I have to say I loved writing this chapter last weekend. I've used another existing TMNT storyline (season 1 episode 24 Operation: Breakout) and warped it for my own purposes. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!
Tootsie7655 Your review was interesting, thanks! :) I am planning to fix up Raph and Scarlett's relationship eventually but it may give me writers block in the future lol. Hopefully he doesn't come off as too mean I just see him as very protective of his family. I never really thought of playing him and Mikey off each other, hmmm...
The award for longest review ever goes to BubbleEwa! ;) Sorry for confuddling you! Hayden is a complicated guy and pretty messed up by his childhood. Hopefully I can successfully cover more of this later down the track but in the mean time if you want to understand Hayden a bit better look up Attachment Disorders and maybe you'll get a feel for why he is how he is. And, no, he didn't know about Scarlett being mutated, weird right? This next chapter will let you know both where Scarlett has been and what she has been turned into. Poor Scarlett, I got the feels really bad writing this chapter especially at the end. But don't blame Raph for her current predicament, unlike his brothers he can't have squishy feelings for people he just met and someone has to stop the other guys from filling up the lair with randoms. Thanks for the kind words *blush* plus the heads up on the Teen Titans episode, I will go check it out. Love your thoughts, keep em coming xo
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Karai rolled her eyes impatiently and crossed her arms over her chest as Baxter Stockman stuttered and verbally flailed his way through another boring report on the progress of the mutants. She glanced sideways at her father, not bothering to hide a twisted smile when she saw he was barely containing his own irritation. The pink hologram through which her father held this meeting wavered occasionally adding to the general impression that the leader of the Foot Clan was quivering with anger.
"You have delayed for months." Shredder barked, cutting off the quivering scientist mid sentence. "I have already waited long enough for you to complete your initial testing. When will the mutants be ready for Karai to begin their training?"
"Please Master Shredder, you must understand!" Baxter wrung his hands and stared pleadingly up at Shredder where he appeared to stand on the raised dais. Karai sneered openly down at him from her position next to her father's image, from her vantage point the little man looked even more pitiful as he cowered at the bottom of the steps. She could easily imagine what he would look like on the screens in her father's office back in Japan. Pathetic. "Not only have they needed extensive medical checks there is also the issue that my mind control devices have been designed for humans, I've had to make some adjustments so that they remain functional during the shifting process." His eyes shifted to Karai and for a moment the girl could have sworn she saw malice swimming in their brown depths as he looked at her. He blinked and it was gone, "I would hate for your daughter to come to harm. For safety reasons I've had to have the mutants moved to a smaller Krang detention facility, they were far too strong for me to leave at TCRI. If you allow me just a few more days with them, a week at most, I can make sure they are completely controllable."
Shredder flexed his massive biceps as he leant forward threateningly. "One more week. If they are not ready by then I will deal with you when I return." Without another word he ended communication and the hologram winked out.
Karai huffed with a bored air as she watched Baxter shakily readjusted his glasses. "They better be ready." She called out flippantly, inspecting her nails. "If there's one thing my father hates more than the turtles and their rat father it's being defied." She looked up at him pointedly and let her face split into as evil a grin as she could muster. "We're kinda the same like that." She turned on her heel and strode away.
Behind her Baxter Stockman visibly wilted with relief. After a quick glance around to make sure he was alone he allowed a scowl to settle over his face. "Stupid spoiled brat." He muttered angrily. "I should just let your new pets rip you to pieces." He brightened at the thought. "Now that would be fun to watch!" His quiet giggle echoed around the huge empty space.
Two days later...
"Huh," Donatello squinted at his T-phone then looked across to the bare brick building below him "doesn't seem very Krangy." A leap from the top of the water tower took him to the fire escape. A short jump from there to the ground, followed by a quick scurry around the side of the building, had him standing in front of a beat up old roller door. He kneeled to examine the dead bolt securing it, his tongue poking from the corner of his mouth while he picked the lock. A small snik signalled his success, he cast a furtive look around to make sure he hadn't been spotted as the roller door opened on surprisingly well oiled tracks.
Donny entered the building then closed the roller door carefully, bo at the ready, and did a quick scan of the inside. Nothing but cars packed three levels high on mechanical stackers, all in various states of disrepair. Maybe this was just a mechanics garage and he'd made a mistake. Disappointment began to seep it's way in around the edges of his determination, he'd been so sure. The signal from Mr O'Neil's coded message had led to this exact spot. April would have been so happy...and appreciative...goose bumps were rising on his arms and a dopey grin was threatening to take over his face as he thought about the possibility of another hug when a metallic clang echoed from the back of the shop. Immediately his face hardened and he whirled around, creeping towards the sound.
