Chapter 37: Progress
Renet's POV
I can't believe it! It's actually Michelangelo! All this time I've been stuck down here, alone with my own miserable thoughts, wondering why the Shredder hasn't destroyed history yet. I never expected any of the Turtle Warriors to actually find me, and now here's Michelangelo, crouched outside the bars of my cell, looking even more surprised to see me, but real and solid and definitely not erased from history! I can't help calling out his name in my excitement.
"Michelangelo!"
His look of surprise has changed to excitement, but he doesn't say anything. Instead, he puts his finger to his lips, signaling me to be quiet. I clap my hands over my mouth, realizing that of course he's trying to be stealthy and not let the bad guys know he's here. I hope my thoughtless outburst didn't alert anyone.
A second later Donatello and Leonardo materialize out of the shadows and I can barely contain my squeal of delight and relief. I glance around behind them, looking for Raphael, but he doesn't appear.
Stepping closer, Leonardo takes in my dirty and disheveled appearance at a glance, then leans in toward me in order to speak in a whisper through the bars.
"Renet, how did you get here?"
"Well, that's a long story," I whisper back. "Basically I came to this time period by accident, lost the Time Scepter, and I got captured when I tried to get it back."
Leonardo's eyes widen a bit, but he doesn't ask me for any more details. Now's not the time for storytelling, after all. Instead, he turns toward Donatello. "Donnie, do you have your lock pick?"
"Sure, Leo," answers Donatello, in an equally low tone of voice. He begins rummaging around in the satchel he's carrying, though he continues to stare straight ahead as he does so, which strikes me as strange.
Finally, he extracts the lock pick and holds it out, still not looking at anyone directly, or making any move toward my cell door. "Here it is."
"Mikey'll have to do it," says Leonardo, not even reaching for the device. Wait, why are his hands all bandaged up?
Michelangelo snatches the lock pick from Donatello and flashes me a shining grin before setting to work, pressing his tongue out between his teeth in concentration. Why did Leo say Mikey would have to do it? I would assume Donatello would be more experienced at picking locks. I glance at each of the three in turn. Something feels off here. . .
After several seconds go by, it becomes obvious that Michelangelo doesn't really know what he's doing. Leo is tapping his foot impatiently, and I venture to voice my concerns, making sure to keep my voice down this time.
"Um, shouldn't we just have Donatello do it?"
"He can't," Leo states shortly.
"Why not?"
"Because I can't see it, that's why," answers Donatello shortly.
"What?" This doesn't really register in my brain.
"Look, recently, we have had a few, uh, rather devastating encounters with the Foot," Leo explains, looking embarrassed and clearly speaking with some difficulty. "They had a new weapon, of sorts, that left us with several, um, physical limitations."
What? He can't be serious. I stand there for a few seconds with my mouth hanging open, just staring at them. Donnie is standing there with his arms crossed, a frustrated look on his face. I feel a lump tighten in my stomach and I shake my head frantically as my brain tries to come to grips with this new information. No. This isn't supposed to happen. This is all wrong. Donatello the Inventor isn't supposed to be blind. He's supposed to astonish the world with his inventions and scientific discoveries.
Before I can clear my head enough to think of anything to say, the lock clicks and Michelangelo pulls the door open, cringing when the hinges let out a loud squeak.
"Thanks, Mikey," I say. Darting out of my prison, I snatch up my bag that is still lying on the floor a few meters away. Michelangelo flashes me a winning smile, but still remains quiet. These guys are taking the ninja stealth thing very seriously.
As Leonardo steps closer to me to talk again, I throw another glance at Donatello, who has been standing rather awkwardly in one spot this whole time, not looking at anything. This is wrong. This is not the course things are supposed to take. Something's been changed in history!
Which means this is all my fault, too.
"Donatello, I -" I'm not really sure what I'm about to say, but Leonardo interrupts me.
"There's more." His face is set in an expression of grim acceptance. "Donnie wasn't the only one affected. Mikey lost his voice, and I can't use my hands. . . at all." He says this rather rushed, as if he's trying to get it over with, and I just stare at him in shock for a couple moments.
Michelangelo. . . no wonder he didn't greet me with his usual enthusiasm.
This is so messed up! Leonardo the Leader is famous throughout history for his unmatched swordsmanship. And Michelangelo is the life and spirit of the team. He can't lose his voice! This is wrong.
The guilt is bearing even more heavily on me as I look apologetically at each of the turtles. They look like they're waiting for me to say something, but what can I say? I'm sorry sounds so small and inadequate. A million questions race through my brain, but in the end one emerges above the others.
"What about Raphael?"
