Eskimo: Hello all!
Bunnie: Hi everybody!
Eskimo: Well here's the third chapter, and we finally get to see the turtles!
Bunnie: Woot!
Eskimo: And THANK YOU SO MUCH to the two people who reviewed our last chapter; we really appreciate it!
Bunnie: Which brings us to the boo-boo we made last time: we forgot to ask you to review! Silly us XD
Eskimo: But yes, PLEASE review; it makes us write faster :D
Bunnie: We don't own TMNT but we will someday…oh we will –evil laughter-
Eskimo: -edges away slowly- O.o;
-!*$*!-
They say that New York is the city that never sleeps. Well, if that is the case, then Manhattan is the city that rarely sleeps; and tonight it seemed that any kind of rest was a far off fantasy.
Even at the ungodly hour of 2 a.m. the city refused to slumber. Horns blared and curses of road rage rang clearly through the smoggy night air. People yelled, laughed, and sang the night away only to remember they had to be in the office by six and decided to get a decent 4 hour nap before trudging to their jobs. And when these people left, 2 more night owls would take their place and began partying the last dying hours of night away.
Luckily these people were so engrossed in their own doings that nobody saw the six figures leaping from one roof to another. The figures leapt and landed with grace that had been acquired with years of training, and they stealthily moved to the edge of a tall building, careful to stay within the shadows.
"Have you locked onto the signal yet?" A voice, soft but held an air of authority within it, asked.
One of the figures seemed to be messing with a small gadget device, no bigger than the palm of his hand, and replied, "Almost. Just give me a few seconds." Another figure snorted, "Yeah, dat's whatcha said four hours ago, Brainiac. It's almost dawn and we still haven't found da damn place." The second figure paused in his doings to glare at the third figure, "I'm going as fast as I can Raph, but the signal keeps fading in and out, so it's hard to get a full lock on it."
Raph snorted again, "Well, whatevah. All I know is that we've been out here since da sun went down, and we haven't found shit." The first figure, shifted and glared at his brother, "Raph get off Don's back; this sort of thing takes time, you know." Why couldn't he just calm down? They all were tired and getting irritated.
Raph's eyes narrowed and seemed to be getting ready to start an argument, but the soft sound of someone clearing their throat stopped him. He glanced over to the side and met the eyes of the young female gecko mutant, her honey-colored eyes telling him that right now was not the time for a brother bitch fight. Save it for later. Way later.
Raph got the message and with great reluctance agreed to end it, and muttered, "Whatevah Leo." And with that stomped over to the edge of the building and glared out to the city. She did that to him sometimes, being able to tell him everything that was on her mind with just a look. Damn.
An orange-clad turtle gave a low whistle, "Daaang. Mona Lisa the Raph Tamer." and made an impression of a whip being cracked. Raph glared at his baby brother and gave a low growl. Mikey grinned goofily at his brother's reaction and seemed to be getting ready to sling another jab at Raph's expense but was stopped short by a sharp smack to the head.
"Owie!" Mikey pouted and turned to the gecko-girl who had hit him, "Dude, picking on the funny guy: not cool." Mona Lisa gave him a smirk, "Funny guy? I always thought you were the funny-looking guy." And with that she sauntered over to where the red-clad turtle was standing.
"Dude…ouch."
The final figure stepped out from the shadows, a female turtle with a light blue bandana with the tails braided, and spoke softly with an Asian accent, "Friends, please do not bicker. We are all weary and aggravated. Let us find these 'signals' and discover the cause." The band of mutants looked at each other tiredly and agreed. Fighting would get them nowhere fast. Mei Pieh Chi, rather Venus as she was called by the others, smiled at her victory of temporary peace and looked towards the bright city lights, waiting patiently for Don to find the signal.
At this point people are probably wondering why our favorite turtles (and gecko) are out here in the middle of the night, running around on what seems like a wild goose chase. Well, it started a couple months back, when a strange signal had suddenly appeared out of nowhere but disappeared almost immediately. Don had been the one who had found it and he had been surprised by it, but since it had been so small and sudden, he dismissed it as some sort of interference. But only a week later another signal, identical to the one from before, had made itself known. This one had been a bit stronger than the last but it had also been brief. Again, Don dismissed it.
