Chapter 171: Viva Las Vegas
As the flight continued, the gang was talking to the clan on Skype, explaining their latest adventure.
"So this HAVOC guy was making an army of bug people?" April asked.
"Damn, Vee," Casey remarked. "You must have hated that."
"Don't remind me," Vee said flatly.
"But some good came out of it," Tai insisted.
He held up a newspaper with a picture of the Turtles and co. on the cover, the headlines screaming "Ninja Rap is born!"
"Aw yeah!" Mikey cheered. "I'm famous, yo!"
"We were already famous," Donnie pointed out.
"Well, now I'm even more famous!" Mikey insisted.
"Yeah, Airi's been singing it for a week," Jade remarked, looking irritated. "It keeps running inside my head, and it won't leave unless I blow it out. With a bullet."
Hisako gave her a dirty look. "Jade, we talked about this."
"Right, sorry," Jade apologized.
"It's catchy, Jade," Mizuki insisted. "There's no shame in it."
"Well anyway, we're gonna touch down in Las Vegas for fuel." Leo replied. "Then we're on our way to England."
"Catch you later then." said Tai.
"Go ninja, go ninja, go," Jade sang to herself. "Go ninja, go ninja-"
She facepalmed. "Damn it!"
Everyone laughed before the call ended.
"I am so making that my new ringtone," Mikey declared.
"We'll be landing soon!" Kasumi called from the cockpit.
"Woo-hoo!" Mikey cheered. "Viva Las Vegas!"
They disembarked at North Las Vegas Airport, piling out into the landing strip.
"Here we are," Kagome announced. "Las Vegas. The city that never sleeps."
"Isn't that New York?" Mikey asked.
"Las Vegas takes it a bit more literally," said Karai.
"Remember, this is just a fuel stop, okay?" Leo reminded them. "Try not to go nuts. That means you, Mikey."
"Hey!" Mikey objected.
"Not much he can go nuts over, Leo," Karai pointed out. "The casinos won't let anyone under 21 gamble."
"True," said Hisako. "All of us are underage."
"You do realize that stuff like that has never really bothered us before, right?" Leo asked. "After all, when Raph lost at the Battle Nexus, he went out and got drunk with Traximus."
"I had a drink with him," Raph clarified. "I didn't get drunk. There's a difference."
"Lucky," Hisako deadpanned.
"Hey, I didn't even get to finish the drink," Raph pointed out.
"Anyway, while the plane's restocking, what exactly do we do?" Mikey cut in.
"Well, I'm gonna go get some food," Hisako decided. "I'm starving."
"Same here," Vee agreed. "I'm kinda tired of airline food."
"Yeah, what's up with it?" Mikey quipped, chuckling to himself.
Everyone else was merely annoyed, while Hisako pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Okay, seriously," she began. "How am I the youngest?"
"The timing of your birth," Donnie replied matter-of-factly. "You're a few months younger than us biologically, going by when Renet took us there."
"Thanks for the info, D," Kagome deadpanned.
"Don't mention it," said Donnie.
"Yeah, I'm gonna go get food," Mikey decided. "Later!"
He began to dash off.
"Michelangelo!" Splinter shouted, stopping him cold. "We don't know this city at all. Do not wander off."
"Yes, Master Splinter…" Mikey said timidly.
"Now that that's done, let's look around and see what restaurants look good," Kasumi insisted.
Murmurs of agreement sounded, and they all headed off.
Unbeknownst to the Hamato family, five mysterious figures were watching them walk down the street from the rooftops.
"Targets sighted," one remarked. "Identify them."
"Gamarons, unregistered," said another.
"Just what we need," the first one sighed.
"What should we do?" the third one questioned.
"Intercept," the first replied. "We bring them in peacefully."
On the street, Hisako slowed to a stop, sensing something approaching.
"Guys, someone's following us," she reported.
Raph sighed, not bothering to turn around as he spoke.
