Chapter 14- I hope this works
Jade POV
The ginger haired girl and I crept around the edge of the building, our backs scrapping against stone. We were no ninjas but at least we could try. Kirby had dug out an old lab coat of his for me to borrow. Then with a quick detour back to Gingers apartment for her to grab her own lab coat, we made our way to the church where the mutants were being kept.
I peered around the corner and saw no one out on the street, random citizen or scientist. Strange for New York but gladly accepted. Acting like normal human beings, my new friend and I walked up to the grand front doors. Ginger put her hand on my shoulder and I gratefully let her take the lead. After all she has been inside before. Casually we snuck inside.
Thanks to the setting sun, several of the workers had already left for the day which left only a few innocent people between us and the mutants. None of the workers gave any suspicion towards us as we made our way to the labs. Sitting at one of the desks was a man with dark red hair, not like April's or Ginger's. I guessed that this was the Chaplin guy Ginger described to me.
"So how are we going to steal his card?" I whispered to the other woman.
"No idea, he's normally gone home by now. He might have decided to stay because Dr Stockman put him in charge but that was yesterday surly he is back by now. Stockman would have wanted to watch phase 2..." Ginger mumbled.
"What about a distraction? Do you think that would work? One of us could distract him while the other swipes the master card." It was a long shot, but I had a small plan that could work if I get it just right.
Ginger closed her eyes in thought before she replied, "That could work."
"I'll distract him while you grab the card." I explained, "I just hope this works." I crouched down to the ground and prepared to dash forward.
"Here's a tip," Ginger cheerfully whispered, "Imagine that Chaplin is an evil fire breathing dragon that's chasing you. It will make you run faster. I guarantee it!"
"Thanks." I sarcastically replied while rolling my eyes, but I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face. It felt good to smile in such a tense situation, "I'll keep that in mind."
I turned my gaze back to Chaplin who seemed to be enjoying his steaming tea.
3
I mentally started counting down.
2
Ginger prepared herself.
1
I leapt out of my crouched position and tore through the lab door.
Leo POV
"Me?" I asked the Baxter Stockman, "W-why me?"
Stockman sat on one of the office chairs that rested around the edge of the room, "I saw how much you tried to protect those other turtles when we first captured you. You would comfort them, care for them and reassure them that everything would be fine and that you would all be free soon." The sideways smile Baxter sent towards me, made me take a teeny step back, away from the glass, "Whenever my fellow scientists or I would take you away, you would never stop trying to break free, just like T212. Except your attempts were much more organized. That is why I deliberately left the straps loose and sent my pathetic colleagues away."
That makes sense, "You k-knew d-dat I would be a-a-able to e-escape f-f-" I had to stop talking due to my lips going numb from the freezing water pooling around my feet, "e-escape from t-t-those n-ninjas." I managed to quietly say.
"Yes, and it worked perfectly. Master Shredder was so busy trying to track you down that he played no attention to what was going on right under his very nose." Stockman took a slip from the plain white mug that I hadn't noticed was the desk he sat next to. He took several small sips before he put it back down and strode over to where my baby brother lay, "Your mutations are unique and extraordinary, unquestionably powerful. I can already tell that by the fact that T312 is still alive even after having so much electricity sent through his body."
"Donnie?" Mikey piped up from the examination table while twisting to get a glimpse of our brother. I looked the same way and Donnie really did not look comfortable, his entire body would not stop twitching and his eyes were scrunched up tightly.
No!
I remember that father told me and my brothers that we had to be careful with the wires that run into the TV or any other of those plastic cased wires because the electricity that runs through them is bad for us. Now that electricity is going through Donnie.
"P-p-p-please d-d-don't h-hurt h-h-him, p-p-please s-s-s-s-s-s-stop!" I stuttered, the slowly rising water was now up to my waist and I could no longer feel my lower half at all. I was surprised that my legs were keeping me standing, "p-p-p-p-please!" I had to try to get him to stop.
"Don't hurt Donnie!" Mikey loudly demanded from his position, "Donnie's a good brother!"
