Issue #6

The night was quiet as four figures scaled stealthily up and over the perimeter fence of the StockGen campus on the outskirts of the city. They raced from the side of the "West Building" to around back. The turtles had finally found the place after finding the address to the facility on Donnie's computer.

Raph threw a sai into a security camera near the back entrance. Donnie snuck up behind a guard holding a rifle that was pacing back and forth near the rear entrance. With a wave of his staff, Donnie pelted the guy in the face, knocking him out cold. Michelangelo looked around for more guards, finding none.

"No other guards? This is too easy."

"Agreed, Mikey." Donatello pulled his bo from behind him. "We've got to be ready for anything.

"Overconfidence in his security cameras makes Stockman arrogant. Arrogance breeds weakness. Stay alert." Leo held both his swords in front of him.

"How do we get in this place? The roof?"

"No, Raph. Donnie can you work around this door's security lock?"

"It won't be easy, Leo." Donatello examined the electronic door lock on the wall next to the door. "This panel requires a key card. However if I pull this box from its placement in the wall and move some wiring around I should be able to bypass the security key. I only need a few minutes."

"Screw this. There's no time." Raph jammed a sai deep into the security panel. "I got a quicker way of gettin' us in."

As Raph jimmied his weapon around inside the panel a spark flew. A small green light bulb shined from above the door and a red LED near the doorknob turned green.

"Well, there's always the direct approach." Leo cautiously turned the door handle and entered the building.

"Sweet! We're in." Mikey smiled at Donnie. "Sometimes there's just no substitute for Raphie on secret missions, eh Don?"

"Shut up, Mikey." Donnie nudged his brother's shoulder.

"Be quiet, guys." Leo pulled a flashlight from the front of his belt and shined the light around the dark room.

The room was full of several plastic crates stacked on top of each other. A metal staircase led from the left side of the tiny room up the wall to another door. The four brothers moved swiftly and silently to the other door and peaked through the door's glass pane.

"It's just a hallway. Where do you think it leads?" Raph gripped his sai.

"Probably to a set of offices." Donnie pointed to a sign above the door that read "Offices: Security Clearance C."

"Let's go. But be careful." Leo advised.

"I love this spy stuff. James Bond, eat your heart out." Mikey followed his three brothers through the door.

The hallway was dimly lit and it seemed as though the offices were completely empty. Most employees had gone home. But, as the turtles moved beyond the main hall they came upon a brightly lit office and overheard a conversation between a man and a woman.

"I've really enjoyed working here, Dr. Stockman. This internship is gonna look great on my application when I transfer from NYU to Columbia next fall. The doctorate program in genetic research is really important to me."

"That's nice, Miss O'Neil. You have proven to be a very dedicated scientist, given that you're only an intern and you're usually the last one to leave. Only, there's one thing that troubles me."

"What's that, Sir?" there was concern in the woman's voice.

"April, may I call you April? There's no easy way to say this, but I know you have been past your security clearance. How much do you know about TCRI?"

"TCRI? What? I—."

"Don't try to deny it, April. I've seen the security footage. You have been snooping around after hours. Now, what have you been up to?"

"You're right, okay. I'm sorry, Dr. Stockman. The curiosity about your mouser robot project got the better of me. I went into the protected files. I was just trying to find the patent."

"The protected files? How resourceful. Then you surely did overhear my conversation with General Krang that I saved on file?"

"Who?"

"Being coy again? He's a very powerful ally to StockGen at the moment. He's the military leader of Burnow, a small island nation in the Pacific?"

"I—."

"You're going to tell me what you know or I'll cancel this internship. I'll see to it that you don't get into the doctorate program at NYU."

"Okay. Please don't do that. All I found out was that TCRI has supplied StockGen with a genetic chemical compound that can genetically enhance soldiers. TCRI wants StockGen to modify the formula. And this Krang character is going to pay you to get him samples so he can build an army or something. That's all I know."

"Well, that is unfortunate, April. You see, you know too much. I'm afraid I'll indeed have to terminate you." Stockman moved toward April with a look of murderous hatred.

"What? You can't treat people this way. Please, doctor. I won't tell anyone what I've learned. I just want to do my job and move on to my doctorate."

"Oh, you're not going anywhere, girlie."

"Hold it right there, Stockman." Leo appeared in front of the door, his sword pointed at the African American man in the white lab coat and blue bowtie. "Whatever terror you have brought to this city ends now."

"What? Who the hell are you?" Come into the light." Stockman ordered.

Leonardo and his three brothers slowly entered the office.

"My god. Incredible. Giant green monsters." Stockman noticed the shells on their backs. "No. You're turtles. With masks and weapons? What the hell is going on here?"

