloon. The corrosive effects of the glue were starting to affect the reinforced titanium walls and floor, she noticed. This was going to be a problem soon. Steadying herself and trying to shrug off the stinging sensations from the glue and bloonburn, she retrieved the submerged glue canister and checked its pressure. She'd used up half of the special glue already. She briefly pondered a glue recovery vacuum in order to repurpose used glue.

Hefting her prototype gear, she trudged through the pool of glue, hose ready to fend off any sudden bloon assaults.

She could still make it out alive.