SERAPH-02: Burn Baby, Burn...

  The plants that FloraTech typically studied in their London facility were often exotic specimens from far-off, hard-to-reach lands.  Because these plants were so rare and hard to get, the scientists rarely had any idea on the toxicity or danger of the plants they worked with; as such, they were pretty serious about containment breaches like the one occurring right now.
  In the event of an airborne contagion, detected by sensors coating every inch of the facility, local fire and ambulance services were alerted.  Then the computer would initiate the "incineration failsafe."
  This procedure involved locking down areas where the airborne contaminant had been detected, before flooding the facility with a non-lethal but highly-flammable gas that was then ignited after a safety timer had expired.
  Anyone inside the facility, Elsa for example, had approximately twenty-five seconds to get out of the facility before they were given an instant cremation...

  I ran, faster than I had ever done before.  I had never been big on physical activity; I'd always preferred intellectual pursuits to the exertion of sports.  But now, I felt like I could outrun a cheetah!
  The sickly-yellow gas continued pouring from the walls, and it swirled around me like a mist as I charged through the facility, following a glowing green strip on the floor.
  I felt like a rat in a maze, a gas-filled maze that was about to go off like a firework.
  Where am I even going? I wondered.  I dug my claws into the floor and skidded sideways into a wall, looking up.  In stark contrast to the snow-white walls and floors that comprised most of the hallways and chambers, the room in front of me was dirty and unpainted; a big rolling door dominated the far wall, and there was a big truck parked between me and the door, still loaded with containers from the nearby harbor.
  The rear loading bay!
  I ran across the room at a speed that would put a champion sprinter to shame, vaulting over the truck before skidding to a halt in front of the control console.  I jammed my finger down on the button labelled "open," but all I got by way of reward was a shower of sparks that spewed from the door.
  I looked up.  The mechanism had fused!
  "No!" I screamed, pounding my fists on the door in anger...
  The metal crumpled under my fists like tin foil, leaving two deep dents.  I was frozen briefly, stunned at...
  "FINAL ALERT: FIVE SECONDS UNTIL IGNITION!" a calm female voice shouted from the loudspeakers.
  Well, here goes nothing! I thought.  I dropped to my knees and dug my fingers under the door; again, the metal bent easily.  I checked my stance, making sure not to bend my back too much...
  "FOUR..."
  The dodgy mechanism at the top of the door broke like it was made from dry wood.  The door must've weighed a few hundred kilos at least, but it felt as light as my eight-year-old niece...
  "THREE..."
  The lifting position was awkward, but desperation gave me strength; there was now a half-metre gap...
  "TWO..."
  I was standing properly now; the door was open up to my hip.
  "ONE..."
  I dipped my head under the door, moving back into a crouch and positioning myself so the door was resting on my back.  Now I just had to shuffle sideways...
  "IGNITION CONFIRMED."
  Screw shuffling!
  I tensed my muscles and sprang sideways, rolling down the slanted driveway as a river of flames surged out from under the door.  It slammed shut after a brief second, and the fire curled up into the air and died as I slipped under a truck, stopping my roll by grabbing the truck's front axle.
  I just lay there for a few minutes, gasping for breath.
  Then I froze.
  "Did I just do that?" I whispered...
  The distant sound of sirens caught my ears, and I crawled out from under the truck, elated.  Then I looked at myself, and blanched.
  I was still a giant, disfigured mutant; if anyone from FloraTech saw me they'd lock me up in a specimen tank.
  Oh, if only I was a human, I moaned...
  A sharp stab of pain dashed up my spine, driving into my brain.  I clasped at my head and screamed like a demented animal, until my entire body began rippling and flexing like jelly.  Thankfully, the pain quickly subsided and I tentatively opened my eyes...
  I jumped, and held up my hands to my face.  They were normal again.  I did a brief inspection, and found that I had shrunk back to my normal human form...
  But now I blushed.  I was completely naked!
  "Is anyone there?"  Around the side of the truck I saw a couple of bobbing flashlights through the smoke.
  Shit-shit-shit-shit-shit..!
  As I looked around in fright I saw, in the truck's cabin, a filthy boiler suit; the faded blue denim was covered with stains of...
  No, best not to think about what those are, I thought as I clambered in through the passenger door and grabbed the suit.  Doing my best to breathe through my mouth I shoved my legs into the pants, rolling the shoulders over mine and pushing my arms into the sleeve, zipping it shut.  I kicked open the truck door and jumped down...
  ...almost landing on top of an understandably-surprised cop.
  I found myself looking down the barrel of a handgun at a horrific sight; the policewoman only had half a face!  The left side of her head was replaced by a metal replica, complete with a black eye-socket with a red visual receptor built in.  Her arms and legs were also cybernetic implants, and the burn scars across her face led me to guess she'd been in some kind of explosion.  The extent of the damage shocked me; this woman was lucky to still be alive!
  "Identify yourself!" the cop said guardedly.
  "Elsa Williams," I replied instantly.  The cop kept her gun on me while her partner looked up my name on the computer mounted to his wrist.  He held up the picture on the little screen, nodding after a brief pause.
  "It's okay Zara; she's legit.  Seventeen, majoring in botanical studies at university, here on work experience..."
  The woman walked back and looked at the image, holstering her sidearm.
  "Seventeen and already at uni?" she, Zara, asked.  I nodded.
  "I was in an accelerated learning program at my high school," I explained.  Zara nodded in understanding.
  "You might want to update your ID image," she said thoughtfully.  When she noticed my perplexed expression she pointed at my head.  I grabbed a strand of it and pulled it in front of my eyes, realising with a pang of surprise that it was still bright-green.
  "Oh, yeah; dyed it this morning," I lied.  Zara walked towards me, wrapping one of her metal arms around my shoulders, shepherding me away from the burning laboratory.
  "Come miss; we'd better get you to an ambulance for a once-over," she explained.  The both of us turned around, watching pillars of fire burst from the collapsing laboratory.
  "Looks like your work experience has been cut a little short..."
  I could only manage a dejected "Yeah..." in reply, when a flash of light above me caught my eye.  I turned my gaze skyward just in time to catch, what looked like, some kind of humanoid robot sprint down the rooftop beside us before leaping over the side-street ahead, vanishing across the rooftops.
  I heard Zara mutter something along the lines of "Bloody cats..."