Chapter 8: Attack of the Mousers
StockGen...
One Year Later…
Baxter Stockman…
"This had better be good, I had to leave a very important business meeting for this," I said as I entered the room, the head of the mercenaries had called me earlier claiming they had finally made progress on the hunt for the turtles and the rat.
The head mercenary nodded, "You're gonna love this Stockman," he said before handing me a photo, "One of the boys managed to get a pic of one of them freaks last night," he said. The photo was taken from a distance, in what appeared to be some kind of junkyard. At first I thought he was pulling my leg but upon further inspection, I saw the rat in the photo, disappearing into what looked to be a sewer drain. "Looks like your freaks are holdin' out in the sewer system," he said.
"It took you a year to figure that out?" I asked snidely, I guess we should have expected this, Splinter was a rat after all. "Do we even know if he has the turtles with him? They could have went separate ways after escaping," I pointed out.
The mercenary grinned, "If that's the case we can capture him and get him to spill where his little green friends are holding up," he said, "So, you want me to send a platoon to the sewers and hunt that rat down? My boys are itchin' for some action," he grinned.
I shook my head, "No, he'll see it coming, and I haven't forgotten how poorly your men did against Splinter last time, I have something else in mind," I said before strolling over to the large computer screen and pulling up a file. "This gentlemen is the project that helped get StockGen's robotics division off the ground and made me the very wealthy man I am today," I said, the project on screen was a small, metallic robot, it's head was pill shaped, with two long robotic legs holding it up. "They're designed for pest control, let one of these loose in your home and it will hunt down and mouse in the entire building, capturing it in it's mouth like a fly in a Venus Fly Trap," I explained.
The mercenary laughed, "You're little gizmo's real cute Stockman, but we ain't dealing with a mouse here, we're dealing with a highly trained combatant who also happens to be a giant rat," he explained.
I smirked, "Ah but that's the point isn't it? He's a rat, and rats are pests… aren't they? With a few modifications, I can create mousers that will hunt Splinter down like the vermin he is," I said, "I want your men to release a large group of mousers into the sewer system, programmed to hunt Splinter and Splinter alone," I explained. "He may be a skilled fighter, but even the best succumb to the numbers game eventually," I said with a grin.
To be honest, I'd been toying with the idea of using my mouser robots to hunt Splinter ever since he escaped, but since we couldn't find him until now, I never got the chance to test it. If only I could see the look on that old rat's face when he sees an army of mousers gunning for him. But I'd just have to settle for the one he'd give me when he was dragged back to StockGen. "The mousers will be ready in an hour, I suggest you tell your men to get ready," I said before looking to the picture of Splinter again, "And this time… there will be no place left for him to hide," I said before leaving to prepare the robots.
Meanwhile…
The Turtle's Lair…
Leonardo…
It feel like a lifetime ago since I mutated, my memories of being a human kid from queens felt far more distant now than they actually were. Being a freak of nature had lost most of it's shock and had, dare I say, become almost normal now. I still missed the life I had, my mom, my other friends, hell… I even kinda missed my asshole teammates. Spending so long down in the underground with three mutant turtles and a rat was starting to make me a bit stir crazy, I cherished the rare times we actually got to see the surface, the sun.
Splinter was insistent that we stay hidden from the rest of the world, or "in the shadows" as he always put it, Splinter kind of had a flare for the dramatic sometimes, a classic example is how he always insisted we "Strike hard and fade into the shadows". Trips to the surface were outright forbidden unless deemed necessary, or to be more accurate "Only when we needed food or supplies". This had been our lives for so long now most of us had forgotten what the city even looked like.
Well then Leonardo, why don't you just sneak out? Well… me and the guys have sort of learned over our time down here that you never cross the rat… ever. Most of the time, Splinter was a pretty cool dude, very kind and caring, willing to hear you out when you had a problem, becoming the sort of resident "dad" of the group. However, all bets were off when you somehow managed to tick him off. It was rare, but when it happened, it was an event. The first poor soul to incur the wrath of the rat was Donatello, when he tried to rewire an old train car and sent it careening down the rails like a Japanese bullet train, almost flattening poor Michelangelo in the process. It wasn't so much the run away train that pissed Splinter off but the "almost flattening Michelangelo" part. Dude spent what felt like hours chewing Donnie's head off about being reckless and almost killing his "brother". Donnie spent the rest of that night cleaning the lair.