However, when six more signals showed themselves over the next 3 weeks, Don figured it was highly unlikely that this was a mere coincidence. Especially since each signal was more powerful than the last. So, being the curious, intelligent mind he was, tried to identify the signals and find their source. However this was rather difficult to do because the signals would appear randomly and they last for very short brief moments, and before he could get a lock or trace on them, they were gone. It was a rather frustrating process.
It went like this for a few more weeks, but with the help of his human friend April and their crocodile comrade Leatherhead, he had been able to finally get a brief lock on one signal, before it completely disappeared. It wasn't enough to determine where they were coming from, but they could at least analyze it. The three scientists worked together trying to make heads and tails of the signal but could find nothing. It was truly an enigma.
It wasn't until over a month later since they had gotten the signal, that Don realized something. These signals were scarily similar to those when trying to use extremely advanced technology…technology that was using massive amounts of electricity and unstable compounds, such as plutonium.
Somebody was messing around with radio-active substances…and that usually wasn't good.
Frankly it was enough to get Leo ordering that they need to find out where the signals were coming from and what they were being used to do. So for the next few weeks the purple-clad turtle would try to locate the source of the signals, with little to no luck. But in the recent week, the signal activity suddenly spiked, and Don had been able to get not-quite an entire lock on a signal but it was enough to tell them the general area. The result had been disturbing.
The source of the signals was located in Manhattan.
So now here they were, trying to find out exactly where in Manhattan it was, which brings us back to the present:
"I'm booooooored."
Smack!
"Ow!"
"Shut it Mikey! We're all pissed and bored an' we don't need you remind-"
"Guys, I got it! Directly 120 meters northeast!"
Leo ran to the edge of the building, "Let's go!" and the group quickly followed, relieved that they were finally getting somewhere. They dashed and jumped over rooftops, adrenaline pumping through their systems. Finally they reached a rather abandoned part of Manhattan, where condemned buildings occupied each corner of space on the streets, decorated with graffiti and gang slogans. Trash and filth cluttered the streets and there wasn't a single lamppost working or even flickering making the area seem like a dark ghost town.
However, in the midst of the rubble and trash, stood one building that had yet to be marked by spray paint or vandalism. It was a large building, with 5 floors and was surrounded by a chain link fence. If that wasn't enough, the area surrounding the building was crawling with men in black suits who were carrying flashlights and guns.
Mona Lisa raised an eyebrow, "Gee I wonder which one it is?" she asked sarcastically. The mutants quietly jumped over the building that was closest to their target, being extremely careful not to drag any attention to themselves. Leo leaned cautiously over the building and narrowed his eyes at the men who passed under them, unaware they were being watched.
Leo turned to the others, a serious expression on his face, "Ok guys let's go over the plan one more time. Raph and Mona, you guys take the back; Venus and I will take the front; and Don, Mikey you two take the side. We'll all keep our eyes and ears open and keep in contact via our shell cells. We contact each other if anybody finds anything, and make sure to-"
"Yeah, yeah Leo, we get it! Now let's stop wastin' time an' get in dere!" Raph rushed past him, Mona following closely behind. Don and Mikey gave him a helpless shrug and also jumped down and started making their way to the building. Leo growled in frustration and rubbed his temple. A soft hand at his shoulder made him stop and he turned to face Venus. She gave him a small smile which he weakly returned, "Let's go." And they too, quietly approached the building.
Using their ninja stealth, they quietly snuck passed the guards. Leo and Venus watched and waited until the security cameras were looking away before slipping inside one of the windows. Quietly, they made their way down the hall, ducking behind corners and staying in the shadows. After a little while they both began walking down a long hallway, keeping their eyes peeled.
Suddenly voices came from the end of the hall; quickly the two turtles hid themselves in a dark room and shut the door. They both pressed themselves against the door and listened carefully.
