A/N: Okay, I know this was a long time in coming, and I HOPE it was worth it and everyone can forgive me. Sad to say, but I ran out of steam for a while and was just so tired from work that I had no motivation for some time. Combine that with issues regarding the introduction of a totally NEW character in this chapter- you'll see what I mean when you meet him!- and you can see why I've had a hard time hammering this out. Suffice to say, I have sown the seeds of an all new Mutanimals team, with faces both familiar and of my own creation. So... Without further ado...!
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Chapter 34: Vindicated/Eye To Eye
We waited anxiously while Donatello sat still and silent, deep in the meditative trance of an Astral journey. Mikey had fallen into a similar state, lost in his search for the truth of his memories. There was little else to do while they were in their private spiritual communion, so I turned to Leo, speaking softly so as not to disturb the meditating brothers.
"Do you think this will work?" I asked uncertainly. I had very little experience with the more spiritual aspects of life as a ninja, and though Leo and Splinter had taught me the basics, Astral communication was a skill I had yet to master. "Can Donnie find him and bring him back?"
"I hope so. I wish he had let me go in instead- he's the least skilled of us at this sort of thing. Sensei says it's because he has a hard time separating his mind from his physical body. He sees the two as being inextricably tied together, but the truth is that they are two halves of a whole. While they can't exist without each other, each is a separate component of the self. Donnie just doesn't believe that."
I nodded- it was something I had trouble understanding, as well. "How long do you think it will take? I know time is different there somehow. If flows differently or something, doesn't it?"
Leo shook his head. "No, it's more simple than that. Time has no meaning there. A minute here can last an hour there, or an hour or a day there can take only a minute here. Or no time at all. One can spend hours in the Astral plane and only have been out of body for a moment. There IS no time there, because time is a concept of the physical world."
I sighed and shook my head. Somehow Leo's explanations always ended up confusing me more. I had too much in common with Donnie, I suppose. We were both individuals who needed tangible, concrete evidence to accept something as real, which might explain why we got along so well. Leo was far more suited to a spiritual existence, contemplating ideologies and concepts beyond the normal understanding of reality. He had a monk's aesthetic, and the soul of a mystic.
"So what do we do in the meantime, bro?" Raphael asked, clearly antsy. I guessed that he was still itching for a fight, probably miffed at not having a chance to get a few hits in on their nemesis. Not to mention the fact that he had just had his butt kicked by "Dark Mikey", which had to have stung his pride.
"I believe we should round up the rest of Shredder's mutants and decide what to do with them while we wait," Leatherhead suggested helpfully, looking to Leo expectantly. "Perhaps we can send them to join Krang and the others?" He rubbed his lower jaw thoughtfully.
"We can't leave these two alone," Leo protested, shaking his head. "What if something goes wrong? What if Donatello doesn't retrieve Mikey's memory, and he wakes up and tries to attack Donnie? Or-" Great. He was over thinking things, as usual, though he probably had a point.
"I'll stay here wit' 'em," Raph supplied, "I'm in no condition to tango wit' those muscle-bound freaks again, anyway. You three go ahead."
Leo looked uncertain. "You sure, Raph?" He asked, clearly uneasy with the idea of leaving them with only Raph to guard them.
"Yeah, yeah- just go, Fearless. We'll be fine here. If Mikey gets hostile again, I can always tie 'im up." He waved Leonardo off with an irritated expression. Leo glanced from me to Leatherhead indecisively. I shrugged, and the big gator-man nodded assent.
"It should not take long to find them," he rumbled. "I'm quite certain they must have left a scent-trail of blistered hide in their wake. We can simply follow our noses." He made an odd smirk, humor dancing in his reptilian eyes. I realized he was making a joke.
"It always knows," I agreed, causing him to chuckle softly. Leo rolled his eyes.
"You've both been hanging around with Mikey too much. Sheesh!" He made a grimace of exasperation and sighed. "Come on, you two. Let's go take out the rest of the trash. The sooner we get out of this place, the happier I'll be." He sounded anxious to be gone already, but considering all the unpleasant memories the huge fortress held, I could understand.
We left the portal room and made our way back to the central hub, where the alien bounty hunter still lay groaning atop the pile of rubble that had formerly been several Stone Warriors. The mangled remains of the second Knucklehead lay smoking and sparking not far away. I surveyed the carnage and grinned over at Leo.
"You guys were certainly busy on the way up, eh, Leo? Looks like World War III was fought in here." I sniggered, coming up behind him.
He made a sound suspiciously like a raspberry. "We did all this to rescue you two, don't forget." He turned to meet my gaze, and I saw something accusatory in his eyes. Oh. So that was it.
"Look, I didn't know what Mikey was doing until late last night, okay? He was pretty dodgy about how he became human, and didn't come clean until I asked him if he was going to stay that way or change back when the time was up when we talked last night. I came down here with him to watch his back, and it's a damn good thing I did- That bastard tried to de-mutate him! So don't go acting like this was MY fault, okay!" I was a bit steamed that Leo thought any of this had been my idea, or that I would have just gone along with it if I'd known. He should have known better by now.
