Chapter 8: Plans
Laura read and re-read the report that she had just found on the Kraang's latest plot, her heart beating faster with each paragraph. She didn't want to believe what she was reading, but she couldn't ignore it either. She was debating what to do with this information.
She should let the turtles know, they could deal with it. But then they would want to know where she had learned it, and then they would come get her. She could try and deal with it herself, since this is the facility where they were working on it. A little sabotage here, and accidental chemical fire there, maybe some nitroglycerin for good measure . . . and she would probably get caught in the process. No good.
Sighing, Laura decided that the best plan of action was to inform the guys. But what if she did so in a way that they didn't know it was her sending the message . . . Anonymous e-mail? Could be traced. Same with text. She wasn't familiar with blocking IP addresses and computer hacking stuffs.
How could she tell the guys without letting them know about her situation?
Laura's thoughts were interrupted when her foot started vibrating, causing her to jump in her seat. Sandrum looked up from inspecting the growth of a sapling, and eyed her questioningly at her sudden movement. She smiled innocently at him before standing up and walking into the small bathroom to one side of the room. She wasn't sure how secure the room was, so she had to make it quick.
Laura lowered the toilet seat and sat on it as she pulled off her shoe and let her cell phone fall into her hand. She had gotten into the habit of keeping it there after her run in with the Foot Clan. It was a good place to hide it. In fact, she had completely forgotten it was there.
The screen lit up with a bowl of grapes as the caller ID. Are you serious? What do you want now? She thought. Wait, I get reception in a secret alien lab? Really? You'd think they would block transmissions like this or something.
She said snapping out of her daze and finally deciding to answer the call, "Not a good time, Grape."
"Oh, come on," a gruff voice said, "what else are you doing this late."
"Red? Why do you have Grape's phone?"
"You're on speaker," Grape's voice said.
"Hi Laura!" she heard Sunshine call out.
"Mikey!" that was Blue.
"Well, everyone's turned out for the party," Laura mumbled and got right to the point, "What do you want? It's kind of late if you hadn't noticed." She added a yawn for good measure, which wasn't too hard since she was kind of tired. Hopefully they'd assume she was at home for the night.
"At Pin Tech earlier tonight," Donnie explained, not wasting any time, "the Kraang showed up and took one of the scientists to one of their facilities."
How the hell did they find out so fast?! Laura thought as panic raced through her.
"W-what?" Laura said faking concern.
"We thought that you might know the guy, since you worked in the same place," Blue spoke up.
"Uh huh," Laura squeaked, relaxing slightly. They don't know it's me! This could still work. A plan began to form in her mind on how to let them know about the Kraang's plan. "Who's the guy?" Laura managed to say without her voice cracking.
There was some mumbling in the background before Blue answered, "Professor Franklin Sandrum. Him and his assistant."
"Sandrum," Laura said, silently thankful that she never bothered to tell them who she was working with. "Yeah, I know him. I think he was working with viruses." She strained the last word to get the point across.
"Viruses?" Grape asked.
"I thought the Kraang were experimenting with mutagen, not computers," Sunshine said. A sharp thwack sounded, followed by a protest of pain.
"Right," Laura said, ignoring the interruption, "I think he was experimenting with phages and how they can spread possible mutations."
"What sort of mutations?" Blue asked.
"Not sure," Laura feigned innocence. Now for the harder part, "You said the Kraang were interested in him? You think they're trying to spread the mutagen by infecting humans with phages?"
"What's a phage?" Laura heard Sunshine ask.
"It's a virus . . . a way to spread disease," Grape tried to explain.
"Bored!" Sunshine exclaimed, "Oo, shiny!" Thwack. "Ow! Would you stop doing that!"
"Is that even possible?" Blue asked, also ignoring his brothers' antics.
"They would have to make a way to pack the phage head full of mutagen instead of mutant DNA," Grape theorized, "and there would need to be a lot of them to cause a full mutation, since each phage head wouldn't be able to hold a lot of mutagen . . . But theoretically, it's possible."
"All they would need to do is fill the water supply or something with the phages, and the mutation would spread," Laura finished. "They could even go as far as being able to infect other people, passing on new phages to healthy people. The entire city will become a breading ground for the mutagenic virus!"