So yeah, I'm not about to risk the wrath of the rat for just a few minutes of sight seeing. I liked my head attached to my body thank you very much. There were a few clear lines Splinter had made for us, crossing any of them sent him into berserk mode. Never interrupt sensei's meditation, never disrespect ninja tradition, never endanger your "brothers", and… the relevant one here, never go to the surface, ever.
So here we spent our lives, day in, day out, thank god these sewers were big, otherwise we all would have gone stir crazy loooong ago. In fact our little expeditions into the sewers had yielded some… erm… interesting results. We found a working TV once, which currently sat in the living room, Mikey found a box of old Star Trek VHS tapes once… Voyager in case you're curious which series. You'd be surprised what kind of weird stuff New Yorkers shove down here, not all of it I can share in polite company.
In fact we were now just coming back from one such expedition, having found what Donnie insists is an old IBM computer from the eighties, he planned on stripping it for parts to use in one of his "projects".
However when we got there, we found Michelangelo carrying some kind of cake, did I mention Michelangelo could cook? It surprised us all when he first revealed it. "What's up with the baked goods Mikey?" I asked him.
Michelangelo seemed strangely surprised we asked, as if it were something all of us should have known, "You guys forget what day it is?" he asked us. We all just sort of looked at each other, "It's our one year Muta-versary!" He said. It took a minuted to decipher what "Muta-versay" meant, as it clearly was a word he just made up.
It was the one year anniversary of our mutation, to be honest all of the days down here sort of blurred together, how Michelangelo knew the date was a mystery, but what struck me more was that he wanted to celebrate our mutation like it was a birthday or something, the objectively worst day of our collective lives was hardly an occasion to celebrate with cake.
"Are you serious?" Raph asked, "Mikey, that was a horrible day why would you ever want to celebrate that?!" he asked, echoing the rest of the group's thoughts on the subject.
"Well yeah, but it was also the day we… ya know… became a family," explained Michelangelo, "So I thought… it was worth celebrating, besides… any excuse to eat cake is a good one dude," he continued.
It was hard to argue with him there, however, "Mikey, I get the idea, but honestly, that was a day we'd rather forget," I tried to explain to him, Mikey sometimes didn't understand just how bad what happened to us was, Raph writes it off as him being dumb, but I think it was more due to him being more of an optimist than the rest of us, as far as he was concerned, the worst part about mutating was losing two fingers.
"Kind of hard to do that, given our appearances being constant reminders Leonardo,"
Splinter emerged from his room, "I for one think it is a grand idea Michelangelo," he stated, Michelangelo smiling a little in validation, "What happened to us is tragic, we lost so much to the ooze, but we rose above that tragedy, and created a pretty decent life for ourselves down here," he explained. "In spite of all that happened to us, we stand here, stronger and prouder than the day we first found each other, supporting each other as ninja, as family, that my sons, is worth celebration in my book," He said.
Yeah, Splinter had this weird thing he started doing after a few months, referring to us as his "sons". Again, he had kind of become the "dad" of the group and basically adopted us that day he busted us all out of StockGen, but it still felt kind of weird I won't lie.
"In fact," said Splinter suddenly, "I think I may have something of my own to offer for this celebration," he said before he suddenly went back into his room. All four of us just stood there like deer in the headlights before Splinter came back with something rolled up in some kind of blanket or cloth. "Please, sit," he said.
Michelangelo set his cake aside and we all sat in the usual position we did when Splinter gave us lectures or lessons. "You four have all made tremendous progress with your training over the course of this past year, which is why I believe it is time to finally elevate your training," he said before unwrapping the cloth to reveal weapons. Two katana, two sai, two nunchaku, and what I think is a bo staff. "Weapons such as these have been used by ninja for centuries, in the hands of a skilled warrior, they are as effective as they are deadly," he explained.
"Dude!" Michelangelo exclaimed "I call dibs on the nunchucks!" he said reaching for the nunchaku before having his hand slapped away by Splinter.
"Patience Michelangelo!" he said to Mikey before returning his attention to the rest of the group, "Before I give you these weapons, I expect each of you to promise to use them with wisdom and responsibility," said Splinter, "I know the temptations that come with weapons such as these all too well, you must promise never to give into your darkest thoughts, I give these to you as tools of survival, not instruments of destruction, only to spill blood when all other solutions are closed off to you," he warned us.
You wouldn't think a ninja would have a no killing rule like that, but you could tell just by the look in the elderly rodent's eyes that he took the sanctity of life very seriously, and that he expected us to do the same. "As long as this is understood, you may pick your weapons," he said.
