Chapter 36

It didn't take us long at all to get back to the lair, though I'm pretty sure Don may have broken at least a dozen traffic laws en route. I sat in the back and kept watch over Elena's still body, preventing it from rolling off the row of seats as we screeched around corners. All four of us were relatively quiet, though I could make out a few choice words from D up front, which really what set my nerves on fire; very rarely did he ever curse, but when he did it never meant anything good.

Time slowed as we got her into his lab; her limp body kept reminding me of how she looked when she got her ass kicked that one night with me and Casey. I still never forgave myself for that, even though she did. Granted, she was human at that point, but this was still Elena we were talking about. With or without fur she was still my E.

I stood by the entrance to Donnie's lab feeling helpless as ever, and I kept clenching my fists in anger. I hated feeling helpless, but I would just be in the way in there. Mikey must've had a similar feeling as he took a space over by the wall, watching Donnie and Leo work on her as best they could. They still kept her hands and feet bound, and had even added some straps to keep her secured to the bed, but Donnie insisted on turning her over to be face down so he could inspect her neck. I knew she had been having a little bit of a sore spot there now and then, but didn't know what that would have to do with her sudden change in behavior.

He and Leo conversed back and forth, but they spoke so low that I couldn't hear them. Donnie asked him questions and I could see him nod or shake his head, but then nerd boy got that look when he was frustrated about not knowing something. He poked and prodded around the base of her skull before finally stopping at a small spot.

"What is it D?" a small voice came from Mikey's spot. I felt a comforting presence approach, and I smiled slightly when I realized dad had walked up to the door to witness what was going on. He didn't have to even say anything, just be there, for all four of us to calm down slightly. It always felt like things would be ok when he was around. I felt his familiar hand rest itself on my shell as he watched everything unfolding inside.

Donatello had ignored Mikey's question for the moment as he pulled over a small scanner to hover over whatever it was he felt in her neck. He pressed a series of buttons to make a small purple box appear on her neck right on top of where he had been pressing and a few agonizing seconds passed before its results popped up on the projector above the scanner.

Nerd boy gave a low whistle before pushing the scanner away, "Wow, this is some impressive tech she's got in her. I'm surprised my scanners even picked up on it."

"What are we talking here, Donnie," Leo pushed for more information before D went on a sciency tirade, "Is that thing the reason she flipped? And can you fix her?"

Donatello rubbed his forehead in thought before pushing his glasses back up towards his face, "Well, to answer the first question…yes. The second? I'm not sure."

I narrowed my eyes at his answer and growled, "What do you mean?"

He glanced around and saw the confusion written on all of our faces. "Ok, so here's what I can tell. She's got an implant at the base of her skull that was rather impressive to be unseen by any of the tests and scans I've run on her since we've gotten her back. Like, really impressive to be able to mask the electronic device inside her organic system without any trace of it being detectabl-"

The sound of my impatience snapped him from his tangent, "Right. So anyways, she's got something in her. I'm not really sure how it's connected to her mind, or what exactly it can do. From what we've seen it can definitely make her hostile. Now whether or not she's being controlled in a specific pattern or if it just flips on her anger response I'm not quite sure."

"So, what you're saying is that she's either the hulk or a killer robot?" Mikey quipped in, causing all of us to stop and look at him. "What?"

"For once you're actually not too far off, Mikey," Donnie continued after giving it a momentary thought. He walked over to a medical drawer and pulled out a syringe that he filled with a clear liquid as well as a scalpel and a few other medical tools.

"Here, help me Leo," he instructed as he lowered his goggles over his glasses to get a better look at the area. "I need you to hold her absolutely still, just like that." Donnie pulled the scanner over her neck again and pressed a few different buttons this time which gave an illuminated picture on top of her body about where her spine and skull were located; the small red dot must be the marker for whatever was in her neck. Small lines radiated from the dot and made a pattern that ran down her spine, past the borders of the scanner's box.

Donnie injected the liquid into a few spots on the back of her neck, steering clear of being right on top of the implant.

"So here is what I'm thinking the issue is," he hovered over her neck with the scalpel and pointed to the diagram on her. "Those lines are showing that this thing is deeply ingrained into her nervous system; I'm surmising it taps into the part of her brain that deals with anger. So when she's angry she's really angry, similar to the hulk."