"It's late, I'm tired, I'm hungry, and I don't wanna play games. Show yourselves."
As if on cue, five figures descended, revealing themselves to be…
"Squirrels?" Mikey asked.
Sure enough, they were faced with five mutant squirrels, all dressed in black catsuits and wearing night vision goggles, Uzi rifles mounted on their backs.
"I'm Antonio, commanding officer of this unit," one of them piped up. "I ask that you Gamarons accompany us to base. We have some questions you need to answer."
"First of all, we're mutants, not Gamarons," Raph informed him. "Second, we're not looking for trouble. We just want to find something to eat."
"Nice try, Gamarons," the second one spat. "Just come quietly before we're forced to take action."
Leo turned to Hisako, silently gesturing to the squirrels.
"They appear to be some sort of law enforcement," she reported. "Unfortunately, their minds are rather... hyperactive. It's hard to pin down their thoughts."
Leo nodded at that before turning back to them.
"We'll cooperate." he assured. "But first, who do you work for?"
"We are officers of the Earth Protection Force," Antonio replied.
"The EPF hires mutants?" Mikey questioned.
"You got a problem with that?" one of them demanded.
"Easy, Ludwig," another one, a female, warned. "You know how strict the EPF is on non-human entities. It's a genuine question."
"I'm with Maddie," a third one remarked. "Tone down with the hostility."
Ludwig grumbled, but motioned for them to continue.
"Alright," Leo decided. "We'll come with you and answer your questions to the best of our ability."
"Thanks for your cooperation," Antonio said politely. "Follow us."
With that, they began walking, escorting the Turtles along.
A jeep rolled past a metal fence, rolling up to a security booth. The guard there leaned out, seeing Antonio at the front seat.
"Do we really have to do the ID thing all the time?" the squirrel asked. "How many mutant squirrels do you know?"
"You know the rules, Tony," the guard said simply.
Antonio rolled his eyes, but nonetheless produced an ID from his belt. The guard looked it over before letting him pass. In the back of the jeep, the group looked out the window to see numerous buildings strewn about. Donnie was the first to realize where they were.
"Area 51," he mused. "Can't say I'm surprised."
"Area 51 is real?!" Mikey exclaimed. "Awesome!"
"Can't say I'm surprised the EPF owns it," Hisako remarked.
"So what now?" Vee questioned. "Are we prisoners here?"
"Not at all," one squirrel assured. "We're just taking certain precautions."
"Once we get some questions answered and some paperwork finished, you'll be free to go," Wolfgang promised.
Antonio pulled the jeep to a stop outside one specific building, stepping out. "This way."
With that, he led the Hamato family and the other squirrels into the building toward a specific office, knocking on the door.
"It's open!" a female voice came from within.
Antonio opened the door, revealing a very large, muscular woman. She was dressed in a pantsuit and had blonde hair with blackened roots.
"Antonio," she greeted. "What do you have for me today?"
"Five Gamarons arrived in Las Vegas," Antonio explained. "They agreed to come in for questioning."
With that, the Hamato family entered and looked up at the woman, slightly intimidated.
"Well…" Mikey began meekly. "you've been taking your vitamins."
The woman stood up, looking at the Turtles in surprise before letting out a laugh.
"Antonio, these aren't Gamarons. They're the mutant turtles."
Antonio gaped in surprise. "The Ninja Turtles from New York?"
"I tried to tell you," Raph said matter-of-factly.
"Okay, that's my bad," Ludwig admitted.
"We figured this was a misunderstanding," Leo remarked. "Glad we could settle this peacefully."
"You know a lot about us, ma'am," said Kagome. "Wish we could say the same."
"Right, of course." the woman saluted. "Special Agent Ravenwood. I run the EPF branch in these parts."
"Pleasure to meet you," Leo greeted.
"I must say, for an EPF branch, you're rather... well…" Donnie trailed off, not sure what to say.
