WARNING: extremely long chapter alert not for those with an attention span of less than two minutes
Okay, with that aside I guess I can safely say to enjoy the chapter, and I guess I should go ahead and say that I do not own any TMNT characters, though everything else is fully 100 percent mine.
Chapter Twenty-One
Don't Leave Friends
To chase and be chased at the same time is both weird and confusing, especially when the ones chasing you had guns with not only bullets but darts that could be filled with anything from tranquilizers to poison to some kind of mutating agent.
"Stand still, damn it!" one of the four muscle men behind Alex yelled as they ran down the hall.
Yeah like I'm going to do that, Alex thought as she willed her legs to go faster. The man in front of her was only so many feet ahead, just barely out of reach with Eli under his arm struggling and kicking but her small body couldn't do much damage, and it was only a hunch but Alex could guess that she wasn't made for the battle field. The smaller bodies were usually for undercover agents or scouts rather than soldiers on the front lines.
The chase would have been easier if Alex wasn't being chased and she could just sneak up on the guy, but no there just had to be four others guys behind her making a racket so now everyone was running down the metal hallway!
Eli was facing Alex as she was carried and reached a hand out. Alex reached forward; if she could grab Eli then maybe she could pull her out of the man's grasp and go from there. If only Eli's six-year-old arm was a few inches longer. If only Alex still had her wings she would have been able to close the gap easily. If only there weren't guys behind shooting at her this wouldn't be so hard. If only, if only, if only…
The hand was about to close around the small fingers but the owner stumbled after her foot got shot. It was only a dart that got stuck in the rubber of her shoe but the force of contact still made her stumble and almost fall. She fought to regain her balance while running and sped up. Eyes fixed in angry determination Alex got as close as she could and slapped both hands around Eli's and abruptly stopped. Inside her steel grip Eli's hand didn't move an inch while the man holding her kept going. Sure the sudden jerk almost pulled the girl's arm out of its socket, but it also caused that man holding her to lose his grip and Eli came free.
Having no where to go all Alex could do was put Eli up against a wall and stand in front of her. The four men that had been running behind caught up. The man that had been holding Eli stopped and turned around with fists, it looked like he didn't have a gun, how lucky for the lone fighter.
Alex looked at the ones she would have to take on knowing perfectly well she still couldn't fight by herself five-to-one especially since she didn't have any weapons except for her fists and feet. God I miss my tail, she thought.
Trying to think of a plan Alex looked down the hall where they would have headed if they kept running, maybe fifty feet up ahead she could see that the hall opened up into an intersection. Maybe she could lose the muscle men from there.
Turning back to the guys she would have to face she put her fists up eyes flickering left and right to keep track of the men closing in from both sides, Eli fearfully gripping the back of her shirt. Then without warning Alex took off to the right dragging Eli behind her by the arm.
Knowing Eli couldn't run as fast as Alex with the older body having longer legs. Alex quickly stopped while they were still ahead of the men and pulled Eli onto her back and took off at a run again.
With years of running under her belt Alex was able to get to the intersection quickly and looked around. There were three ways she could go inside the square room. Alex tried to choose which way.
Soon after the five muscle men entered the intersection and looked at the three halls to run down. Knowing they'd be in trouble if the scientists learned there were two experiments on the loose the five split up and took off.
With the men gone a ninja gave a breath of relief as she stayed stuck in the corner of the room by the ceiling hands and feet pressed against the two walls before they connected. Dropping down Alex smiled at the well executed hiding-in-plain-sight trick. She let Eli drop from her back and crouched down so they were eye level.
"You okay?" she asked.
Eli was biting her bottom lip but nodded.
Alex stayed crouched down looking around. She was trying to remember the layout of the labs. They couldn't go back to where they had come from because at the moment it might as well have been a dead end since they couldn't open the door. "Hmph," Alex huffed and straightened. "Come on," she said and walked into the hallway straight ahead, the one that only one muscle guy had gone down. Eli quickly followed, pushing her hand into Alex's as they went.
"Where are we going?" Eli asked.
"If I remember right I think there's some kind of weaponry down here somewhere," Alex said. "If I can get in there I could have lots of fun." A devilish smile pulled at her mouth at the thought of what she could accomplish getting her hands on the labs' weapons.
Eli inched closer to Alex as they went down the repetitive empty hallway. She leaned ever closer and rested her head on Alex's side. "I want Bomber," she whispered.
Alex put a comforting hand on Eli's far shoulder. "Hey," she said softly. "You'll see him again, and not only that but we're getting out of this place. I'll get you to the world outside the labs, to freedom, and this will never happen again."
"Really?" Eli asked with pure innocence.
"Yeah." Alex nodded. "I promise and I never break my promises."
They continued to walk, Alex wanting to make a run for it, her muscles ready to just sprint to wherever she could go but she knew that wasn't the way to do it. She needed to conserve energy until she heard buzzing or saw a red light start to flash. So far as far as she knew no one really knew she and Eli were out here. That was just the way she wanted things too. If this whole thing could go quietly then there was no real threat to the two, knowing that Bomber would kill her if she let something happen to Eli.
Finally after what felt like forever Eli suddenly stopped. Alex stumbled a moment since the girl had been leaning on her and almost made the older one trip. Alex turned to see what the matter was to find Eli staring at the wall.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Is this the door?" Eli asked putting a hand on the wall.
Alex looked carefully. There was a hairline crack running up the wall, few feet to the left was an identical crack running parallel to the first one. It was the doorway, so well blended in to the rest of the wall. "Eli," she finally said. "What were you created for?"
"Scout, information collection, forgery and a 'backup flashlight' as Dev sometimes puts it," Eli said business-like.
