Cori sat on her bike, watching the building from across the street. It had been by chance that she found it. While biking on the sidewalk, she noticed some familiar silhouettes enter the building. It was Kraang for sure. She could always recognize their rigid postures and their suits that were always slightly too perfect. Even though she saw them enter the building, she could not understand why the Kraang would be here. Most of the Kraang bases she had the unfortunate chance of finding were neatly hidden away. They may have looked abandoned but not destroyed. In front of her stood (if you would call it still standing) a large circular building with scorched walls. There were no lights with many of its windows either smashed in or boarded up. At the bottom of the building, the walls were covered in graffiti. Whatever happened here was not good.
A couple of people passed by her with judgemental stares. The teenager walked her bike over to a tree to avoid all the people. After she chained up her bike, she checked the time on her phone. It had been almost twenty minutes since she called Mikey. She was reluctant to do so in the first place. She knew the turtles meant well, but the less she saw them the better. But if the turtles were not there the last time she explored a Kraang base...she would have a lot more scars than just the burn on her back. Cori tapped her foot against the ground anxiously. The longer they take, the more likely that the Kraang might leave without them.
Cori bit her lip and made a final decision. She slipped her backpack off and placed it on the ground. She kneeled down, rooting in it looking for her mask and scarf. While some pedestrians passed her by, they did not stop. Most did not even glance at her. She wrapped her scarf around her neck and put on the mask, securely snuggling it around the upper half of her face. She pulled her hood up and crept over to the building, looking for a way in.
o-o-o-o-o
It was easier than she thought as there was no security. She pried open the doors at the front of the building and slipped in. A passerby watched but did not stop to call her out. Cori walked further into the lobby. It seemed the only lights in the building came from the city outside; its bright and colored lights leaked in through what remained of the windows. "This isn't creepy at all," Cori mumbled to herself. She pulled out her phone and turned on its flashlight. The lobby seemed very fancy, or at least it once was.
She walked through a pair of metal detectors as she continued to explore. A long counter with several computers lined the wall. As she reached closer, most of the computers were either smashed or missing. She tilted her phone towards the high vaulted ceiling. A circular minimalist chandelier hung above her. It reminded her of those sci-fi movies she grew up with. To her left was a large glass staircase. Its steps jutted out of the wall, making it look as if they floated in the air. She ascended the dusty stained steps. Despite the burnt exterior, the interior seemed relatively fine.
She climbed up to the second floor to find some offices. They were barren, lacking any and all originality. Each one was exactly the same. The teenager walked past the offices towards an elevator. Its doors were opened partially, revealing the insides of a shaft. She peered into the dark shaft and shined her light. The elevator shaft ended a little lower than where she stood. She looked up to see the shaft stretched on for stories. Cori took a step back and pressed the elevator button. Surprisingly, it lit up. A loud metallic screech shrieked throughout the lobby as the elevator cabin sunk down to her floor. As it arrived, Cori noticed a very faint purple light at the top of its ceiling. It flickered weakly, barely providing light. The doors on the cabin itself were completely opened. Otherwise, the elevator seemed to work fine. She hesitantly stepped into the cabin and looked at the buttons inside.
While there was no security at the front door, the elevator had a sensor near the button panel. Usually, the sensor glowed a bright blue. This one did not glow at all. She pressed the top floor's button and waited. The sensor flickered erratically before turning off again. Cori was about to leave when the elevator shot upwards. She braced herself against the handrails as it rose with incredible speed. She barely had time to scream when it reached the top level. The doors in the shaft opened with a small ding. Cori wobbled out of the elevator, trying not to hurl. "I think I'll take the stairs down," she whispered to herself as she tried to keep her balance.
With one hand to her head, she lifted her phone up to view her new surroundings. She was standing in a long hallway. It followed a large circular path looping around the building. While the lobby seemed unkempt, the top floor was completely ruined. Parts of the floor crumbled apart, and the walls were seared. Most of the windows were shattered, letting a strong gust blow throughout the hallway. Cori shivered and walked down the hall. She tiptoed around the holes in the floor, carefully watching where she stepped. Every now and then a gust of wind would knock off her balance. She hugged the smooth inner wall and crept along it. Reaching out with a gloved hand, she grabbed onto a doorway in the wall and swung herself in. Cori leaned against the wall inside and sighed a breath of relief. After taking a moment to compose herself, she explored the room.
Her footsteps clanged on the metal platform that hung high above in the room. In the middle of the room stood what was once a large glass column. Glass shards littered the ground below. Cori wobbled as she took a couple steps onto the metal platform. Part of it had fallen to the ground below, forming a rickety steep ramp. It rattled against the wall as she slid down it. She jumped off, stomping on some glass. It crackled against her boots.
Before Cori could take another step, she heard soft scurrying. She froze and looked around with her light. Her heart beat as she pulled out her pocket knife with her left hand. She took another step forward, crackling more glass. The scurrying grew louder from a different part of the room. It did not sound like the heavy footsteps of a robot. Cori breathed heavily as she took another step forward, this time avoiding the glass. She continued towards the center of the room until she heard scratches behind her. The girl whirled around and studied the wall. On the wall were symbols of different animals.