"How are subjects 99 and 101?" a female voice, hard and commanding, asked.
"It's incredible Doctor. They both have survived the final phases of the metamorphosis, and they have been the first to do so. It seems that the latest formulas have worked the best for our subjects!" Another voice responded, and they stopped right in front of the room. Leo tensed, Subjects? Metamorphosis? What's going on here?
"Hmm, not entirely. I seem to recall subject 100 dying halfway through its metamorphosis."
"Ah yes, it did. It seems that the formula only worked with the amphibian subjects, not the mammals. Would you like the see the body Doctor? It was placed in this room with the others…"
The two turtles went rigid as the doorknob began to turn slowly. Leo clutched the handle of his katana and they both waited with baited breath.
"No. I will examine it later. For now I want subject 99 brought to the experiment lab. I have some…tests I wish to perform." Venus felt an icy chill race up her spine at the woman's tone. The way she spoke about this 'subject 99'; it was…evil. She shuddered.
"Yes, Doctor." Leo listened closely until he could no longer hear their footsteps before releasing his breath. Leo turned around and looked into the darkness of the room. Venus stood beside him and also looked into the shadows. A look in each other's eyes, told that they were both thinking the same thing.
The dead body was placed in here with the others…?
Spotting the light switch, Leo walked slowly over to it and hesitated; did he really want to see what was in this room? He hesitated for a moment more before flipping the switch. Artificial light flooded the room and Venus gave a sharp gasp and Leo felt his stomach lurch.
"Holy shell…"
Bodies and black bags. Dozens of them. Everywhere. All of them some kind of mutant, but not all of them were completely formed. He noted the body nearest to them, a tiger of some kind, had human-like features. Leo's eyes widened.
They were using humans as test subjects…
Whipping out his shell cell, he began calling the others, while Venus gaped in horror at the gruesome sight before her. She shook her head in a mixture of disgust and pity.
"All these people…all these poor souls." She whispered softly. The cruelty and viciousness of man never ceased to amaze her. How could they do this to their own people? She thought sadly as she gazed at the body of a female bird mutant, its yellow feathers discolored with dried blood.
"Guys, can you hear me? Come in."
"Yo, Leo what's up?"
"Did you find something Leo?"
"Yeah," Leo replied grimly, "It seems that the people here have been using humans to make mutants."
Somewhere else in the building, Mona Lisa went stiff. Taking the cell out of her boyfriend's hand she whispered softly into it, "Are…are any of them alive?"
"…Most of them are dead…"
Raph placed his hands on her shoulders and squeezed them tightly.
"…but there might be two who are still alive."
Mona's head jerked up, "What? We gotta get them out of here, Leo!"
"We will but we don't know where they are; we'll have to search the entire building."
"…it just doesn't make sense."
"Huh? What do you mean Don?" Raph asked as he took the cell back out of Mona's hand. He heard Don sigh on the other end.
"I-I mean doesn't it seem odd? If people are being used as guinea pigs here, you think we would have heard something on the news about people going missing? I mean how many people are here-"
"Dozens." Interrupted Leo, "There were dozens of them."
"See? I mean with that many people you would have thought that somebody-"
Don froze in mid-speech. He stared directly at Mikey with a look of dread on his face. Mikey fidgeted, "What? Why are you staring at me like that? Is there something on my face?"
"Mike…" Don began wearily, "What are you leaning on?"
Confused, Mikey looked down against the wall he was leaning against, and felt his stomach drop. There at the very bottom of the wall was a small box with a small red beam of light being projected out of it and connected with his ankle. And it was blinking. Mikey looked up with a look that mirrored Don's.
"Oh sh-"
INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!
"Oh shell!" Mikey moaned as sirens began to sound and voices began shouting. Don hissed in irritation, "Aw crap, Mikey!"
"What the shell just happened?"
"Damn it who set off the alarm?"
