Chapter 12
DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything.
Project Renaissance. That would explain the names of the four baby turtles. And they were absolutely adorable!
Taylor sat cross-legged on the floor, tapes scattered around her like dominos, her hands tightly clutching April's tiny recorder.
I'm guessing the rat was the test case; that's probably why they didn't give him a Renaissance name. Anything goes wrong with him, they won't proceed to the baby turtles or they'll know what not to do with them. They're what's really important in this.
April clearly hadn't known that. She was too busy feeding pizza to the test subjects, which they ate eagerly. Even though they were tiny, they were very strong: one of them headbutted the case it was kept in and cracked the glass.
Taylor really didn't like it when things being tested on animals. But against her will, she was fascinated.
Wait. That was Eric Sacks from Sacks Industries. April hadn't told Taylor that she knew Eric Sacks.
She wanted to keep watching the videos, but she really should call Leo.
"What's up, April's friend?"
Taylor was taken aback by the playful and energetic voice that answered. This one sounded young, younger than the others. "I'm fine, how are you? Can I talk to Leo, please? Or Don, or Ralph, I don't think it really matters."
"His name's Raph and you have the honour of speaking to the one and only..."
"MIKEY! Gimme the damn phone!"
There was a brief commotion on the other end of the line, closely followed by a yelp of pain and Raph's voice. Taylor was glad he hadn't answered the phone; she hated getting people's names wrong.
"Taylor?"
"Yeah, hi. I've been back to the apartment and she's still not there. I don't know what else we can do, other than get someone else involved."
"We can't."
"Why not? April might be in really big trouble!"
"She is in really big trouble! Why do ya think we wanted to meet her in the first place?"
Taylor wasn't listening. Her gaze had fallen on the recorder and she couldn't look away from the picture. She had rewound the tape and paused it on one of the baby turtles, the one who had cracked the glass. Hand trembling, she picked up the recorder.
Leonardo. Raphael. Donatello. Michelangelo.
Leo. Raph. Don. Mikey.
"You know, um..." Taylor fought to keep her voice casual even as her blood began to grow cold, "you didn't tell me what your last name was. Are you guys all related?"
"Does it matter?"
"No, just curious. I mean, you sounded like you were from the way you were fighting with Mikey, that's the way me and my sister get sometimes."
"We're brothers."
"Just how many of you are there?"
"Uh..four. Well, technically there are five of us, but..."
Taylor couldn't move. She tried telling herself it wasn't possible, but one thought kept forcing its way into her head. They were real. April was right; they were real.
She heard glass shatter.
To be continued…