14.

Haruka worked long into the night. She carefully dropped the specialised alien DNA cells into the rows of petri dishes under the UV lights. Her hand shook as she squeezed the cells out onto their jellied beds. Across the room in the large incubator a huge expanse of alien tissue was already growing. Chett seemed to have taken control of it, and was beginning to shape it into what must have been different components of its bioship. The lab was dark apart from the strips of emergency lighting along the walkways. Haruka set down the pipette and leaned heavily on the workbench. The metal was warm under the light.

It would never stop. She could constantly feel and hear humming travelling from her head down through her whole body, almost as if her whole body was vibrating along with Chett's tissues. The symbiont inside her seemed to be growing, and it positively bulged out from her abdomen. And the voice, the voice was always there. Chett never left her alone.

"And why would I, Haruka-dear? You're such a good little worker. Maybe I'll take you with me when I finally go – or at least that clever little brain of yours."

"Leave me in peace!" Haruka said. "I've perfected the growth process. I'm making your tissues. Soon you'll have enough and you can go back to where you came from and leave me be!"

"Oh, dear, dear Haruka," Chett's voice echoed. "And you will never be free of me." The voice dropped to a whisper. "Never."

Donatello knocked gently on Leo's bedroom door and waited for a response. It wasn't long before he was beckoned in. Leo was sitting in the lotus position, his fingers curled together loosely and a few stubby candles casting a buttery glow over his face.

"Hey, Don," he said, opening his eyes.

"Hi, Leo," Don said.

He sat down on his brother's bed and placed his hands on his lap. Leonardo turned around, now haloed by the candlelight.

"What's up, Don? You look troubled."

"Nothing, Leo," Don said with a sigh. At Leo's stern look, he relented. "Well, everything's wrong, really. I just want to get out of here."

"Me too."

Leo rose and sat down beside Don, leaning forward with his hands clasped and dangling between his thighs.

"It's killing me being away from home," Leo said. "All I think of is Mei alone and worrying about whether we'll ever get back, how she'll cope with raising the kids alone. The kids…" Leo shook his head. "I'm going to be a father, Donnie, a father. I can't believe it, and I also can't believe the rotten luck we've had. If it was any other time, it wouldn't be so bad. But right now all I want to do is be home. I'm mostly angry because I'm missing out on preparing for them hatching, the excitement of waiting and getting their rooms ready." He sighed. "It's not fair."

"No, it's not," Don said. "But hopefully we'll be home soon. Did you find anything when you were out earlier today?"

"I had a good look at the MedTechCorp buildings," Leo said. "They're set in a compound with some tight security. We won't have a problem getting in, but I'm worried about the others. We'll have to get some grappling equipment and haul them over the wall. It's about three meters high, so we should be able to do it. We'll need to disable the guards that are patrolling or try and sneak in when they're on the furthest point of their route."

"Have you timed them?" Don asked.

"I've got Nym working on that." Leo chuckled. "At least in a world where mutants are despised, a dog still looks like a dog, no matter whether it can talk or not."

Don chuckled too.

"I guess you're right. That's a strange one."

"Yeah." Leo stood up and paced. "If we can get past the security the next step is to get into the building. Desdemona's mole on the inside has identified a disused air conditioning vent that leads into the access tunnels running through the building. We know where the lab is so it shouldn't be too difficult to find. The next problem is the door. We're close to getting the blueprints; once we do you can figure out what you need to bring to disarm it."

Don nodded and twisted his lips thoughtfully.

"That's fine, Leo, but the main problem will be actually getting the transporter to work. If it's alien technology there's no guarantee I'll be able to figure out how to use the thing."

"I have faith in you, Donnie. You've never let us down before."

Don didn't know whether to feel thankful or resentful. The words were laid on his shoulders with the warmth of a compliment and the weight of a terrible burden.

"I hope I don't this time," he said. "My other worry is, how are Des, Othello and Cassio going to get back out of the building again. If they're caught they'll be killed."

"I know," Leo said, waving one hand over the candles. The flames followed his skin. "It's been on my mind, too. It doesn't feel right. They help us to get home and we leave them to die. Ultimately though, there's nothing we can do. The bargain ends once we hit the transporter. They're in and they can do what they need to do; we go home."

Don stood up abruptly and shook his head.

"It's not right," he said. "We can't leave them to die."

