Chapter 7: Truths

Laura looked around at her 'new' lab. It was about the size of a class room, with white walls and bright lighting. There were work benches scattered throughout the room, many of them holding various plants at different stages of growth. And the equipment, it was a geneticists dream; high tech incubators of every kind, gel doc systems with probes that can detect the slightest of molecular bands, sequencing systems that can de-code an entire genome in only a day. A freaking day!

And one cannot forget to mention the main attraction, at least it drew Laura's attention. Just like in Bessy's lab back at the Foot hide out, dominating the middle of the room was the ever present, glowing vat of ominous, green, sparkly elixir. And although it was smaller than Bessy's, guess what it didn't have . . . a lid!

"Is a freaking lid really too much to ask for?" Laura mumbled under her breath. "It's just asking for trouble."

She brought herself out of her reverie, after a few minutes. There was work to do, and she was determined to find what she needed to restore her brother back to his former self. This was just like when she was kidnapped by the Foot all over again, except this time she had gone of her own free will. In this facility, there was information about the mutagen, the exact thing that she and Grape had been looking for these past few weeks. All she had to do was find it.

Laura spotted a computer on a desk that was nestled near the back of the lab, and claimed the spot as her own. She dropped her backpack on the ground beside it before pulling out a note book, an array of coloured pens, and her ever faithful ruler. In all honesty, it made her feel better knowing the little piece of wood was close.

She arranged her supplies on the desk for easy access while the alien computer hummed to life. She spent a few minutes familiarizing herself with the foreign programs and navigation, but she soon got the hang of it.

"How's the system handling," Professor Sandrum asked. He was the only other person in the lab with her, seems like they got the room to themselves. He was letting her familiarize herself with the past projects that had been done on the mutagen, since the first thing a scientist does before delving into a new project is research. And Laura was taking full advantage of that, using the time to look for any relevant information to help her brother.

"Peachy," Laura replied without looking up. Laura had become wary of Sandrum ever since she learned of his cooperation with the evil little brain blobs. She wasn't sure how much she should trust him; whether he was loyal to the Kraang or if he had alternative motives like she did. She decided to watch how things played out before deciding his place in this mess.

The room fell silent, except for Sandrum's rummaging as he organized the lab, and dealt with the samples that had been transferred from Pin Tech, most of which were plants that took up most of the work benches.

Laura jotted some notes in her note book as she skimmed a report. She lost herself in the research of someone named Alice Kennington. She had come up with several theories about the mutagen's recombination process. She was just starting to test them when the reports stopped, indicating that the project remained incomplete. Laura sighed and leaned back in her chair, fingering the USB drive that still hung around her neck.

I wonder which it is . . . Laura mused as she thought over Kennington's theory.

Oo0oO

"I can't believe I've lost everything," Alice mumbled to herself, her head in her hands. Ben moved to comfort her, placing a hand on her back. It was late, but they had managed to make it to Ben's safe house.

Since it was past April's curfew, they made sure to drop her off at home. After some debate and heated glares, the turtles convinced her to get out of the van and get some sleep. It had been a long night. April grumbled the whole while, making sure they promised to fill her in the next day.

After doing a sweep of the area and ensuring that the premises was secure, the four turtles and two humans soon found themselves in the small kitchen of a rundown apartment building in an anonymous part of town. Alice sat slumped in her chair at a wooden table, Ben stood behind her trying to comfort her. Mikey sat across from them, swinging his legs and thinking of all the things he could be doing that were more fun than sitting around and talking. Donnie stood behind Mikey making sure he stayed out of trouble. Raph was leaning against the wall with his arms folded over his chest, unconsciously staying in the shadows. Leo stood beside the only window in the room, scanning the streets below for any possible threats.

"Don't worry Alice," Ben said, "I'm sure we can retrieve it."

"Not unless we can break into the Kraang's lab and make a copy," Alice declared, looking up at him. "That's the only other place where everything has been documented. On top of that, the facility where I saved everything has been destroyed, so there's no guarantee that any of it even exists anymore." Alice collapsed into a pile on the table. "I'll have to start all over. Moths of work, reduced to nothing."

"Maybe not," Donnie said. Everyone turned to look at him. "What about that file we found?"

"What file?" Alice asked lifting her head off the table.

"There was one left behind in the shed," Leo remembered, then looked over at Raph, "Do we still have it?"

"It's back at the lair with the mutagen," Raph said.

"But which one?" Alice asked hopefully, "Do you remember the number on the front?"

"I think it was number three," Donnie said, recalling the detail no one else would have cared to even notice.

Alice sighed, and her shoulders relaxed a little. "It's not much, but it's a start," she said quietly.

"With that out of the way," Leo said stepping toward the table, leaving Raph to keep lookout beside the window, "I think some questions are in order, starting with how you escaped from the Kraang, Mrs. Kennington. You are one of the scientists that they kidnapped, right?"

"Yes, that's right," Alice said quietly, recalling the troubling event. "It was the night of their invasion. The Kraang were all distracted, and they left everyone they captured pretty much unguarded. We each had our own rooms where we worked on our own projects, but they all had the same safety measures." Alice took a deep breath as she relived her nightmare, but managed to gather the courage to continue.

"One of the others, an engineer I think, he managed to create a device that unlocked the doors and deactivate the alarms. He made sure to set us all free, there were eight of us in total. But after that, it was anyone's guess as to how to find a way out. We had never been let out of those rooms, so we had no idea how the rest of the facility was laid out.