"You're saying you had nothing to do with all of this?" He asked incredulously. "You DO know you're the main reason he went through all of this, right?"
I stepped closer, until we were almost nose-to-beak. "No, Leo, I'm NOT. Well, maybe partly, but in case you haven't noticed, your brother has been unhappy for a long time now. Enough so that he did this once before, apparently, and I wasn't even AROUND then! Don't you GET it?! HE ISN'T LIKE YOU! Mikey can't be content to spend his whole life alone in the dark away from the rest of the world. And he's not dedicated to following in Splinter's footsteps the way you are. He wants his own life, a future of HIS choosing!" Maybe I was being too harsh, too confrontational, but at the moment, it felt like the only way to get through to Leo was by spelling it out point-blank.
"She is right, you know," Leatherhead added. "Michelangelo has always seemed dissatisfied with a life in the shadows. He tries to live up to expectations that he does not truly believe in, and is made to feel like a failure when his inner nature causes him to fall short of them. Perhaps it is time to consider that your brother needs to spread his wings and seek his own path. As do you all."
Leonardo spun away, his hands falling to his sides clenched in tight fists. He trembled slightly, holding in his anger and frustration, before he finally took a deep breath and spoke. "And you expect me to just pretend that makes this okay? I'm responsible for the safety and well-being of this family, yet he seems determined to tear it apart just because he thinks we got dealt a bad hand in life! I've always believed that we are what we are for a reason. That there is a higher purpose to our lives that outweighs any inconvenience. That should be enough! Why is that so hard for him to see?"
"Because he does not share that sentiment. To him, it was an act of ill fate. Unavoidable, perhaps, but cruel and unjust, all the same. To have that most precious gift of a soul, a mind to think and a heart to feel, and then to chain it in darkness and isolation- that is a fate he is unwilling to accept. He fights against it because he MUST, to prevent the light inside from being extinguished. Because that is who he is. Anything less would be admitting defeat. But I think you know that. Would you see that light flicker and die?"
I was surprised by the hulking mutant's philosophical turn, but then, he was in a unique position to understand Mikey's feelings. He was the only one of his kind, a being whose dual nature made him both intelligent and savage, and whose size alone would be enough to frighten away most potential companions. Yet Michelangelo had been willing to look beyond that and offer his friendship. Though the gator-man had more in common with Donnie, he still held a soft spot for his first friend, the one who had first given him hope and showed him that he was not alone anymore. I was growing to like him more the longer I was around him.
Leo had remained silent while Leatherhead spoke, and it seemed a long time passed before he answered. "Of course not. I just- I can't let this family fall apart because of this. We're all each other has. We have to stick together, or we ALL fall. If we start to drift apart, we're finished. That's just the way it is." He turned back toward us, his troubled expression making him look much older somehow.
I shook my head and sighed. "But that doesn't have to mean you can't adapt or change. You can still be a family, Leo. Families grow and change, they branch out on their own- sometimes they even disagree. That's what they DO. But they still love and take care of each other. That part never changes. But you can't hold it together by force. That just shoves them further away." I touched his arm, and he flinched, as if I'd stung him. Maybe I had.
"But we're not just a family, we're a team- and we're not complete without him. We have to be united to survive. He has to know that. What are we supposed to do if he walks away from everything we've been taught?" So that was what was really bothering him. I'd rarely seen Leo show any hint of fear or uncertainty, but now he was admitting doubt and confusion over how to move forward. Now that their worst enemy was gone, he was afraid that he would lose his already tenuous hold on his brothers' loyalty and obedience. Maybe he, too, was afraid of ending up alone and forgotten.
"It is his choice to make, Leonardo," Leatherhead said softly. "You cannot control his life. That is not the place of a leader. You must let him choose his own path or he will grow to hate you. I do not think you want that. For what it is worth, I do not think he would ever abandon his family any more than you would. You are much alike in that respect."
"I hope you're right. But that doesn't change what happened. He endangered our home and family carelessly. There are consequences, and he needs to realize that. This isn't over." He turned around again, and continued through the central hub to the small security station on the far side. We followed behind, realizing that the discussion was over as far as Leo was concerned.
We went down the short corridor to the lift, and took it down to the foundry where they had fought the mutants earlier. Leo began looking around for signs of the trio's passage on the floor, using the tracking skills that were one of his specialties, while Leatherhead sniffed the air for their scent. It didn't take long for the pair to determine which direction their quarry had gone. So we followed the traces of soot and the odor of burnt fur they had left behind to the other lift on the far side of the fortress, and then went level by level, opening the doors each time to look for any continuance of the trail. We finally found it on the sixth level- the same one that the Stone Warriors' barracks were on. I wondered if soldiers made of stone even slept, but that was a question for another time. Our trackers soon found the end of the trail at the door to one of the small, Spartan rooms that served as quarters for the mutant lackeys of our enemies. Leo drew his blades, and I flipped open my fans, prepared to meet fierce opposition on the other side.
What we found instead were two very badly singed mutants huddled on the large mat on the floor that served as their bed, whimpering in discomfort from their burns. Tokka was in a corner cradling his broken arm, his shell a cracked mess oozing blood. Staring down at the pitiful creatures before us, I almost felt sorry for them. They looked up at us, and shrank back, though the one called Slash seemed angry at our intrusion.
