As much as I hate trigger warnings I feel an obligation to warn you this chapter will deal with some gross stuff...Salmonella isn't like Tuburculosis AKA Victorian Era Fainting Lady Disease Salmonella is the Disease where you're spewing vomit and diarrhea at the same time I'll try not to get to graphic but for anyone reading this who has had a truamatic experience with severe illness this may bring back memories you have been warned

Later that evening Donatello decided to try the 'Spelling Game' with Belladonna he decided not to lie down because he might fall asleep instead he reclined his elbows resting upon the the back of the basement sofa, knees sinking into the sofa cushions his carapace facing Belladonna, they were completly alone in the basement.

"Here's how the game works..." Belladonna said "I trace a letter you guess each one in turn, you guess correct I pet you like this."

She softly pet Don's Carapace.

"If you guess incorrect I wipe your carapace like a blackboard."

Thus she demonstrated wiping his Carapace as if it were a Blackboard.

"I don't think I'll guess incorrect." Don said with a smile

Belladonna began by tracing the Letter A

"A." Don said

Belladonna pet his carapace

The game proceeded like this

"N"

"D"

"R"

"O"

"M"

"E"

"D"

"A"

"What is the Word?" Asked Belladonna

Don was already putting the word together in his mind as she was spelling it out..."Andromeda." He said

Belladonna giggled sweetly and nodded

"It was what I was thinking of naming our child." She said

That piqued Don's attention

"After the constellation?" He said

Belladonna nodded "Our Extra-Terrestrial Allies the Aves, Octos and Magis are known to us the 'Andromeda Allience' also I love Greek Mythology."

The Moment was shattered by Ichabod coming downstairs.

"Don." Ichabod said "Eleanor called "She said wants to talk to us."

Ichabod handed the phone to Don.

"Donatello." Eleanor said "The twelve Mutants you treated eariler today...All of them have started have started vomiting, with a fever and abdominal cramps..." Don could hear her straining to keep herslef calm

"Where are they being held?" Don asked

Eleanor gave them the directions, When they reached the Hosptial Ichabod said

"Don...Maybe I should enter alone first..We don't know how contagous this is yet or if you might be vulnerable..."

"But you have the hyperactive immune system so you won't be affected. Don said

Ichabod nodded.

When he entered the hospital, the putrid scent of the feces of several animal species all tainted with some unfamilar poison..." Ichabod had to do everything he could to to not vomit.

Several of the Native Human Hospital Employees were wearing Hazmat Suits, they approached this Teenager from Another Realm whom they had been informed beforehand had a Hyperacticve Immune System Resistant to nearly any Poison and Pathogen you could think of with an almost relgious reverence this scrawny teenager really did seem to be like a God of Healing sent from Heaven. Gingerly they took him by the hand and led him first to the Patiants where Ichabod gave them each an injection of the most potent Anti-Toxin known to Earthlings...Unicorn's Blood. (Unicorn's are living medicine facotories they eat many medicinal plants and even healing clays which transforms the blood into medicine which the famous unicorn horn is actually the Earth's first hypodermic needle for injecting medicine, the ability to heal broken bones instantly however is more a form of innate spellcasting ability)

After giving each Mutant an injection Ichabod was taken to the Lab where the Various Samples of blood, stool and vomit from each of the patients was being studied

Ichabod studied each one in turn, he turned to the scientists "As far as I can see, the cause of the trouble is Salmonella Bacteria...But...Several of the patient species affected would naturally have this bacteria like the Birds and some of the Rodents..."

"We already realized that." Said One of the Nurses "However...It seems to us this particular strain of Salmonella is Mutated..."

"Do you think it is possible for a microbe like bacteria to mutate alongside the animal it inhabits?" Asked one of the Technitians.

Ichabod suddenly realized what they were getting at and turned at and quickly turned more pale then usaul

"Oh...Dear." He said he knew...How Donatello would react to this.

Sure enough when Ichabod returned to the Battle Shell and exactly what had happened to Don no more, no less. A look of horror in Don's face before he screamed "F*CK!" And ran out of the Battle Shell

"Don wait!" Ichabod yelled

But Don quickly ran for the first manhole he saw, he knew he was in his own New York City he had to reach the lair and get to his lab.

Ichabod knew he would not be able to chase Don, the Purple Banded Brother may have been the slowest of his brothers but Ichabod knew he had nowhere the same level of endurence and he didn't know the sewer system AND he really didn't want to muck about in the sewers in case he was needed at the hospital again.

All he could do was Call his Crew and explain the situation and wait, Ichabod felt he knew Don's mind the most of all the Turtle Brothers primarally because he had the most in common with the Nerdy Turtle, he felt confident Don would return he simply didn't know when.

Don spent a few hours in his Lab, he knew what he had to do, it wasn't easy to extract some living salmonella bacteria from his intestines but after examining these one piece of his gut flora and re-examing some of his own files particurally the records of his family's health, every time he could record an illness or injury he sighed deeply "How could this NOT be the case?" He said to himself "We live in one of the the most filthy places imaginable, we walk barefoot through the sewers...When we were infants Mikey once ate a rusty nail, nearly killed himself but he lived..." Don wiped away a tear "Over the course of a lifetime, he and his brothers had been unknowing living bio-weapon labs, the Salmonella Bacteria which is simply part of the natural gut flora of a Turtle and causes them absolutely no harm, over the course of a lifetime of living in the sewers and exposing themselves to many maladies and injuries the Turtles and caused the salmonella bacteria to Mutate alongside them, events of extreme illness in each Turtles' life in turn transformed the bacteria and hardened it...Ultimatly causing it to evolve into a new species altogether, this was a germ unique to the four of them alone, although Don figured Splinter was probobly immune to it.

Within himself and each of his brothers was a nasty mutated strain of salmonella no other species was immune to...So even Mutated Animals who have Salmonella like Birds and Rodents didn't have this extremely powerful strain of salmonella transformed by years of living within the Sewers.

Don having to explain this to his Brothers felt particurally painful.

"Guys..." Don summerized "...We all have this bacteria in our intestines, we've had it from before we were Mutated, simply part of a Turtles natural gut flora we aren't harmed by it...But this bacteria is completely unique to us...And the real trouble is...We don't always shed salmonella baceria every time we...Excrete and I'm fairly certain our shedding isn't syncronyzed so each of us...Shed salmonella at different times."

His Brothers looked at each other they creeping horror that they were one potentially one unsuffiantly washed hand away from giving a Human or another Mutant Animal a one-way trip to the ER.

"It's worse then you guys think..." Don said "...Remember the history of the Humanimals? What was the event that turned Humans against Humanimals? Caused them to stop treating Humanimals like...Living Dolls...And fear them as a potential usurpers? A plague...A plague of MUTANT Anthrax! And that is what we have in our own guts, a potential Mutant Plague! The Knowladge of this alone, could give someone like Bishop the argument that we need to be killed! He could argue our very existance is a hazard to Humanity's Survival..."

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