"Mikey tripped a security beam. The place is gonna be flooded with goons in seconds!" Don replied as he whipped out his bo staff and Mikey took out his nun-chucks, and they both heard voices coming closer.
"Damn! We're going to have to abort the mission guys, let's regroup at the north side of the building."
Mona grabbed the cell out of Raph's hand, "NO! No way! What about those two who are still here? We can't leave them!"
"We can't help them if we're dead or caught. We'll have to regroup and think of a plan to get them out."
Mona got ready to scream back about what she thought of his little 'plan' but was stopped by Raph, who looked uncharacteristically serious, "I hate ta admit it, but Fearless is right. We can't find these two an' escape all these thugs at the same time. But we'll come back for them, I promise."
Mona grit her teeth and clenched her fists but in the end nodded. Raph squeezed her shoulders and turned towards the end of the hall where he could see the guards coming. He took out his sais and twirled them in his hands.
"Looks like we're gonna hafta fight our way through."
Mona narrowed her eyes and brought up her fists, "Is there any other way?"
Raph grinned and tensed his muscles, Mona Lisa beside him. He smirked, "Let's do this."
On the other side of the building
"Cowabunga!"
Mikey cheered as he fought his way through guards and scientists, nun-chucks flying and hitting hard on peoples' limbs and heads. He did a Matrix dodge as one scientist tried to fling a lamp stand at him and quickly kicked his feet from under him. Mikey grinned boldly as he whooped, "Man I love being a turtle! And not only a turtle, but a ninja turtle!"
Meanwhile, Don had been surrounded by a few guards and one lady who had an unfriendly-looking needle in her hand and a rather sinister grin on her face. Plus she was wearing a hot pink lab coat.
Seriously; what the shell?
Don gripped his staff and watched them warily. One guard took a step forward and suddenly found himself on the ground, winded by the sudden blow to his mid-section and soon two more guys followed him. Twirling his staff Don easily knocked down the guards until only the woman was left. By this time her grin was gone and had been replaced with a vicious snarl on her lips.
"You're going to make an excellent specimen you freaky little-" Mikey snuck up behind her and gave her a good thump on the back of her head, letting her fall to the floor unconscious. The two turtles stared curiously at her.
"Ooooookay. Is it just me or does she seem a little loco?" Mikey asked. Don raised an eyebrow, "A little?" he responded.
"Come on! I think the intruders are this way!" the sound of many footsteps began to run towards them.
Mikey gulped, "Uh where do we go now?" Don looked around and glanced towards the ceiling. He grinned, "We go up." Mikey, confused, looked up to where Don was looking: a vent. He groaned.
"Aw man, do we have to?"
"Would you rather stay here and chat with the nice people who are trying to kill us?"
"…Point taken. Lead the way."
The turtles quickly opened the vent and climbed inside just in time to avoid the oncoming guards. Barely.
"Okay now let's head to the north side of the building."
"Right, so which wa-EEK! There's a bug in here, ohmigod-oh wait. That's Raph's thing. Never mind; onward!"
Don sighed.
Another side of the building
"Venus…come on, we need to get to the north side."
Venus pulled her gaze away from the bodies to the solemn eyes of the blue-clad turtle. She sighed and nodded sadly. Leo opened the door and let Venus pass first, after making sure the coast was clear. He took one last glance at the morbid room, and bowed his head in respect for the dead. Quietly he clicked off the light and shut the door. He nodded towards Venus, "Let's move." And they both ran down the hallway.
Little did they know if they had stayed there for another 9 ½ minutes they would have come across the two subjects they were going to help. Oh well.
…
The hallway was flooded with guards, and they were having trouble getting through. Leo used his katanas and tried to slice his way down the hallway but was having difficulties. Venus, on the other hand, did not have a weapon and was having a bit more trouble than Leo.
Her eyes narrowed as she put her hands together to form a sort of triangle. She began a low chant and concentrated her chi to her hands. Suddenly a ball of light, about the size of a softball, formed between her hands and she forced the ball towards her opponents knocking them back. Unfortunately the force of the blast forced Venus to slide into the window behind her and she collided with an 'Oof!'
