Athena returned to the Foot's lair. She was to check in with Master Shredder. He wanted to know everything.
"I can't tell if he trusts me," Athena says. "I gave him the option to meet with me again tomorrow and told him he could bring his brothers if he wanted."
"Why would you do that?" Karai snaps.
"If you want people to trust you, you have to let them make their own decisions. Besides, it'll be an easy tell. If he shows up alone, he's getting there– if he shows up at all."
"I do not care how you gain his trust," Master Shredder says. "When he has lowered his guard, you will know. You will inform me of when that happens."
Athena bows her head. "Yes, Master Shredder." She grits her teeth finishing that sentence.
"Good," Shredder growls. "You are dismissed."
Athena nods and exits the throne room. The room falls silent. Karai clenches her fists but holds her tongue.
"She may not be lying now," Master Shredder begins, "but she will."
"She could already have," Karai mumbles.
"I know she already has," Shredder says. "I know she had spoken to Raphael before I ever ordered her to make contact with him."
"And you're still letting her continue on this mission?"
"She is a fantastic liar when she needs to be." Shredder lowers his head, closing his eyes in thought. "She also hasn't told him about her orders."
"How do you know that?"
"What she just told us– she was not lying. I can very much tell."
"Then why. Why allow her to continue?"
"She's concerned with her mother's wellbeing. Athena believes she is a step ahead of me." Shredder raises his head once again. "As she gains the turtle's trust, she will lie to me. That is when you will ambush them."
"Should we station soldiers at her mother's house?"
Shredder shakes his head. "There's no need. We do not need to waste resources to enforce a threat that is already set into place. I already have Athena right where I want her. And soon I will have Raphael."
Athena, at first, began walking towards the recruits' living quarters. She wanted nothing more than to finally go to sleep. The dark and cold cement walls reminded her of how empty these corridors were more often than not. She thought back to the docks and the containers. What was it that she had given to Raphael? Although she told him that she didn't care to know, Athena now found herself questioning more and more. She found herself questioning a lot of things now. Was Karai's story about Raph's Sensei killing her mother true? Where was Carrie? She had gone missing with April and now all of a sudden her red-headed friend shows up with those turtles. And what was that black liquid and what is Shredder planning with it? Only one of those questions could be answered right now. Athena turned down a different corridor and began making her way to Baxter Stockman's laboratory.
Athena came across the door and stood staring at it. The door was locked. A keypad glowing on the right side suggested that Athena would need some kind of passcode. And even if she knew it, she assumed that a simple passcode was not all that she would need. Athena was given no time to think about another plan before the door was swung up. She quickly stepped to the right, hugging the wall. The opened door offered her cover. Athena grabbed the handle before it could completely shut. She noticed a mutant fly heading down the corridor she had just come from. Athena assumed she would have very little time to snoop around so she slipped in and began searching.
The lab itself was quite a large room. The center was the first thing to draw Athena's attention. From the floor to the ceiling was a cylinder structure made of glass, containing some sort of green ooze. Around its base were computers and papers. These same items were scattered around the rest of the room on different tables. Other screens were mounted around the cylinder, a couple of feet above the computers. Each was displaying something different. Athena couldn't understand what any of it meant, but as she circled, staring at each one, she came across one screen that was particularly easy to understand. On the left side was a picture of Carrie and on the right, strands of DNA. Athena glanced down at the computer beneath the screen. Both displayed the same thing but two small tubes stood in front of the computer. One filled with a red liquid, which Athena could only assume was blood, and the other was filled with the same black liquid at the docks.
"What is going on here?" Athena whispers to herself.
Athena began flipping through the nearby papers but couldn't understand any of the notes. She circled the cylinder, searching for anything that might offer an explanation but found nothing. She turned away from the computers and papers, taking a closer look at the rest of the room. Athena wandered around, making her way to a row of beds. They looked to be those beds in a doctor's office. Beside each one was a metal table with different tools and needles.
Athena shakes her head. "What are they doing?"
The doors to the lab swung open. Athena quickly ducked down, crouching behind one of the metal tables. She could immediately recognize some of the footsteps as Master Shredder's.
"How much progress have you made?"
"There are little matchezzzzzzz between Carrie'zzzzz blood and the formula Dr. Colonley zzzzzzent us," Baxter Stockman begins. "It has embedded itself in her DNA and izzzz almost impozzzzzzible to detect."
"We are running out of time," Master Shredder growls.
"Without some zzzzort of match, I can't begin working on enhancing the formula. The experimentzzzzz will be fatal."
"These students are worthless to me regardless."
"I am working azzzz fazzzzzzt as I can, Mazzzzter."
Shredder grasps the fly by its throat. "That is what Noah claimed."
"The experimentzzzzz will be ready in a couple of days," Stockman chokes out.
Shredder releases the mutant and exits the lab. Athena peeks over the table, watching Baxter Stockman resume any preparations for these 'experiments.' She only waited a couple of moments before slowly crawling towards the exit. Luckily, with Shredder's threat, Stockman was well too focused on his work to notice the slight opening and shutting of the door. Once outside of the lab and with no sight of Master Shredder, Athena ran to her room. Tomorrow she would reveal all that she had learned and in return, she hoped that Raphael would explain everything he knew.
As Master Shredder and Karai walked through the many corridors of his lair, Karai glanced up at her master. "Are you sure we are ready?"
"The experiments will fail."
"Then why are you pushing it so soon?"
"The students you brought me are expendable. Their deaths will offer more knowledge to advance the completion of my formula."
"Then what about Athena and the mission you've tasked her with?"
"My pawn thought herself safe in Stockman's lab."
"She was in there?!" Karai snaps.
"She has made it difficult to give enough time for my plans. Tomorrow night she will surely tell Raphael all that was said."
"I can ambush them."
"Not yet. We will give Athena a couple of days– until Baxter is ready to begin the experiments."
"Why? Surely they'll plan-"
"They will plan to put a stop to it," Shredder says, completing Karai's thought. "The turtles are playing right into my hands."
YOU ARE READING
From the Shadows: Warriors || BOOK 2 (TMNT)
Fanfiction*This series is set in the 2012 version but does not follow the canonical timeline; this series will have many references to events that happened in the show, as well as minor references to other versions Ever since Carrie's outburst and Takao'...