The scientist completely ignored our pleases, not even giving us a glance as we tried to save our brother. His stark white lab coat flapped around as he took it off and attentively draped it over the back of his wheelie chair. Due to the gust created by the movement of the lab coat, a black marker rolled across the desk. Baxter snatched it out of thin air the second it fell off the edge.
"I created phase 2 as a simple way of disposing of you freaks. For my plan to work, none of you- including that rat man- can survive." Stockman explained as he wondered over to the table Mikey was strapped to.
"Why?" I was glad Mikey asked that because now I cannot speak at all with all this shivering.
"I want to build my own mutants. Stronger and ten times more sophisticated then you simple turtles. My mutants will be able to stand large amounts of electricity, be able to have their limbs stretched and not feel a thing," Baxter Stockman motioned towards Raphael who was trying his best not to cry out in the pain that was evident on his face, "they will not be affected by extreme weather conditions or temperature. They will be invincible. Now I just need to discover how to build one."
I silently watched as Baxter added more black markings to my brothers already covered plastron. Mikey looked like he was terrified of what the man was doing to him. I spotted a tremble travel through Mikey as Stockman scribbled something on his lower reigns.
My body wouldn't stop shivering and the chilly water kept rising, just reaching the bottom of my chest. I wanted father more than ever. If he was here, he could free us and we could all go home as a family. But master Splinters not here. I'm the only one who can save my brothers. At least they can survive this, even if I don't.
Jade POV
Right now, I'm being chased through corridors, labs and offices by a mad scientist called Chaplin. Out the corner of my eye, I had spotted Ginger race over to Chaplin's desk and grabbed the master card. She should be down in the basement freeing Splinter before we both met up again to rescue the turtles.
Skidding around a corner, I spotted a small closet just a few meters from where I was. Taking rather large steps, I hid inside, pulling the door to so that no one could see me, but I could still see them. I took small, silent breaths even though my tired lungs wished for more oxygen.
I watched from my hiding place as Chaplin appeared at the end of the corridor. He looked in my direction but thankfully he didn't spot me, so he continued in the opposite direction.
Once I was certain that Chaplin had left, I tiptoed out of the closet and down the corridor. I looked left and right to see if there was anyone around. Not a soul in sight. While keeping an eye out for Chaplin, I casually strolled to the meeting point Ginger had chosen.
I found the meeting point surprisingly fast. It was a cramped, barely used lab that was near where Ginger believed phase 2 was happening. I softly closed the door behind me after I had snuck into the lab, making sure that it didn't make too much noise. When I spun round I found Ginger talking to a large brown and white rat. The two of them were kneeling on the white lino floor, leaning over a rather large floor plan that I guessed is of this place.
"Have you figured out exactly where the turtles are being kept?" I asked while I squatted on the other side of the map.
It surprised me when the rat, Splinter, answered instead of Verity, "My sons are in this lab." Splinter pointed to one of the larger squares on the piece of paper, "From here, we need to go down this corridor which happens to go straight past the entrance to the Shredders throne room, so it will be heavily guarded."
I glanced over at the ginger haired girl who agreed with everything Splinter said, "I put the master card back on Chaplin's desk, in the same position it was before I borrowed it. That should stop Dr Chaplin from getting suspicious."
"Doesn't Chaplin have to check on the prisoners?"
"Yes, but he won't do that for another few hours, so we should be out of here before he even realises that Splinter is free." Ginger answered, quickly glancing at me.
"At least that is one less thing we have to worry about."
"You got that right!" Ginger exclaimed, "I don't want two mad scientists after us."
Ginger took a pen from her lab coat pocket and marked on the map the best hiding spots. There were a few down the corridor but a majority were in other areas of the building. They could be used if we had to retreat. The lack of hiding spots in probably because of how close it is to the shredders throne room.
The three of us look at each other after we finished discussing the plan. Our eyes were hard, and our eyebrows knitted together. The scientist folded up the map and stuffed it into her pocket so that no one caught onto what was about to go down. Silently, we followed Splinter down the corridor who took out any ninjas we encounter.
It didn't take long for us to reach the lab. We could hear the turtles agonising screams filtering through the gaps around the door. I risked taking a peak through the small window that was on the door only to gasp at what I saw.
