A/N: Hello everybody! Chapter 7 is here! I am really sorry for the delay, I've been busy. Thanks to all of you who reviewed. Now, without any further ado, Chapter 7!

Chapter 7

The Break-In.

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this," Akasha grumbled into the hidden microphone Don had planted in her wristwatch. She crouched outside her mother's laboritory, carefully scanning the carpark with alert hazel eyes. "We're gonna get caught."

"No, we won't," Don replied encouragingly. His voice emitted from the pair of headphones Akasha wore under the hood of her sweatshirt. "Just act normal. I'll talk you through everything."

"Somehow, I don't feel any safer," she complained, sneaking around the building and making for the door. A small keypad, similar to the one at the entrance to the turtle's lair, was next to the heavy steel door. Akasha punched in the password – calamari – and the door opened with a hiss like steam escaping from a teakettle.

Mikey, who, like the other turtles, was watching everything through a hidden camera in Akasha's headphones, exclaimed;

"Calamari? What's that?"

"It's Greek for 'squid'," Akasha informed him.

"Eww, why would anyone want that as their password?" Mikey demanded.

"My mom likes squid," Akasha said as the door closed behind her. "She has it in sushi and stuff. Now shut up before anyone hears you."

Before Akasha, a long, white hallway stretched. Is smelled of strange chemicals. Akasha, however, was used to these smells, and simply strode down the hallway, ignoring the glass windows either side of her. They showed gruesum beasts, chained or tethered to the walls, people in white suits and masks with oxygen tanks on their backs prodding them with electric rods. The monsters roared, but their cries were oddly muffled behind the glass.

Every so often a steel door would appear, leading to the monsters' chambers. A few of the people in white suits appeared, and noticed Akasha.

"Akasha?" One of them took off her mask and blinked blue eyes at the girl. She had blonde hair that fell to her shoulders, and only looked to be in her teens.

"Who's the babe?" Mikey's voice echoed in the hallway. Akasha smiled innocently at the surprised lab assistents and muttered, "I'm going kill you, Mike," into her watch while pretending to adjust her hood.

The assistents seemed to forget about the disembodied voice and turned back to Akasha.

"What are you doing here?" The blonde haired woman asked Akasha. "Your mother has sent a group of mutants to search for you, we thought you'd been kidnapped or something."

"I just needed to have a break, Clair," Akasha replied easily. "And yes, I know she sent some mutants after me. I ran into one of them yesterday. As a matter of fact, that's why I'm here. Do you know where my dear mother is?"

Clair sensed Akasha's annoyance and raised an eyebrow.

"In the office in secter five, level two. But don't be too hard on her, she's really busy right now: A company she was in touch with has been badgering her to allow an inspection. She's under a lot of stress."

"I won't be to harsh," Akasha smiled sweetly at the assistents and trotted off down the hallway, flapping a hand in farewell.

"Smooooth," Mikey said. "Do you know everyone in this place? I thought it was just Chris."

"Nope, I know most of 'em," Akasha stopped in front of a white elevator and hit the call button. A dinging sound could be heard and the doors opened. A tall man in a long white coat and carrying a clipboard stepped out, nodded to Akasha, and hurried off along the hallway, muttering to himself:

"Yes, they've been feeding them to much meat again, they'll be all brawn and no brains for days. Why do I work with these imbecils? What have I done to deserve this…?" his ramblings died away as the elevator doors closed.

"Who was that?" Mikey asked instantly.

"Mr. Bixby. His first name is Arthur. Has two kids, Alexis and Robert, lives in the same apartment building as April, has been married for twenty-five years, he turned forty-eight on Tuesday," Akasha shot back, a smug smile on her face. "Favorite colour is yellow, likes drawing cartoons in his free time, and watching comedy in TV."

"You are good." Mikey whistled.

"Yes, I am aren't I?" Akasha stepped out of the elevator and onto a floor full of offices.

"This is the place." Akasha jogged down the deserted corridor and turned the corner, dodging trolleys loaded with papers and old files.