Panting slightly, Venus gazed out the window and saw the golden and red hues of sunrise.
The sun is rising already…
Suddenly she saw something moving outside. Her eyes narrowed but then widened at the sight she saw. She gasped softly.
Two figures, both slightly feminine in shape, began running towards the fence that surrounded the building. Quickly they both began climbing the fence, one figure pausing to help the other over the fence, and as soon as they both were over, they began running towards the fading night lights of the city. But this was not what caused Venus to gasp.
One of them had a tail.
Those two…could they be…?
"Venus come on! We need to move!" Leo shouted to her; he had reached the end of the hall. Venus quickly began running towards him, "Leo! I-I think I saw them!" Leo looked at her confused, "What? Who?" Venus pointed out the window, "The two subjects that survived! I think they just escaped over the fence! They were heading towards the city!"
Leo opened his mouth to reply but was cut off at the sound of more approaching guards. He grit his teeth and shouted, "We'll talk about later but right we need to get to the others!"
Venus nodded and the two blue-clad turtles fought their way to the north side of the building. By the time they reached them Mona, Raph, Don, and Mikey were already fighting off the guards there.
"Geez Fearless, what took ya so long?" Raph shouted as he punched out a guard.
"Yeah dude, you're missing all the fun!" Mikey joked as he flipped over a guard and swept his legs out from him.
The band of mutants began fighting their way through the guards, until they had been backed into the fence. Leo frowned as he gazed around his enemies and saw no escape route. He looked out of the corner of his eye towards Venus, who caught his gaze and nodded. Quickly grabbing a smoke pellet from the pouch on her leg, she threw it to the ground and cried, "Everyone, take cover!"
Grey smoke exploded everywhere, and the mutants quickly made their escape as the guards shouted and cursed in confusion. They did not stop running until they were well into the heart of the city and hid themselves in one of the darker alleyways that had not been touched by the sunlight yet. They all were bruised and slightly bloody, but alive.
"Man," Mikey panted, "That was some workout." Everyone groaned.
"So, what do we do about the ones we left behind? How do we rescue them?" demanded Mona as she glared slightly at Leo. He looked up and replied, "We may not need to." And he nodded to Venus.
"Yes," Venus said, "I saw them escape out of the building while we were fighting the guards. They are here in the city."
Don's brow furrowed, "Are you sure? It wasn't just some scientists running away?"
Venus nodded her head, "I am positive. One of them had a tail."
The group was silent as they mulled over this. Finally Raph looked up and said, "So…we gotta look fer 'em now, right? I mean they're all alone in dis city, and it's a pretty brutal place ta be on your own, especially if you're a mutant."
Leo nodded and spoke seriously, "Yeah and we have find them fast. Those people will be looking for them too, especially since they were the only ones to…survive their experiments. If they get to them first, they might not last much longer." A heavy silence fell over the group as they thought of what the scientists might do to those poor people.
Leo spoke up suddenly, "Well we can't do anything now. Let's head back to the lair and get some sleep. We'll look for them as soon as the sun goes down." The others nodded their heads and followed Leo as he lifted a manhole and one by one they jumped down and started making their way home.
"…You know, we never found out what those signals Donnie found were about."
Smack!
"Shut up Mikey."
"Owie!"
-~-~-#*)C(*#-~-~-
Garbage had never tasted so good. I chomped into a stale head of cabbage and handed one to Ana. She didn't even think twice before scarfing the whole thing down, and peered over the dumpster to find more. We hadn't eaten real food in what felt like an eternity, so I leaned over and joined Ana in her mindless dumpster diving.
The sun was shining through the tops of the buildings all around us, and its warmth was almost as welcoming as the old vegetables in our stomachs. I looked around at the illuminated tall buildings, all covered with graffiti and dark with filth. They were strangely comforting compared to our over-sanitized white cells back at the psycho-lab.
"Looks like we're in some kind of city." Ana said, looking around and taking a bite of a dark brown carrot.