"Huh," Alex sounded with small interest. "You must have sharp eyes then, huh?"
"Yeah I guess," Eli said with a nonchalant shrug. "But the instructors don't like it when I sometimes just want to play games instead of focusing at the task at hand." The girl looked up and pointed high on the wall. "There's a centimeter indention here, it's probably a hand scanner to unlock the door."
Alex put her hand on the door trying to think of a way to open it without using the scanner. Balling up a fist she punched the door then quickly brought a foot up and kicked in the same spot. The only result was Alex hopping up and down holding a hurt foot and pulsing knuckles.
While the experiment ranted off a line of swears under her breath a muscle man rounded the corner of an intersection up ahead.
Eli saw the man and stepped behind Alex in fright.
Alex dropped her foot and clenched her fists. Every instinct inside her was telling her to turn and run, stick to the experiment motto, but she wanted to get into that weaponry. To do that she would need a handprint of one of the adults in the labs and here was one running towards her.
Taking a fighting stance Alex waited.
Seeing how this experiment wasn't going to make a run for it the muscle man stopped some feet away, taking the determination in the girl's eyes into account. He pulled a gun, cocked it and aimed.
"Eli," Alex said softly behind her so that the man couldn't hear. "Get close to the ground and stay down. I'll take care of this guy."
Eli gave a small whimper but slowly crouched down nonetheless.
Alex stood there trying to think of a way to get passed that gun. The moments ticked by and the determination started to soften and her fists loosened like someone figuring they were beat. When the look of a fighter vanished from the older girl's face she opened her hands and put them up.
"Che," the man said and walked forward. "Go easily and maybe I won't tell the scientists about this," he said.
Alex didn't say a word, concentrating on looking defeated. She calculated the distance between her and him while eyeing his body language for the moment where he let down most of his guard. Just a few more steps…
Suddenly Alex shot forward. The sudden movement caused the man to bring his gun back up but Alex was ready. In one movement she quickly pushed the gun hand to the side and swung a fist up connecting with the underside of the man's jaw. Before he could recover she took a small step back, twisted and hit him in the gut with a sidekick. He bent forward a little on impact and Alex swung a fist, metal knuckles hitting his temple with enough force it knocked him out easily.
Alex grabbed his arm and dragged the body to where they had been standing. With some difficulty she propped the limp body up as it hung heavily on her. "Okay… where's the… scanner?" she asked.
Eli got shakily back to her feet and pointed on the wall. "Here."
Working with the guy's arm, trying not to drop him, Alex pressed his hand to the scanner. A blue light went over the handprint and the section of wall turned green. The door slid open and Alex dragged the body into the room while telling Eli to stand inside the door and watch for anyone that might come by.
After dropping the body in a corner she searched through his pockets until she found a keycard. It would prove most useful to get inside most of the rooms in the labs without trouble. After stowing the card in her pocket she looked around.
In the room there were guns of numerous types hung up on the walls along with odd devices that could be used for many ways of portable punishments. There were pre-made bombs along with some packs of chemicals to create bombs on the go. The room was a house for offensive technology and ways to carry the weapons, along with some supplies such as rope, chains, knives, flashlights, and a few other things. In the corner some things stood out like if Razor was to enter the general public in nothing but shorts. It wasn't like they weren't weapons; it was just the fact that they were a little too familiar. There were a pair of swords, a set of sias, some nunchucks and a six foot staff.
Alex smiled and looked around again. She went to a box stuffed under a shelf holding a bazooka. Opening the box she found some small metal cubes. She picked one up. It was just barely smaller than her palm with a small button on the top. Pushing the button the top of the cube opened up to show a blue light glowing from within.
"Eli," she said over her shoulder. "Any sign of someone coming?"
There was a short pause before Eli said "I don't think so. I can't hear anything."
"Good, come here."
Eli walked across the room to where Alex crouched.
"Here take this and grab as many things as you can reach. I don't care what it is, just grab it, okay?" Alex asked handing Eli the cube. The younger of the two nodded. "Especially the bomb equipment," Alex added and Eli smiled.
Eli got to work grabbing the weapons her small body could reach and put them near the blue light, the mechanism inside the cube acting as a portal into another dimension so that the inside was a whole lot bigger than the outside along with the opening. With this little genius invention the entire room could be packed away into a half pound cube and fit into your pocket. It was great for soldiers on the field, especially the ones with little space, or couldn't afford to be carrying very much with them because of space and weight problems.
While the actual child got to work Alex went to the corner with her friends' weapons. She touched the staff, running her fingers over the purple wrap around the middle. The next thing she was going to do was find Donnie somewhere inside this scientific hellhole.
Remembering that they didn't have much time she found relief that the belts and elbow and knee pads were also in the corner including four colored masks, a bandana and a ribbon. She scooped them up to take to Eli to add to the cube, not bothering with the ribbon for the moment. Next she collected the sias, nunchucks and staff and added those to the cube. Going back for the katanas she chose these to wear, putting them crossing on her back like how Leo wore them, careful that they didn't move too roughly over her shoulder blades. She knew she was only going to fight with one sword if she had to, but she felt safer having both.
Smiling about having the weapons, she started to help collect the rest of the weapons not only to share with the rest of the experiments when she got back to the holding room but also so that the muscle men didn't have them at their disposal. In all logic the creators couldn't use them if the creations had them.
When the room was successfully empty of anything harmful Alex put the full cube in her pocket and led Eli cautiously out of the weaponry and started out the door. Alex looked at the unconscious muscle man. "Stay."
They walked quickly down the hall not sure where Donnie would be held. In truth he could be anywhere from an examination table, the mutation vats, or even the dissection jars.