I could see Mikey give a small fist pump in excitement. "She can't control it, so everything becomes a potential threat in the fight or flight program in her brain. Since her animal DNA consists of both large weasel and bear nine point nine times out of ten she will fight."

"The problem is this, and we saw it in the lab," he continued. "Those researchers were a much lesser threat than we posed at the moment. In all reality she should have ignored them and came after us a hundred percent of the time. And did you notice how she killed them versus the guards? She used her kunai on them instead of her biological weapons. Even when she fought us she didn't use her ninja weapons."

He looked around to see if we were following along with him. Dad is the one who finally broke the silence, "Donatello, my son, are you saying someone could be controlling our miss Elena's actions?"

My genius brother nodded his head in affirmation, "Yes, sensei, that's precisely what I'm thinking. Someone told her to kill those scientists. The guards were just collateral damage."

"That motherfucker," I spat out, staring up and meeting Leo's eyes. He knew exactly who I was talking about. I grimaced as I clenched my fist a little too tighoot, causing my forearms to burn under their bandages.

"Can he track her?" I asked point blank. "Can he see us right now?"

Donnie shook his head, "No, I don't think that is this kind of device. If that were the case he would have found her awhile ago. I think he's been sending signals out to try and see how effective his control over her could be." He thought momentarily before asking Leo, "You said she'd been complaining about intermittent pain in her neck the past few weeks?"

"Yeah, she would complain about it every once in awhile during our training sessions. We'd even have to take breaks every so often when it flared up, but we just thought it was a muscle strain."

"She came to me a few times as well," Donnie pulled over a screen on a moveable arm. A long list of data flew by as he motioned his hands, looking for some specific pieces. A few pictures of her skeletal system popped up, "We ran a ton of tests, but I never found anything. And in this area there are so many muscles that could cause the type of pain she was experiencing."

"So why didn't your scans pick up on that thing?" I asked exasperated.

"Because that thing is not just a machine that's easily picked up on an xray," Donnie whirled back around to feel around. "It's actually quite impressive how the tech is able to mask itself as the surrounding tissue and muscle. Even right now when I feel around I can almost not even tell it's there."

"I think he's been sending signals this entire time, but she's been masked mainly by the sewers and proximity. But once she went topside and especially since we basically opened the door to his second dungeon it was much easier for him to try and control her."

"That building did seem really easy to get into," Mikey quipped from the wall. I nodded in agreement with him.

"That lab was just one big trap…" I swear to god people needed to start listening to me when I said stuff. "Had anyone listened to me in the first place we wouldn't be in this shitty situation."

"Raph, we'll play the blame game later," Leo interrupted irritably as he turned back towards Donnie, "Can you get it out?"

D paused a moment as who know how many different scenarios ran through his head. "It's not a risk-free endeavor, but I may be able to remove it without doing permanent damage."

A breath I had unknowingly been holding escaped. Permanent damage? What kind of permanent damage? It was as if he could hear my thoughts because he looked right at me.

"It's lodged into her spinal column and interconnected with her nervous system, Raph. Nothing is going to be simple here."

A few tense seconds passed as we stared at each other, but he is the one who finally broke the silence, "Look, you're not the only one that cares about her. She's in good hands."

It took a minute, but I finally nodded in approval. Without wasting another moment Donatello made sure her head was still secure in Leo's hands before dropping down his magnifying lenses on top of his goggles and taking a deep breath.

"OK, here we go."

The scalpel cleanly slit the skin apart, and Donnie swiftly grabbed some gauze to help soak up the small line of blood that trailed down her black and grey fur. He had to slice further into her muscle to get near where the device was situated, and I hated seeing some of the bright red blood mix in with the now dark and matted blood from her attack earlier.

The minutes ticked by painfully slow before I could hear Donnie mutter to himself, "Just a little further, and I start to be able to see this thing…"

"Um…guys?" I heard Mikey pipe in from across the room, but I ignored him. He always had a tendency to crack jokes at the wrong time, and I'd be damned if I let him distract me at a time like this.

