A/N:Thanks to ivefoundmygoldfish(melonpanparade) for beta-reading!

Morgana uses two chemicals in here to plan her escape. I'm not a chemist, but those two chemicals could for example be ammonia and hydro chloric acid (in case someone's wondering).

Chapter Nine: Turning Point

Letting herself fall into her office chair, Guinevere let out a heavy sigh. It had been a hell of a day. There had been so much work to do, she hadn't eaten since breakfast and barely survived on at least five cups of coffee. Her feet hurt and a headache was beginning to pull at her nerves. She was looking forward to Morgana's return, as well as a full night's rest. Not to mention a hot shower, or - heaven forbid - a bath.

The sun had started to set, dipping her office in a reddish glow. Her mouth watered at the thought of dinner. Although she couldn't go home, the kitchen was always well-stocked and held enough food to feed the entire mansion. She could ask the night staff to accompany her, or even bring Merlin a plate. He hadn't left Central since his visit to the infirmary and as a doctor Guinevere saw it as her duty to make sure he ate.

Before she could take action, however, her phone started ringing. Guinevere took the call, bracing herself for another emergency.

"Yes?"

"Guinevere?" The voice on the other side was unexpected.

"Tristan?" She didn't even try to hide her surprise. As far as she knew, Tristan was still in America.

A moment of silence, then, "Can I talk to Morgana?"

He sounded worried and reserved. Guinevere felt her heart beating faster as thousands of possible scenarios – each worse than the other – unfolded in her mind.

She shook her head, before realising Tristan couldn't see it. "No. She's still in Germany, currently on an undercover mission."

Silence.

"But I'm her substitute until she gets back," Guinevere added, now really unsettled by his lack of an explanation. "If there's an emergency …"

More silence. Then a sigh, tired and defeated.

"It's not an emergency, but rather, an unexpected turn of events," Tristan finally explained. "But I do need medical advice. And that as fast as possible."

"Can I give it over the phone?"

"No," he denied determinedly. "You need to fly to Kentucky."

He didn't give her any further information and Guinevere had a feeling he wouldn't tell her what happened until they saw eye to eye. But Morgana trusted Tristan, and she trusted Morgana. There was no room for doubt in her line of work, especially when a knight demanded her assistance.

"Okay, I'll leave immediately." A thought crossed her mind. "Should I inform Merlin or have you already –"

"No," Tristan interrupted her. "It's important he doesn't know I talked to you or that you are operating under my orders."

She hesitated, unsure of what to make of his request. The American outpost had, just like every other branch, medical staff Tristan could easily call, and they would certainly be with him sooner than she could. And to leave Merlin in the dark while he was, for all purposes, acting as Arthur right now, felt like treason. But whatever it was, it was serious. She'd never seen Tristan in another mood than his usual cheerful self and right now he was anything but.

"I'll hurry. The jet should still be in the hangar," Guinevere assured him, making a mental note to have someone bring Merlin food. And make him eat it, she thought, resigned.

~oOo~

Morgana turned just in time to see and hear the alarm going off before the doors closed behind her. Now it was only a matter of time before the floor would be swarming with security. They would have to take the elevator, giving her approximately three minutes to escape. She would have to do it on her own, though, since the transmission feed to Berlin was cut.

Shaking herself out of her paralysis, Morgana rushed forward. She hadn't gotten so far just to give up now. With the thoroughness of an experienced doctor and scientist her eyes roamed over notes, files, and equipment.

If she wanted to develop an antitoxin, an untainted sample or instruction was necessary. But from what Morgana read in the notes, the toxin seemed to be in the test phase already, making it hard to come by a pure sample. And something else was problematic: there were exactly three people working on the project, and it seemed they produced only as much as they needed for their testing. So much for the untainted sample, Morgana thought bitterly.

She could hear the seconds ticking away in her ear, convinced someone would enter the laboratory at any moment. Her hope was about to diminish when her gaze fell upon a cold storage room. She opened the metal door and found a safety container holding small vials full of a clear liquid.

Her hand shot forward to grab three and store them away in the inner pocket of her suit under her lab coat. The metal door fell back into place, soon followed by the lab door. She could hear the heavy boots of the security guards on the floor as Morgana turned around the next corner towards where she remembered the fire stairs. The image of the guard who'd checked her ID and the weapons she'd seen him carry flashed through her mind and Morgana had to keep her hands from shaking to the point it would draw attention.

She reached the double doors to the normally closed stairwell, not paying attention to the prying eyes of the scientists who'd left their offices in search for the source of the alarm. If they were suspicious of her, they hadn't dared taking any action to stop her, probably waiting for security.