Mikey instantly snatched the nunchaku, "Finally! I've been wanting to try nunchucks for like… EVER!" he said, happily twirling the nunchaku with the gleeful exhilaration of a child who finally got the toy he always wanted for Christmas. The nunchaku from what I could see were made from simple wood connected by thick metal chains.
Raph quickly snapped up the sai, "Bet I could do some real damage with these bad boys," he said as he twirled them in his hands. The sai were simple, three pronged sai with red leather handles. The metal they were made from seemed to lack a bit of sheen, making me think they were a bit aged.
Only the stick and the swords remained, I decided to go with the cooler option and took the swords, They appeared to be basic katana, with dull gray sheaths with brass tips, the hand guards were square and gray, the blades a were long, curved steel that shimmered in the light from the room.
"And that leaves me with the stick then," said Donatello dryly. The bo staff was basic wood with white taping at the center for better grip. The wood's color dulled from age, but it looked like it would stand up to abuse pretty well. "You guys get blades and nunchucks to deal with enemies, while all I get to fight the forces of evil… is a big stick," he commented, clearly not thrilled with the weapon he got saddled with.
"Do not underestimate your weapon Donatello," Splinter said, "For it is not the weapon itself that holds power, but the one who wields it that makes it strong," he explained, clearly trying to build Donatello's confidence a little.
Donatello however seemed skeptical, "Yeah, if you say so sensei," he said.
Splinter then gave us attachments for our belts to hold our weapons, for me this meant a long leather strap that slung over my shoulder to hold the two swords on my back, as if my shell wasn't top heavy enough right? Donatello got something similar, though his had a pouch at the back to hold his staff, I imagine getting through doors is going to be an issue for Donnie in the future. Mikey and Raph both just got holsters for their nunchucks and sai respectively.
"There is one last bit of equipment I wish to give you," Splinter said before producing a wooden box out from behind him, he lifted the lid to reveal it's contents.
"DUDE! Ninja stars! Sick!" Michelangelo exclaimed. As Mikey said, there were indeed ninja stars inside the box, they were silver throwing stats with some kind of flower or lotus pattern engraved into their center. I recognized the logo as the same one on Splinter's robe, which made me wonder if it was his old clan's symbol or this was just some weird coincidence.
"You may each take three," Splinter said, "just as I expect with your main weapons, I too expect these to be used with wisdom and responsibility," he added. We all took three as Splinter had instructed, they looked quite new upon closer inspection, telling me Splinter hadn't had these long, I could even see my face reflected from it's surface, a blurry reflection mind you, but a reflection none the less.
Then a question came to my mind, one that I'm sure crossed the minds of the other turtles, "So… does this mean we're ready to… ya know?" I asked, pointing upwards, hoping Splinter got my meeting. It seemed fair to assume Splinter was choosing to arm us that it meant we were finally ready to head topside.
However that assumption died when I saw Splinter just sort of glare at me, "No," he said forcefully, "You four have much more to learn before you are ready to face the outside world," he added. The tone of his voice made it sound like I had offended him by even asking. However after a while he seemed to read why I asked by the look I apparently had on my face, "I know you four have been down here for so long, there are days where I myself long to see the surface, but we cannot forget what we are, and how the outside world would react if they saw us like this," he pointed out, his tone much more sympathetic now, "I take no pleasure in keeping you four hidden down here like a dirty secret, unable to see the morning sun, but it must be done to ensure our safety, the last thing I would want is for any of you to be caught off guard by StockGen or anyone else who would do you harm, and you be unprepared to defend yourself against that threat," he explained.
The tone of the room quickly dampened, as it was clear I wasn't the only one who longed to see the outside world again. But we knew Splinter was right, down here was the safest place for people like us, and we've only had a years worth of ninja training at most. "Do not lose hope my sons," Splinter then said, "The day you will be able to see the surface again will come, but that day is not today," he said. It was clear he knew how upset this made us, and was trying his hardest to lighten our spirits while still playing the responsible parent.
We all got to our feet, kind of dejected we were still not trusted with even a simple trip up top. "So..." Splinter said awkwardly, trying to change the subject, "Shall we have some of Michelangelo's cake?" he offered. Everyone answered with an unenthusiastic "okay" as we all got ready for the saddest slice of cake in history.
Meanwhile…
Elsewhere in the Sewers of New York
StockGen Mercenary...
