Yay! Chapter 6 is up now! So this is a bit of a short chapter, BUT we have the introduction of a new OC character! And it's the chapter that will start to give more form to plot and who is involved. I'm almost done with the next chapter as well, so you all may be getting a second chapter for the month of September, so keep your eyes out for that update! Anyway, not much else to say here.

Warning: This chapter contains foul language

As Always, thanks for reading and please leave me a review/comment about what you think of the story so far! I always love to hear from my readers as it is what helps keep me going! Remember, constructive comments and thoughts are welcome, flames are not!

Chapter 6: Just a Hacker

"GOD DAMNIT!" The sound of something crashing against the floor echoed in the cavernous room as a slew of curses in a feminine voice followed closely behind. "Every time I think I have it and it just… damn!" In one corner of the dark room a relatively bright yellow light could be seen flashing, which lit the rest of the room in an eerie glow. Sitting in front of a large, three monitor, computer setup was a young woman slumped back in her chair glaring daggers at the computer. Her dark dyed-red hair was pulled up in a haphazard topknot, while a pair of thick square rimmed, glasses sat on the ridge of her nose; bright, almond shaped, amber eyes peeking out above the rim. On the floor beside her sat a now broken keyboard and she made no move to pick it up as she sighed and leaned forward, burying her face in her hands.

"Hey! Cleo! You better not have broken another keyboard!" Rahzar growled from the shadows, stepping into the light cast by the computer screens. Noticing the broken keyboard on the ground he let out a short bark like laugh and grinned. "Looks like you already did. Master Shredder won't be happy about that. That's what, the third one this month?"

"Shut it dog breath!" Cleo snapped, whipping around to glare at Rahzar darkly. She stood up from her chair then, bending down to pick up the broken keyboard and set it on the desk. Rahzar just chuckled again as he watched her.

"Still couldn't hack the system?" He questioned a note of sarcasm in his voice.

"What the fuck do you think?" Cleo growled at him, pushing the sleeves of her too-big grey sweater back up and out of the way of her hands. "Every time I break through one firewall another one takes its place and each of them uses an entirely different coding that I have to hack." She fumed.

"You'll wind up back in the basement if you don't figure that out soon." Rahzar warned.

"I doubt it. Shredder wants to use my skills to his advantage and that won't happen with me locked in a cell." Cleo replied, feeling inclined to ignore Rahzar so she could get back to work.

"Did you find that girl?" Rahzar suddenly asked, changing the topic of the conversation.

"That is… going to be difficult."

"Why?"

"Because, the girl has vanished." Cleo replied. "Like, I can't even get a reading off the tracker I planted on her." She continued, fiddling around with the broken keyboard and trying to decide if she'd be able to fix it or not. "She went off the radar for the longest time, popped back up for a little while moving through the city and stopped in some old rundown neighborhood on the outskirts of the city. I was about to dispatch some foot soldiers with Stockman to the location but then she moved back into the city and disappeared again. She keeps wandering into a dead zone and I don't know how."

"Jeez, you're just full of good news aren't you?" Rahzar said sarcastically, crossing his arms and watching her. "Or are you failing on purpose to mess up Master Shredder's plans?" He accused.

"It's not like I can work miracles! I'm just a hacker! My strength is computers and not much else." Cleo snapped back. "Besides, I might not want to be doing this, but I don't have a death wish. There is only so much I can do with my computer skills. The main fault is yours and that stupid robotic fish. If YOU hadn't lost her to begin with we wouldn't be having this problem at all." She shot back, causing Rahzar to growl angrily.

"Watch your mouth and do your job." He barked back before stalking off back into the shadows. "I'll be reporting back to Master Shredder now." And with that, he left Cleo alone in the room once more.

"Fuckin' snitch." Cleo whispered under her breath, knowing that she needed to fix the keyboard so she could get back to work. If Rahzar was telling Shredder that she still hadn't gotten anything accomplished she knew it wouldn't be long before she'd be under fire for it. With another frustrated sigh she settled back into her chair and got to work. It would be another sleepless night and once again Cleo had to wonder how in the hell she had allowed herself to end up in this situation.