Disclaimer: I don't own the TMNT. They're just staring in my own story. They aren't getting paid and nether am I. I do own however Jeanetta Patterson and Monica Patterson.
And a Thank You goes to Mikell for beta reading.
A/N: This is the first half of Chapter 35. The second will be out tomorrow
A/N: What nobody like? Come on…tell me do you like or what?
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Jean took a deep breath and climbed into the van. Everyone was quiet as Donnie drove the Battle shell through the streets. She sat in the passenger's seat next to him, staying silent as they traveled the dark streets towards the warehouse. Jean was tense, her belly tied up in knots as she stared out the passenger's window. Not only she was tense and nervous she could smell it on the turtles. It was a slightly sour scent and it did nothing to settle her. Somewhere, deep within her, she knew that something bad as going to happen.
Jean twisted around in her seat to see what everyone else was up to. Leo was standing close behind her, a hand resting on the back of her chair to steady himself as he peered out the windshield. Other then a slight worried frown, his face held no emotion. Behind him she saw Raph sitting near the back doors. Their eyes met then he looked away, obviously a little embarrassed. Next to him Mikey stood with his shell pressed against the doors, staring past Jean and Donnie out the window with a bored expression.
Jean sighed and turned her head back around and stared out the window again. She jumped slightly at a touch on her left arm. She looked down to see an olive green hand on her arm. It squeezed slightly. She then raised her eyes to meet the soft brown eyes of Donnie. He smiled at her then turned his eyes back to the road.
"Alright. Jean and I will get Donnie to the keyboard panel where he can crack into the wiring and call up the platform." Leo spoke up. Jean tipped her head back and looked up at the blue masked turtle. "Raph and Mikey, you two will wait until the platform comes up to street level. When we go down, we will be going blind. Be on alert. Remember we don't wanna tip them off that we're here any sooner than we need to, so try staying out of a fight if you can help it." he turned to Don. "Don, once we've gotten in the base, we find any computer and see what they have on files. As soon as you do, find out where they hold anything that could have anything to stop Jean's mutation."
They all nodded.
"Leo." Jean said softly. "What if they don't have anything that can help me?" She raised her voice. "What if, there is nothing and we are doing this…putting yourselves in danger for something that quite possibly doesn't exist?"
"We will find a cure…or make Hille create one," Donatello said sharply as he clutched the steering wheel hard.
"Jean you are our sister. One of us. We will find a way to stop the mutation," Leo said as his eyes softened.
She nodded at him in understanding. "One thing though. Right before we leave… I want to destroy as much as we can."
"No problem. Me and Mikey are good at breakin' stuff!" Raph spoke up, giving her a smirk.
Mikey grinned wildly, "Oh yeah! Trash the place!"
"Ok then." Leo said. "So after everything is found, Raph and Mikey will make sure Hille won't be able to use this base ever again." Leo turned back to Don. "Don, you did bring the small explosives?"
Don pulled into a side street close to the warehouse. He parked and turned the engine off. Turning in his seat, Don shot Leo a grin. "Of course. Never leave home without them."
"Good. Once we reach the entrance, Jean, Don make for the panel. After that, Raph and Mikey you wait until Jean gives you the signal and met back up with us. Once we are in, we will try and get as far into the base as we can without us being seen." Leo looked at each of them then nodded. "Now remember guys. Keep it cool and quiet and focus on what we gotta do."
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Jean stuck her head out around the corner of the building across from the old warehouse. Her keen eyesight and nose told her no one was about not even the stay dogs from the other night. She then darted out and ran to the side of the old warehouse then waved to Don and Leo. They followed in a blink of an eye. It took less then two seconds to make their way to the same stack of boxes. She pointed out the fake wooden panel and stood on look out as Don flipped the panel back and got to work on disabling the panel. She sniffed the air and smelled the same chemical smell coming from under the door.
"Got it! It's coming up." Don whispered.
Jean nodded as she felt slight the shaking, and like before the tarp blew back and the metal door slid to the side. She then darted as fast as she could back to the entrance and waved Mikey and Raph over. They quickly joined Leo and Don on the platform.
Don flipped a few switches and pressed a few buttons on the panel, and the platform stated to lower it's self under the ground. Jean turned her head away and discreetly wrapped a arm around her burning belly. As they were lowered into the tunnel they found that it was well lit but not overly bright. Lights lined the walls on either side, casting a cold, blue light on the passage.
Leo drew his katanas and lowered his voice. "Alright. Keep it cool and stay quiet. We don't know what kind of welcome we can expect when we hit bottom."