"No more hurt Slash! We sorry!" I was surprised to hear him speak, though maybe I shouldn't have been. He tried to rise, picking up his mace, but dropped it again as pain shot from the blistered skin of his hand. "We not want to fight!" He flopped back down, grunting in pain. Beside him, the wolf-mutant bared his fangs, but didn't move. They were badly hurt, and now I wondered if we shouldn't just leave them alone.
"Leo, I don't think these guys are a threat. Maybe we should just go back." I suggested, reaching out to touch his shoulder.
"No, we can't let them go. They need to be dealt with- one way or another." That sounded slightly ominous, and I wondered exactly what he meant.
"Leo, we can't just kill them! They're helpless like this!" I protested. "Besides, they can't hurt anyone down here. They are all too dumb to work the controls on the modules, and I doubt they could make it to the surface on their own. Just leave them here."
He shook his head. "I wasn't going to kill them. But we can't just leave them here, either. We've already set charges on the ledge under the Technodrome. We're going to blow this place to Hell once we leave." Well, that was somewhat reassuring. At least he wasn't going to murder them or leave them to die.
"Perhaps we could take them with us," Leatherhead suggested, stroking his scaly jaw thoughtfully. "In time we might even be able to rehabilitate them."
Now that was an interesting thought. I looked down at the three injured mutants, and pondered the chances of 'taming' them. Tokka and Rahzar I wasn't sure about, but maybe the smarter one…. "Well, it can't hurt to try," I added, though I wondered; what would we do with three huge mutants to care for?
"Where is Master?" Slash asked, "He get mad and punish us if you beat us again!" The other two whimpered, and the wolf hung his head, clearly afraid of their master.
"Shredder is dead," Leo said. "He won't be hurting you again. But you can't stay here. This place isn't safe anymore. We can take you somewhere you can be left alone." Slash looked doubtful, but the other two appeared almost hopeful. They had at least understood Leonardo's words, even though they seemed unable to speak.
"M-Master is dead?" Slash asked, his eyes wide in shock. "Not hurt us anymore? What we do now?"
And that was the big question hanging over us, wasn't it? Yet it reminded me of something else, too. "Leo, there might be other mutants here, too," I said finally. He turned to glance at me questioningly.
"What do you mean? He's never had any other mutants that we know of," He replied.
I hated to think about what I had seen on my last visit to that god-forsaken place, but I knew we had to be sure we didn't miss anything. "Maybe none you know of, but when Mikey and I were here before, there was a cell full of them in one of the labs on the upper levels. He was kidnapping humans and animals, using that mutagen to mutate them, and keeping them confined and chained. The ones we found had all gone insane."
Leonardo's expression went from shock to fury faster than I'd ever have thought possible. "WHAT?! That godless tin-plated bastard! Is there ANYTHING he won't stoop to?!" He spun around and pounded on the wall, spouting a torrent of words angrily in Japanese. I couldn't understand any of it, but was sure it was nothing pleasant. Pretty sure Splinter would have reprimanded him if he'd heard it, too. His furious tirade seemed to cow the three mutants, with the wolf and snapper visibly shrinking back, while Slash- who seemed more alarmed than anything- moved between them and Leo, picking up his mace with his good arm and growling softly. He seemed to have a protective streak toward the other two, which I found odd, since they were bigger and far more vicious from my experience.
"What's up with THEM?" I asked Leatherhead, leaning over to whisper while Leo continued his vehement snarling about their deceased master.
"Didn't you know?" He asked, genuinely surprised, from his tone. "They are very young, and easily frightened or confused. Those two have the mental capacity of three-year-olds, and rather slow ones, at that. They are probably used to Shredder being angry at them, and they may believe that they will be punished. They simply don't understand."
Leo finally stopped ranting, though it was clear he was still agitated. "So where are they? I want to see these new mutants."
I grimaced, knowing he wasn't going to like what I was about to say. "They're dead. We- we couldn't help them, so Mikey…." I paused, not quite knowing how to tell him the rest. I found it hard to continue, the memory of watching them die eating away at my conscience.
Leo caught the hesitation in my voice, and scowled. "What happened" He asked, in his "leader" tone, the one that demanded compliance.
"He flooded the holding cell with carbon monoxide. They were too far gone mentally to save, so he put them out of their misery. There was nothing else we could do for them; they had lost their minds completely. Except one- and she wanted us to end their suffering. I think she was probably the last one Shredder mutated, so she still had some sanity left. But the rest- they were hurting themselves or attacking shadows, or just sitting huddled in the corner catatonic. Mikey called it a mercy-killing."
Leo's expression fell, staring at me in disbelief and horror. "He KILLED them?!"
"Yes. It was all we could do for them. They were just- if you had seen them, Leo…. We couldn't even free them, because they would have gone berserk and attacked anything in sight. Probably would have ended up getting killed by the Foot-bots, or Shredder and his goons. Some of them were just animals, confused and afraid because of what he did to them. Some of them had been human, but they had lost all reason."
