And of course, we have another chapter! This is certainly going much further than I thought it would when I first started to type this up…I can send my thanks out to everyone who has faved, followed and reviewed this story. I really appreciate it! This chapters a little late, sorry about that…I was caught up with some other distractions. ^_^

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

The Fifth Turtle

Chapter 14: Trapped…

He barely heard Mikey laughing in his ear, barely felt Leo's hand on his shoulder, barely noticed Don's smile or Raph's sullen expression…and definitely didn't notice the smile hidden just under that grumpy exterior. When he had seen the turtles that night months ago, he had never in his wildest dreams thought they may actually be family…but…as his mind processed the information and recalled what he had already noted for himself about the turtle brothers…he realised that there was something else about this 'family' he was been brought into that was going to push him away…

His outward expression brought up a happy smile while inside he slowly wilted; he was not a part of this family even if they had been mutated by the same ooze. His amber and blue gaze rose slightly, swiftly taking in the four turtles around…taking in their different shaded skin, the different colours of their eyes and the slight differences in their bodies…

…After all, they were family because of their upbringing, not by their genes.

Lucian didn't say anything, only showing a happiness he certainly didn't feel. His own upbringing deemed that Saki was his father, Karai his sister and the Foot Ninja like hundreds of cousins. That had been his family and…even if he tried to leave…it still was in an odd twisted way. He felt an arm been thrown around his shoulders and turned his head to look at Mikey before he froze when he found himself caught in the sea green turtles eyes. He had on that giant goofy smile still but it, like Lucian's did not go deeper than the surface and, as he stared into the blue depths before him, he had a feeling Mikey could see right through him. Quickly bringing up the wall even his Master hadn't been able to break through, Lucian pushed Mikey off, playfully saying

"Dude, you're heavy!" Mikey just grinned and laughed lightly, Lucian joining in prior to clearing his throat,

"Guys, come on, don't be rude." They looked at him, Lucian gaining their attention only to quickly divert it away from him. He smiled, motioning his head pointedly in the patiently waiting robots direction.

"You haven't introduced your new friend yet." That got them off him, quickly introducing the robot as Professor Honeycut, a great scientist in his dimension and once a man. Soon enough, the boys were kneeling behind their Master as the Professor re-told their journey into Space. Lucian remained silent through the whole thing, listening but letting his mind drift at the same time.

He had almost got caught up in things again, believing what he wanted to hear not what he was seeing or what he knew. It was something his Master has repeatedly told him not to do and, even though that very guidance had shown Lucian the evil his Master housed, he had learned to not trust in words alone. His eyes glanced at the turtles again, watching as they added some comments to the Professors story, laughing over things they had done. Now he was ignoring the sweet words and temptation of family, the facts were jumping out at him, forcefully reminding him he would never be a part of what they had…no matter how much he wished for it.

Shaking his head, Lucian forced a small smile to stick on his features, tuning back into the Professors story and ignoring his own mind as it shouted at him…

Across the City…

Saki grinned, pulling the helmet down over his head. He cast his dark eyes at the readings on his desk and his grin grew. Those blasted turtles were luring in his pet, the word family causing Lucian's heart rate to pick up and blood pressure to rise before it suddenly plummeted, heart returning to a resting rate and Saki could almost hear the turtles mind whirling as it automatically analysed facts over words…something Saki had made the turtle learn.

Lucian would not be giving in to temptation but he would be in turmoil for a fair while as he sorted himself out. But, he wouldn't get to do that…not if everything went as planned. If all went well, Saki would find himself rid of the Utroms, freed from the Turtles and their Rat Master and be home free by the end of the night.

Turning on his heel, Saki left his room, his malicious smile firmly in place and his victorious laughter already trying to break free at the thought of crushing his enemies beneath his feet once and for all. And it was thanks to Lucian and his wonderful infiltration abilities. What was even better and made Saki just want to laugh…

…was that Lucian had no idea of what was going on or of how much information was been fed to the Foot through his ears…

…and it was something that, when he found out, would eat him from the inside out.

Back at TCRI

"…and that's how I came to be here."

Splinter smiled and turned to face his sons sitting around him saying

"I see my sons have gotten into their usual amount of trouble in the eight hours they've been gone." Surprise registered on their faces immediately as Leo asked

"Eight hours?!" Raph looked at each of his brothers saying

"We were gone three weeks!" Eyes turned toward Mortu as the Utrom spoke up for the first time since Professor Honeycut started his tale.