They all nodded, and drew their own weapons pressing themselves against the walls. Jean stayed close to the front of the platform. The platform stopped and two white doors slid open. Everyone tensed as Jean eased her head out and quickly took note of the immediate area. The platform opened to a long hallway. She looked over each of the walls and sniffed the air. She could smell humans but there were none nearby.
She stepped out. The velvet soft skin on the bottom of her feet made no sound. She froze then straightened and twitched her tail that was still where the turtles could see it. That was the signal and they all stepped out.
They were all quiet. As soon as they could, they walked down a side-passage, not wanting to run around in the main hallway. So far they hadn't come across anyone else yet. Each of them kept their eyes open for any sort of traps or security cameras that might spot them. Circular lights lit the ceiling and the same sort of secondary light lighted the walkway.
"Stop!" Jean stopped bringing Raph and Mikey to a halt. She had been moved to the middle of the turtles, with Raph and Mikey behind her. Her grey ears shot up and her tail stopped moving. "Someone is coming!"
Leo looked around hurriedly for a hiding place and spotted a door. "This way!" He ran towards it, sheathed one of his katanas, turning the handle and pushing it open with one hand
The door opened to a small room with controls and monitors lined all along the walls apart from the doorway. The man who had been sitting at the lone chair, monitoring the different screens spun around to face them at their entry.
Raph charged him, striking out with the butt of his sai, delivering a hard blow to the man's head. He fell to the ground without a sound. The others hurriedly entered the room, closing the door behind them. Jean pressed the side of her head to it, listening for the people she had heard coming down the passage. Don went over towards the computers, running his eyes over the monitors and control panels.
"Anything useful?" Leo asked him as Raph removed the man's tie to bind his wrists.
Don sighed and shook his head. "Not at all. This is all just monitoring equipment for the various computer systems and networks here in the base."
"We keep moving then, as soon as the coast is clear. Jean?"
Jean closed her eyes halfway and let out a small strange purr. "There are three of them but they almost gone. They don't know we're here."
"Are we good to go?" Leo asked her.
She gave a nod. "I can't hear anyone entering the hallway from either side."
"Ok then. Let's move."
Jean moved back when Leo pushed her back and gripped the door handle. Quickly they slipped out of their hiding place. Raph turned as they left to make sure the man he knocked out was still out of commission before he closed the door behind them and kept moving.
Donnie read every sign that they began to pass and he then took the hand in leading the group. The area wasn't overly populated; it was obvious that this place wasn't busy.
After a slightly aggravating journey they finally arrived at a frosted glass door that led to an office that Donny was looking for. Jean put her head to it and listened for any activity inside.
"There's someone in there," she said
Leo nodded in agreement. "Yes, but it cannot be helped." he said grimly, gripped the handle with his free hand before throwing open the door in one swift movement.
The door opened to a cherry wood office. After the almost blindingly white hallways the darkly colored room came as shock to the system. As the turtles blinked Jean flew across the dark room and the person who had been in the room turned out to be a woman with a typical educated stature. She wore a dark brown dress suit. She shot up from her chair when the door was thrown open, staring at them in disbelief. Jean bared her teeth and slammed one of her kamas onto the woman's head. The woman gave a loud, cut off noise and fell, going silent.
Jean turned, beckoned to them impatiently. "Come on!"
They entered and Mikey closed the door behind them.
"Was that really necessary?!" Leo said.
Jean snorted and replaced her kama before moving the unconuicus woman out of the way of the desk. "You all were blinded by the sudden change. My pupils enlarged so I could see right away. She would have screamed like a siren. Plus she was a woman. It was all right for me to hit her." Jean paused in dragging the woman out of the way.
Mikey took over holding back giggles. "You know she's right-"
"Mikey, shut it! You was doing so good… don't ruin it." Raph growled.
Leo rolled his eyes irritably as he turned his attention to Donnie who had moved to take the woman's seat at the dark desk, his hands already flying across the keyboard and his eyes glued to the monitor in front of him.
Jean began to look around. Occupying most of one wall was the large, wood desk of a modern looking design. The entire room reminded her of her mother's lawyer's office. Things like pens, staplers, blue pencils, and a large ruler with a steel edge and other office equipment. She took a deep breath and the scent hit her hard. Oily and sharp. She felt her tail fuzz out but ignored it. She jumped when a hand rested on her shoulder. She turned to see Mikey's baby blue eyes staring down at her.
"Dudedette, you alright? You look freaked out."
Jean swallowed and shook her head. "This is his office."