Alex tightened her fists. If Ambrose had done anything to him she was going to tear that so-called-man to shreds. It didn't matter how but she was going to, and she knew Raph would be right there the whole time.
They reached the intersection and Alex looked around. This one had only two options to go; a hall on the left and one on the right. The decision depended on where they were going to look first.
Eli, who had wiggled her hand into Alex's again, pulled Alex to the right hall. "Let's try this way."
"Any specific reason?" Alex asked.
Eli shrugged. "Just a feeling."
Alex shrugged too. That was as good a reason as any.
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Bomber punched the wall for the hundredth time in the pass half hour.
Damn it, he thought angrily. I just had to fall asleep. I just had to tell her to go ask that damned Alex to teach her Morse code. Damn stupid Morse code. Now she's probably in some mutation thing and I'll never see her again. "Damn it," he said aloud and punched the wall again.
While Bomber damn-ed everything Dev sat in the same alcove in the corner above Psych's blankets, legs kicking lightly over the edge, his heels bouncing off the wall. Angry annoyance ebbed at his mind, tightening his muscles in the need to hit something. He sat there as the feelings bubbled inside him until he finally had to move. With a twitch of the wings he jumped down and easily landed on his feet.
With crossed arms he started to pace back and forth along the wall. How could he be so stupid? To think for a minute that he actually started to trust that she wouldn't just leave them behind against if she got the chance. For second he actually believed what that deserter said. In anger he turned and kicked the wall so hard he jumped back in pain. "Ow," he muttered standing on one foot.
Doc shook her head; if either him or Bomber break something she wasn't going to help them. Most of the time she didn't take pity on self inflicted injuries, especially when it came to punching and kicking walls out of anger.
In the corner Gorf was actually sitting on the floor resting his chin on his knees as the question shared by so many floated in his mind. Had Alex done it again, escaped just like last time? Was she gone for good now? The frog-boy looked over at Razor, then at the sleeping Psych. His eyes slid over the turtles and their supposed human brother. Would she leave them behind to save herself?
"Bomber knock it off," Razor said as the explosion specialist once again punched the wall.
"Oh I'll knock something off if I ever get my hands on that… that…" he looked down at his shaking fist going through his vocabulary, finally he gave up and punched the wall. "There I can't even think of a word."
"Abandoning deserter," Deb supplied with crossed arms.
Razor stood up with clenched fists. He had to stand there a moment to get his balance at a head rush before saying "Not true!"
"Oh yeah?" Dev challenged. "Look around you," he threw an arm out as if to show the room. "Do you see her?"
"No," Bomber answered for him.
In their own fits of anger the three boys walked up to each other, Bomber and Dev against Razor, the smell of a fight rising in the air around them.
"So what?" Razor challenged.
"She's not coming back," Dev said.
"It doesn't take a genius to figure that out," Bomber said. "She left once, she did it again. It took her ten years to come back and that was by force. Do you think she'll be come back on her own now?"
"Yes I do," Razor said.
"Get your head out of the river mud, fish breath," Dev spat. "She's just like a soldier; she saw an opportunity and took it."
"Alex is just like a soldier: never leaves a man behind," Razor defended.
"Well she did ten years ago," Bomber said. "And experiments never change." He stepped forward and jabbed Razor in the chest with a finger. "Face it fish boy, your girl is gone, and she took mine with her."
Razor brushed the hand away and parted his lips in a sharp toothed snarl.
"What's worse is I actually started to believe her," Dev said. "Like she was actually planning to come back, what a load of crap."
"Was- is not!" Razor all but yelled at them.
"Ah, are we intruding on your safety in lies?" Bomber mocked. "Open your eyes Razor, Alex is as gone as a used bomb, she's not coming back and there's nothing you can do about it. She's a deserter, always has been always will be."
"Shut up," Razor growled, his black eyes telling he was about to fall over the edge.
Then Bomber just had to say it.
"Make me."
No one had seen the three boys move so fast. One minutes they were standing there arguing over the loyalty of someone that wasn't even there, the next they're in a tangle of black, grey, and white limbs on the floor. Not only was the fight unfair with two-on-one, but it was six hands VS. Razor's two along with his teeth. It wasn't hard for Dev and Bomber to hold Razor down. To physically get their point across Dev held Razor's arms back and Bomber dug a knuckle in the aquatic technician's side, right into one of the gills. Razor gasped, it wasn't as painful as a blade would be but it still hurt. In retaliation he struggled to get Dev off him so he could bite Bomber, but before the fight could progress the three boys were ripped apart.
As they struggled to get at one another Mikey held Razor back, Leo held on to Dev, and it took both Raph and Gorf to hold down Bomber.
"There's no reason to be fighting," Leo said as he struggled to hold onto Dev from behind while the boy's wings pushed back against him.
"There's plenty reason," Razor argued. "Just let me take a small chunk outta 'em!"
"Guys, Al wouldn't just leave us here," Mikey said. "She'll be back."
"Idiotic fantasies," Bomber growled. "Believe what you like, it doesn't make anything true."
While insults started flying between the three, Bomber and Dev ganging up on Razor, Psych rolled over in his sleep. At some instances, when his sleep isn't deep enough, feelings and thoughts from those around him had tendencies to leak inside his mind playing with his own feelings and thoughts. At the moment anger, frustration, worry, despair, and a number other negative feelings were creating a hell of a current inside his sea of thoughts, which was starting to create one big headache and a person that uses their mind as much as he did did not cope well with headaches. Usually he would stand on the neutral ground and try to finish this argument without getting angry or taking sides, but no one would like to be woken up this way, and he had actually been having a dream for once too.
He tried to ignore it, he really did, but the throbbing pain was still there.
