Chapter Thirty-Eight
Preparing to confront the Nemesis
Back at the Foot Headquarters, Dr Arden stood before the Venomous Five, and Arashi stood next to him gazing at the five deadly mutants.
Arashi had taken a couple of weeks to get his body moving again due to therapy and drugs, and even though he was still weak, he was able to stand and observe Dr Arden's work.
"All were good medics and nurses of mine, until I decided to upgrade them to something more deadly..." said Dr Arden with an evil smirk "I got a scout to steal samples of deadly reptile DNA to make them into these mutant warriors..."
He gestured his hand towards the reptiles "The Komodo Dragon, the Nile Monitor, The Gila Monster, The Cobra and the Black Mamba."
Izo Arashi stared at the mutants and smiled evilly.
"My good Doctor," he breathed as he gazed at the Venomous Five, "You have truly outdone yourself this time...You have succeeded in your experiments, true you may not have used the turtles, but you have come close..."
"I do not intend to give up my lord," said Dr Arden "Along with the other assignments you gave me."
"That's what I like to hear..." Arashi said softly.
"I enjoy making those turtles, their rat sensei and Lizard whore suffer..." Dr Arden said "Especially the lizard with her healing abilities...also I wonder if her child will carry the same abilities..."
"That we can find out..." said Arashi "In the meantime Dr Arden...I give you permission to continue your experiments...on any colleague in the Headquarters we see fit, or I can employ some Purple Dragon scum to be a guinea pig."
Dr Arden's smile widened in glee.
"My scouts can provide me with DNA of any dangerous animal you desire..." Arashi continued "And we shall train them with everything we know about the Foot...so they will be deadly in combat against those turtles..."
"I will not let you down Master..." said Dr Arden "I promise..."
Back at the lair, the turtles and Mona stood around a table near the computer where Donatello had constructed a map of the Foot Headquarters.
"I've studied the layout of the Headquarters." said Donatello "And trying to find the best route to the Laboratory."
He pointed to different areas of the map and to some marked areas.
"I managed to locate some entrances via air vents and through the sewers, if we split into groups or single, we can enter the laboratory without being seen."
"Great plan Donny." said Michelangelo "But there's only one thing worrying me, what if the Venomous Five are laying in wait?"
"I doubt the Venomous Five will be waiting in the laboratory." said Mona "If we were able to defeat them during our last confrontation, well, I mean when Donny gave them a right beating..."
Donatello shuffled slightly as he remembered,
"Dr Arden would probably be giving them more training, that is if he's not using his drugs to boost their strength and reflexes..." Mona continued.
"Dr Arden tends to use drugs to get what he wants..." said Donatello with a slight snarl "He doesn't work for anything."
"I can't think of anything more dishonourable..." said Leonardo "I wonder how he even learnt how to fight, unless of course he had some kind of drug to help him fight."
"I'd like to find out more about this joker..." said Raphael with a snarl "After all, we have faced him in battle and suffered his experiments..."
Donatello looked at his brothers and a knowing look crossed his face.
"It so happens, he said that I did some research on Dr Arden whilst I was..." he paused "Doing my research..."
He whispered those last few words as the other turtles and Mona squirmed at the fact of what he went through.
"You learnt about that Freak?" asked Mona.
"Indeed..." said Donatello "There was quite a profile about his past, before he became the Foot's Scientist." he walked over to the computer and tapped a few keys before bringing up a photo of Dr Arden.
The mutants eyes widened as they saw the picture of the Doctor. He looked nothing like the scarred freak scientist they knew but he looked respectable and rather handsome, not the kind that would be a science crazy villain.
"I learnt that Dr William Arden was a rather respectable and well known Doctor, he was one of the greatest students to excel in Harvard University in Massachusetts in different types of science and medical practice."
"Whoa..." said Michelangelo "And this was before he went all scar-face and cuckoo!"
That comment earned him a slap across the head from Raphael who glared at him to be quiet.
"He worked his way to the top as a doctor, earning his own surgery and practice, it seemed he was always popular with his patients too." said Donatello as he began to show different newspapers showing the Doctor at the time of his success.
Mona was shocked as she saw the different headlines from online newspapers.
'Dr William Arden opens own practice'
'Dr William Arden, named a true genius by his grateful patients'
"He was indeed a successful medic and was respected by his staff and patients..." said Donatello with a hint of sadness in his voice.
Everyone else seemed shocked as well, seeing how Dr Arden in the headlines was completely different to the one they knew now.
"I never believed Dr Arden was such a respected doctor." said Leonardo as his eyes glazed over the reports "But what happened to make him turn into an evil scientist?"
In answer to his brother's question, Donatello then tapped some more keys on the computer and some more headlines showed up, this time of something darker and sinister.
"It turned out that Dr Arden throughout his practices, he began to experiment on his patients, tricking them into being willing human guinea pigs, trying to find new ways to enhance people's intelligence, strength, even prologue their life...He had become obsessed with finding out new ways the human body worked and how he could enhance it."