"It is one of the ones called the turtles." The Krang's robotic voice was completely expressionless. As he leapt away from the pink laser fire Donny marvelled at how hearing them talk could still give him the creeps.
A few quick spins of his staff and the Krang was a stuttering pile of metal on the floor. Donny slammed his hand against a large silver button on the control panel next to him, dropping a car neatly onto the robot and crushing it along with the pink alien brain controlling it. Donny's teeth glowed in the dim light as he grinned. "Looks like someone could use a tune up! Huh? Yeah? Right?" He spun his bo theatrically for his imaginary audience. This solo mission business was a piece of cake!
"Whose the hero now?" His not so imaginary audience applauded his efforts with more pink laser fire. Three more Krang advanced from the shadows, weapons blazing. "No response necessary!" Donny gulped as he ducked for cover.
The floor was cold. The stone walls were cold. The air was cold and the cell in general was gloomy. I knew all this, but it didn't really reach me where I was tucked away inside the leopards mind. It seemed as if there was a thick layer of foam between the environment and my nerve endings. Or maybe it was between my nerve endings and me. All I knew is that I couldn't feel that it was cold in this small room, but I could feel that I could feel that it was cold. Does that make sense or am I finally going crazy? I have been locked away here for a pretty long time.
Right now my body was in it's animal form, had been for days and probably would be for a few more as I just sat here in this cell. I couldn't change form unless the scientists allowed it, commanded it really, seeing as they had to use their mind control thingy. They didn't do this very often which meant I'd been stuck as a giant cat for ages now. Shifting between human and animal caused problems apparently and the only times they made me do it was to check if they could maintain their control of me. In the beginning they hadn't been able to, I'd been able to break free, try to escape, even killed a few of them I think. But increasingly that had been changing. I was starting to worry that I was never going to get full control back ever again, that they would just keep pushing me further and further back into my own mind until I disappeared altogether. Just ceased to exist. No more Scarlett.
Oh I still had some say over my actions, like right now for instance while they weren't around I could influence what the leopard did. I could get her to pace the cell, make a bit of noise, but when they came and started issuing commands I had no choice but to follow. A lot of the time I didn't even know what they made me do, their mind control device pushed me so far back I lost the fragile thread between me and what passed for my consciousness. Then I would suddenly be aware again, looking though my own eyes from a distance and seeing that things had changed but not knowing exactly how much time had passed.
Every time I saw them coming, the human scientists or the creepy robots with brains in their chests, I just wanted to run screaming. But I couldn't. Yeah, I'm totally loosing my marbles.
Crouched on the metal beams which served as a ceiling Donny marvelled at how much space the Krang had managed to dig out from underneath the building above for their underground lair. The mechanics workshop was a front for yet another Krang base as the turtle had discovered after falling less than gracefully down a hidden shaft while trying to avoid Krang fire just twenty minutes earlier. Thank goodness the guys hadn't seen him do that, Raph might have been tempted to make up another stupid name for him like dorkordinated or craplumsy or something. Thankfully he'd managed to arrest his fall before he'd reached the bottom or the Krang would have had an annoying green turtle shaped smear to contest with. Frightening stuff.
He watched the two Krang Bots march past underneath him then silently dropped to the floor once they'd passed so he could continue down the hallway. Rounding yet another corner he ducked behind a pillar as one of the robots emerged from an automated door at the end of the corridor. He peeked from his hiding space, rather then coming down the hallway towards him the Krang was standing guard at the door. Frowning in frustration he thought for a moment, how to get the alien to come closer so he could disable it?
Inspiration struck. Reaching into his belt he withdrew his T-phone, pressed a few buttons then quickly slid it along the floor so that it came to a rest against the robotic foot of the Krang. It's head tilted, pink eyes stared unblinkingly down at the small shell shaped object, cocking it's head to the side in a parody of a thoughtful expression as the contraption blinked it's red lights and rang merrily. After a moment it bent to scoop up the phone, holding it up to it's face to look at the picture on the screen: a mutant turtle with a purple bandana and a wide smile. The mutant turtle with a purple bandana crouching behind the pillar took his opportunity to leap from his hiding place and swing at the Krang with his bo, a resounding crack was followed by a painful sounding crunch as the alien hit the wall and crumpled to the ground.