"God this place reeks"
My unit had been deployed to drop Stockman's Mousers into the sewers. I was still annoyed that Stockman wanted to use robots to capture the target instead of my highly trained men. Never send a machine to do a man's job. But I knew better than to question someone with pockets as deep as Stockman's.
I looked around, seeing that we were at a central hub of the sewers, "Alright men, I want those robots deployed at all four sewer pipes, with any luck, these things will find the rat. I want all units on stand by for when the robots return with the target," I ordered my men. None of them were particularly enthusiastic about being down here, sewers were never an ideal place for ops, but the rat decided to make like his smaller, four legged cousins and live in this cesspool so it couldn't be helped.
I knew it would be worth it once we dragged that rodent by the tail to Stockman. I had a little bit of a grudge against that rat ever since he embarrassed my men a year ago. I took a lot of pride in my unit, "Colonel Blackwood, we're ready for Mouser deployment sir, just give the order," one of my men said.
I put a cigarette in my mouth and lit it with a lighter, "Commence Operation," I said before the sounds of whirring, mechanical legs echoed through the tunnels of the sewers. That rat probably had no clue we were even down here, but he'd know damn well once those robots dragged his sorry rear right to me… no one makes a fool out of me… no one.
Meanwhile…
Turtle Lair…
Leonardo…
After we had all sampled Mikey's cake, Master Splinter had sent us all off to quote "get a feel for our new weapons". We had some basic prior weapons training, but said "weapons" were a bunch of sticks he had Raph and I collect from the woods outside the sewer tunnel once. Actual, honest to god swords were a bit of a departure to say the least. They felt heavier for one thing, a lot heavier than you'd think katana would be, but I seemed to be managing just fine.
"You seem to be taking to your new weapons quite well Leonardo,"
Master Splinter emerged from the darkness, arms crossed behind his back. "You all are actually, I admit, I find it quite impressive," he commented. Splinter then sat himself down in front of me, "However, I didn't come here just to compliment you," he said.
Confused, I sheathed my swords, "What's up?" I asked before sitting down myself.
Master Splinter sighed, "I wanted to speak with you, about the surface," he said. This only confused me more, I thought we had said all that needed to be said earlier? "I want you to know I wasn't angry with you Leonardo, honestly, I should have expected you four to start asking about it eventually," he explained. "But that being said, I still want you to understand I only do what I do to protect you and your brothers," he continued.
I kinda got that, but at the same time, "I didn't mean to upset anyone sensei, it's just… I miss it ya know? The outside world, the city… there's only so long you can spend in a run down subway station before you start going stir crazy," I explained.
Splinter nodded, "I understand Leonardo, I've admittedly have had the same longing to see the outside world, but we must learn to accept our lot in life, we are not like them anymore Leonardo, a normal human sees us, they will panic, possibly even attack, and that's not even getting into what StockGen will do if they find us," he explained.
He was right of course, a year had kind of dulled the shock of being a mutant, sometimes I forgot we were freaks now. I guess being trapped down here so long with other mutants had sort of downplayed how messed up we all probably looked to an outsider. "I know sensei, but… still…" I said, not sure how to finish my sentence.
Splinter put a sympathetic hand on my shoulder, "Like I said before, we've lost so much to the ooze, but we must not dwell on the past, if we are to move towards our futures, you will see the surface again Leonardo… just not yet," he explained before getting up to leave, "I'm going to go check on your brother's progress," he said before leaving. I decided to go back to practicing… trying to get the images of the outside world I so longed to see again out of my mind.
Splinter…
I hated doing this to them, locking them away in the bowels of the city, but it had to be done, I couldn't risk StockGen finding us, I had grown so attached to the turtles, I couldn't bear the thought of losing even one of them. All I could do was assure them the time would come when they could see the outside world again.
As I walked I began to hear the familiar sounds of an acoustic guitar playing, I knew it was Raphael, he sometimes played music when he felt stressed or had a lot on his mind. It always struck me how someone as angry and harsh as Raphael was could also create such beautiful music. It was a reminder that under that gruff exterior lied a gentle, creative soul.
He had adjusted surprisingly well to playing with only three fingers, I guess that simply spoke to how talented he was. I knew that I should be angry he wasn't practicing with his sai like I had instructed him to, but I didn't have the heart to interrupt his attempts to relax himself, as I had an idea of what it was he currently wished to calm himself from. I had no doubts he shared Leonardo's desire to see the outside.