"Unconventional?" Ravenwood offered.
"Yeah, let's go with that," Donnie agreed.
"Not all EPF agents are xenophobic crazies like Agent Bishop." Ravenwood smirked. "By the way, thanks for getting him fired as lead agent. You did me a favor."
"Yeah, that was mostly her." Mikey gestured to Hisako, who rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.
"I just gave him a wake-up call… And severe bodily trauma."
"Wish I could've been there to see that." Ravenwood remarked.
"There seems to be quite a bit of bad blood between you two," Splinter noted.
"I never agreed with his attitudes on mutants and aliens," Ravenwood explained, her expression souring. "In fact, he's the worst possible candidate to make first contact."
"On that, you will broker no argument from us," Kasumi said.
"If you don't mind me asking, what are you?" Donnie asked.
"A mutant, in a sense," Ravenwood replied. "Underwent a super-soldier experiment during the Cold War; didn't quite produce the results they wanted."
"Cold War?" Karai looked her up and down, noticing her surprisingly youthful appearance.
"I've been with the EPF since 1955," Ravenwood shrugged. "I'm older than I look."
"Well, you look good," Karai noted.
"Now, my turn to ask questions," Ravenwood cut in. "What brings the famed Hamato family all the way across the country?"
Leo stepped forward at that, showing her the map.
"We're after H.A.V.O.C., a group of mutant supremacists. We faced them before, but their attacks were limited to Manhattan. Now they've gone global."
Ravenwood let out a whistle. "Well, this isn't good."
"We stopped in Las Vegas to refuel, and that's when your squirrel buddies showed up," Kagome added.
"So this HAVOC isn't coming here?" Ludwig asked.
"As far as we know, no," Leo replied.
"That reminds me." Mikey turned to the squirrels. "What's your guys' story?"
"Twenty years ago, they were exposed to mutagen," Ravenwood began. "Bishop had them brought in for tests, but I wasn't about to let him; I took the squirrels here and raised them." She gestured to each of them. "Antonio is the leader, with Ludwig as his second in command. Wolfgang is the brains of the outfit. Johann's our wild card. And Maddalena's the tactician of the group."
"I keep telling you to call me Maddie." Maddie grumbled.
"You're... all named after composers, aren't you?" Donnie asked.
Antonio shrugged. "Mom's a fan of classical music."
"Oh yeah?" Mikey asked, pointing to all the Turtles. "Leonardo. Donatello. Raphael. Michelangelo. Venus de Milo."
Leo gestured to Splinter. "Our dad is a Renaissance art buff."
"The rest of us just have traditional Japanese names," Karai added.
"Even the one who isn't of Japanese descent," Hisako included.
"Now for the real question," Mikey cut in. "One that could mean the difference between life and death. You got any food?"
-X-
Later, all of them were gathered in the complex's cafeteria, chowing down on some food.
"So, Ravenwood, it's good to see you're open-minded when it comes to mutants." said Leo.
"What Bishop failed to see was that most mutants aren't a threat, or necessarily monsters." Ravenwood answered. "They're merely animals grappling with minds and bodies they were never meant to have. No offense."
"None taken," Donnie assured her. "We've dealt with enough cases of mutated people and animals to know the effects it has on people."
"And believe it or not, Bishop's not the same man you knew," Hisako spoke up. "He's changed."
Ravenwood scoffed.
"I'll believe it when I see it," she remarked. "Still, the EPF's in good hands now. Dr. Bennett's one of the good ones."
"Trust me, we know," Leo agreed. "She's saved our lives."
"Heck, she saved all of mutant kind once!" Mikey declared.
"That plague incident…" Antonio mused. "I remember hearing it on the news."
"Meet Patient Zero," Hisako said, pointing to herself.
"Bishop helped us find the cure," Kagome informed Ravenwood. "He's part of the reason Hisako's still alive."