"We started wandering around, looking for a way out when the alarms went off. We didn't know what had happened, and most of us started to panic, despite the fact that there were no Kraang around. Some ran off in an attempt to find a way out, one of which was me. I'm not entirely sure what happened after that, but the next thing I remember, I'm outside and I'm alone. And then the whole place blew up. I don't know what happened to the others, whether they were captured again or killed . . ."

Alice went quiet after that, distraught for the comrades she left behind. Ben was quick to pick up on her mood and took over.

"I found Alice a few blocks away from the facility where they kept her," Ben explained. "I picked up a transmission from the Orb about their invasion plans, and went out to do try and do something about it. Instead, I found Alice. I've helped her stay hidden and continue her research to try and find a way to reverse what the mutagen has been doing."

"And who are you, exactly?" Leo asked. "And how did you manage to get involved with the Kraang? No offense, but you were a little vague before."

"Yes, I suppose I was," Ben agreed with a small smile. "Alright then. Like I said, my name is Benjamin Torst. I used to be a computer programmer, specialized in designing communication software. I guess it was around fifteen years ago now when I discovered who was really running the company I worked for."

Ben was silent for a few minutes before continuing. "I was working late one night, I lost track of time and realized that I was the only one left in the building. As I was leaving, I heard something from one of the rooms that was supposed to be off-limits to pretty much everyone, especially that time of night. Curiosity got the better of me and I went to have a look."

"Let me guess," Raph spoke up for the first time, "You found some Kraang."

"Yes," Ben said, "But at the time, all I saw was a couple of men I didn't know sifting through the databases and equipment that no one was supposed to have access to. I managed to sneak out without them seeing me. But I didn't know what to make of it all, so I started poking around in some of the more secure databases at the company. What I found turned my world upside down."

"Kraang," Mikey said, drawing out the word dramatically.

"Where did you work?" Donnie asked suddenly, "I mean, what sort of company has databases about the Kraang?"

"TCRI," Ben said with a humourless smile.

"That would do it," Raph mumbled, matter-o-factly.

"I tried to be carful, but it didn't take long for them to discover what I was doing, and they weren't happy about it," Ben continued his story, "I managed to evade capture, and have been hiding ever since, gaining knowledge, hacking into their communication system, building safe houses. My only regret is that I had to leave my family so suddenly . . ." Ben's voice faded with his revelation. The room elapsed into silence as everyone absorbed what was said.

A beeping noise cut through the silence, snapping the turtles on alert. They looking around, trying to identify the threat. After a few seconds, Ben realized what was happening and rushed over to another room, where the noise was coming from.

Following him in, the turtles saw that the room was filled with different computer equipment. There were wires snaking along the floor and walls, connecting various machines to each other and feeding information to various monitors, which flashed with messages encrypted in another language. But the most remarkable thing in the room was resting on one of the tables on its own little pedestal. It was a large, round, white ball . . . a Kraang communication orb. It lit up with little pink dots, making patterns of circles along its surface as it received a new transmission.

Ben's hands flew over the keyboard as he set to translating the message. Donnie moved into the room and watched over Ben's shoulder as the translated version came up. Reading through it quickly, Donnie's eyes grew wide as familiar names started popping up across the screen.

"What is it, Mr. Torst?" Leo asked, sensing his brothers surprise.

"It's just a report of the night's activity," Ben said, relaxing slightly, "It's got details about moving their top scientist to their new facility, tracking down the warehouse and running into you guys. Give me a sec and I can find where it originated from."

"Donnie?" Leo said, sensing that there was something more to it that Ben wasn't seeing.

"The place where their top scientist was working," Donnie said slowly, "It's Pin Tech."

The room was silent for a moment before Mikey broke it, "Who Tech?"

Raph groaned, Leo rolled his eyes and Donnie face palmed.

"The place where Laura works," Leo clarified.

"Oh," Mikey perked up a bit at the mention of her.

"Do you think she knows this 'top scientist'?" Raph said.

"It's possible," Donnie said, placing a finger on his chin in thought. "She does work in the labs, makes sense that she would be familiar with the others working there."

"You think she is the top scientist?" Mikey said dramatically.

"Don't be stupid, she's wasn't even at Pin Tech tonight," Raph growled, not liking Mikey's implication, "She's probably still back at the lair. She better still be back at the lair."

"Are you kidding?" Leo smiled, teasing Raph, "I bet she left the second we were gone, just to get away from you." Raph glared at Leo.

Donnie rolled his eyes at the bickering before pulling out his T-phone, an action that caught Mikey's attention.

"Whacha doing?" he asked poking his head in front of the screen, blocking Donnie's view. Growling, Donnie pushed him out of the way and ignored him. "Are you gonna track her?" Mikey tried again.

"I'm pretty sure she would kill you if you did," Raph said. "She likes her secrets."

"You would know," Mikey poked, recalling the time Raph tried to follow Laura home to make sure she got there safely. She ended up catching him . . . in the face . . . with her ruler. After that, the guys decided to let Laura keep her location a secret, for both her safety and theirs.

"I was gonna try calling her," Donnie explained, subconsciously rubbing his cheek where he had just earlier that day, felt the wrath of Laura's ruler.

"Good choice," Leo agreed.

"Who is this?" Alice asked from the door way.

"Laura's a friend we met a few weeks ago," Leo explained vaguely, "She's working at Pin Tech while she's in town."

"Oh," Alice said.

"Laura . . ." Ben mumbled it so quietly that no one heard him, getting a distant look in his eyes. But he moment passed and he went back to his computer and trying to trace the origin of the message and where it was heading.