He listened, an expression of hurt and betrayal. "I- I just can't believe Mikey would ever kill helpless innocents like that. Why didn't he wait and tell us about them when the two of you came back? We could have DONE something!" He said, truly horrified. As I had known he would be. Leo's sense of justice and morals had just been dealt a blow by the news that his brother had killed innocent mutants, never mind that they had been beyond help.
I sighed. He might never understand what we had seen that day, but I had to believe he would at least accept it- eventually. "Because he knew there was nothing anyone could do for them. Even if Donnie could de-mutate them, the shock and stress of what they went through was too much. The sphinx-girl might have recovered, but the rest never would. He did what he thought was best, Leo. He ended their suffering the only way he could. We couldn't leave them there like that- some of them were bleeding from self-inflicted wounds they made in their maddened state."
"You two could have at least told us what was going on down here. Why didn't you? I thought we already discussed why keeping secrets from the family is wrong." Great. He was in lecture-mode again.
"Because we already had enough to deal with at the time, or did you forget what that monster did to me?" I asked point-blank. "Besides, Mikey felt that none of you would understand, because you weren't HERE. You didn't see them. They were just…." I shook my head, the horror of what we had seen still fresh in my memory. "If you'd seen them, Leo, you'd know we did the only humane thing we could. It was painless, and fairly quick. They just fell asleep and that was it."
Leonardo frowned at the implications of that. Perhaps he realized we had been right. At last he sighed, turning to exit the room. "All right then, show us where they were keeping these mutants. If we're lucky, they haven't created any more of them."
"What about these three?" Leatherhead asked; the three mutants looked up at Leonardo expectantly, somehow understanding that their fate was in his hands now.
He shrugged. "Bring them along. At least that way we can keep an eye on them. Anyway, I don't know what else to do with them right now." He shook his head, sighing. Made me glad I wasn't the one having to make the hard decisions.
The three huge mutants rose slowly, shuffling out into the corridor quietly, seemingly subdued by their earlier defeat and the fact that their master was now gone. I led everyone back to the lift, and up to the level where Mikey and I had found the lab. I didn't know what I expected to find, but it certainly wasn't what we saw when we entered the chamber of horrors, as I'd mentally dubbed it.
The room was mostly dark, as before, but once again, the large cell was occupied. How Shredder and Krang had found more test subjects to mutate, I'll never know, but there they were. Six of them. They were all wearing some sort of thick metal collars with small lights on them, presumably intended to control them. The collars looked heavy and uncomfortable, and I could see places on each of the mutants where the collars had rubbed their flesh raw.
Each of them was different, and each seemed to have been transformed for a specific purpose or set of abilities, if one were to judge by their mutations. The first was feline, a scruffy-looking male cat-man missing an eye and a chunk out of one ear. It looked like he had been a stray alley cat in his previous life before being mutated. He looked sullen and angry as he paced back and forth, his lips curled up in a snarl, but his quick reaction when we entered indicated he at least had his mental facilities intact. His tail lashed, and he whirled and slammed his fists against the thick glass wall between us, his yowl of anger muffled by the thick barrier.
Then there was the large mutant chimpanzee in a tattered lab coat huddled in one corner, seemingly muttering to himself, staring at the floor with an intent expression of concentration. At first I wondered if he was another lost cause like the insane creatures I had encountered before, until he glanced up on seeing us, and jumped up, racing toward the wall and pointing toward the console excitedly. Well, he had some sort of intelligence; that was something, at least. From his movements and the almost human expression on his face, he appeared to understand that we were not there to hurt them.
I moved over to the console and studied it, trying to remember how to operate the controls. Leo just stared at the captive mutants, gaping in disbelief at what he saw. Leatherhead joined me at the console, examining the controls for a moment. Seeing the commotion made by the first two mutants, the others had now joined them at the wall, staring at us with a mix of hope and fear. One of them- a female to judge by her shape- was clearly fox-like, with soft, white fur covering her body, a long, bushy tail, large, pointed ears and a longish muzzle. She gazed at us curiously, but with a hint of nervousness.
Behind her, a large, fierce-looking avian mutant scratched at the glass wall with taloned hands, her feathers ruffled in anger. If her markings and sharp beak were any indication, she had been mutated from a falcon. The final two mutants in the enclosure were a short, stubby-tailed lizard with mottled brown skin and big eyes- most likely a gecko- and a sleek bird-mutant with glossy black feathers and a keen, intelligent gleam in his eyes. A raven? Poe would have had nightmares about that one….
"It would seem that we may need to find additional transport back to the surface," Leatherhead commented. "We cannot leave these poor souls here, to be sure."
Leo frowned, and shook his head slowly. "No, of course not. I suppose we could take one of the transport modules. Or one of Krang's mini Techno-Rovers." He sighed heavily, as if realizing that a new weight had just been dropped onto his shoulders. Sometimes I think he takes on too much responsibility. But maybe that's why he is the leader. He deals with the problems no one else is willing to.