Donny stepped forward and snatched his ringing T-phone from the robot's grip. "It's for me." He smirked happily. The pink Krang brain operating the robot opened it's eyes at this and levered its self from the metallic casing with a shrill scream. Another swing of the bo and it too hit the wall with a squishy thud. "And that's for you." Donny's smirk grew even wider. He really had this solo mission thing down pat.
The now empty Krang robot was surprisingly light as he hefted it with one hand and pressed it's face to the scanner beside the door. It opened with a whoosh allowing the turtle to step through into what appeared to be a surveillance room. Lining the far wall of the small area was a bank of screens. Stepping closer he could see that each one showed the inside of what looked to be a cell. He started by scanning the ones to his right, most of them seemed to be empty and only a second passed before he spotted the person he'd come for. "Mr O'Neil!" April's father was slumped on the floor of his cell, knees drawn to his chest as he buried his face miserably in his arms.
In the centre of the room there was a waist high cone with a screen built into the top. Immediately he recognised it as a Krang computer. Tongue once again protruding from the corner of his mouth he began running his fingers over the black surface, squinting in concentration as pink symbols danced under his hands.
Bzzzzzzzzzzzt
The leopard looked up at the familiar sound and I felt a flash of fear as I saw through it's eyes that the door to our cell had opened and was now hanging slightly ajar. Both of us waited, watching silently, but nothing further happened. A crack of light fell through the gap and lay across the floor, I found myself focussing on it, waiting for it to get bigger. It didn't. Confusion washed through me and on the heels of that, hope. No evil scientists were coming to run more tests on me. Was this...was this part of a rescue effort? My mind spun as I remembered a night, long ago now, where a similar buzz had echoed down a hallway. That was the night I had met Donny. Had the turtles found out I was here and come to rescue me? The wave of excitement that rose in me was so strong I suddenly found my consciousness pushed to the fore and for the first time I felt like I was in complete control of my own body.
I didn't waste this opportunity and immediately willed myself to move, obediently my body rose to all four paws and padded to the door. A nudge of my muzzle and the door silently swung the rest of the way open. I hesitated, listening intently. For a moment I thought I heard the sound of something moving out there but when I listened harder nothing else reached my ears. Cautiously I slunk through the open door and out into the hallway. Hanging lights created circular pools of illumination down the corridor, I made sure to stay to the side of these as I slunk my way along. I passed the open doors of the other cells and a quick glance inside each showed that the other mutants were still within their cells, unmoving. I gave an involuntary shiver when at the third door I was met with the same dead-eyed expression as the first two. They looked like puppets waiting for their strings to be pulled, is that what I spent my time looking like? I moved on, expecting to see the polar bear in the final cell, but pulled up short as I saw it was empty. What the...?
Another soft sound, like material sliding over metal, drew my attention. With a solid thunk a dark shape dropped from the ceiling to land in front of me. For a moment elation shot through me, convinced that it was going to be one of the turtles. Then I got a good look at the thing that was drawing itself up to full height until it towered over me. I was a mutant too but, unlike me, it stood on it's hind legs more like one of the turtles. It was black, like oil slick black. Yellow and orange markings ran along it's belly to the underside of it's tail. It was a giant salamander, newt, lizard thing that I'd never seen before. How many freaks were there down here? It glowered at me with yellow eyes and I quailed back, the pure cold anger there was terrifying. I heard a low growling and realised from the vibration in my throat that it was coming from me. My lips were peeled back from my fangs and I'd dropped into a defensive crouch, ears laid flat against my skull. The mutant hissed in return, raising one massive claw tipped hand high over it's head ready to strike, but before it could the air was split by the bright pink flare of Krang laser fire.
Both of us started and turned towards it's source. Five Krang robots had stepped around the corner to block the end of the corridor. Immediately the lizard looking mutant dropped his fist and leapt back the way it had come, upward into the beams that lined the roof of the hallway, leaving me to face the robots alone. Acting on instinct I lunged upwards as well, hot on lizard lips heels as he sped from beam to beam in a galloping run towards the Krang. Protected by the metal struts we advanced together until we were directly over the aliens, dropping down amongst the pink laser blasts to lash out with teeth and claws and take them down. My claws ripped into one of the pink squishy bodies as I snatched the alien from it's metal nest and I barely registered the purple blood that splattered over my face. I whirled to find the next hated robot to tear apart but instead watched as the giant lizard plucked one of the pink brains out of it's robot casing and shoved it into it's mouth, tentacles hanging over black lips for a moment before it swallowed then licked it's chops with a satisfied grunt. Ew.