Everyone winced in horror.
'Respected Doctor had a dark side'
'Evidence of trusted Doctor's cruel experiments discovered behind the practice'
"Many of his patients died on the table, after being subdued to such horrific experiments, the court heard that Dr Arden tried to get rid of the bodies by burying them in mass graves behind the practice."
Donatello tapped another key and at once a picture of the practice was shown blocked off by police tapes and another photo was shown of Dr Arden being lead away in handcuffs.
"After being found guilty of murder and illegal experiments he had his licence revoked, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment." Donatello continued "But after six years incarceration, he escaped and disappeared..."
"You mean he escaped prison?" cried Michelangelo
"He's a convict on the run!?" cried Mona.
"Uh huh..." said Donatello "And despite many police searches, the evil doctor was supposedly never seen again...like he disappeared off the face of the earth."
"I wonder how he came across The Foot or Arashi?" asked Raphael "Or how he got a job with them?"
"That I don't know." said Donatello "But that's not important, right now we need to get into the Foot Headquarters and see what he's really up to!"
"And we will do it together Don!" said Mona "We swear you're not going to be alone on this one."
"Thanks Mona..." said Donatello.
After several minutes, the turtles and Mona had run over the plan several times to make sure they knew what they had to do.
"Ok." said Donatello "There are five different entrances, all leading to the laboratory, two takes us straight inside via the vents, one through a small window here, one that leads from the sewers to the basement of the headquarters where more vents will lead to outside the laboratory. All we need to do is decide who goes through which entrance so we can confront that freak doctor!"
"And once inside," said Raphael "We kick his butt, along with the Venomous Five and destroy this abominations!"
"Right!" said Mona "But who will take what route?"
Everyone looked at each other wondering who would go for what entrance.
"Let's draw straws..." said Michelangelo holding up five different coloured straws. "We'll all close our eyes and snatch a straw and the colour tells us who goes where."
Normally everyone would roll their eyes at Michelangelo's ideas but they agreed that was the best option.
"Ok," said Donatello "Green and blue straw goes through the vents leading inside the laboratory, yellow is the window, and pink and red is the sewer and up the vents from below to the outside."
"Agreed." said everyone together.
Everyone shut their eyes and quickly took a straw from Michelangelo's hand.
"Ok what's everyone got?" asked Donatello.
Leonardo and Mona had gotten green and blue, though Leonardo had gotten the green straw.
Raphael and Michelangelo had gotten the pink and red, and Michelangelo had laughed at the fact Raphael got the pink straw.
Which meant Donatello got the yellow straw.
"Ok, that's a fair drawing of straws." said Donatello, Michelangelo was still laughing at the fact Raphael had gotten the pink straw, but he soon stopped when Raphael gave him the look of death.
"Ok, now we know what we have to do," said Donatello "Let us run through the plan one more time."
Over an our had passed before the turtles and Mona were ready to confront their enemy.
"Ok guys..." said Leonardo as he placed his katana on his back "As long as we follow Donatello's plan, we shall be fine, but any trouble, we get out of there immediately."
Everyone agreed as they prepared their weapons and placed them on their bodies ready to leave.
"Be careful my children..." Splinter's voice made them turn around, he was holding Pandora over his shoulder patting her back, she soon let out a little burp and gurgled nuzzling her grandfather's soft fur.
"We will sensei..." said Leonardo bowing to Splinter as the others followed suite.
Mona and Raphael instantly walked over so they could say goodbye to Pandora. Raphael held her towards him and nuzzled her making her giggle and grasp the sides of his face.
"Aww, she's so cute!" said Michelangelo as he stroked her cheek and tickled her lightly.
Mona also held and kissed her daughter and placed her back in Splinter's arms.
"We'll be back soon Pandora," she said "We promise, you be a good little girl to Grandpa Splinter."
"She'll be fine Mona..." said Splinter "She's a little angel..." he nuzzled Pandora as she grasped some of his fur in her hand.
Mona caressed her daughter's head then turned to the turtles as they got ready go.
"Be wary my children..." Splinter whispered softly "And stay safe..."
The turtles and Mona bowed then left the lair.
Splinter held Pandora close to him and began to rock her gently.
"Don't worry Little Geisha, your mother and father and uncles will return safely, I have prepared them well, and soon, when you're a big girl, you too will join them on their missions as a ninja."
Pandora gurgled in reply and Splinter nuzzled her before walking into the TV area to watch his soap operas, hoping it would help cease the worry he had for his children.
So the turtles and Mona have a plan and they've learnt about Dr Arden's backstory! Hope you enjoyed it! I hope to write a more detailed backstory in my later fics, but this is the sort of small insight to what he was before he became one of the Turtle's great enemies.
Tune in to the next chapter to see how they fair in battle! Let's keep our fingers crossed for our heroes!