The boy's grey eyes snapped open and actually glared at the window in front of him. He shoved the blanket that he had at some time covered himself up with off and got to his feet to walk over to them. With his mess of hair hanging over his eyes no one noticed that the ancient five-year-old was just a little ticked off until they heard the first two words echo in their minds.
Shut. Up.
The arguing ceased for a moment in surprise.
Dev, Bomber, Razor shut your blathering mouths. It's understandable that you three are angry, probably feel abandoned or betrayed, or anything else you're feeling but that doesn't mean you have to share them! All three of you are giving me an exploding headache. If you want to act like you were just created then fine, I'll treat you as such. Leo, Raph, Mikey, Gorf let go of them.
With everyone's mouth glued shut at the surprising out burst from the normally calm kid they obeyed without question. The three that had been fighting just stood there in shock.
Razor, go stand in the southwest corner.
The look of shock on Razor's face vanished at what Psych was doing; of course he had to protest. "But-"
Now!
Razor actually flinched and turned to go stand in the empty corner by the window.
Dev: northwest.
Grumbling something under his breath Dev turned and walked to the designated corner.
I don't care if this is stupid but it's perfectly fair and unless you want me to handle this the more mental way you'll do as I say. Bomber: northeast corner.
With crossed arms Bomber stomped off.
When the boys were in their spots of punishment Psych continued, addressing all of them. Sit. The three's legs automatically collapsed and they sat huddled like angry toddlers forcefully obeying their parent. Now I don't want any of you to talk to, look at, gesture or any other kind of interaction with each other until I say you can get up. And remember: I may not be able to see or hear all but I always know what you're thinking so don't try to disobey me. Psych turned away rubbing his forehead. It was going to take a while for the headache to pass.
Gorf took a step forward. "Psych, are you okay?"
The boy in question walked back to his corner rubbing his eyes. He practically fell over and pulled a mound of blankets over himself before answering simply, No.
There was a moment of silence as the room stayed in shock. Psych had never actually gotten mad before, he was always so calm. Why was everything the experiments knew suddenly changing?!
Suddenly the silence was destroyed with an electronic scream. It was muffled by the walls of steel but the escape siren was still loud enough for all to hear.
Psych groaned and burrowed deeper under the blankets.
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"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Alex," a small voice quickly said in frightened guilt as two figures shot down the blank hallways.
"Eli its fine, you didn't know they were down this hall no one would have, just don't slow down!" Alex yelled as she looked over her shoulder. Through the flashing red light and the earsplitting scream that was the escape siren a small cloud of bug-robots chased the two. Even with Leo's swords she wouldn't be able to take them all down.
The whole thing had happened so suddenly. They had entered yet another intersection, checking doors along the way none of them holding a mutant turtle when buzzing filled the air. Suddenly robots seemed to have appeared out of nowhere and so here they were running down the halls going deaf.
Alex looked ahead and skidded to a stop before running into a wall as the hall sharply turned. Cursing the architecture of the labs for making her lose speed and milliseconds as the robots got ever nearer; she quickly turned with the hall and ran, Eli just in front of her.
Then Eli must have stepped wrong or something because the girl went down and Alex had to jump to keep from stepping on her. Stumbling Alex tried to stop and turn around. Eli was holding her leg. Alex ran to her side fully aware of the robots coming right for them.
"What's wrong?"
Eli sniffed. "My ankle hurts."
Alex looked down. Sure enough the ankle was starting to swell; it was sprained. Alex's mouth thinned into a line. There wasn't enough time for her to pick the girl up and run and still be able to outgo the robots.
With a deep breath Alex pulled one of the swords out and took a fighting stance. She vaguely knew how to handle a sword from watching Leo and Master Splinter quickly going over it as a side lesson one day. Alex had been skeptical about learning it sure that she'll always have a weapon right behind her. God she was happy Splinter was persistent and prepared for anything.
The robots were on them in moments. Alex did her best to slice the robots, trying to put each one out of the air with one hit but there were so many with so many weapons. They surrounded her but Alex stood her ground and refused to let any of the mechanical bugs get lower than her knees as Eli curled up on the floor underneath her.
There wasn't room for mistakes in a situation like this, but even with that knowledge there was always at least one slip up. A robot got behind Alex and struck her near the base of the neck. An itchy burning pain made itself known but Alex did her best to ignore it and cut the attacking robot in half. Just then a robot with a blade came forward. Alex just barely had enough time to notice it and lean to the side but she didn't completely dodge; the robot managed a slice on her shoulder. Hot blood seeped down her arm. Knowing just how close that was to her throat Alex got angry. She wasn't going down this way, not before she destroyed Ambrose.
Things started to blur together as the body moved of its own accord as the sound of metal hitting metal rang out under the screech of the siren. The red flashing light seemed to drive the instinctive skills on making the smooth movements look choppy like the fighter was stuck in a video where the viewer was watching it frame by frame.
Then suddenly everything seemed to stop. The siren was still going, the lights still flashing, but the flailing blade of a katana finally stopped and hung at the end of a limp arm as sparking debris littered the floor around them.
Alex put a hand to her head, talk about a head rush…
She was pulled back to the present by Eli tugging on her pant leg. Alex looked down.
Eli looked up at her and screamed "Buzzing!" to be heard over the siren.
That was all Alex needed to hear. She sheathed the sword, scooped up Eli in her arms and ran down the hall, more robots sure to round that corner back there any moment now.
As she was carried Eli pushed her hands over her ears. But no matter how much her ears hurt her eyes were always unusually sharp. As they ran down the hall she was able to catch two parallel lines pass. "Door!" she yelled.
Alex stopped a moment, she turned around and was about to keep on turning when she saw a second wave of bug-robots coming at them from down the hall. Looking behind her for maybe a way out, deciding to give up on the door she saw even more robots.