She slowly raised her phone up as a strange chattering echoed through the room. The light revealed a hand. Then two hands. She lifted it up more to find some sort of furry monster. It had four beady black eyes and fuzzy mandibles. And yet, its face almost resembled a monkey's. Its body was small, but the creature made up for it by having eight long legs stem from its back. At the end of each leg was a human-like hand.
The mutant flicked its long tail and watched Cori intently. She cautiously stepped back, her heart racing wildly. Cori jumped as she felt herself bump into something. She turned to find it was just the console in the center of the room. She looked back to find that the mutant had disappeared. She whipped her head back and forth looking for it. The light from her phone barely penetrated through the thick darkness. She walked forward, a little more bravely this time. With her other hand, she raised her knife up and pointed it out defensively. Cori made her way to a doorway. She twisted and turned as she stepped over and around glass, constantly looking around in a deep paranoia. She could hear its scurrying; the hands slapping against the walls.
Unable to see, she held her breath and listened.
Cori was almost out the door when she stepped harshly on shards of glass. She froze. The mutant's chattering grew louder and louder as it approached. It crawled on the floor, finally stepping into the phone's light. Cori held her knife firmly and straightened it towards the monster. The two stared at each other for a moment. Cori struggled to focus on its multitude of eyes. The creature stopped chattering, staring back at her in dead silence. It stood still as a statue except for its tail which swayed back and forth slowly, almost hypnotizingly. The mutant tilted its head and snapped its mandibles. Cori instinctively took a step back.
As soon as she did, the creature howled and lunged towards her. Cori slashed at it but her knife never made contact as it jumped on top of her. Her phone fell from her hand and clattered on the floor. The creature pinned down her left arm with one of its fleshy hands, stopping her from slashing at it. She covered her face as it started to pound on her with its other hands.
"Get off me!" she growled. She pushed its face away with her free hand as the mutant slobbered on her. Cori kicked its abdomen hard with both of her legs. The mutant screeched and backed off, releasing its grip on her. Quickly, she pushed herself to her feet and ran into the hallway. The mutant ran after; its many footsteps stomping on the floors and walls. Cori ran but could barely see with the little light filtered through the tinted windows. She blindly stumbled into one of the holes in the floor. She fell down, rolling partially down a pile of broken brick and concrete. She could feel the bruises starting to form but nevertheless weakly pushed herself up and continued to run.
The creature's howls echoed through the hall. Cori sprinted towards the elevator, stumbling and tripping over wreckage. She almost slammed into the wall. She furiously pressed the button over and over again. She was initially relieved to see the doors open, until she noticed the cabin was not there.
"Seriously!" she shouted into the shaft, looking for the cabin above.
The creature's shrieks intensified as it ran after her. Cori turned around fearfully and stood in front of the open shaft. She could barely see the creature as it charged forward. Its features were hidden, but Cori could see a dark inky mass crawling her way. It avoided the holes in the floor by crawling on the walls and ceiling.
She held the elevator button as it drew closer. It jumped off the ceiling back onto the ground. Cori resisted the urge to run and stood her ground. When the mutant was mere feet away, it lunged at her. This time, Cori was ready.
She sidestepped out of the way and the mutant jumped into the elevator shaft. It hit the wall and fell a couple of feet. The monster grabbed some braces sticking out of the wall with its many hands. Cori looked down and watched as it climbed with incredible speed. She held out her knife and muttered, "Please close, please close, please close…"
The doors slowly started to close but not fast enough. The mutant looked at her from the opposite side of the shaft. It hissed and jumped towards her. The elevator doors finally closed, and Cori heard a loud bang as the mutant crashed against them. The mutant screeched and howled loudly. It scratched the doors and banged on them with its many hands. Fortunately, it could not figure out how to open them.
Cori stepped back with her knife aimed at the door. Eventually, the banging and shrieking stopped. She heard it crawl off somewhere else in the shaft. Cori crumpled to the ground and breathed in relief. She held her knife loosely in her hand and clutched her heart with the other. Cori had only seen a handful of mutants in her life, but none were as terrifying as that. She tried to calm herself, but the eerie atmosphere of the abandoned building did not help.
She sat on the floor a long time before deciding to get up. When she did, she instinctively reached into her pockets for her phone. It was gone. "No," she groaned to herself. She dropped it upstairs during the chase.
"Mom's gonna kill me."
Cori pushed herself up and leaned against the wall. She slowly sneaked down the hallway, looking for some sort of staircase. She made sure not to fall down through the cracks and gaps in the floor. Her legs still ached from her last tumble. On this floor, there were no doors on the interior circular wall. She had not noticed before, but the interior had the familiar Kraang style unlike the modern lobby. The walls were metal with dents here and there. Most of it was burnt and covered with soot. She held out her hand and dragged it against the wall to keep her grounded in the dark. Every now and then, she brushed her gloves against her jeans, wiping the soot onto her pants.
A dim light started to faintly glow farther down the hall. As Cori approached, she noticed a set of stairs that cut through the floor. Like the lobby, the steps jutted out the wall and appeared to float. Unlike the lobby, they glowed a faint pink. Cori looked at the stairs and gulped nervously. She hoped that the mutant did not find its way out of the shaft. Cori descended down the steps and braced herself for whatever else she may find.