There's a small pause during which Leonardo's sad frown grows deeper before he says, "He can't walk. We left him in the Shellraiser on surveillance."
I shake my head in disbelief. Raphael the Warrior. His strength and fighting skills were feared by his enemies around the globe and even beyond.
"No," I say at last. "No, this is all wrong. This wasn't supposed to happen."
"Well, it happened," says Donatello in a clipped voice, clearly not wanting to prolong this conversation. "Now let's get that Time Scepter before the Shredder uses it to cause any more damage."
He's right. I shove all the horrible shock deep down and try to focus but my mind is still swirling with the enormity of my mistake.
"Right, back to the plan," Leonardo says. "Renet."
I quickly turn my attention back to Leonardo.
"We're here to get the Time Scepter. We can't let the Shredder use it. He'll be sure to -"
"Yeah, I know," I interrupt. "He'll use it to destroy you guys, and consequently, the future of the human race." I've been brooding over that a lot these last few days.
"Right," continues Leonardo. "Do you have any idea where it might be?"
I shake my head. "Sorry, Leonardo, but I was captured almost the instant I got inside the building. I didn't get a chance to see where the Scepter was."
A faint crackling sound comes from the headsets all three of the turtles are wearing. It sounds like someone is talking through them. Donatello responds to it, speaking into the microphone in a slightly louder whisper than what we've been using so far.
"Raph, we found Renet. She was in one of the dungeon cells." A pause. "Yeah, I think she can help us get the Scepter back." Another pause. "We'll let you know."
So Raphael is communicating remotely. I wonder what exactly Leonardo meant by "surveillance".
"Do you have any weapons?" Leonardo is speaking to me again.
"Oh! Yeah!" I pull open my bag and take out my energy knuckles, which I attach to my hands, and then slip my entropy dart gun over my right wrist. It's all I've got, but at least it's something. Finally, I swing my pack back onto my back and strike an expectant pose. I'm ready!
"Okay," continues Leo. "Mikey, get out those explosives and put a few of them on the supporting walls down here. This is the foundation of the building, so if this blows, the whole place will collapse with it. Donnie, you better go with him."
Michelangelo pulls out a sack and, grabbing Donatello's hand, leads him to the nearest wall. After the two of them stick a few small devices onto key locations on the stone walls, Leonardo motions for us all to move toward the stairs leading to the upper levels. I follow the others, still partly in shock, but more determined than ever to put right this terrible mess I've made.
At the foot of the stairs, we pause while Leonardo talks into his headset. "Raph, we're about to leave the dungeons. What do you see up there?"
I hear the muffled crackling noise again, but I can't make out what Raphael is saying. Leonardo fills me in, though.
"Raph says there are five Footbots patrolling the corridor up above. We won't be able to get past them all without them seeing us, so we'll just have to dispatch them quickly before they can alert anyone else. Got that?"
Donatello, Michelangelo, and I nod in unison.
"Good, then let's go."
As Leonardo leads the way up the stairs, I rub my energy knuckles together, increasing their charge. I'm taking care to be as quiet as I possibly can, but Leo casts me an annoyed glance and I know I'm nowhere near the absolute silence these ninjas are capable of.
Leonardo pauses at the top of the stairs, then nods for Mikey to open the door for him. A second later they burst out, instantly in battle mode. Donatello keeps his hand on Michelangelo's shell for guidance until the latter starts swinging his nunchucks and dashes off to engage one of the five robots that are converging swiftly on us.
On my left, Leonardo is fighting one of the bots, armed only with his fists, and on my right Donatello whips his bo from his back, and assumes an offensive stance as Leo calls out to him, "Two bots at three o'clock, Donnie!"
In an instant, Donatello has darted in the right direction and fells one of the enemies with a direct hit to the head.
I'm still standing by the doorway, somewhat stunned, because all of this has happened in less than two seconds, and I can barely comprehend how fast they are.
Michelangelo and Leonardo have nearly defeated the three bots on their end of the room, but Donatello's next attack misses his second opponent as the bot darts away out of reach. Looking slightly bewildered, Donnie pauses, clearly listening to try to discover the bot's location, but no instructions come from Leo, who is busy and unaware of Donatello's danger. With all the noise of fighting around him, Donatello doesn't hear the robot coming up behind him, doesn't see the blade swinging toward his neck.
At last I come to my senses and with one swift motion I intervene, punching the robot square in the back as hard as I can, which, granted, isn't very hard, but it doesn't need to be. My energy knuckles do the trick and send a current of electricity shooting through the robot. It sparks and spasms in a satisfying way before going rigid and falling to the ground, smoking a little.