After a few moments spent experimenting with the controls, Leatherhead finally found the button to release the locks on the collars around the necks of all the mutants. They popped open and fell off; all six of the mutants looked down at them in disbelief, before I saw the lizard suddenly leap up and pump the air with his fist, giving what I took to be a whoop of excitement. The cat-man gave us a nod of appreciation, while the chimpanzee and the fox-girl high-fived each other. The two avians regarded us with guarded curiosity, seemingly suspicious in spite of having had their collars removed.
Then Leatherhead found the command to open the holding cell, and I watched in trepidation as the glass wall slid down into the floor. We waited for the mutants to step out of the enclosure, Leo and myself both keeping our hands near our weapons just in case they decided to attack. They simply stood frozen at first, eying us warily, until the gecko finally took a few steps out of the cell, glancing around nervously, his body tensed as if to flee in an instant. I didn't blame him.
"W-who are you guys? Did that creepy dude with the helmet and spikes turn you guys into monsters, too? Oh, yeah- I'm Jason, heavy metal musician and skateboard wizard, at your service!" He made a mock bow as he introduced himself. "Uh, I don't suppose any of you guys would know how to change us back, would you?" He asked uncertainly, looking from Leo to the other three mutants with us. Then he turned to gaze at me. "HEL-LOO nurse! Hey there, hot stuff! Wanna play 'Doctor'?" He winked, giving me what might have been an attempt at a charming smile. Unfortunately, it fell flat.
I groaned and rolled my eyes, as Leo tried to hide a smirk. "We're here to rescue you," Leo replied, taking command of the situation in true leader fashion. "I'm Leonardo, and the big guy with the toothy smile there is my friend Leatherhead. The other three are Slash, Tokka, and Rahzar. And she's my adopted sister, Orlene."
Then the chimp stepped forward, coming out of the holding cell to study my companions more closely. "Were you all human, too?" He asked. "My name is Dr. Tyler Rockwell, and I used to be a bioengineer at Columbia University, before I was dragged out of my lab one night about two weeks ago by that man the lizard-boy mentioned and had THIS done to me." He sounded angry, though he obviously had good reason.
"Hey! Nerdy dude! The name is Jason, okay? Not 'lizard-boy'!" The gecko huffed indignantly, glaring at his fellow mutant. From the way the mutant ape bristled at the appellation, I got the feeling there was some friction between the pair. Rockwell just rolled his eyes at the gecko's outburst.
"Yes, yes, whatever," The ape said, making a gesture as if to dismiss his recent cell-mate, turning back to Leonardo. "As you can see, we have been confined in that cell long enough to get on one another's nerves. To say nothing of the vile things that man did to us. He was using those collars to force us to obey him. Some sort of mind-control device, that gave us electric shocks if we didn't comply. Our captor is quite the sadist!"
"Not anymore," I commented, moving away from the console. "He's dead now. He can't hurt any of you ever again."
"Yeah, well ya' should'a saved a piece of him for ME," said the cat-man, speaking at last. "Humans are all alike, always treatin' us animals like dirt. One day they act like they care about us, then the next- BAM! Out the door on our butts." He sounded bitter, and I got the feeling he was speaking about a personal experience. Had he been kicked out by his owner? I thought of Trouble, and felt sorry for the mutant feline. No true pet-lover would have done such a thing.
"Ignore Hob here, he's just antisocial," said the raven, moving forward to offer his feathered hand in greeting. "My name is Dr. Eric Allen, and I was an engineer and inventor at Stock-Tronics until just three weeks ago. Now I'm not quite sure WHAT I am."
I gaped at him, startled. "Did you say your last name was Allen? And you worked for Stock-Tronics?" I asked. "You aren't related to Dr. Chet Allen, by any chance?"
He nodded. "That's right, he was my half-brother. We worked together on the exo-suit. I was there the day he was-" He paused, unable to finish, and slumped slightly.
"I know," I said softly. "I was there too. I was with April O'Neil, interviewing him about the suit. I saw what happened to him. I'm sorry."
"Yes, I seem to remember that. You were the one that maniac kidnapped, were you not?" He nodded sagely, his dark yellow eyes seeming to stare right through me. I started to see why Poe had been so terrified of the bird above his door.
"My friends, perhaps we should head back up to the portal room to see if Donatello has managed to get Michelangelo back to his old self." Leatherhead interrupted sagely. I glanced at Leo, who nodded. For once we agreed on something.
"You should all join us. We've placed explosives on the ledge under this fortress, and we intend to destroy it when we leave. You shouldn't be here when it goes. We can worry about what to do about all of you later." Leonardo said, addressing the mutants. They all glanced at each other uncertainly, but said nothing as they followed him out one by one. Leatherhead tugged gently at the pair of mutant "toddlers", and Slash scowled and followed them out.
I trailed behind, taking a last look around the room. I spotted a set of vials in a container inside a cabinet with a glass front, and something about it caught my attention. It looked like the mutagen I'd seen before, but it was purple. On impulse, I quickly darted over to the cabinet and opened it, grabbing all six of the vials and stuffing them into a pouch on my belt. Maybe Donnie could find a use for it, if it was what I thought it was.