Since Morgana was still in possession of the stolen ID, the locked doors were no hindrance for her. Her feet nearly stumbled over one another as she rushed down the stairs. Her descent was stopped, however, by the sound of boots, coming both from the sixth and ground floor. Quickly changing her plan, Morgana pushed open the next door and entered the second floor.

Think, she admonished herself, you've been in more hopeless situations before. And what are a few witless security guards compared to a handful of whining knights?

She knew how to handle a gun, but Morgana wasn't an expert at using whatever objects caught her eye to fight her way out of tricky situations like this. She wasn't a knight, no. Her field was medicine and she'd be damned if she didn't put her chemical knowledge to use now.

After ditching her lab coat in the nearest closet, she sought out the main laboratory, jolting two scientists who had been bent over their work out of their thoughts. That meant the other floors were oblivious to what had occurred upstairs.

Good, Morgana thought. They'd probably find out soon enough.

Walking straight up to the cabinet containing the highly dangerous chemicals, Morgana bypassed the lock with the professor's ID without a problem. She was lucky she'd stolen it from someone with such high authorisation. Normally, if one wanted to have access to the dangerous chemicals they had to fill out lots of paperwork, which the heads of the departments were able to evade if necessary.

She randomly picked a flask and turned to the work station, leaving the cabinet open. Taking two more chemicals from the shelf, she left the dangerous liquid untouched and instead mixed the other two together, quickly filled the mixture into vials and plugged them with a cork. Ammonia and hydrochloric acid.

It was an uncomplicated mixture. Releasing it would cause a lot of smoke, but nothing dangerous. No matter how desperate, she was still a doctor and killing innocent people was against her moral code. But no one knew it was harmless, and Morgana had no doubt they'd flee, thinking it was some sort of toxic gas. Besides, the security guards would have to walk through the laboratory and doubtlessly be warned by two hysteric scientists pointing to the open cabinet. The news that a crazy woman was spreading poisonous gas would probably make the round in seconds, and hopefully clear her path to freedom.

Three vials in each hand, Morgana left the laboratory on the other side. Just in time, for she could hear her pursuer enter as she closed the door. She smashed one of the vials on the laminate of the corridor to test its effectiveness and clear her path. Smoke immediately clouded the air, making it hard to see. Both satisfied and relieved, Morgana headed down the hallway. The fog had another side effect she hadn't planned on; it prevented her pursuers from seeing where she was and where she was going.

The elevator wasn't guarded, which was a surprise considering the dozens of armed men on her heels. But she took the chance and stepped into the cabin, leaving another smashed vial behind her as precaution. There was only one floor left to the ground floor, but the ride felt like hours as she prayed no one would enter or stop the descend from the outside.

Pressing herself to the side of the elevator, Morgana waited with bated breath for the doors to open, ready for whatever she might have to face. As soon as they did, she threw two vials out and heard them shatter on the floor a fracture of a second later. She didn't have to wait long before the coughing started, and – in the safety of the dense smoke that filled the entrance hall – Morgana held her breath and fled to the doors.

But no matter how hard she pushed, they wouldn't budge. As the air started to burn in her lungs, she felt her way along the wall to the next door and closed it behind her as quietly as possible. Sucking in a deep breath she continued running, pushing confused scientists out of the way, barely dodging two guards and smashing the two remaining vials behind her.

As she found herself in an empty office, Morgana took the chance and opened the nearest window. She quickly climbed up onto the windowsill and, without looking back, jumped to the ground. Her left foot twisted painfully as she hit the hard asphalt, but she barely noticed it in her adrenaline induced state. Instead, her feet almost moved on their own accord as she scrambled down the narrow street. Buildings and streetlights flew past her as she blindly ran for her life.

Only when her legs gave out under her and the blood rushing in her ears drowned out the thoughts in her head did she stop and collapse onto the grass. Oddly enough, the softness of it reminded her of the soft bed sheets of the infirmary and startled her out of her daze. She looked up to find herself surrounded by trees and bushes; the Tiergarten, one of Berlin's largest parks.

Shaking fingers found their way under her suit and fumbled with the knob of her inner pocket. As her skin came into contact with the cool surface of three glass vials, Morgana closed her eyes in relief and let herself fall onto the ground. Her back damp from the grass, she looked up into the sky while she waited for her breath to calm down. Above her, the dark firmament was alight with stars.

~oOo~

933 km away, Merlin sat slumped in his chair in central. It had been a long day, and although he'd only filled the position of Arthur for a bit over 24 hours, the weight of it was slowly but steadily consuming him. There had not been a word from Tristan yet, but Bors had sent a message back to HQ. It was equally bad, its content more than just depressing, and Merlin wondered how many more times he could bear to be the recipient of such terrible news.

The message read:
Searched flat, hospital and morgue.
Found corpse in the latter and do hereby confirm Gawain's death.
Request permission to return to HQ as soon as possible.

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