Leo POV
The freezing water wouldn't stop rising. It reached passed my chin, making it difficult to keep the liquid out of my mouth. My numb legs were automatically kicking to try and keep me afloat. However, the muscles were too fatigued to have proper dexterity. I could see that my figures had a bluish tint and I couldn't imagine what colour my toes had become.
The edges of my vision got freighting darker as I tried to keep control of my weak body. Bracing my numb arms against either side of the misty tube, I willed my legs to push against the glass. Unfortunately, my unresponsive legs barely twitched.
A heart-breaking scream from the other side of the tube caused my brotherly instincts to kick in. I forced my round feet to inch their way up the glass until they were in line with the top of my chest. Taking a deep breath, I used my need to save my little brothers to give me the strength I needed to push against the prison. Sadly, it was not enough.
With my head just inches away from the top of the tube, I tipped my head back and took a gulp of air seconds before the tube finished filling. Holding my breath, I tried again. Still nothing. I couldn't give up; my brothers are counting on me. I've already failed by not freeing my family when I escaped, even if my escape was planned I should have tried harder and got them out. Even before we got captured, I still failed them and that ended up with us becoming prisoners and now there is a possibility that we could die. It would be all my fault.
"Where's papa Leo?" Mikey asked me, his eyes big and round.
"Scavenging in the sewers." I simply answered. Father had left a few hours ago to see if he can find anything useful that fell through the storm drains in last night's storm. It had been a really bad thunder storm that had kept us all awake most of the night until Master Splinter took us into his room and let us snuggle together.
"But shouldn't he be back now?"
"It's be back by now Mikey, not be back now." Donnie corrected Mikey as he exited our shared bedroom with a grouchy Raph just behind him.
I checked the time that it had on the TV, it read 9.17am. That meant father has been gone for over 3 hours, "It's only been dree hours." I stated mispronouncing the 'th' in three.
"Three." Donnie corrected me, so I sent an annoyed look in his direction.
"I want papa!" Mikey shouted with tears forming in his large baby blue eyes.
I tried to comfort my baby brother by putting my arm around his shaking shoulders. "Masder Splinter has been late before."
"Want papa!" Mikey repeated.
Raph trudged over to the upset mutant and sat on the other side of Mikey. I freed Mikey from my hug as Raph pulled Mikey into his plastron and patted his shell. Mumbling "He's fine" into Mikey's ear slit before looking over Mikey's head at me, "Let's go look for him."
"Why?"
"Yeah, why Raph?" Donnie also asked, "Leo is correct when he says Master Splinter is sometimes late."
"Bad feeling..." Raph muttered. I was going to ask him what his bad feeling was, but I had to admit that I had my own bad feeling. It wouldn't surprise me that Mikey has the exact same feeling which would explain why he is so scared.
"But fader told us never to leave widout him!" I protested when I spotted Donnie heading towards the turnstiles.
"Find papa?" Mikey turned from Raph's chest to give me his best puppy dog eyes.
"…Only if Masder Splinter does not come back within the next hour. Okay?" I compromised with my distressed brothers.
"Ok." All three agreed at the same time. Smiling, I turned back to the cartoon I had originally been watching to try and ignore the growing feeling in my gut.
I had known it was a bad idea to disobey father, but we did it anyway when he still hadn't turned up after the hour had passed. We had found Master Splinter in the sewers and he looked almost dead, but Donnie checked and assured us that he was fine. That's how we ended up in this situation. It had been a trap set up by someone who had spotted us exploring on one of the few cameras in the sewers.
Black spots started dancing in my vision as the cold seeped through my skin. I wasn't too fussed about having to hold my breath because I remember Donnie telling me about how turtles can hold their breath for quite a while. I relaxed my arms and legs and chose to just float in the ice-cold water. My body had stopped shivering which I guessed was a bad thing.
I was starting to accept that there was no way out and that once more I had failed my family, now I was paying for it with my life. That was when I heard it. A quiet cracking sound that gradually increased in volume until I heard something shatter. I could feel the water around me rushing in one direction and I got caught in the current.