"But what can we do, Don?" Leo asked. "I wish there was something we could do to help them; it doesn't seem very honourable to repay them for their kindness by abandoning them when they're in the most danger, but we need to get home."

Don crossed his arms and dropped his chin. The light cast heavy shadows over his brow.

"Maybe they could come with us."

"Huh?" Leo asked.

"Maybe they could come back to our New York," Don said. "You've seen it here; it's a nightmare. And none of them are happy."

"That's not our responsibility," Leo said. "I know it's harsh, but it's not. Our goal is to get home, and only to get home."

Don shook his head and placed his hands on his hips.

"That's not like you, Leo," he said. "I thought you would have agreed with me."

"Our responsibility is to our family, Donatello," Leo said. "Desdemona and the others have been good to us, but we're fulfilling our end of the bargain by getting them into MedTechCorp. After that, we don't owe them anything more. What if they did come back with us? Where would they stay? What would they do to live?"

Donatello didn't answer right away, and shook his head slowly.

"You've changed, Leonardo. The brother I used to know would have wanted to help, no matter what. He would have wanted to take them away from here, and worry about the details later."

Leo looked as though his next words would have cleaved Donatello in two. His face was lined with sudden fury. But it disappeared as soon as it had appeared, and Leo sat back down on the bed.

"You're right as always, Don," he said. "I know. I don't know what I'm saying. I don't think it would do any harm to ask them if they wanted to come with us. But what makes you think they'll want to come? This place isn't great, but at least they can exist in relative freedom."

"As long as they stay within the ghetto," Don added. "That's no life to live. I was talking to Othello earlier – he's not in great health, apparently. But he's just so…depressed, so unhappy with life. And he told me Desdemona is, too. Apparently she wasn't always so cold."

Leo looked carefully at his brother and nodded.

"You like her, don't you?"

Don took on a deer-in-headlamps look and froze. Leo laughed and patted the bed beside him.

"Come on; tell Big Brother all about it."

Don sat down slowly and folded his hands in his lap.

"I guess I do," he said. "But I don't think I should. I mean, she's a prostitute, Leo. God knows how many people, men and mutants, she's slept with. And she's so abrupt, so rude and just plain aggressive – she shouldn't be my type."

"But she is?" Leo asked.

"I – I think it's because there have been a few occasions where I think I've seen beneath that rough exterior. There's someone nice and kind and warm under all that aggression, I just know it. I mean, she offered to let us stay without hesitation."

"Only after she tried to choke you to death, remember?" Leo asked, though it was with a smile.

"I know," Don said, instinctively touching his throat. "But look at this place. She's created a mecca in this cesspool of despair, a place where people can come and be safe, away from the human threat. She lets people stay here for free."

"And she also encourages people to come and spend huge amounts of money on sex, drink, drugs and gambling."

"I know." Don sighed. "This is why I'm so confused. She treats us like dirt, and yet at the same time she's kept us safe here. She's so closed, and yet all I want to do is get to know the person underneath. And between us there's just a…connection, somehow. I can't explain it."

"I think I can," Leo said. "It's simple: chemical attraction. Like with Mei and I. When you get that feeling you just know that you want that person."

Don put his head in his hands.

"That's exactly what it feels like," he said. "And I hate it. I wish it would go away."

"The only way it will go away is if we leave this place behind," Leo said, "and yet you want to take her with us. So I don't think you really want it to go away."

Don shook his head and was silent for several minutes. Leo waited patiently, before throwing an arm around his brother's shoulders in a rough hug.

"Don, it's normal to want to be with someone else," he said. "I know with our lot in life the chance of a partner has been slim, but look at me and look at Raph: we never thought we'd find anyone and yet we have."

Don snorted but relaxed into the hug.

"At least neither of you has fallen for a 'woman of ill repute'," he said.

"You can't control your heart, Donnie," Leo said.

"I didn't know I had one," Don said.

Leo laughed and clapped Don on the shell.

"Of course you do. Well, if they want to come with us they can," he said. "We'll find somewhere for them. If they don't want to go, at least we know we did everything we could."

Don smiled.

"There's the brother I know," he said.

The two brothers shared in the warmth of each other's company before parting ways. Don disappeared into his own bedroom and retreated to bed, thoughts of blueprints and potential swirling around in his brain.