"Ya mean Hille?" Raph asked as he came up to them.
"Yeah. I smell him. His scent covers everything…"
"Guys over here!" Donnie spoke up, lifting a hand and snapping his fingers at them to catch their attention.
Jean turned to him and walked over quickly, Leo copying her as they stood behind Don to look over his shoulder.
"What'd you find?" Leo asked looking at the window he had open.
"More than enough," Donnie said, turning to look at Jean then Leo "The lab that should carry the cure is on the other side of the base from where we are. It'll be difficult to get there from here."
"Great, ol' turtle luck," Raph mumbled.
"Difficult but not impossible." Donnie waved a hand at the monitor. "It is a straight run from here to the lab. Only one turn."
"Good. Let's get goin'" Raph spoke up and headed straight to the doors, everyone else following.
As they were trying to make their way to the lab Jean's pain in her belly began to grow worse. She gritted her teeth and dropped behind Raph and Mikey. They allowed her but she could tell that they made sure to glance back at her as they got closer and closer to their target.
"Next right!" Donnie called from up front. "Then there should be a set of doors leading to the laboratory!"
They rounded the corner and ran down the hallway Don had mentioned. Jean could see the pair of double doors in front of them. They reached the doors and came to a stop. Jean pushed her way back to the front and put her head to it, listening for any activity inside.
"Someone's in there," she said. "Two of them."
Jean looked the door over, expecting it to be locked. It didn't take much searching before she spotted the security pad against the wall. She moved closer to it, beckoning Don over.
"Hey Don, come look at this," she said, leaning down to inspect it.
Donnie trotted closer, leaning down to look it over too.
"Hmmm." He frowned to himself.
"Can you open it?" she asked, watching him.
He chewed his lip thoughtfully. "It requires a palm-print to be unlocked. Obviously none of us are gonna be able to open it up like that," He unslung his duffle-bag and unzipped it, scratching around inside. "So we're gonna have to find another way of getting inside." He pulled out a small screwdriver and knelt down in front of the security pad, unscrewing it and pulling off its protective casing, exposing the wires inside. He started looking them over, putting away the screwdriver and pulling out a small pair of wire-cutters.
"I don't suppose they would be stupid enough to open the door if we knocked." Mikey said, looking over the closed entrance.
Raph couldn't help but snicker slightly at this. "Somehow I don't think so, no."
"Guys keep your voices down! They're not deaf ya know." Don grumbled as he worked, scratching off the plastic coating of a wire and unwinding the copper threads inside it.
Leo shushed them then turned to look back over his shoulder to make sure no one was gonna spot them standing in the middle of the hallway like this.
Donnie grumbled to himself.
Leo frowned. "Everything ok?" he whispered, keeping his voice down.
He made an irritable noise. "I could get this to work if I had a abrasive material…
sandpaper would work but I don't have it." Donny made a noise again, frowning hard at the network of wires in front of him.
"Can you pull the panel out slightly?" Jean asked as a thought struck her.
Donnie frowned with a thoughtful noise, stopping his rewiring and looking the thing over. He traced his fingers along one of the threads, taking note of where it connected. He lifted the wire-cutters and quickly snipped two of the wires then gently pulled the panel out.
"Ok, there you go," he said, looking up at her.
Jean wrinkled her nose and made sure her mouth was free of all saliva. She lowered her head and ran her flat cat tongue across the panel. The sharp tiny barbs racked across the smooth, making a slight scraping sound. There was a decompressing sound from the doors themselves. Donnie moved closer quickly and dug his fingers in between them before tugging one open. The minute there was a big enough gap Leo shot forward into the room, Raph following close behind.
The two people inside turned out to be scientists. They'd already turned when Donny pulled open the door and now were trying to get away as fast as possible.
The only way out the room though was the door the turtles had just come bursting in through. Raph charged at one of them while Leo took care of the other, slicing him along his arm when he saw him lift his communicator to call the guards.
He then delivered a sharp kick to his stomach, winding him and causing him to double over before Leo brought his elbow down on his head, knocking him out.
Raph had stabbed him in the shoulder and was busy slamming the butt of his other sai against the man's head.
Behind them, Donnie and Mikey tried to close the door again.
"We're gonna have to move fast," he said. "Chances are it won't be long before someone spots that sparking security panel, and now we don't have any way of locking them out."
Leo nodded. "Believe me, I'm not planning to st-"
"Oh Shell," Raph swore.
Leo turned to him sharply.
"Look Leo." He pointed to the room that they had just entered.