"Why is nobody here?" Leo asked as she tried to open one of the office doors.

"The office employees leave work at nine," Akasha replied as she rattled the doorhandle impatiently. "Urgh, why won't this thing open?" She kicked the door in frustration, and stubbed her toe.

"Ow." Akasha fumed for a few minutes, then began to rummage around in the pockets of her sweatshirt.

"What are you looking for?" Mikey asked.

"This," Akasha waved an ordinary hairpin in front of the hidden camera.

"What, bad hair day?"

"No, you idiot," Akasha sighed in exasperation and inserted the hairpin into the lock. She began to wiggle it around, and before long, the lock clicked and the door opened.

"Oooh," Mikey said, finally understanding.

The office was full of print-offs of emails and hastily scribbled phone numbers. Many of them were secured to the walls with blue tack, or propped up against the filing cabinets and computer. A wastepaper basket in one corner over-flowed with crumpled sheets of printer paper, a half-eaten chocolate bar was squashed to one side, melting chocolate oozing slowly onto the drab grey carpet, which was almost invisible due to a blanket of clutter and office supplies that obscured it.

"Is this your mom's office?" Mikey said in disbelief.

"No, she's a neat freak," Akasha took a huge step over a mountain of printed reports and looked around for another available spot to put her other foot. "This is Mr. Gribdul's office. I need to get the password for my mom's office from here. She changes hers every two days."

Reaching the computer desk, Akasha began to sift through a mound of sticky-notes.

"Luckily for us, Mr. Gribdul is extremely forgetful, and he always writes the new password down, so we should be able to find it no problem… Aha!" she unearthed a note, badly crumpled and spotted with coffee, but legible nontheless.

"And now we can get to my mom's office." Akasha exited the cluttered office and locked the door behind her before setting off along a different hallway. She halted before a huge steel door. A plaque read:

Dr. Andrews

Head of Department

"Okay, here we go," Akasha consulted the sticky-note and punched in a code. The door swung open.

Unlike Mr. Gribdul's office, this one was spotlessly clean, and very organized, apart from being a good size larger. It was about three times larger than Mr. Gribdul's. At one end, a collection of flat-screen computers stood, their blank screens reflecting the light that shone down from the expensive modern-looking light fixture. A small stainless-steel fridge stood in one corner, a music player on its top. A couple of modern paintings hung on the back wall, while the one facing them hosted an enormous window, which gave the Turtles and Akasha the charming view of a tester lab.

A number of mutants were suspended in iron cages above vats of toxic liquids. Their roars of terror and rage reached them, even through the thick layer of plexiglass. Akasha hit a button on the wall and heavy brocade drapes descended, hiding the spectacle from view. The muffled screams echoed eerily, causing Akasha to shiver.

"Nicer than Mr. Gribdude's, eh?" Mikey said, obviously trying to make a joke. It was his yells of "Ow! Whaaaat?" that made Akasha smile: Raph didn't put up with much from his brother.

Akasha strode over to the computers. She switched one of them on, and idly traced the patterns of the mousepad while the system loaded, flashing company logos on the screen.

"What exactly are we going to do?" Mikey asked.

"I'm going to hack into the computers mainframe, and disable the security system so you can get in. You'll travel through the ventalation shafts, and from that point… well that's up to you. I'll keep in touch from here, and see if I can't unearth some info on the mutations that's been going on recently." Akasha double-clicked on an icon on the computers desktop.

"Where does Chris come in?" Mike questioned. "He's beginning to smell."

A low growl emitted from the speaker; Chris was also watching.

"He's our backup plan," Akasha explained patiently. "If you get caught, or something like that, he'll burst in and say he's got 'important information' for my mother. While they're destracted, you can break free, I hope."

"We ain't gonna get caught," Raphael growled, sounding remarkably like Chris. "We're ninjas, remember?"

"Oh, of course, you're the ninjas who nearly got caught in the pizzaria last night 'cause you forgot to hide your sais in your trench coat," Akasha quipped.