I nodded. "Yeah. It's funny, all this time I felt so alone in that…laboratory…that I never thought we would be so close to civilization. Who knew there was a city surrounding us this whole time?"
Ana opened her mouth to say something, but a door in a building next to the dumpster swung open and a man in a green apron stepped out carrying a trashcan full of aged vegetables and whistling a rather cheery tune. He kicked the door closed behind him and turned to face us. The whistling stopped. He stood there, staring at us, his eyes wide and his mouth agape. Was he afraid of us?
I felt naked. I covered myself with my hands, and then remembered. I only had four fingers. And my whole body was red. And I had a tail. And-
"S-s-stay away!" The man shouted. He lifted the trashcan over his head, spilling vegetables all over the ground, and aimed it at Ana. "B-beast!"
Ana's face turned as red as my body, and she stood there, too afraid to move. The man swung the trash can back, and threw it directly at Ana's blushing face.
"Ana!" I shrieked, and my world seemed to slow down, almost freeze. I placed one foot in front of the other and raced toward the trashcan. I clutched it in both hands as it slowly floated toward Ana's head, and stopped it in mid-air. I blinked, and the world seemed to speed up again. The trashcan became very heavy and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ana flinch.
She blinked and looked up; confused that she didn't take a trashcan full of vegetables to the face. "Cle-" she started, but I tossed the heavy trashcan back at the man, who was staring half scared out of his mind and half confused as hell about what just happened. The trashcan flew directly into his stomach and I heard him grunt as I turned and grabbed Ana's hand.
I raced down a nearby alley, turning around different corners of buildings that lead to various streets. People were walking in and out of doors, driving cars, and looking out windows. I flew past them, praying that somehow they wouldn't see us and spotted a dark, abandoned-looking building ahead. It was the color of ash, and parts of the walls were missing, and the inside looked very dark. Perfect.
"Cleo," Ana wheezed. She was trying to move her legs really fast to keep up with mine, but she kept tripping over her own feet and I was practically dragging her. I leaped through one of the large holes in the building and raced blindly through the darkness.
"Cleo Stop!" Ana shrieked. I dug my heels into the ground and came to an abrupt halt. Ana ran into my back, and we both fell onto the cool, damp floor. A small beam of light shone through another hole in one of the walls, and illuminated the spot where we had fallen.
I sat up and helped Ana to her knees. "Are you ok?" I whispered.
Ana was still panting to catch her breath as she looked me in the eye. "How…can…you…run so…fast?" she wheezed.
I shook my head. I had no idea, and I didn't remember being able to run so quickly before. Except at the lab, when I was looking for Ana's cell…
"Great." Ana sighed, her breathing normal again. "I ooze slime and you run like a gazelle."
"No." I said, remembering the red salamander picture above my door. "Not a gazelle, a salamander, and you had a picture of a frog."
Ana looked very confused for a moment, searching her memory for what I was talking about. Then a sad look of reality slapping her in the face, replaced her confused expression. "Oh." she whispered as tears filled her eyes. She buried her face in her hands and sobbed. "We're freaks!"
I pulled her into a hug, and blinked back tears of my own. I wasn't sure what to say. I felt hideous, like I had lost some wonderful part of me and it had been replaced by my freaky, red salamander body. How was I supposed to comfort my best friend when I couldn't even comfort myself?
"That man called me a beast!" Ana hiccupped. "A beast!"
"You're not a beast Ana," I whispered, "and neither am I." I pulled her away from me and looked straight at her. "Have you noticed that everyone here, even that man, looks a little weird?"
She whipped her eyes and nodded.
"They all seem kinda…animated." I continued.
She nodded again. "Where are we? I feel like we're in a cartoon."
"I don't know," I shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."
"What if-" she looked down.
"Yes?"
"What if we-"
"What? What if we what, Ana?"
"What if we're inside a cartoon?" She muttered, still staring at the ground.