Eeep! I just saved one of the Turtle Warrior's lives! Of course, he wouldn't have been in danger in the first place if it hadn't been for me, but still!
At the first sound of impact, Donatello whirled around, expecting an attack. Hearing the confusing sounds of electric sparks instead, though, he asks, "Renet? Was that you?"
"Yup!" I say, brimming with excited pride. "I took that bot down with my energy knuckles!"
"Wow, thanks!"
"No problem."
The next second Michelangelo and Leonardo join us and Leo is already giving out more instructions.
"Raph says the rest of the way to Stockman's lab is clear. Let's move before anyone notices this." He gestures to the broken Footbots all over the floor.
As silently as possible, we sneak along a few more corridors, then at last through a door that isn't locked. I stare in amazement as we enter the vast laboratory. There are glass fronted cages along several of the walls, mercifully empty. A gigantic cylinder full of a shiny green fluid takes up most of the middle of the room, which is otherwise covered in various desks, work tables, and machines.
After a few moments of carefully sneaking around the room, we determine that there is no one here. We breathe a collective sigh of relief before Leonardo deems it safe to speak, though still in a whisper.
"Okay, guys, I figure this is the most likely place for the Time Scepter to be hidden. Everyone split up and search the room."
Michelangelo is instantly off, exercising a few unnecessarily flamboyant moves on his way, after which he glances back at me with a smile, to see if I noticed. I can't help giggling at his antics.
Leonardo is already on the other side of the room – they are so fast! - and I decide to start searching behind some ancient computer machines nearby, leaving Donatello standing rather forlornly alone, holding his bo and looking very unsure of himself.
It might take a while to find the Scepter here. There is clutter everywhere! Random bottles of who-knows-what are tossed haphazardly aside with unfinished devices that do potentially anything. And everywhere trash! Bits of moldy food and other, less identifiable objects that I'd rather not touch. Gross!
Suddenly Donatello's voice calls out, quiet, but clearly audible. "Raph says Stockman is heading this way!"
I try to stand up quickly, but bump my head on the underside of the table I was searching under. Ouch! By the time I make it to my feet, Michelangelo is already bounding toward the open door, ready to head off the intruder.
"What izzzz thizzzz?! Turtlezzz! In my lab! How did you get in?!"
I stop for a moment to stare, revolted, as the most disgusting creature I've ever seen flies into the room. His massive, insect eyes seem to be staring in all directions at once and his twitching mandibles are dripping with some foul liquid. I quickly duck behind the table again. I really, really don't want him to come any closer to me.
I needn't worry though. Michelangelo is already on him, grabbing one of his legs to pull him forcefully down within reach of his nunchucks. As I watch the horrible fly try to release himself from the much heavier turtle while simultaneously attempting, and failing, to avoid being hit by his weapons, I suddenly hear my name being called.
"Renet!"
I spin around to see Leonardo trying to get my attention from across the room. "Mikey's got that taken care of! Keep searching!"
Oh right. Time Scepter.
Ignoring the skirmish going on near the door, I turn my attention once more to rummaging through the fly's nasty messes. After a few moments of fruitless searching, I hear a loud thump and turn to see the mutant fly slumped on the floor, apparently unconscious, while Mikey performs a lively victory dance over him. He catches my eye and winks in a showing-off kind of way, and I smirk back at him. Someday I hope we can hang out under circumstances where the fate of the world is not at stake.
At last Leonardo determines that we have searched the lab thoroughly enough. "It's not here, guys. We'll have to check somewhere else. Raph," he starts talking into his headset again. "The Scepter's not in the lab. We're going to head toward the throne room. Is there any danger in the corridors?"
I wait patiently while Raphael's voice buzzes into the turtles' headphones before Leo fills me in again. "Raph says none of the mutants are in sight, but there are a few more Footbots along the way, so we'll have to watch out. I don't think they've discovered that we're here yet."
More stone corridors. We manage to avoid all the Footbots without being seen. Then we're creeping through a large entrance hall and toward the open door into Shredder's throne room. My heart is pounding in my chest now as all the scariest parts of my childhood imagination begin to flit through my brain.
I can hear voices coming from inside the room, but they sound sort of echo-y and it's difficult to make out what they're saying. Leonardo, who is leading the group, reaches the doors first and peers cautiously inside. I hear him gasp audibly, then he rushes suddenly through the door, the rest of us following quickly behind.
I enter the vast throne room just in time to see a flash of white light consume the large, frightening form of the Shredder, accompanied by the unmistakable shape of Master Splinter.
Leonardo calls out, "Sensei!" But it's too late. They are already gone.