"𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓫𝓻𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓫𝓵𝓾𝓮 𝓫𝓮𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓮𝓼, 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓶𝓸𝓻𝓮 𝓲𝓽 𝓵𝓸𝓼𝓮𝓼 𝓲𝓽𝓼 𝓼𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓭, 𝓾𝓷𝓽𝓲𝓵 𝓲𝓽 𝓽𝓾𝓻𝓷𝓼 𝓲𝓷𝓽𝓸 𝓼𝓲𝓵𝓮𝓷𝓽 𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓵𝓵𝓷𝓮𝓼𝓼 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓫𝓮𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓮𝓼 𝔀𝓱𝓲𝓽𝓮."

Taking a deep inhale and an even more dramatic exhale, you shrugged on your new lab coat. It was finally time for your first day at the new facility. You were being picked up by Mr. Oroku's daughter and her body guards and escorted to the building across town - the same one where you had spoken with him in. Apparently there was space for a laboratory down there, and you'd be working with mainly only one other scientist, Baxter Stockman, or something like that.

Steeling your nerves, you patted Collie on the head one last time and made your way out to the black car outside of the apartment complex.

"Took you long enough." You didn't reply to her, and simply took your seat inside the car. She gave an indignant huff and climbed in after you.

You never learned her name, but honestly, you didn't care right now. You had a job to do, and after looking more thoroughly at the findings on the Mutagen analysis, you were becoming more worried, but more entranced by the chemical. You had made copies of the notebook for future reference and it was serving you well. You wouldn't be walking into the new laboratory with novice knowledge on the compound.

The teenage girl beside you spoke up every once in a while, but honestly you paid no attention to her just yet. You knew that you should probably become better friends with her sooner or later, but you had more pressing matters to deal with. After that, you wouldn't mind going out on the town with her if she warmed up to you.

It was about a 15 minute drive, but when you finally got there, you saw a dark skinned man with curly hair and a strange looking collar around his neck. There were viles of a dangerous looking chemical all around it, and from the nervous look in his eyes, you couldn't tell wether his life was being threatened or he was nervous to meet you. It was best if you didn't speculate...

Giving the scientist a smile, you introduced yourself. "Hello Professor Stockman, my name is (Y/N) (L/N). I can't wait to begin working with you."

He stuttered for a moment before answering, "Yeah... working with you." He wondered how the Foot clan managed to grab the attention of an innocent looking youth such as yourself. There was no way you were part of their mutant army plans with a smile like that... right?

Without further ado, the two of you were led inside to the laboratory, a few levels below ground. The fact that it was an underground facility caused your stomach to churn nervously. This could not seem more illegal than it already did - oh wait, of course it could.

The moment the doors were opened, you could see a humongous container of what was no doubt Mutagen. The description in the notebook did this chemical a lot of justice, as it was exactly what you imagined. A lava-lamp looking, green, glowing chemical that looked like it was meant to come out of some sort of alien creature. Honestly you were a little terrified at the idea of working with it.

Soon, the body guards that had escorted the two of you down here, and the teenage girl, had left you and Professor Stockman alone. You could finally breathe a little; mainly because the professor was a lot less intimidating.

Stockman cleared his throat and turned to you. "Is this your first time working with Mutagen?" he asked, only earning a nervous smile and a nod from you. "Very well then, I suppose I'll show you the ropes."

You'd heard several concerning things about Professor Stockman. He'd been a coward, an idiot, a fool, and too ambitious, but even then, kindness - like cruelty - is an action that karma is very close with. He would be an asset someday soon... hopefully.

.

.

.

So far it had been a long, eventful, and almost tortuous month. First was April and Casey asking you to help them with their 'night job', next was finding the Mutagen notebook, then there was meeting Mr. Oroku, and finally getting used to your new internship and the dangerous chemicals you needed to handle.

At first, when dealing with Mutagen, you had a terrifying demonstration. One of Mr. Oroku's comrades from Japan who had come in contact with Mutagen had shown up to give you a glimpse of what Mutagen was capable of. He was some sort of anthropomorphic tiger that both terrified you and intrigued you. Your childish sense of fear was overcome by your more evolved sense of passionate curiosity though.

When you first met him, he emerged from the darkness of the doorway and into your field of view. You had dropped the goggles in your hands, eyes wider than ever before, and you were sure your heart stopped beating. The tiger's first words to you were unforgettable, but your response was even worse.

"What is it, cub? Cat got your tongue?"

You could only let out nervous, partially insane laugh as your legs shook from fear and nervousness. "I mean, it's more like a frog in my throat... Ribbit."

The memory of it alone caused you so much embarrassment that your cheeks began to flare and the urge to cry came soon after. Still though, you could see that after the humiliation wore off, you were as apologetic and respectful as you could be - I mean it wasn't often that you made a fool out of yourself in front of your superiors - you'd done it so many times before that you learned not to.

Ever since meeting Tigerclaw though, you'd been using his blood as samples for Mutagen's effects. He was a willing patient, so you didn't feel very uncomfortable. Besides, he wasn't very cold to you; unlike Mr. Oroku's daughter or any of the others in the compound, you didn't treat him so rudely.

Soon enough you found out that several of Mr. Oroku's body guards/employees were also mutant creatures. Seeing them on a daily basis had taken a little while to get used to, but eventually seeing mutants in your line of work become normal... to an extent.

You were still terrified when they began to banter back and forth, or even when they began physically fighting. You really didn't want to be caught in the crossfire. Nonetheless, your work at Mr. Oroku's underground laboratory had become interesting in its own way.

But you were no idiot. Despite believing that what you were doing could be used in a positive way, you kept private records of everything you'd been doing. Everything from patient records to data analysis, because a part of you knew that if something went wrong, these things could be useful in it's own way.

You just hoped it wouldn't come to that.