"Guys?" His voice sounded more insistent this time, "I think we have a problem…"

I turned to yell at him, but the sound of a low growl interrupted us all. Before we could even react Elena whipped her head back, pushing Donnie out of the way and snapped her jaws towards anyone who got near.

"Shit!" Leo jumped back before she could rip into his hands, "Donnie she's waking up!"

"I can see that Leo!" he screamed back as he jumped over to a nearby cabinet to get some more sedative.

Elena pulled against her bonds, and within a split second the sound of the restraint's fibers could be heard ripping.

"Shit, Mikey, help me out!" I yelled at him as I jumped on top of her back, straddling her back and hoping my body weight would help pin her down a little. I heard him yell something about not getting his good looks clawed off, but he jumped on her legs and helped to pin them down just as she was able to free them from their bonds.

Leo and I tried to grab onto her hands and arms in an attempt to bring them under control, but she was too fast for us. Within seconds she pushed up on the gurney and lifted herself and both of us off the surface; damn she was strong.

I had a feeling Mikey and I were about to go flying, so I wrapped my legs around her waist, one arm around her arms, and the other under her neck. There wasn't going to be any damn way she was going to claw or bite me this time dammit. I was too busy trying to fight the bucking bronco that I couldn't warn Mikey, and he got kicked effortlessly across the room, taking out a bookshelf in the process.

I felt every single muscle fiber under her skin flex all at once, and I was powerless to hold on; with her exertion against me holding her still at least I didn't get flung across the room this time, but only knocked back a few feet. Leo dashed past me and tried to tackle her, but her reflexes were too sharp for us and she easily dodged him. She jumped back as gracefully as if she could fly and perched on a nearby table to in order to survey her surroundings.

Her black eyes narrowed on the doorway and she let out a loud hiss as she pounced towards Splinter.

"Like hell you are!" I bellowed as I ran and jumped protectively over him. I could feel her claws bounce off my shell as she pushed past me and out into the lair.

"Dad, you ok?" I gasped as Leo and Mikey ran after her. I looked over him critically and made sure he didn't have any injuries.

"Raphael, I may be old, but I am not feeble," his voice calmed me down as I helped him up from the ground. "Thank you."

"Raph," I heard Donnie's frantic voice from across the room and turned just in time to catch a gun, "Take that with you. It's the strongest sedative I have, but I only had enough for the one dose, so don't screw it up. I've got an idea, but I need to be here to make it, and I can keep a lookout for wherever she's going from my station."

I nodded my acknowledgement and glanced over at dad one more time. "Go," he said resolutely, "She needs you now more than anything."

Without wasting another moment I took off, and through the use of our radios was able to catch up to Leo and Mikey pretty easily where I let them know dad was ok. They had taken to the rooftops above the streets and tracked her movement down below.

"What should we do Leo?" Mikey asked as we leapt across buildings, "It's not like we can just follow her down there where everyone can see us."

"Donnie, it's going to start getting light soon, which means more people on the streets." Leo put out on the radio. Yeah, in her rage having humans get in the way is definitely not the best idea. "What are our options?"

"I think I may be able to create a type of EMP on the fly, but you're going to have to give me some time," D's voice spoke quickly over the frequency. "Preferably keep her away from crowded areas."

"Nah shit, Sherlock," I snorted in irritation. "What other brilliant ideas can you give us?"

I ignored the frustration in his voice, "Your beacons show you're moving in a generally northeastern direction. About four miles from your current location there's a wooded park that you may be able to steer her towards, barring her changing course or anything. What exactly is she doing?"

At that moment we heard a honk below us and watched as a taxi cab slammed on his brakes just in time to prevent hitting her. Elena roared in anger as she brought her fists down on the front of the cab, denting large craters in the metal. She reached down and grabbed ahold of the car's bumper and flipped it over, exposing its undercarriage. A split second later and she was on the vehicle, angrily clawing at the pieces of metal.

"One sec Don, got a situation!" Leo yelled as the three of us descended down to the streets to help the cab driver.

"Hey Yogi!" Mikey shouted to grab her attention at the mouth of the alley he landed by, which worked rather quickly. Her snarl reverberated through the area and she bounded off the car after him.