"You have got to be kidding me!" Alex hissed. She looked around for that door and saw it just a few feet back where they had come. She had to hurry before the robots got to it first. After fishing the keycard out of her pocket she jammed it into the side of the door - the only other way to open it besides the hand scanners. The door slid open and Alex jumped inside.
When the door slid shut the siren suddenly shut up leaving a ringing in their ears. The room must be important to be soundproof like that so Alex looked around and faltered for a moment at her surroundings. This was the examination room. She recognized all the equipment lining the walls. The devices and everything, while in the middle of the room was an operating table. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw who was strapped to it.
"D-Don?" she whispered suddenly out of it. It wasn't right but somehow the scene looked so natural. Someone non-human, something so mutant it could have been an alien on an operating table. It was a classic scene out of a Sci-fi movie inside the scientist's lab. But at the same time this was different. That wasn't some alien that was Donnie, her friend, the one that had bandaged her before she was even conscious to properly meet, the one that had medically helped with her broken leg. He shouldn't be here. Him nor his brothers, they didn't belong in her problems, they shouldn't be mixed up in all of this.
Again Alex was quickly pulled back into reality by Eli pulled on her shirt.
"Alex?"
Alex shook her head and went to a lever on the wall. Yanking it down a locking mechanism for the door was turned on. Then, just to be sure, she pulled out one of the swords on her back and ran it through the wall beside the lever, hopefully jamming the controls, or disconnecting some wire so the door would stay closed.
Then she went to the table and stood beside it. The mutant turtle seemed to be in one piece but Alex didn't like the fact that he was out cold, or that scar on the side of his head. She looked at the thick metal bands around his ankles and wrists, how could she get those off?
Remembering that inside the cube there should be some kind of laser pen or something; Alex sat Eli down on the edge of the table beside Don's right forearm. As she dug through the contents of the cube holding the entire weaponry room she said "Eli, try and wake him up for me. Don't worry, this is Donnie one of my friends, he's real nice and really smart." While Eli tried waking Don by basically just shaking his shoulder Alex finally found the laser pen.
It was an actual push top pen, but if the bottom was twisted a small two inch red laser extended. It was supposed to be strong enough to cut through any metal, hopefully that was true.
Being careful not to cut flesh Alex pulled the laser through the metal bands, two times on each so she could just pull them completely off the table never to be used again.
Don still hadn't woken up and they didn't have much time as the bug-robots outside started pounding on the door, they were probably just ramming it like the stupid robots they were but it wasn't long before the one with the bomb showed up.
"Come on Don," Alex said keeping an anxious eye on the door. "Nap time's over, don't tell me I have to carry you too." There was still no response from the big green body. "Come on Donnie, you gotta wake up," now she was pleading. "Raph's gonna kill me if you don't."
When there wasn't a hint of life Alex was getting worried. Going to a last resort the girl walked around the table and climbed onto the edge sitting on her knees. Leaning towards the head she raised a hand, said "This might sting a little," and slapped him across the face.
On impact not only did Alex hurt her hand as a stinging sensation took her palm, but the body before her jerked.
Donatello blinked his eyes open and put a hand to his pained cheek as a red mark started to appear. It took him a moment to realize where he was; when he did he quickly sat up almost knocking Alex off the table in the process. After a few seconds noticing that nothing was happening he took in who was in the room with him.
"A-Alex?" he said slowly in the confusion that normally followed just waking up in the labs.
"Donnie!" Alex exclaimed happily. "You're still alive! Man the guys are going to be so happy to see you."
"Where are we?" Don asked.
"On an operating table with robots right outside the door wanting to get in," Alex shrugged like this situation was perfectly normal "which means we need to get moving." She jumped onto the floor and hesitated. "Wait, I have a very important question, and I need you to answer seriously."
"What?"
"What's two times two?"
"What?" Don repeated with more disbelief than question.
"Just give me the answer."
"Four."
Alex gave a breath of relief. "Okay, you still have a functioning brain, that's good. Now let's go."
"Wait, Alex what's going on?" Don asked he had a hundred questions but could see they must be in some kind of hurry. "Just brief me on the basics or something."
Alex huffed, every second they stayed put the closer those robots were through that door. "Okay, we are in an examination room inside the labs. This is Eli," Eli waved "she's an experiment like me. Leo, Raph and Mikey are with the other experiments. Now outside that door there are a bunch of robots and if we don't get out of here Eli's going to the mutation vats, I'm gonna have hell to pay, and you might be on your way to dissection."
Don blinked. "Okay," he said slowly. "So how do we get out of here?"
"We could use the vents," Eli said pointing to a counter by the wall. It was covered in wires, tools and notes.
"Vents? This place has vents?" Alex asked.
"Yep," Eli nodded. "Razor used them once, and Psych somewhat knew about them. I think Gorf accidentally found the blueprints of the labs with vents one time too, he got in bad trouble for it."
Alex went over to the counter Eli had pointed at. "Well I don't think this place has an oxygen generator, so I guess vents would make sense…" She looked at where the counter met the wall, sure enough there seemed to be a small gap. Fully conscious of the robots still trying to get the door open she called Don over. "Hey you think you could help me move this?"
Don got off the table and went over to her, only to find the gap was too narrow for them to fit their fingers in. "Maybe if we had a lever or something small enough to fit and long enough for us to pull back on?" he suggested.
Alex snapped her fingers. "Oh, duh." She pulled out one of the swords. "I hope it's strong enough not to snap."
"Leo's been through a lot with those, why do you have them?"