I jogged back out of the room to catch up to the now larger group of mutants heading back to the lift. I rejoined them just in time for the lift doors to slide open. Leo turned to look at me curiously, apparently having noticed my absence. I just shook my head and smiled, shrugging. He frowned, but didn't say anything. It was a tight fit getting so many bodies- some of them BIG- into the lift, but we managed. I pressed the button for the main "bridge" level, and waited while it carried us back up. When the doors opened again Leo led everyone back through the central hub- I noticed that the bounty hunter Krang had hired had managed to crawl toward the portal room a few feet before collapsing again- and the mutants all stared in bewilderment at the carnage in the room.
"Whoa! What happened here?" The gecko who called himself Jason asked, gaping at the man-shaped piles of rubble and the dismembered Knucklehead.
"Well, obviously, there was a battle of some sort," replied the chimp sarcastically. "See those char-marks? Probably from laser blasts. And I don't even want to know what tore that robot apart."
"That was our toothy friend there," I supplied with a snigger. "Just remember to stay on his good side, and you'll be fine."
Rockwell's eyes bulged as he turned to stare at Leatherhead in shock. "HE did that?! Good heavens!" He asked incredulously. The gator-man just gave him a wide grin and chuckled. Rockwell blanched. I had to admit it was rather intimidating.
"It was bothering me," he replied simply. I heard a chuckle from the fox-girl, while Jason stuck out his tongue at Rockwell and the two avians tried to muffle sniggers of amusement. Only the cat looked on without any visible reaction. He seemed unfazed by the sight of so much destruction.
"I'm impressed. Can't wait to see what ya' did to the human scum who tortured us." That was all he said; Leatherhead only shook his head and sighed.
"Come on everyone. Let's go see if Raph and Don have managed to get Mikey's psyche back to normal." Leo said, passing through the room without a second look at the results of their earlier battle.
"Hey, you wouldn't maybe want to go out sometime, would ya'? I know this great park where we could get to know each other a little better, if ya' know what I mean." Jason asked, sidling up beside me, looking up with a wide grin, waggling his brow-ridges suggestively. I rolled my eyes, letting out an annoyed huff.
"Sorry, I'm taken," I ground out, wondering if he actually believed he was being charming.
"Aw, man! Who is he? I'll fight him for your favor!" He proclaimed, pretending to box with an imaginary opponent. I sighed at his antics, shaking my head. Why was I suddenly attracting mutant guys?
"It's his brother, and he would wipe the floor with you," I commented absently, gesturing toward Leo. Best to nip this budding interest in the bud, I thought.
"Whoa! You're datin' a mutant? So, like, I've got a shot, then, right?" He prodded persistently. I had to give him credit for trying, even if it was in vain.
"Sorry, my heart belongs to a turtle," I replied, hoping that would shut him down completely.
"Bummer," he replied, deflating slightly.
We entered the portal room, and found Raph and Donnie sitting with their arms around a groggy Michelangelo, who was looking around with a confused expression. He glanced up when we entered, and his eyes lit up when he saw us. He tried to rise, but staggered and wobbled a bit, clearly still trying to shake off the effects of being brainwashed. The other two jumped up to help steady him, but he waved them off.
"Geez, quit crowdin' me! I'm okay, dudes, just give me a sec to get my bearings. Sheesh!" He grimaced and shook his head, then took a deep breath and made a few tentative steps toward us. He saw the entourage with us and blinked in surprise.
"Whoa! Where did all these guys come from?! Has Shred-head been stealin' animals from the zoo again?" He trotted over to Leatherhead and gave the huge mutant a hug. "Hey, LH! Good to see ya', buddy!" He said, smiling widely. Then he leaned over and grabbed my hand, yanking me toward him enthusiastically. "Hi, babe. Miss me?" He grinned, before smothering me with a deep kiss. I felt those strong arms wind around my waist, lifting me off my feet as he whirled in a circle, holding me tight. Damn it felt good to have him back.
"So that's the guy you're datin'? What's he got that I don't?" The gecko mumbled sullenly. I ignored him.
"Is it really you?" I asked when Michelangelo finally let go.
"Yup. The REAL me, not whoever tin-face turned me into. Donnie told me what happened. But he said you were hurt! What happened?" He glanced down, and saw the bandages around my waist under my slashed shirt-front.
"Nothing serious. Leo had to cut me a little to make a convincing display of my 'death'. I'm just glad the ruse worked." I replied, noticing his look of concern. "Don't worry. I'm fine," I assured him. He looked doubtful, but didn't argue.
He glanced down at the lifeless heap on the floor, grimacing at the congealing crimson pool which had spread from the body. "You guys couldn't wait for me? I wanted a piece of him, too, y'know," he said softly, closing his eyes for a moment. He opened them again and sighed, nudging the remains of their most hated enemy as if to be sure he was truly dead, and then simply stared at the body for a while. I could only guess at the thoughts going through his mind.
"Guess we should blow this joint and go home," he finally said. "I've had about all I can stand of this place."
I was inclined to agree, after all that we had been through. I was already wondering how to explain my absence from work to April and Mr. Pennington. All I wanted was to go home, take a long hot shower, and try to forget about this nightmare of a day. I wasn't sure how I felt about having helped to kill Shredder, but at least now I had found closure. The man who had taken so much away from me was dead, and he wouldn't haunt my dreams anymore. That much I was sure of.