These were the moments were I really began to second guess myself, was I really doing the right thing? Or had a simply traded them one prison for another? Was I simply too afraid to lose another family to see I was only hurting them more? I couldn't say for certain…
However my thoughts were suddenly shoved aside by a strange sound, my acute hearing had allowed me to make out a strange mechanical whirring sound over the sounds of Raphael's guitar. The whirring was drawing closer, it resembled a noise similar to a remote controlled toy, I turned my head in the sound's direction, trying to see if I could find the source. It was coming from one of the train tunnels, cautiously I inched towards it, my instincts telling me that this sound came from something dangerous.
However, the second I entered the tunnel I felt something sharp stab into my right leg, I yelped as I staggered back into the light, looking down to see the thing that had latched onto my leg was some kind of metallic robot, it's "mouth" wrapped around my now slightly bleeding leg. I began to thrash my leg in an attempt to get it off, however by doing so I had failed to see the other robots lunging at me, they swarmed me like a pack of wolves, biting various parts of my body, I couldn't stop myself from screaming in pain as I fell to the ground.
The second I did I felt them begin to drag me, I tried to thrash my limbs but all I managed to accomplish was tossing maybe one or two of the robots off, only to have more latch themselves onto me. What were these things?! Where did they come from?! And where were they trying to take me. I looked over the robots for any clues and in doing so got my answer.
On it's pill shaped body, I found an all too familiar logo, StockGen. My blood ran cold, they had found us! Worse… the turtles weren't ready to face them yet! My only hope would be that Stockman would settle for just me and not pursue the turtles…
But that hope died when I heard a familiar howl of anger, "SENSEI!" screamed Raphael, he must have heard me cry out earlier! I turned my head to see Raphael running down the tunnel, his sai drawn, no doubt intending to rescue me. "Let him go you overgrown tin cans!" he snarled before he lunged right at us!
"Raphael! NO!" I yelled, but it was far too late, a cluster of the robots quickly swarmed Raphael, he tried to fight them off, but they overwhelmed him, all I could do was watch helplessly as the robots began to tear into him, I began to thrash wildly, trying in vain to get free so I could save Raphael, but the robot's strength of numbers rendered such efforts meaningless.
The robots continued to drag me down the tunnels, the others keeping Raphael from intervening, but they thankfully weren't trying to drag him away like me. "NO!" SPLINTER!" Raphael cried as he slowly vanished from my sight, "GODDAMMIT! NO! LET ME GO! RAAAGH!" he continued to scream before even his voice faded away.
Soon the robots dragged me to a central hub of some sort… where a platoon of all too familiar looking mercenaries awaited me. "Well well… I guess Stockman's robots are worth somethin' after all," said one of the mercenaries before he knelt down, the pungent smell of his lit cigarette assaulting my nostrils. "You down here alone fuzzball? Or are your little turtles down here too?" he asked me before pressing a combat knife against my throat, "And don't lie now, because I can be very nasty when I don't get my way," he added.
"It's just me down here," I lied, I was determined to at least spare the turtles if I could, I didn't care what happened to me, but I would sooner accept death than drag the turtles down with me. "The turtles and I went our separate ways after escaping, I have no idea where they are-" I continued to spin my web of deception before I was suddenly grabbed by the fur on top of my head by the head mercenary
He growled like the animal he was, a puff of smoke flying right into my face causing me to cough, "You really expect me to buy that?" he said, "You aren't dumb enough to split the party like that, give me their location or I'll cut those dumb rat ears right off your head," he threatened.
"Make all the threats you want," I snarled, "I will never betray the turtles," I added.
The mercenary chuckled, "Really?" he said before suddenly backhanding me, the blow was hard, causing my cheeks to sting. "Cause I'm gonna make you life a living hell until you cough up the turtles, Stockman said I couldn't kill you, but he said nothing about messing up that ugly mug of yours," he said.
I had worried this would happen, that our enemies would find us, but if I could help it, I would be the only one they ever captured… I was strong, I've endured so much pain in my life already, there was nothing this hired gun could do to me that Oroku Saki hadn't already, I wouldn't break… bend perhaps, but never break…
A/N: Well isn't that a kick in the teeth, can our heroes rescue Splinter? Or will Baxter finally bag our heroes?
As an aside, I recently got a bit of criticism for my use of profanity in this story, so I've made an effort to tone it down a little but I'd rather not completely omit it, if anything to keep the tone consistent. After all, while I do like to make my stories a bit more "mature", I also don't want to overdo it to the point where it reads like it was written by a fourteen year old edgelord who just discovered what 4Chan is. Trust me… nobody wants that… not even 4Chan.