As soon as he finished his snack the mutant turned to me slowly. All the Krang had been taken down, was I going to be next? I waited, forcing myself to stand still as the giant lizard looked me over. Finally he met my eye and nodded, motioning with his head as he stepped over the fallen bodies of the aliens and slipped around the corner. Taking a deep breath I followed, tail swishing behind me as I slunk through the shadows.
"I thought that you might be able to decipher my message." Mr O'Neil led the way out of his holding cell and began striding confidently down the hallway.
"Well it wasn't so bad," Donny replied modestly, catching up to April's dad so that he could check around a corner first before they rounded it "you used a basic BVB scrambled algorithm so I just flopped the ECM data stream." The last part was said in sync with Kirby as Donny and the red haired scientist grinned at each other happily. Their moment of camaraderie was cut short however as Donatello caught a flash of movement from his periphery vision. Man and mutant frowned and looked towards the end of the hallway. "Donatello, why are all the other cells open?" Mr O'Neil's voice quavered on the question and the turtle looked at him questioningly.
"I must have opened them when I let you out." Donny answered uncomfortably. "I thought the rest of them were empty." From the darkness a hiss sounded and they took a small step backward together.
"I'm not so sure about that." Kirby said without taking his eyes off the end of the corridor. A small clang echoed from above them and they flinched as they looked upward to the steel girders that were mostly shrouded in darkness.
"Ok, don't worry." Donatello placed his hand reassuringly on April's father's shoulder. "Whatever this is I'm sure I can han...gah!"
A great weight dropped from above them and the two men crumpled beneath it with muffled yells. They scrambled to their feet, jaws dropping as they took in the lizard type mutant that was hissing loudly at them.
"On second thought sir, you might want to worry just a little." Donny tried to keep his voice calm as they backed away. Before they got too far the enormous lizard pointed a huge fist and began firing flaming yellow projectiles at them from the device strapped to it's wrist. Immediately they turned tail and ran, frantically ducking behind a pillar to escape the barrage. "What is that thing?" Donny gasped.
"You must have accidentally released one of the Krang's alien experiments." Mr O'Neil hid behind the giant turtle as a chunk of their pillar was blown away by a yellow blast of fire. They made a run for it as their hiding place became exposed, rabbiting down the corridor in search of a a way to escape the mutant.
"It looks like some family of salamander if I'm not mistaken." Donatello panted as they ran.
"With that epidermis?" Kirby scoffed as he kept pace. "It's clearly a pleurodelinae. A newt."
They both skidded to a halt as a flashing disk whizzed past, skimming between them and sinking into the stone wall at the end of the corridor a few feet ahead. Glancing back in time to see the newt thumbing a hand held detonator Donny flung himself at Mr O'Neil to knock him out of the way mere moments before an explosion knocked a hole in the wall.
"Newtraliser is more like it!" Donny exclaimed as they scrambled back to their feet and fought their way over the rubble and through the drifting dust, ducking through the newly made escape hatch and hurrying away as fast as they could.
10 minutes earlier...
Three more Krang lay dead at our feet. I watched, fascinated, as the giant lizard thing strapped on his armour, apparently the now-dead aliens had been guarding it. I'd thought he was intimidating before. He methodically removed each piece from the storage box and strapped it onto his body. Belt, harness, shoulder pads, wrist and shin guards. Every single item bristled with weapons and amo causing him to grow steadily more impressive until finally he was finished suiting up. Yeah, definitely infinitely more scary now.
As soon as he was done he looked over to me and motioned with his head again. I briefly considered my options. I had initially really really hoped that the turtles had come to rescue me but since the doors had opened there hadn't been any sign of them, just this weird scary-as-fuck creature who had made the offer to team up. Maybe the brothers were behind the sudden break out, maybe they weren't, either way I couldn't afford to wait around for them to come and finish the job. I had to find my own way out however I could. I nodded in response to the mutants unspoken invitation, padding after him as he made his way down the hall back the way we'd come. At least this thing seemed to know where it was going.
We made our way through the hallways quickly and quietly. There were no more Krang patrols blocking our way and I gradually relaxed a little as I followed the lizard's sure movements. Several minutes passed in near total silence before my ears picked up the faint sound of voices. I hesitated and looked at the armoured up lizard. He didn't slow so I was pretty sure he hadn't heard anything yet. We continued along, keeping to the shadows and I strained my ears trying to hear more, it sounded like two guys having a conversation. Their voices were getting louder now and I was pretty sure they weren't Krang. Not monotone enough. I noticed that lizard lips had switched his confident stride for a slower, more cautious gait. My suspicion that he had finally heard the voices too was confirmed when he glanced back at me and motioned with his hand in a gesture that looked like 'wait'. Adrenalin started pumping through me again and I made the quick decision to leap up onto the steel beams that lined the ceiling once more. Immediately the darkness made me feel a lot better as it wrapped around me like a cloak.