Raph was apparantly to shocked at her comeback to answer. Mikey, however, began to clap and said, "Can I have your autograph?" to which he got a sound smack on the head from an extremely angry Raphael.

"Wow, you shut Raph up," Don sounded impressed. "Can I have your autograph?"

"Oh, be quiet." Akasha grinned. Then she sobered. "I'm into the system!" she announced. Then she frowned. "But I'm being blocked by something."

"Lemme have a look." Don quickly scanned the screen from the camera in the headphones.

"Well?" Akasha wanted to know. "Can you help?"

"Of course I can help!" Don sounded slightly indignant. "All you have to do, is click on that icon there, and make some minor adjustments to that part there. Add a bracket. That might work." Akasha did as she was told and the computer whirred.

"It's working!" Mikey cried gleefully from the other end.

The computer crashed. Its screen went blank.

"Oh, that," Akasha bent under the computer desk and fiddled with some wires. The modem flickered to life exactly where they had left it.

"It always does that," Akasha dusted off her hands and sat back down in the computer chair. "I had to learn to fix it when I was playing Freddy Fish."

"You played Freddy Fish?" Mikey sniggered.

"I was eight!" Akasha snapped. "When Chris wasn't around to play with me, I could go on computer games. Now be quiet, I need to consentrate…"

Mikey fell silent.

"Okaaaay," Akasha opened a file and chose an icon. The mouse changed from an arrow to an hourglass; the computer was loading.

"Are we almost done?" Mikey whined. "I'm booorrrd."

"All I have to do is close the security in sector fifteen. That's the ventalation shafts." Akasha explained with forced patience. Her fingers danced over the keyboard. A panel next to the computer – it showed which sectors' security systems were activated – made a noise. One of the red lights on it winked out.

"Right. Now you can come on in." Akasha lent back in her chair feeling quite pleased with herself.

"Finally some action!" Mike whooped. "See ya soon, Ash!"

She switched the camera off – they would be with her soon – and fiddled with a strand of her aubern hair. For some reason she felt nervous, and on edge.

"Snap out of it!" She told herself. Her uneasiness grew. Perhaps she imagined the muffled footsteps outside, or the scrape of the doorhandle being turned. Maybe she just thought she saw a shadow fall over her, as if someone was standing behind her, or that the crawling, paralyzing itch she was feeling was simply caused by her growing sense of unexplained terror, that of a cornered animal. With an increasing sense of dread, she slowly turned around.

"Well well well, what do we have here?" a smooth white tuxedo, a long black ponytail almost brushing the floor, a white hat perched upon his head. He was so close Akasha could smell the sweet aroma wafting from the red rose thrust through the buttenhole of his jacket, and see the designs on the brass-and-wood walking stick he was carrying.

He smiled cruelly, perfect white teeth flashing.

"A little mouse, we were informed, was meddling in matters that she ought not meddle in. Silly little mouse… perhaps we should teach her a little lesson, eh, Mr. Touch?" A hulking figure behind the man stepped foreward; muscles rippled under a dark plum-coloured shirt.

"Perhaps we should, Mr. Go," Mr. Touch flexed his bicep. Muscle bulged.

"Touch and Go?" Akasha, even in her frightened state, still found this slightly amusing. "Cute."

"Your terepin friend was of a similar mind," Mr. Go smirked at her. "But enough talk. Our employer wishes to see you in person."

" 'Terepin friend'?" Akasha asked, startled. "And weren't you going to teach me a lesson?"

Mr. Go's eyes narrowed.

"It appears that you, like your terepin friend, are also prone to backchat," he hissed, ignoring her first question. "Now, are you going to come quietly? Our employer is not a particularly patient person."

"Interesting." Akasha inspected her fingernails absent-mindedly. "Who is your employer, anyway?"

"Oh, you will soon find out."

