Ch.21: Pawns In A Bishop's Game

Dr. Chaplin sighed as he poured over his notes again, frustration playing in his eyes. The calculations for his cure still didn't seem to make any sense!

Identifying the compounds inside the mind control serum had been simple, but mixing together the right agents to reverse the effects was a challenging task. Those poor souls he had tested his previous formulas on, may they forever rest in peace.

Dr. Chaplin prayed that he would have better luck with the young girl he was expected to treat right now. She was tall and slim with bright red hair, and seemed to be sixteen years old given her current growth stage. A quick search on her cellphone clarified her name as April, just starting to bloom in the prime of her life.

Now, it would probably end with just a simple injection of Chaplin's cure.

Picking up another needle, Dr. Chaplin filled it up with his cure serum, and poised the tip over April's right arm. Bit by bit, the needle slowly lowered to her skin, but, right before it could pierce the flesh, a miracle came stopping Chaplin before he could use the cure, and it came in with blazing fury.

Before the doctor even realized what happened, he was tackled hard against the wall by an angry, purple-masked turtle, pressing his bo staff hard against his own neck. Darkness came to the doctor's eyes immediately, and Chaplin felt himself feel woozy when he was allowed to collapse on the floor.

Through pained eyes, Chaplin saw three inhuman figures standing around the table where the girl laid, talking in worried tones about her state.

From the way that his brain was throbbing from the wall hit, not a word could be understood, but gradually his eyes seemed to discern what his unnatural guests truly were.

"Turtles?" thought Chaplin in his mind, as he passed out into the dark.

Without a glance back at the unconscious scientist, the three turtles grabbed April and sprinted out of the lab, hoping to escape and find the rest of their friends in time.

Meanwhile, down where the prison cells were. Dr. Rockwell and Slash had almost finished curing and stashing the infected New Yorkers into a truck that Slash had managed to purloin from a lot outside.

"Got 'em all Doc?" asked Slash, as he came in from another run.

"Almost" said Rockwell, looking towards his friend " just a few more and we can…,"

Before the chimp could complete his sentence, Slash's T-Phone began to ring, and the large turtle picked it up to here Leonardo's voice on the other end of the line.

"Oh Slash" Leonardo sounded relieved " where are you guys? Is Raph with you?"

"No" Slash responded over the phone " Me and doc are in some kind of prison cell. We found the New Yorkers, and we're getting them out of here. You mean Raph is not with you?"

"No" said Leo, as he ran " we managed to save April but we can't find him, and we're running out of time to get out."

"He's right" said Rockwell to Slash " I can sense more troops incoming. They'll be on us in moments."

"Grr!" growled Slash in frustration.

Despite the fact he wanted to search for his former owner, the Mutanimal leader realized that if they didn't escape soon, the government was going to cage them faster than the Kraang had ever done.

"Slash?" said Rockwell to the turtle, looking at his leader's face with concern.

A huge, deep breath later, Slash spoke once again to Leonardo.

" Raph can find a way out on his own" said Slash " hurry up and meet us outside in ten minutes. We'll be waiting at the gate."

"Alright, see you there," said Leo, hanging up his end of the phone.

"We're really going to leave Raph here?" said Mikey unbelieving at his blue-masked brother.

"There's no choice," said Leo, hardly looking at Mikey's eyes.

But deep inside his heart, Leo knew both him and Slash were thinking the same thing. Would Raph really be okay.

Meanwhile, back in the secret lab, Raphael stood glaring hard at Agent Bishop, fingers tightening around his sais and ready to spring. The government agent just stood staring back at him coolly, evil smirk still on his face.

Frustrated by the tension, Raphael finally decided to break the silence.

"Nice place you got Bishop" said Raph, waving one sai at the lab " been taking some hints from the Kraang?"

"Oh, I assure you Raphael" Bishop responded, walking up to the turtle " the Kraang only hold a minor part in my research. However, I never expected to see another one my 'interests' enter my lab one day."

"What do you mean by 'interest'?" asked Raph " and how did you know my name?"

"I know everything about you Raphael" said Bishop, pausing beside a large tube " Your family and your Mutanimal friends are up above us aren't they? All as powerful as my informant said you were."

"Informant?!" thought Raphael shocked " Who's this guy's informant? What did he tell about us?"

"Ah, I see you are confused" said Bishop, stepping closer, admiring Raph's shock " It's quite an interesting story I can tell you, but unfortunately, you won't be leaving here alive."

With that said, Bishop quickly charged in to attack, and Raphael thrust out with his sais. The blades missed as Bishop jumped over Raphael, flipping in the air, and then landed behind the turtle's back, placing a hard kick to his shell.

Growling in anger, Raphael turned to throw a punch at Bishop, but the agent quickly dodged, weaving himself among the maze of alien machinery as Raph continued his assault. Suddenly, after dodging another thrust, Bishop seemed to have disappeared, leaving Raphael standing alone amongst a cage of tubes.

Inside of each tube, a watery liquid floated containing an alien creature inside. By the dark forms, it was hard to make some of these creatures out, but one almost seemed to be like…a dinosaur.

Truly this was a very creepy sight for any turtle to behold, but right now, Raphael's main concern was where Bishop had went. He didn't have to wait long to receive his answer.

Suddenly jumping out of the shadows, Bishop appeared with a Kraang tazer in his hands, and shocked Raph hard in the side, before he could even turn to slice with his blades.

Yelling out in pain, Raphael fell partway to the ground, struggling to stand and fight, before Bishop kicked him the rest of the way down, and then leaned his face close to Raph's ear.

"Not bad Raphael" whispered Bishop, impressed " Perhaps there is a reason I should keep you alive. Your DNA should prove most useful for my experiments."

"Bishop" suddenly interrupted a loud voice from behind the agent " what are you doing?"

Getting up, and turning around with a grumble, Bishop sighed, looking at the last person he wanted to see.

"Kurtzman" Bishop greeted in his business tone "always dropping in at the wrong time."

"Is that Raphael?" asked the reporter, pointing towards the turtle on the ground " Bishop, what have you done?"

"Don't worry" said Bishop " he's just passed out, nothing time won't cure."

"Fine" said Kurtzman, walking up to take Raphael onto his shoulders " then I'll just take him back to his brothers. The turtles and their friends have already ruined what I came all the way here to stop. Don't forget that we're supposed to be the good guys here Bishop."

"Oh I am my friend," said Bishop, as Kurtzman walked away, carrying Raph on his shoulder. Agent Bishop's eyes locked onto the turtle's form as he vanished away from sight.

"Another time Raphael,"

Then he went back to his work.