"...scrambled algorithm so I just flopped the ECM data stream!" Two male voices blended together as they talked sciency sounding rubbish, must be some of the bastard scientists that worked here. One of them sounded vaguely familiar, might be one of the guys who'd poked me with a needle in the past. I looked down to see that the mutant lizard had disappeared. I loped forward a few beams, trying to see if I could catch sight of him again and as I did so more of the scientist's conversation reached my ears.
"I'm not so sure about that." The guy who spoke sounded worried, his voice clearer as he drew even closer to my position. Good. He should be nervous. I hoped the lizard guy tore him apart. It would serve him right for working with robot aliens.
"Gah!" There was the sound of yelling shortly followed by rapid laser blasts. I bounded forward the last few feet, lightly leaping from beam to beam, until I came around the final corner to see that below me the lizard mutant was unleashing the full fury of his recovered weapons at a pillar half way down the hallway. There was a flash of movement from behind the pillar as one of the guys stuck his head out to sneak a look. In response the lizard launched a small rocket that tore a massive chunk of their hiding place away in a spray of crumbling concrete. The two guys made a run for it, weaving their way down the corridor to avoid the yellow laser fire and I finally got a good look at them. A surge of surprise and relief made my muscles actually go weak for a moment. One of the figures had a shell, green legs pumping and purple bandana tails waving behind him as he ran. That was Donny!
The lizard mutant stopped firing for a moment and withdrew a large circular disk from the back of his belt. He turned his body at the waist as he cocked his arm then he flicked it with a powerful motion like he was tossing a frisbee. My relief turned to horror as I watched him brandish a small device like a pen with a red button on one end. My eyes flew to where the disk had embedded itself into the wall in front of the turtle and the partially balding red haired guy he was with. That was Donny!
As if in slow motion I launched myself from my perch near the ceiling towards the mutant, desperately trying to get to him before he pressed that button. At the same time Donny grabbed the old dude and threw his weight into propelling them both sideways away from the explosive that was flashing red. The lizard's thumb pressed down on the trigger a second before I slammed into him with all my weight, taking us both to the floor. Bits of shrapnel from the wall rained down on us as we lay in a tangle, the lizard lay stunned for a moment before snarling at me and shoving me away so hard I slid several feet. I watched in fear as he raised himself up and lifted his hand to point one of his mini rocket launchers directly at my face, snarling in wordless anger. Suddenly his eyes shifted to something behind me and he changed targets, firing yellow lasers over my head instead as pink ones fired straight back. The Krang. Never in my life did I think I would be glad those guys turned up again, they had just saved me from losing my face for the second time in one day.
I cringed on the floor while they shot at each other. The mutated lizard squeezed off a few more rounds before turning tail and disappearing through the hole in the wall, the same way Donatello must have gone. I scrambled to my feet, getting in a tangle because for a moment I forgot I had four instead of two, all the while desperately trying to call out. All that came out was a screeching growl. Fuck! I couldn't talk like this!
"Krang, the one known as the one who needs further testing has also escaped."
Shift, I needed to shift back to my human form so I could yell. Even as I thought it I was doing it, muscle and bone contorting painfully as I regained my human shape. I fell to the floor again, God it hurt, "Donny..." This time actual words came out of my mouth. I struggled to my knees, grit digging into my bare shins.
"Krang take the one who is the one who has escaped back to the place known as the holding unit."
I took a deep breath and lifted my head. "DONNY!" I screamed as I desperately struggled forward, trying to follow after them. "I'm here!" Cold metal hands dug into the naked flesh of my arms and legs, a bare silver limb wrapped around my waist. "DONNY!" I was pulled from the floor in a painful grip. "Donny..." this time his name broke on a sob as I fought against the Krang's hold. "No, let me go. He was supposed to get me...Donny!" Tears were obscuring my vision, blurring the faces of the robots and making their large pink eyes bleed across their faces. "I'm right here." I told one of them, it's head tilted slightly as it looked back at me dispassionately.
"Doesn't he realise...?"
Three days later...
"I've great news Master Shredder. I have perfected the mind control device. There was one casualty during the process, the polar bear unfortunately had to be taken down during a destructive rampage, however I can now assure you that the four remaining mutants are ready for training."
"Very good."
AN: Sorry if I got any geek talk wrong in this chapter!