"Used the perfected cloning process to ensure I'd survive," Hisako added.
Ravenwood blinked in surprise at that.
"He's never cared that much for anyone. What'd you do to him?"
"Similar backstories, to be honest," Donnie replied.
"I just chose a different path," Hisako added. "He wanted to use me for what I could do, so he kidnapped me. Once he learned that, like him, I was a victim of aliens, he got a nice dose of reality."
"Course he still screwed us over big time and is locked up for the foreseeable future," Raph included. "But, I can't exactly hate the guy anymore."
"I get that he was abducted by aliens," Maddie remarked. "Yes, what happened to him was horrible, I acknowledge that. But plenty of people had it just as bad as he did, if not worse, and turned out just fine."
"Like I said, big dose of reality," Hisako said. "I called him out, made him think."
"Yep," Donnie confirmed. "Our sis here is basically his morality pet now."
"Hey!" Mikey objected. "She's not a pet!"
Donnie sighed. "Mikey... a morality pet is a person who is basically a representation of another person's morality. Their presence makes them better people. Like... Sue Ellen and Binky from Arthur."
"Ohhhh…" Mikey remarked.
"He's really not that bright, is he?" Johann asked.
"Let's just say Mikey's brain works out of step with everyone else's and leave it at that," Kagome answered.
"Hey!" Mikey objected.
"You learn to just ignore him," Karai added. "Makes your life so much easier."
"You do know that I'm sitting right here and can hear every word you're saying, right?" Mikey questioned.
"Shut up and eat," Raph ordered.
Mikey grumbled indignantly, munching on his lunch.
"Actually, while you're here, maybe you can help us on a case we've been working on," Antonio offered.
"Whoa there," Raph began. "You're the ones who uprooted our travels, and you're asking us for-?"
Hisako snapped her fingers and Raph immediately fell asleep in his chair.
"What do you need help with?" she asked.
"A new casino in town, called the Meta," Ludwig explained.
"You've been investigating a casino?" Karai questioned.
"Why is this casino a target of an EPF investigation?" Kagome asked.
"There's been strange activity there," Antonio explained. "People entering and not returning, odd noises, the works."
"That definitely sounds fishy," Kasumi admitted.
"Not the first time some alien has used a casino to try and experiment on humanity," Ludwing went on. "Kinda why we were weary of Gamarons."
"Sorry to dump this on you out of the blue," Maddie included. "If you wanna just go back to your plane, we understand. Up to you."
"We'll help you," Leo assured.
That took Maddie by surprise. "Really?"
"Yeah, it's kinda what we do," Mikey replied.
"What about him?" Ludwig asked, pointing to the still-sleeping Raph.
Hisako snapped her fingers and Raph quickly woke up, glaring at her.
"Will you stop doing that?" he demanded.
Hisako just gave him an innocent smile before taking a bite out of her lunch.
"Let me guess," Raph began. "We agreed to help them with this case?"
Leo nodded, and Raph sighed in resignation.
"What are we supposed to do?" Leo questioned. "Just leave it?"
"Leo, we have bigger fish to fry," Raph snapped. "Like world mutating fish. Seriously, your saving people thing is gonna be the death of you someday."
"I will never turn my back on people who need help, Raph," Leo insisted. "You know that."
"Yeah yeah, I know," Raph grumbled. "So when do we leave?"
"Tonight, after dark," Antonio replied.
"We'll be there," Leo assured.
-X-
After lunch, Mikey looked over Johann's weapons.
"A fellow chucker, huh?" he pondered.
"Yep," Johann confirmed. "Been training with them for most of my life."
Vee rolled her eyes, but was grinning.
"Guys, chuck off!" she ordered.
Everyone gathered around as Johann went first, performing several tricks with his nunchucks that would make Jackie Chan jealous. Mikey just tightened his mask, then performed several around the arm maneuvers. Johann retaliated with several over the shoulder moves, to which Mikey spun his nunchuck around his arm, his hand, and around his shell. Johann was beginning to sweat now as he attempted a series of complicated maneuvers around his body. Mikey just yawned, spinning his nunchucks on his finger like a basketball.