Normally, I would have been rolling on the floor laughing at such a suggestion but this time I couldn't, because I was thinking along the same lines. From the moment I had woken up in the lab, I had felt like I was in some sort of comic but I was too scared to admit it to myself not to mention saying such a thing out loud. "Ok," I sighed, "suppose we are in some sort of cartoon world. How do we escape it?"
Ana looked up at me again, this time with a glare. "Do you really think I would know how."
"No. I'm sorry." I hugged her again and walked over to the hole in the wall. "But I think we both know we can go parading around in broad daylight, looking the way we do. Let's stay in here where it's nice and cool until the sun goes down then we can go explore our surroundings a bit better."
Ana nodded and joined me at the hole to watch the people on the street go by; unaware of our mutant eyes peering through the darkness at them. Eventually, Ana fell asleep on the floor and I watched the sun impatiently, waiting for it to set.
Finally, when the last pinkish-rays of sunset had disappeared through the holes on the other side of the building, I turned to wake up Ana. But a loud crash came from another hole in the wall, and woke her up instead.
She screamed, and I rushed to her side. I grabbed her hand and tried to run, but collided head first into a big black coat. I rubbed my head, and Ana screamed even louder as another black coat ripped her from my grasp and tossed her into a circle of black coats.
"No!" I shouted. We were completely surrounded by almost two dozen of the dark men from the lab. One man pointed a gun at me, and I froze with my hands in the air.
I heard Ana scream yet again and one of the dark men by her laughed menacingly. "Don't you touch her!" I barked, forgetting the barrel aimed at my forehead.
"Shut up!" another dark man behind me barked back, and pinned my arms. He shoved me to the ground, still holding my arms, and the other men all laughed in unison. They all stepped closer to me, closing in the circle. "No!" I shouted again. "Stop!"
"Now that is just sick dude." Said a loud voice from above.
The dark men all stopped and looked up.
"Yeah, man. Don't 'cha know dat dis whole ding looks totally wrong from up here?" came another voice.
The dark man with the gun pointed his barrel at the ceiling.
"Ladies should be treated with more respect!" A more feminine voice shouted.
The dark man cocked his gun, aimed, and-
"Surprise!" A green figure swung from a beam and knocked the man over from behind. Five more figures rained down from the ceiling and all around me, the dark men began to fall. The man pinning me let go and raced toward one of the green figures. I leapt to my feet and looked around wildly for Ana.
"Whoa, what happened here man?" came a voice behind me. Four men were laying on the ground, gasping and twitching; and then they stopped completely. Ana lay curled in the middle of them, slime oozing out of her back. A green figure stood over one of the men, and kicked him experimentally with his green foot. I gasped and stared dumb-founded at the life-size turtle standing before me. He was a mutant like me. A mutant turtle.
He stepped toward Ana and reached out a hand to touch her back. "Hey miss are you al-"
"Don't touch her!" I shouted, and in a flash I was between them. Holding his arm away from Ana.
He jerked his hand back in surprise. "Holy shell!" He shouted and two more turtles raced to his side. "You ok Don?" said one turtle with a dark blue bandana.
Don nodded and fixed his purple bandana. "Yeah I'm fine man, she just scared the shit out of me."
The turtle on the other side of Don in a light blue, braided bandana stepped closer to me and looked me up and down. "You ok?" She said softly.
I nodded, still a little dumfounded. A few more grunts were heard from the other side of the building then it was surprisingly quiet.
"Is everyone ok?" Shouted the turtle in dark blue clad.
"Yeah." Came a few replies. Two more turtles and a gecko leaped over to us and looked from me to Ana, who was staring at them with the same dumbfounded look that I was still wearing.
We all just stood there, staring at each other silently until the turtle in dark blue clad cleared his throat. "Well, since this seems to be an awkward place to talk, why don't you ladies follow us and we'll…um…talk, about all this."
The gecko surprised a giggle and a turtle in red clad smiled.
I looked at them dumbly. "Follow you…where?"
The turtle in light blue smiled reassuringly at me, and held my hand between hers.
"Somewhere safe." She whispered.