"They were in storage, I'm taking them back to him," Alex said as she slid the sword behind the counter. With their hands sharing the handle, and Alex's foot planted on the wall, they pulled back. It took precious time, and Alex was afraid the blade would either bend or snap, but finally the counter started to slide forward with a horrible screeching sound of metal scratching metal. Alex pulled the sword out and looked behind the counter. Just as Eli had said there was a square ventilation opening on the wall. "Okay, we just need to pull it out a little farther."
While Alex and Don worked on the counter Eli sat trying to ignore her throbbing ankle. As she looked around trying to keep her mind off the pain, and of what it was like to be mutated, she looked around the room. Her eyes went to the door just in time to see a dent start to appear, the robots were breaking through. "Um, guys…" she said worriedly scooting sideways on the table to put as much distance between her and the door that was about to give way in a matter of seconds.
"Just a little farther and we should be able to fit," Don said as he pulled.
Alex pressed against the wall and was able to squeeze her body behind the counter. Using her uncut shoulder she pushed against the wall behind her, as they pushed and pulled the counter moved a few more inches. When she could Alex twisted around and found the opening to the vent had a barred cover.
Okay god, I don't hate you so much anymore, Alex thought as she found that the cover came off by simply sliding it to the side. "Right," she said straightening up and stepped out from behind the counter. "Now that we have a means of escape we can get out of here, but first Eli has a twisted ankle."
Don looked at the little kid on the table. Eli looked down at her hurt leg. It was only a minor sprain, but it was an injury nevertheless. "I could wrap it if we had anything on hand."
Alex quickly looked around, noticing the dents forming in the door; it wasn't going to hold out much longer. In the movies the hero would forfeit his shirt as a bandage, too bad the only ones in the room with shirts were female but… what about the lower half of clothes?
"Would a pant leg work?"
"I guess it could," Don nodded.
With the pen laser in hand Alex cut a hole in her pant leg just above the knee. Tugging down on the material it ripped free. She pulled it down over her foot and put one of the katanas through it to turn it into a flat rectangle of material.
Don took the makeshift bandage and wrapped Eli's ankle.
Alex put the sword in its sheath and picked Eli up. Carrying her behind the counter Alex helped the girl into the vent before climbing in herself. Don went in behind them. The vent was fairly big; they could sit on their knees without hitting their heads on the ceiling if they slouched a little.
As an afterthought Don reached behind him and slid the cover back over the opening.
"Come on, I'd say we have a few more seconds before the robots get through that door," Alex said. "Let's make the best of it."
The three crawled along the vents with Alex leading the way and Don taking up the rear, the two of them wielding flashlights that Alex had pulled from the cube. They tried not to make too much noise in the echoing tunnels. After some minutes Alex called a stop. When they didn't hear any buzzing coming in after them Alex and Eli gave breaths of relief and they continued.
The next ten minutes were spent by Alex following gut feelings on when to turn as intersection came up until finally she sat down and leaned back against the vent wall. "Okay guys, I'm sorry but I'm completely lost."
"I wish I could help but we're in a vent with no kind of technology," Don said facing the facts.
"Actually we have an entire arsenal in my pocket," Alex said. "Though I don't think weapons would help much at the moment." She rubbed the back of her neck not worried about her shoulder since it had healed a while ago.
Eli sat beside Alex and leaned her head against the older girl's arm. "I miss Bomber."
Alex put an arm around Eli. "So this is how it all ends, lost to die in a ventilation system."
"Such positive thoughts," Don said as he too sat down.
Alex sighed. "You know out of everything I'm sure life's put either of us through… I really did not see this coming."
Don gave a small smile. "Well you know when you're a mutant ninja turtle or a bat-winged, ax-tailed experiment anything can happen. Speaking of wings…" he started to ask why she was hiding them.
"Yeah, I don't have them anymore."
"What?" Don asked looking over at her.
"They got cut off as a punishment for escaping from my creator," Alex said quietly.
Don looked both stunned and revolted - an understandable reaction.
"Like I've told you guys," Alex continued. "The labs are wrong on so many levels it could never be funny. I know you're a man- er turtle of science Don, but-"
"The line has to be drawn somewhere," Don finished for her.
"This is why I don't like getting people in my business, something always happens." Alex looked down at Eli, remembering that promise she had made. A sad smile flickered on her face. "Heh,"
"What?" Don asked.
"It's stupid but… I still owe Mikey those pancakes from a lifetime ago."
A silence fell over the three. It was so quiet the lack of sound seemed to ring in their ears.
After a century of just sitting there Alex looked at the turtle, her eyes falling on the mark on his scalp. "Hey, what happened to give you that scar?"
"What scar?" Don asked.
"On your head," Alex pointed with a lazy finger at him. Then to indicate the area she touched where the scar would be on her head. Don put a hand to his head to feel for the mark.
"I honestly don't know. Actually, the more I think about it, I… can't… really remember much of anything except for waking up in that room. I could have been there for a few hours alone, and then some guys in lab coats came and gave me a shot in the arm. From there… there's just… nothing besides waking up to you slapping me."
"Yeah," Alex said slowly. "Sorry about that, but you were just lying there without as much as a twitch, I was expecting the worst."
"Well, thanks for thinking of me. Um… do you know anything about my brothers?"
"Raph and Leo are fine," Alex said happy to give some kind of good news. "Uh- you probably wouldn't be able to recognize Mikey, though."
"What?" Don quickly asked, concern and a hint of fear in his eyes.
"He's perfectly healthy and all that," Alex swiftly assured. "He's just… a little different in appearance… is all."
Don sighed. "Man, what I would give to see them."
"Don't say that," Alex said warningly. "You never know, in this place you just might end up paying something, and believe me some prices may be worth it for loved ones but that doesn't mean you want to actually pay them."