"Actually, I was hoping to download as much of the data from the main computer core as I can, in case it might be useful some day," Donatello said, moving over to the console. He opened up his duffel bag and pulled out a small box of thumb drives, and began opening up file folders on the main screen and copying them onto the drives. Trust our resident techie to want to steal every bit of knowledge he could possibly use.
"Fine, but make it quick, Donnie. How long will this take?" Leo asked, clearly impatient to be gone.
"Not sure. Maybe an hour or two?" Donnie replied, looking up at the screen with a shrug. "There's a lot to go through here. While you're waiting, you might look around for any tech or equipment we could use. If nothing else, I'm sure Krang had plenty of weapons we can confiscate for study." In other words, he wanted to make off with everything that wasn't bolted down. Typical, I thought, biting back the observation that had just popped into mind. "You guys go through the biochemistry lab and the armory and take everything you can salvage down to the hover-sled. If it won't fit, we can just take one of those mini-Techno-rovers back. We might need one anyway with so many more of us to transport."
Leo scowled on hearing what the brainiac was suggesting. "Donnie, we're not here to run around like kids in a candy store. This isn't one of your junkyard runs, we are going to destroy this entire fortress when we leave. We don't have time for poking around just so you can have new toys to play with."
Donatello turned to regard him with an irritated expression; I noticed that the new mutants were all glancing at each other nervously, seemingly aware that they were somehow intruding on an awkward scene between family members. I'd seen this sort of disagreement before, and wisely decided to stay out of it.
"Leo, we need every advantage we can get- especially now, with that Bishop guy lurking around. Every tactical edge we can get will help us stay two steps ahead of those EPF goons. Because if he's after what I think he is, we're going to NEED it!" Donnie countered in an exasperated tone. "Besides, maybe somewhere in all this data and equipment we can find a way to help Mona Lisa, and these guys too." He waved a hand absently in the direction of the recently mutated group, in an almost dismissive manner. I thought it was a bit insensitive of him to act as if they weren't there, but that was Donatello- any time he was focused on a project or idea, the rest of the world ceased to exist in his mind.
"Excuse me; EPF? What is that?" The ape-mutant asked, lumbering forward to stand between the pair. He glanced from Leo to Don and back, raising one hairy hand to scratch his head.
Donatello opened his mouth to speak, but Leo beat him to the punch, slipping instantly back into "Leader Mode". "They're a secret government organization, supposedly a branch of the FBI whose job is to handle 'unknown threats' like alien encounters or supernatural events. It's led by this guy- Agent Bishop- and we think he might have his own agenda, or be involved in some sort of top-secret project to create or study mutants for military purposes. He's been spying on us for several weeks now." The looks he got from the assorted mutants ranged from confusion to shock and even curiosity.
"Military, huh? Sounds like more human torture crap to me," commented the cat, who had been mostly silent until then. Hob, the others had called him. He seemed to view humans with contempt for some reason. I wondered what had happened to make him so antagonistic to them. I was willing to bet it wasn't just what Shredder had done to him.
"What do they want with you?" The raven- Dr. Allen, I reminded myself- asked, tilting his head in an odd, birdlike manner.
"We're not sure, but we think he wants to use us for whatever project he's got going. He's been trying to convince us to let him study us- even resorted to bribing us with the prospect of creating female mutants like us!"
"What nerve!" The ape-man exclaimed. "Curious that he didn't suggest returning you to normal instead. I would think that would be a bigger enticement." He scratched his head, his big lips pursed and brows furrowing in thought. I found his puzzled expression oddly amusing.
"Yeah, not much of a motivation, 'dere, pal," Raph commented. "We started life in a pet shop, and we AIN'T goin' back!"
"Yeah, we much prefer being sentient mutants to returning to life in a fish tank or a pond. We've gotten kind of attached to our current state." Donatello added, shrugging. Leo nodded assent.
"Speak for yourself, dude, I'd rather go full human." Mikey's muttered opinion drew a mildly annoyed glare from Leo.
"Funny, I thought that was what got you INTO this mess in the first place!" He remarked in an irritated tone, which raised brows from a few of the mutant newcomers, but no one said anything. Mikey glared at him angrily, but remained silent for the moment. They stared at each other, as if each was daring the other to say something, but in the end, Leo shook his head and turned to the others. I sighed in relief, glad he had decided to drop the matter for the time being.
"Alright, guys- you heard Donnie. Let's make a fast check for useful items to salvage, and get out of here as quickly as possible. I've had my fill of this place." Leo finally said in an authorative but agitated tone. Raph and Mikey both nodded agreement; Mikey grabbed my hand and tugged lightly to get me to accompany him as he headed for the door.
"Where are you two going?" Leo asked sharply. Mikey turned, giving him a cheerful grin.
"To the armory! We know where all the good stuff is!" He chirped, and waved as he continued toward the big doors. I just shrugged and followed behind as he half-dragged me along in his wake.