"Oh my god." April's mouth dropped open as she stared at the four brothers. "It all makes sense. Those files I read did say something about mutating people into animals or animals into humanoid sentient creatures. These must be the result of that mutagen."

"Wow. This lady's pretty smart." Raph smiled at her.

"And cute too... for a human." Michelangelo winked at April.

"I don't know what business you have here but you four better leave, before I call security."

"Good luck, Stockman. I've disabled your comm system on the way up here." Donatello gritted his teeth.

"Yeah. It's just you and us, dude. You're going down." Mikey smacked the man in the lab coat with his nunchucku, sending the man into a file cabinet at the corner of the cramped office.

Raph advanced toward Stockman and grabbed him by the shirt, pulling him up against the cabinet. "You're gonna tell us how to disable those freakin' robots or else."

"The mousers? Is that what this is about?" Stockman was instantly afraid at the sight of Raph's anger. "But the city is paying me to operate them."

"Not anymore. Your stupid robots found their way into our home. Now how do we disable them?" the turtle in the red bandana screamed.

"Sure. Look in my right coat pocket. The master control. It will disable every one of them."

Raph felt around the man's pocket, grabbing the small boxy remote and tossing it to Donnie. "You figure it out, bro."

Donnie examined the silver device. It was similar to the one found on the large robot in the sewer but smaller; about the size of a garage door opener. He noticed a small cap on the bottom of the remote. He flipped the cap open and pressed a tiny red button labeled "fail safe."

A few moments passed until a loud explosion was heard from below. The office shook and everyone felt a small tremble in the floors and walls.

"You idiot! Now you've done it." Stockman screamed with furious rage. You just set my robots to self-destruct. Now the entire lab on the east side of this campus is going up in flames."

"Really? Some scientist you are, Stockman. You put bombs on your robots as a safety precaution?" Donnie couldn't believe how dumb this guy was.

"No matter. That explosion just alerted my security team. I can repair the damage but you don't have much time. My people are going to murder all of you, you freaks of nature."

"Miss O'Neil is it? You better come with us." Leo offered an outstretched hand to the intern in the navy blue jumpsuit.

April grabbed her yellow jacket from the back of her chair and put it on, zipping up the front. "Well, I guess I can't stay here anymore can I?"

"This Stockman dude is bad news. It's safe to say your days here are over. Now come on." Mikey grabbed her by the hand and lead her out of the office.

"Goodbye, doc. If we ever see any more of those robots again, we're comin' back for you. And next time, we ain't gonna be so nice." Raph stabbed the doctor in the left arm, giving him a minor flesh wound. "Somethin' to remember us by."

"I'll find you freaks. I'll have my revenge." Baxter Stockman fell to the floor bleeding and in shock.

The turtles moved back down the office corridor. They saw a horde of armed guards at the end of the hallway from which they entered. A few of the guards shot at their bullets were deflected.

"They're blocking our exit. No choice but to fight." Leonardo charged forward and sliced one of the guard's rifles in half.

"Mikey, protect the girl." Raph charged ahead and bludgeoned two guards with his daggers.

"Heh, you don't gotta tell me twice, bro." Mikey stood in front of the redheaded scientist. He whipped his nunchucks around and leapt toward a guard, striking him in the neck, knocking him unconscious.

Donnie thrust his bo into the floor and used it to vault through the air kicking another member of StockGen Security in the chest. The brainy turtle then whacked another guard in the face with his weapon, knocking out some teeth. And then another.

"These guys just keep comin'." Raph stabbed yet another guard in the leg. "Good. The more the merrier."

"Guys, we've gotta get out of here." Leo's swords cut another gun into pieces just before it went off and he head butted the goon.

Another shot rang out through the hall and a cry of pain could be heard before the room fell silent. Michelangelo, who had been standing guard of the O'Neil woman, fell to the floor. His right shoulder began spurting blood.

"Mikey?" Donnie rushed to his brother's side. "He's been shot."

"No!" Raph flew into a fury of violence, stabbing and kicking security guards left and right.

Leo watched as Donnie threw Mikey's left arm around his shoulder and began to pick him up. Leo approached the attractive scientist in the blue jumpsuit.

"Miss O'Neil. Do you know any other way out of here?"

"No. The other end of the hall doesn't have an exit. But there is an elevator that leads to the parking deck. And my van is there."

"Let's go." Leo called out. "Lead the way, April." He smiled at the science student who ran toward the other end of the hall.

Leo and Donnie carried Mike as Raph walked backward in their direction, staving off the continued threat of the guards. Moments passed as the group finally came to the elevator. April hurried in, helping Leonardo and Donnie situate Mikey into the floor. Raph stabbed another guard and used him as a human shield before finally entering the elevator car. Donnie pounded the button marked "B" for basement and the elevator door slid shut amid a hail of rifle rounds.