While the older two talked Eli had closed her eyes. Bomber was like her big protective brother, and she missed him. She thought about the big holding room for them, with Bomber and Gorf there to play with her, it was a safe zone, especially with Psych. Even though Psych was even smaller than she was, he seemed to take care of everyone by working out arguments, doing his best to keep the muscle men at bay, explaining things to the newest experiments… if all the experiments were actually related somehow Psych would defiantly be the dad. She wondered what he was doing right now. Probably sleeping, he slept a lot.
Not recently…
Eli blinked and looked around without moving. Nothing was there.
Psych? She thought.
Hi Eli… The voice sounded distant. At the end of a sentence it would fade away like it was struggling to stay online.
You sound tired.
I am, and I have a bad headache so I can't talk for very long… My connection to anyone's mind is weak at the moment so I have to make this quick…
How'd you find me? Eli asked.
Bomber's worried about you, his thoughts helped me know what to look for, and you were thinking of me which made it all the more easier… But like I said, this needs to be fast, I don't know how much longer I can keep talking… I just need you to answer a few things for me…
Yeah?
Is Alex there?...
Yep, and so is this other guy. He looks kind of like Leo and Raph but kind of different too. I don't know, but I like him, he's nice.
That's good… Where are you exactly?...
Sitting in the vents.
Okay… Now Eli, I need you to go through you're memories for me, picture everything that's happened to you try to be as accurate on every detail… Do this for me?...
Okay.
Eli closed her eyes again and tried to remember everything she could since Alex had rescued her from the muscle men. She did her best to remember everything with every possible detail that her eyes had taken in, remembering every twist and turn they had taken while in the halls and vents. When she finished where they were sitting down she thought: Done.
Thank… you… The voice sounded even farther away than before. It was more like a whisper, fading away in the middle of sentences and coming back weakly. Now… I'm sending you… a map of the vents… I don't know… how long I can keep it… visible so I need you to… memorize it the best… you can… okay?...
Okay, ready.
Inside the girl's head a map of the labs appeared before her mind's eye. There was an X which must be where she was located in the vents. She scanned the map, concentrating on the quickest route that would lead to the large room with everyone else. Soon the image started to fade until it was completely gone.
Did you… get that?...
Yep.
Good girl…
The voice faded away and when it didn't come back Eli figured Psych must have fallen asleep or something. She opened her eyes and pulled away from Alex. She got to her hands and knees and started crawling down the metal tunnel. She stopped a few feet away and looked behind her. "Come on guys."
"Eli what are you doing?" Don asked.
"I know the way back," Eli said happily.
"How?" Alex asked.
"Psych told me, now come on." With that Eli turned back around and started going again.
Don and Alex looked at each other.
"Psych told…? What?" Don asked confusedly.
Alex got to her hands and knees to follow. "I'll explain on the way, come on."
...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--...
As he stared at the wall like a small child, a war raged in Razor's head. He wouldn't believe Alex would actually leave, he just couldn't see her abandon not only him but Psych too along with Leo, Raph and Mikey. But even with that feeling what Bomber and Dev had said was getting to him. If Alex hadn't of left then where was she?
Yes Razor felt guilty for accusing Alex of abandonment – again – but she was still gone.
In his emotional turmoil Razor needed something to mess with. Looking at his still bandaged limbs he started to unwrap one hand. When the grey was visible he stared at the new lines crisscrossing over his skin. The muscles tightened into a fist.
Damn machines, he thought. Even though he was a technician he preferred tearing things apart rather than building or fixing them. Blame the shark genes, or his history with machines but he still hated-
Suddenly his year jerked.
What the? He thought and listened.
Thud
"Okay…" he muttered and looked around. Where was it coming from?
Thud
Razor closed his eyes and concentrated. When the next thud sounded he found it coming from the wall? To investigate he cautiously looked behind him, seeing that the mound of blankets wasn't moving he carefully got to his feet. Trying not to think about what he was doing, he moved along the wall straining to hear something.
Almost halfway across the room there was another thud.
Before the boy could raise a fist to knock back he received a thud of his own on the forehead and landed on his butt. Blinking away tears of surprise he found a lone shoe on the floor between his legs. Looking up he saw a smiling Dev trying to hold back a laugh so he didn't wake Psych up.
Grumbling something crossly under his breath Razor knocked on the wall: duh duh-da duh duh
Thud thud
Looking first cautiously at the pile of blankets, then smugly at Bomber and Dev Razor rapped his knuckles on the metal: .- .-.. . -..- ..--..
.. - -- .-.. -.. -.-- -- ..- .. .-- -- ..- .-.. -.. -. - .-.. . .- ...- . -.-- -- ..- .- --. .- .. -.
Razor smiled, though it faded when the next message came.
... - .- -. -.. -... .- -.-. -.- . -..- .--. .-.. -- ... .. -- -.
With some confusion Razor stumbled away from the wall.
"Hey," Gorf said, materializing beside the shark-boy. "You're supposed to be in trouble."
"Not now Gorf," Razor said impatiently.
"But-" Gorf started when he was cut off by an explosion. The sudden noise ripped many out of sleep, and attracted eyes like a magnet. When the smoke cleared Gorf was in Razor's arms and a nice sized hole was in the wall. Coughing sounded from the hole and a figure emerged.
"-cough- God –cough- out of all the –cough- chemicals you couldn't come up –cough- with something with a little –cough- less smoke?" Alex choked as she climbed out of the vents. The girl got about three steps into the room before she was shoved back, grabbed by the throat and pushed up the wall until her feet left the floor.
Razor dropped Gorf and ran forward. "Bomber let her go!"
Bomber ignored him and started squeezing.
Alex grabbed the hand around her neck. "Shouldn't you… be helping someone?"