"Ah, this sounds interesting. I believe I will join them." Dr. Allen said, falling in behind us.
"Yeah, sounds like a plan. I'm in," Hob said. It occurred to me that letting an angry, human-hating mutant get his hands on the weapons in Shredder and Krang's base might not be a good idea, but maybe I was judging him too harshly. Perhaps he had good reason to mistrust humans.
"Me too, dudes!" The gecko chimed in, and scuttled over to join us. Michelangelo just gave him a friendly clap on the back and grinned.
"The more the merrier, dudes!" He replied brightly as we all stepped through the door once it slid open.
We were several feet down the corridor leading to the central hub when Dr. Allen spoke once again, sounding uncertain and hesitant. "So what was that about back there, if you don't mind me asking?" His voice had an odd croaking quality to it, like the bird he resembled.
"Oh, it's sort of a family thing," Mikey replied, oddly reticent for once.
"Long story short, he and Leo have a difference of opinion that's been causing some friction in the family. Mikey here wants to live a normal life and follow his own path, but Leo is the oldest and was put in charge by their father as head of the team. He thinks they should all stick to the way they were raised and trained as ninjas, living in the shadows away from humans. Mikey came down here and made a deal with the partner of that creep in the helmet to make him human for a day- and now Leo feels like he betrayed the family for selfish reasons. He's angry because he thinks he had to come down here and 'rescue' us, because apparently we can't take care of ourselves." I covered the entire situation as succinctly as possible, giving him the Cliff's Notes version of what had caused the scene the mutants had witnessed.
"Ugh! Why would you want to be like those stinkin' humans in the first place?" Hob asked coldly, sounding disgusted.
"Wait, you mean you got to be human and you went BACK to this?! Dude, that's bogus!" Jason said, gaping at him in shock.
"Yeah, well, I wanted to be human 'cause, well- I got my reasons. Anyway, I sort of HAD to change back. I mean, that was the deal I made with Krang. Just sucked that Tin-head tried to double-cross me."
"I see. So this deal did not go as planned, then?" He asked. His claw-like feet clicked loudly on the metal floor, echoing oddly down the corridor. It reminded me of that scene in Jurassic Park when the kids were being stalked through the kitchen by the raptors. Creepy. I tried to shake off that peculiar thought as ridiculous.
"Sort of. I mean, the deal itself went okay, but then when I came back here to get changed back, Tin-Face went behind Krang's back and tried to de-mutate me back to soup-fodder! I guess Leo has a right to be mad at me, but he just doesn't see things the way I do! He might be okay with spendin' the rest of his life in a sewer, but I'm NOT!" Mikey exclaimed, slamming his fist against the metal wall. He was beginning to grow agitated now, still frustrated that his brother continued to dismiss his feelings as childish and unimportant.
The raven-man shook his head, ruffling his feathers with a soft croaking sound as we reached the lift. "Then why return at all? If you wanted to be human, why change back to this?" His expression was difficult to read, but I got a sense of curiosity, and perhaps a bit of envy.
"Yeah, sounds like a total bummer! If I could be my old hunky self again, I'd totally do it! Bein' a lizard sucks!" The gecko said, absently flicking his tongue out over his eyeballs. I had the sudden urge to ask if he had thought of doing insurance commercials for a living, but thought better of it.
"I dunno', I'm startin' to like bein' a mutant. It has some advantages," mused Hob. He flicked out a set of sharp claws from his fingertips, grinning like he'd just eaten the proverbial canary. "I can do a lot more damage with these. Not to mention the advantage of bein' smarter and able to use their tools and weapons. No human's ever gonna' kick ME around again!" He was almost growling, and I almost suggested we detour to the bio-labs instead. Giving him any kind of weapon suddenly seemed like a very BAD idea….
Michelangelo paused, his hand halfway up to the control panel for the lift doors, and sighed. "It wouldn't be fair to my bros. Sure we argue a lot, and maybe we don't like each other sometimes, but we're family, and we look out for each other, no matter what. I couldn't go off and leave 'em stuck down in the dark like that. Like it or not, Leo was right about one thing- we have to stick together to survive. I just wish we could live like normal people instead of always havin' to hide from the world." There was pain in his voice, as he tried to accept the loss of his hopes and dreams. I laid a hand on his arm, gently squeezing it to remind him that he hadn't quite lost everything.
"So you gave up a normal life to stay with your family. A most noble sentiment, I think. My mother's people would have said you honored your tribe by choosing to remain with them. There is much wisdom in choosing the needs of others over one's own desires." Eric said approvingly, as Mikey pressed the button. "It seems your brother is more concerned with actions than intent. Perhaps that is why he is so angry."
"Uh, yeah, I guess so," Mikey replied uncertainly, while we all filed into the lift. "Anyway, it doesn't matter. Unless Donnie can figure out a way for me to change again, I'm back to hidin' in the shadows for keeps."
"Yeah, I know the feelin', dude," Jason commented with a sigh. "Looks like my axe-playin' days are over. The band probably thinks I'm dead by now. Total bummer." He hung his head, his expression dejected. Then the doors closed, and we waited as the lift platform began to take us down to the armory.