"Perhaps I can explain. The exigencies of inter-dimensional travel after not only the basic laws of three dimensional space but the fluidity of temporal mechanics as well." The room lapsed into silence until Don broke it with a large smile.

"That is so cool!" His brothers sis not share his excitement, all three looking lost as Mikey put forth

"Yeah….if it made any sense at all!" Raph's confusion was showing as he asked

"What's going on here?" Lucian chuckled and said simply

"He's saying that the time flow is different between dimensions." They almost looked like they understood, Leo nodding slowly while Mikey just rubbed his head, understanding and yet…not. The mint green turtle just waved a hand, sharing a look with Don as both smiled before turning their gaze to Mortu once more as the man spoke.

"My friends, let their be no more secrets between us." With that he flicked his tie over his shoulder and proceeded to pull his shirt, or outer skin, apart revealing the Utrom within. As expected, the four turtle brothers let out a cry of surprise, Master Splinter and Lucian's expression's unchanged as Mortu sad

"Follow me. We will begin, at the beginning."

With that he turned, heading out and toward the chamber where they housed the Oracle Pods and Lucian knew what Mortu was going to do. He was going to share with the turtles the memories of the Utrom's Lucian himself had seen only a few hours before. He smiled; good thing too since there was only five pods and he had no doubt that Splinter would be joining his sons'. As they walked across the platform toward the pods, Mikey glanced down at his stomach asking cautiously,

"I've seen this movie…we're not going to have something pop out of our chests are we?" No one answered, but Lucian wasn't the only one hiding a smile. After Mortu explained where they were and what was going to happen, Mikey leaned back and said in a quiet voice to Lucian,

"I can't think of a single movie where a 'pod' has been a good thing." Lucian chuckled and elbowed the turtle in the sie, urging him forward saying

"Don't worry bout it Mikey. I've done this and I'm fine." Mikey glanced at the black banded turtle who just smiled, walking over to join Mortu at the console.

"All will be explained. Please, enter the pods." Lucian tapped a button and the pods opened, the four turtles looked hesitant exactly how he'd been earlier. After a little bit, they all entered a separate pod, expressions varying from Don's fascination to Mikey's light hearted humour of been at the hair dresser. Tapping a few more buttons, Mortu said as he slide the final switch across,

"Prepare yourselves to become one with the sacred memories of the Utrom's." The lights atop the pods turned on, Lucian quickly going around and checking the vital signs of each of his friends, happy to see they were all regular.

With that done, he stepped back to simply wait for them to finish their journey through the Utrom's memories. He glanced at Mortu and then across at the Professor, unsure what to say so he simply remained lapsed in silence, a hand subconsciously rising to rub the back of his neck as small sparks of pain flitted along his spine. He really needed someone to look into it and figure out what was causing the pain...it was becoming annoying.

Outside the building…

Stockman smiled as he clambered up the side of the building and quickly located and entered one of the exhaust vents, listening to sounds going on around Lucian. This was all too perfect! Chuckling as he scrambled his way inside he murmured delightfully

"Initiating Phase One."

Making his way further into the building and following the signal emitting from the transmitter in Lucian's neck, Stockman quickly entered the Oracle Chamber, quickly and quietly making his way over to a panel. Flipping back the facial shield, he pried it open and grinned, pulling two sets of wires apart and then reconnecting them on the opposite wire, his grin large as he said

"Sweet dreams you cursed freaks!" Reaching in further he quickly disabled another cord and added laughing

"Or should I say. Very unpleasant nightmares!" Heading back out of the chamber, Stockman imitated contact saying

"This is Stockman. All finished here. I am proceeding to phase two."

Lucian's eyes flew wide as Mikey's vital suddenly sky rocketed, the light overheard flashing to signal something was going terribly wrong. He looked over at Mortu tapping away at the console saying

"I don't understand!" The Professor looked over at Michelangelo's vital signs, his concern growing as Lucian yelled

"Mortu! What's going on?"

Well, what'd you think? Come on, leave a comment for me! I'd love to hear what's going on inside those heads of yours

For plot sake and so you know where we're up to, this is the end of Season 2 Episode 6. Onwards we go!

-Lucian