"Keep practicing!" he said cheerily as Johann slumped in defeat.
Hisako laughed before noticing Ravenwood off to the side. She slid over to the agent, smirking.
"Must be nice," she remarked. "Seeing them interacting with fellow mutants in a friendly environment."
"Actually, yes," Ravenwood admitted.
"Believe me, we get it," Hisako assured. "For years, it was just us. Now my contact list is big enough to fill a phone book."
"You and your family have done a lot for this world," Ravenwood mused. "Including shifting public opinion on mutants."
"Yeah well, it wasn't easy," Hisako admitted. "Hell, my people skills are still shit. And yet, somehow, me and my family have become icons. Heroes." She sighed. "Sometimes, I miss the days where it was just us."
"Frankly, I don't blame you," Ravenwood replied.
"I could never tell the others," Hisako went on. "I mean, Mikey loves the attention, and I don't want to sound ungrateful. I could always go in the city in broad daylight. They didn't even see a real sunset until they were sixteen. I'm happy we don't have to hide... but being a famous celebrity is... suffocating."
"I can see where you're coming from, but you can't deny you have a great life right now," Ravenwood pointed out. "You have a wonderful family, a city that loves you, friends who adore you."
Hisako nodded, petting Midnight. "You don't have it too bad yourself. Maybe you should let the squirrels be more than agents occasionally. Be a family."
"I do," Ravenwood replied. "They don't work their tails off all the time, I assure you."
"That's good," said Hisako. "Everyone deserves a chance to be happy, man, woman, or mutant."
That evening, the Turtles and Squirrels found themselves looking over the Meta casino. The sign resembled a mutagen canister with the words "The Meta" emblazoned on it in yellow lights, filled with cash. It was a massive building, covered with blue and green lights.
"You know…" Mikey began, "I'm surprised we missed this."
"The city is different at night," Maddie replied.
"What I don't get is why we have to wear these clothes." Raph remarked.
"Public decency laws," Antonio said simply. "Seriously, how have you not been arrested for indecent exposure."
"Well, in part because reptile anatomy isn't as... noticeable as mammal anatomy," Donnie replied.
"And two, this stuff just weighs us down man," Mikey added. "We can't fight like this."
Ludwig nodded. "Fair enough."
"When you said we were gonna case the joint, I was expecting something more... superspy," Mikey admitted. "Like sneaking in through the top and planting bugs."
"Going in as disguised casino patrons works just as well, and it's easier," Antonio replied.
"Uh-huh," Raph said flatly. "How did you pull that off before mutants were public knowledge. You're a bit short to be casino patrons."
"All spies have their secrets," Johan answered.
"Perhaps we should focus on the matter at hand," Splinter cut in.
"Sensei's right," Leo insisted. "Let's go."
They started heading in as a limo pulled up, an Elvis impersonator stepping out. Mikey grinned at the sight.
"Nice threads, dude!" he called.
"Well, thank you. Thank you very much," the impersonator replied. "You're not too badly dressed yourself."
"Well, thank you," Mikey said, doing his own Elvis impression. "Thank you very much."
The impersonator laughed.
"Hey, you do that pretty good. Next time, make sure you get paid for it. See you on the flipside."
He went in, and Mikey grinned, strumming a fake guitar in celebration before Ludwig snapped his fingers in his face.
"Focus, you ding-dong!" he snapped. "What, do you have ADD?"
"That's one theory," Donnie deadpanned.
Mikey shrugged. "I'm just trying to have some fun is all."
"Yeah, well let's keep plans like that between you, us, and the long line of therapists who won't be able to help you," Johann said flatly.
Everyone laughed at that before going into the casino, looking around.