Mr. Touch, from a signal from Mr. Go, lunged at Akasha. Expecting this, she ducked under the computer table and dived behind the computer towers, silently thanking her martial arts teacher for her quick reflexes. Because of her rebel-ish nature, she would quite often end up with a broken nose or black eye from fights in school. Finally fed up, she had talked her mother into paying for a martial arts expert to teach her, so that she could at least fend off the blows. Now she was glad she had.

"So we have a feisty one." Mr. Go laughed. "It will do her no good."

Akasha ground her teeth in frustration. Mr. Touch was far too big for her to actually fight. She figured she could take on Mr. Go, but as far as she could see, he simply stood back and ordered Mr. Touch around.

Mr. Touch's fist smashed into the computer desk, close to where Akasha was. The desk splintered, the computer modems toppling around it. Akasha gulped and scooted further along the wall, away from Mr. Touch.

This is no good! She thought, furious at herself. Think, you idiot, THINK! She gazed around, trying to come up with a plan of action. Her eye fell on the coat rack in the corner. Perfect!

She squirmed out from under the computer desk and sprinted across the room towards it. Akasha heard Mr. Touch grunt with anger and follow her. She grabbed the coat rack and whirled to face him. He halted, uncertain. She took advantage of his hesetation and whacked him in the stomach with the clawed end of the coat rack; he stumbled. With a deft stroke she dragged the end of it across the floor, sweeping his legs out from under him and dumping him on the tiled floor.

Mr. Go appeared beside Mr. Touch, his face twisted in fury. Mr. Touch got to his feet and turned to Mr. Go. They raised their fists; they smashed together, and a bluish light enveloped them. Mr. Touch, who was apparently feeling much better after his power up, began to smile.

Akasha backed up a step.

"You see, little mouse, you cannot fight us. Now, we have been morepatient thanyou deserve. I ask you again: Will you come quietly?"

Akasha's eyes flicked left and right. She had four options: One, she could fight them. She didn't really fancy that. Two, she could dive to her right, through the giant window, into the tester lab. Three, she could go quietly, but that was most definitely not her style! So she chose option four: through the door, to her left. She feinted to the right and dodged to the left, running flat out towards the door. Her hand closed over the handle.

Mr. Go's hand closed over her sweatshirt hood, and a clump of her hair. He yanked, hard, almost unbalancing her. She held her ground and pulled on the door handle, trying to ignore the burning pain in her scalp where her hair was being ripped out by the roots, and in her neck, where the sweatshirt's hood was biting into her throat.

Yes! The door was open. She kicked out behind her; her heel connected withsomeones shin. A howl of pain. Mr. Go released her hair and sweatshirt, and she ran. She ran as she had never ran before, her feet barely touching the floor, she flew down the hallways, leaping over trolleys and wastepaper baskets.

Akasha ran, the air whipping her hair back from her face, she made for a window leading to the carpark. Knowing full well what she was going to do, she speeded up, covering her head with her arms, and jumped. Glass shards exploded outward, showering the tarmack with tiny, needle-sharp splinters.

She landed on the carpark, breathing heavily, clutching a stitch in her side. Luckily, it had only been two floors up, and the fall hadn't killed her. With a gasp she trotted toward a parked car and crawled underneath it. She dearly wanted to give Touch and Go a piece of her mind, but she frankly didn't have the energy to do so, and she needed to catch her breath. Akasha desperately tried to slow her heartbeat, which was thundering in her ears.

She spied Mr. Touch poking his head through the shattered window, obviously trying to locate her. She tugged her sweatshirt hood further over her head and hunkered down, hoping against hope that he and his companion would just give up and go away.

She tried to contact the turtles on her wristwatch walkie-talkie, but it had gotten smashed in her jump from the window.

Oh, where are the turtles when you need them? She thought desperately.

A/N: Oh, the suspense! The drama! I'm evil, aren't I? To be perfectly honest, I wanted to stop at a cliffhanger, to make it more interesting. And it was getting to long anyway. Review and tell me what you think! Maybe it'll spur me to get the next chapter finished quicker.