"How do we stop it?" Red asked.
"The virus is still incomplete," Laura said, "but it won't be for long. All you'd have to do is destroy their research and samples and the whole project would go down the drain. They would have to start all over!"
"Great, now we just need to find the lab where they're testing," Blue said. "Thanks, Laura."
"Next time," Laura said, "don't call me, I'll call you . . . maybe." Laura went to hang up, relieved that they bought it. Now they know about the Kraang's latest plot, and they're none the wiser as to where she is.
"Wait, Laura," she heard Grape call out, "before you hang up, we could use your help with this one. This is in your area of expertise."
Laura's panic flared for a second. She couldn't very well help with this problem when she was locked up in a Kraang facility. But then she realized she wouldn't have to come up with an excuse, she already made her position clear to them in the past.
"Not this time, Grape," Laura said softly after her moment of thought.
"What?" Red asked, "What do you mean 'not this time'?"
"I mean," Laura said annoyed, "these are your enemies. This has nothing to do with me, and I don't see how it could help my brother. I've told you before, I'd rather you not get me involved more than you already have . . . Sorry guys."
Laura hung up before they could respond, glad she didn't have to face them in person. She'd done what she set out to do; she let the guys know about the Kraang's mutagen viruses, there was nothing else for her to do. They can handle it. She sighed heavily and slumped back onto the toilet's septic tank, wondering if her decision to stay away was for the best.
Laura's phone blinked as the call ended and the home screen flashed on. Laura gazed at the picture that lit up the small room. Little Laura's triumphant smile still shone as she sat atop her even smaller brother who still struggled to win their wrestling match. Even after all these years, Timmy hadn't changed much. It's been too long since Laura saw that determined look, too long since she'd seen him smile, heard his laugh, joined in his day dreaming . . . This wasn't a time to doubt herself. The guys could handle the virus. She had to help her brother.
With new resolve, Laura stood up before remembering that she was only wearing one shoe.
"Oh yeah," she said and slipped her phone back into its hiding place and tied her shoe on tight.
Oo0oO
"What the heck was that?" Raph asked incredulously after Laura had hung up on them.
"I guess we should have seen that one coming," Donnie mumbled.
"I've got a location," Ben announced from his position, still at his computer. "From what I can gather, the facility where the took their scientist is here." A map of the city popped up on the screen, with a small red dot pulsing in the center of a populated area.
"So this is where they're making the mutagen virus," Leo said before going into his planning mode. "Find out what you can about the facility. I need building plans, schematics, security, personnel . . . anything you can find."
"Right," Ben said, not doubting for a second that this youth knew what he was doing and ready to do something he knew would help bring a stop to the Kraang. After so many years of fighting with so little to show for it, he was relieved to have some sort of direction in this mess.
"Mrs. Kennington," Leo said, turning to Alice, "do you think you can find a way to neutralize the virus?"
"I could probably create a solution to disrupt the binding proteins," Alice replied, thinking quickly, "But it wouldn't be able to destroy the mutagen inside, just destroy the ability to transfer the mutagen into the host cells."
"Okay, you can start on that," Leo said, pretending he understood what Alice was talking about.
The Communication Orb flashed in ways the others had never seen before. Orange circles replaced the pink ones, dancing in checkered patterns as Ben sifted through past transmissions he'd intercepted, looking for what he needed. It wasn't long before he found what he needed.
"Alright," Ben announced as a printer hummed to life, buried under other equipment as it began to spit out pages. "I've managed to isolate the facility where they are keeping Franklin Sandrum. I've got everything they have on file about it printing. But hacking into their systems to pull up their on-going experiments could take a while."
"We'll take what you got," Leo said turning back to his Alice. "How fast can you make the stuff to neutralize the mutagen virus?"
"I can have some ready by tomorrow night if Ben can find what I need," Alice said.
"Donnie, you help her," Leo turned to his brother.
"On it," Donnie said, following Alice out of the and into a separate room with minimal lab equipment.
"And what are we supposed to do?" Raph asked.
"We get to planning," Leo said, spreading the newly printed building schematics out in front of them. "Tomorrow, we take out another Kraang lab."
A/N: The team prepares to attack and Laura gets in deeper than ever as this story approaches its climax. Stay tuned, the rest won't be long :)