"Seems like your run of the mill casino: crooked and sleazy," Vee mused.
Hisako stepped in, closing her eyes and getting a feel for the place. She grunted, stumbling back.
"Okay, too many people here. Sorry, guys."
At that moment, they heard a commotion, and turned to see a guy arguing with some muscle.
"Come on!" he begged. "One more game!"
"You're broke, pal," the muscle insisted.
"C'mon man, be reasonable!"
"You be reasonable. You have nothing to bet with. So get out or we toss you out."
"Ugh…" the man groaned. "This place is rigged! That's what it is!"
He gave the muscle a shove. At that, the muscle scowled and grabbed him.
"Remember, you brought this on yourself," he snapped before dragging the man away.
"Something tells me that guy isn't getting thrown out," Leo said, his eyes narrowing.
"What makes you say that?" Mikey asked.
"Because we're standing right in front of the exit, and he's being dragged in the opposite direction," Leo replied.
"Leo's right," Kagome agreed. "Something stinks around here."
"Too many people." Hisako repeated. "Can't tell you what's going on."
"Let's follow 'em," Ludwig insisted. "See what's up."
They snuck after them carefully, eventually finding themselves in a wide open room filled with stasis tubes loaded with green liquid.
"What the hell?" Ludwig let out.
"No way…" Raph realized. "This is a HAVOC installation."
"It is?" Leo remarked. "But… it wasn't on the map."
"Falco must have had a few projects the Mayor didn't know about." Donnie deduced.
Mikey wiped off one tube in particular, looking into it only to be faced with a particularly horrific creature resembling a cross between an eagle, a salmon, and a worm. He let out a girlish shriek before jumping into Hisako's arms. After a minute, he looked sheepishly at his sister, who was looking at him with a deadpan expression.
"Oh… hi," he began. "You come here often?"
He let out a sheepish chuckle before Hisako dropped him on his ass. With that, they looked over the tank that scared Mikey, grimacing.
"Good Lord…" Kasumi managed.
"It's not sentient," Hisako reported. "Not yet at least."
"So this poor sap wasn't originally human," Maddie mused. "There's that."
"Either way, it's freakin' creepy," said Karai. "Who votes to kill it with fire?"
That got her a dirty look. "Right… sorry."
They looked over the other tanks, seeing they were all filled with different hybrid mutants.
"All these different critters in one body," Mikey mused. "I know this one, there's like a perfect name for it in mythology."
"Chimera?" Vee offered.
"No, Turducken, but Chimera works."
"Combo mutants…" Hisako let out. "Those are incredibly dangerous. The more DNA used in a mutant, the less mental capacity it possesses. You saw what happened with Justin."
"I do remember you saying that double mutations were dangerous," Donnie recalled.
"Do we even wanna know?" Antonio asked.
"No Tony, you don't," Hisako answered. "Trust me."
"Oh no…" Kagome managed in horror. "That guy who was dragged back here."
Everyone perked up at that.
"Hisako?" Leo said urgently.
"This way!" Hisako shouted, leading them along.
"That must be this guy's scheme!" Wolfgang deduced as they ran. "Drop a human in, hope it comes out smarter and less crazy!"
"Using humans as a base or just including their DNA in general does tend to increase the probability of increased sentience and cognitive functions," Hisako confirmed.
"Mixing and matching critters like those is bad enough," Raph spat, "but dropping a civilian in is just fucking inhuman!"
"Agreed," said Kagome. "Falco's becoming more and more like Krang."
"Guess it's true what they say," Johann said solemnly. "Sometimes humans are the real monsters."
"Yep," Vee agreed. "And Falco's one of the worst."
Eventually, they came out in a larger room, seeing the man being dragged by the muscle over to a massive vat of mutagen as an older man in a business suit watched on.
"Do you know what it means when you lose your last cent in the Meta?" the man questioned. "Now you work for me."