"Oh man! I didn't plan this far ahead!" he screeched as he ran down the alley. Leo and I flipped the car right side up quickly and made an anonymous call to get an ambulance out to check on the passed out driver before taking off down the alley after the pair. Not only was it easy to follow the sound of Mikey's hollering in the alley and our radios, but all we really needed to do was follow the amount of trash and debris strewn about.

"Sorry, Donnie, she's on the move again and after Mikey this time," Leo patched back in. "What's the verdict?"

A few moments of furious typing echoed over the static before Donnie replied, "Just a few more minutes here and I'll be done and can intercept where you're going, but we have other problems. It sounds like a few reports have come in about a rampaging bear to the police scanners, along with your call to 911, so there's going to be more patrols in the area."

Of course there would be. It wouldn't be our life if we didn't have friggin issues pop up at every corner.

Leo and I turned a corner in an alleyway and were finally able to see the back of Elena as she was still in hot pursuit of Mikey. In a straight up foot race she would beat him hands down, and he realized it, so he tossed as many obstacles in between them as he could. I grabbed the tranquilizer gun nerd boy gave me and tried to keep it steady as I took aim, which was friggin hard to do while running.

I took my shot and gave a small hoot of joy as the tiny dart hit her in the back. This would all be over soon, she just needed to go to sleep now.

Except it didn't happen. She didn't slow down. She reached back and ripped the damn dart out of her back and threw it to the ground. Leo and I saw it didn't have any liquid in it as we ran by, so we knew she got the dose.

"Um, Donnie? I don't think that dart of yours worked, because she's still truckin after Mikey pretty good."

"What are you talking about? That dose should have been large enough to take down a few bears or maybe even an elephant," his voice sounded confused. "Oh man, I wonder…"

A few moments went by as we figured he was looking up some information, and I was getting tired of waiting. "Any day now Donnie…"

"Ok, ok, ok…" he huffed, "Geez it's not like I'm also trying to create a device to counteract the device already implanted in her-"

"Donnie!"

"The only thing I can come up with is it may have to do with her ability to regenerate and heal fast," he explained. "Maybe there was also some genetic manipulation that would allow her to essentially burn off the sedation from her system before it can take hold. Or maybe her body adapted to where it wouldn't affect her again. That would prove quite useful on the battlefield."

"Great guys, just great!" we heard Mikey yell from in front of us, "That's all cool and all, but you're not the one being chased right now!"

He ducked a swipe from one of her paws and quickly flung one of his nunchucks at a nearby pipe, using the momentum to swing him around a corner fast and barely ducking another attack. "C'mon! I'm cute, but I'm not Goldilocks! I didn't steal no porridge!"

It only threw her off track by a second, but Elena quickly redirected and followed him down the alley. "Leo, I don't think he realizes that runs out to a bigger street, it's not going to be an alley!"

Just like Don, I never hear Leo cuss. Nothing good could come of this.

We skidded around the corner and saw the realization hit Mikey as he instinctively stopped as he came to the edge of the alley that bordered with the four lane highway.

"Mikey!" we both yelled as Elena caught up to him and grabbed him by the back of the shell and slammed him into the ground, sending both of them sliding to the middle of the street. I could hear cars honk as the morning traffic had picked up, and a few slammed on their brakes to prevent hitting the pair. E picked Mikey up again by the shell and smashed him down hard into the hood of the car in front of her.

I didn't even slow down as I plowed straight into them, grabbing her by the torso as Leo grabbed onto Mikey's hands to help break her grip on him. "Leave him alone!" I bellowed as she sounded out her anger in response. I jumped back as she tried to take a swipe at me and took a stance, waiting on her to take another step.

"Leo, go get him safe…I got this," I said calmly, not taking my eyes off her. I could see both of them out of the corner of my eyes dart back into another alley, Mikey moving a bit slower than normal, and I grinned.

"Hey doll, ya want someone to chase and beat up on? Come and get me…" Her black eyes narrowed as she launched herself at me and I leaned back just in time to feel the swipe of her claws above where my face had just been.

"Want some? Come get it!" I taunted her as I leapt into the nearest alley and took off, glancing back to see if she had taken the bait. I instantly ducked as a trash can flew past my head.

Yep, she took it.