Just as she said it a smaller figure appeared in the hole. Dev, who had come to fend off Razor, helped Eli out of the wall.
Bomber reluctantly let go of Alex and picked Eli up. "I'm sorry," he whispered in her ear.
"It's okay," Eli whispered back. "Besides," she said happily. "I met a new friend."
Before the third figure could even stand up straight after climbing out of the vents, Mikey knocked him down in a massive hug yelling "Donnie!"
"Mikey?" Don asked after getting a look at his younger brother.
"Yeah," Alex said rubbing the back of her neck. "I told you you wouldn't recognize him." As Don's brothers greeted him happily, Raph getting a little ticked off with the scar, Alex turned to Bomber. "And what was that for?!"
"We thought you abandoned us," Dev shrugged like their harsh actions were perfectly understandable.
"So you strangle me when I come back?"
"You were forced to come back after trying to escape without anyone," Dev said.
"But you brought Eli back, so I guess its fine," Bomber said.
Even though she was off the hook Alex felt a need to defend herself. "I wasn't trying to abandon anyone. I went to go rescue Eli and pick up a few things."
"Like what?" Razor asked.
Alex stuffed a hand in her pocket. "Oh I don't know…" She produced the cube. Bomber grabbed it with a free hand before anyone else could.
Dev quickly swiped it and held it up. "No way," he said then scowled as Razor stole it.
"A storage cube?! What do you have in- hey!" he exclaimed when Dev took it back, only to have Alex smack it out of his hand.
"I found it, I open it." She was about to press the button when the cube disappeared.
"What is it?" Mikey asked holding it close to his face.
"Lemme see," Raph grabbed it before Mikey could stop him. He held it out of reach when the youngest tried to take it back.
"Not fair!"
"Says you," Raph said with an actual smile when he gave an exclamation of surprise as something wet and slimy touched his hand. "Gross!" he said in disgust looking at his wet, empty hand. He wiped the slime off on Mikey's shirt.
"Hey!" Mikey exclaimed jumped back and looked down at his shirt for any wet spots.
"I'm glad things haven't changed too much," Don said.
"Where'd the cube go?" Dev asked looking around until his eyes caught Gorf's bulging cheeks. "Aw Gorf you didn't…"
Gorf let his frog tongue hang out to reveal the cube wrapped in it.
"God Gorf you're getting spit on it," Dev complained.
Gorf dropped the cube into his hand. "Guys, let a technician handle the technology," he said and opened the cube. Reaching a hand down into the light he pulled out a long wooden "Stick?" he asked.
Don stepped forward and grabbed it. "Its a Bo staff, not a stick."
"Right… anyway," Gorf put his hand back in the cube and pulled out a pair of sias. "Awesome!"
"Gimme those," Raph said and roughly swiped the weapons from the four fingered hand.
"Oh, speaking of weapons," Alex said and slipped the katanas off her back. "Here Leo, I think these are yours."
"Where'd you find them?" Leo asked with a smile at his trusted swords.
"In a weaponry along with a few other things," Alex shrugged. "Which reminds me…" She went over to Gorf and took the cube trying not to think about his gross slobber covering the cube's surface. Reaching into its immeasurable depths she pulled out Mikey's nunchucks and passed them to him.
"My babies!" Mikey exclaimed and happily accepted them, hugging them to his chest.
Alex dug around for a moment more. This time when she pulled her hand out she had four colored masks, a bandana, and a ribbon, along with some belts and pads. Now done with the cube she gave it to Gorf. "Okay, everything else are guns and stuff, try to distribute them somewhat evenly."
While Gorf laid out the numerous types of weapons on the floor, experiments coming to investigate and then quickly pick up what interested them, some where skeptical on whether or not they should even have the weapons, others ready to put up a fight if someone tried to take them away. Alex gave the guys their masks back along with Razor's bandana. "I didn't want to say this but you guys just look weird without your masks."
Now that the turtles were happy to have their things back, though Mikey only put his belt on as a place to put his nunchucks, the question remained standing: How do they get out of this place?
The same was going through Alex's mind and she opened her mouth to say that now they had an opening to the vents when, to her utter amazement, the metal seemed to grow or regenerate and the hole was quickly sealed. Now that just wasn't fair! In frustration she started to rub the back of her neck again.
"Why do you keep doing that?" Don asked.
"What?" Alex asked back.
"Rubbing you neck."
Alex shrugged "It just itches."
After putting his bandana back safely on his head, determined to never take it off again, Razor stepped behind her. "Let me see," he said and moved her hand. "That's spot's awfully red, Alex."
"That's because I've been scratching it, seaweed head. Besides, it's probably a burn mark; I had a bad run in with the bug-robots out in the hallways. One got my shoulder too, but its fine."
Razor was doubtful. In a place like the labs you never just assumed something was fine. "Hey Doc, come here." He called the field doctor over after she fixed Eli's ankle that Bomber had finally noticed. "Take a look at this, what do you think it is?"
"It's nothing," Alex assured them.
The look Doc gave though contradicted the girl's words. "Alex, when'd this happen?"
"I don't know, fifteen, twenty, thirty minutes maybe?" Alex guessed. "But it's just a burn, that's all." The silence wasn't comforting. "Uh, Doc?" she asked turning around to a face of concern. "It… is just a burn mark… right?"
Doc shook her head biting her lower lip. "Alex, that's an injection site."
Injection? With what?!
Hoo, man this chapter was long. I was going to cut it and make it two cahpters but I couldn't decide where so I kept this long. Oh well...
Oh and fangirls you can put your flamethrowers and machine guns down for as you can see all four of the turtles are are perfectly fine and together again! (even though Mikey's human...)
Please review!