"No!" the gambler shouted, struggling in vain. "You can't fucking do this to me!"
"I can, and I will," the businessman boasted.
The man was tossed up to the vat, but Hisako acted quickly, catching him in a halo of green.
"What is this?!" the businessman shouted.
He looked to see the man being set down gently and immediately hightailing it out of there. The group cast off their disguises.
"The Hamato Clan?!" he shrieked. "You dare interfere with the work of the great Zachary Smith?!"
Mikey blinked. "Who?"
"We just stopped in town for a bite and a supply run," Leo mused. "Who would have thought we'd run into a HAVOC installation here?"
"With a steady supply of test subjects entering my casino, how could I not do it?" Smith questioned. "All it takes is a bunch of loser gambling addicts whittling their lives away on slot machines and games. I get funding, and Falco gets mutants for his army. Everybody wins."
"Except the innocent people you're turning into mindless chimeras!" Hisako shot back. "Combo mutants are too uncontrollable! Any humanity they possess is overwritten by wild instincts!"
"You're playing with fire, Smith!" Vee shouted. "Everyone who's tried to control hybrid mutants has failed!"
"Ah, but where they have failed, I will succeed," Smith gloated. "And when I do, the world will recognize my genius." He threw his arms up dramatically. "Look out, Vegas! I'm taking over!"
"I don't think so." Antonio brandished his ID. "In the name of the Earth Protection Force, you're under arrest!"
The bodyguard raised an eyebrow. "The EPF hires... squirrels?"
Ludwig narrowed his eyes before drawing the Uzi on his back.
"You got a problem with that, punk?"
"Actually, I do," Smith replied simply. "And I believe you've overstayed your welcome."
He turned to his bodyguard. "Titus, kindly show them out."
Titus turned to the mutants, his body suddenly growing in size. His arms became massive, splitting through his suit to reveal blue fur covered gorilla arms. Bone shards protruded from the arms as Titus' face elongated, becoming more like an actual gorilla's. His hair and beard turned green as his shoulders hunched, more bone shards growing out of his back. His shoes exploded to reveal gorilla paws for feet and bent hind legs. They took in the horrifying spectacle as Titus beat his chest with his fists, but Mikey was barely fazed by the sight.
"Big whoop!" he taunted. "We've fought bigger! We can still take you!"
Titus grabbed a nearby table before throwing it at them. Mikey ducked his head into his shell just in time to avoid getting whacked, and when he popped out, his casual expression had barely changed.
"Right after I get a clean pair of shorts."
"He's a shifter, like Karai and Makoto," Hisako realized.
"Except I don't think this guy's in full control!" Karai added.
Sure enough, Titus started charging at them in a frenzy, clearly more feral and bestial. Everyone scattered for cover as Smith smirked.
"You know the kids who like to pull the wings off of flies?" he asked. "Titus likes to pull limbs off of them. Care for a demonstration?"
"No thanks, we're good!" Johann shouted.
Donnie looked at the rampaging Titus, seeing numerous discolored veins bulging out from his skin, as well as what looked like injection scars, and put two and two together.
"So that's it," he muttered. "The doc was giving him injections to suppress the Gorilla, like the pills I made for Makoto."
"You are the smart one!" Smith declared with a clap. "Yes, Titus was my best work so far, but even he couldn't fully control the beast."
Titus roared in anger at that.
"Hisako, you made Makoto's spider go away," Kagome recalled. "Can you do the same here?"
"I was high on the Aeon crystal when I did that." Hisako looked over at the chimera that had scared Mikey, an idea forming. "But I do have another idea. Someone's just gonna have to catch me."
Her entire body began to glow bright as day, then the light suddenly died and Hisako collapsed to the ground. Her eyes were unfocused and she wasn't moving. Leo ran over, scooping her up and cradling her in his arms.
"Hisako?!" he let out, patting her cheek with one hand. "Hisako!"
Suddenly, there was the sound of shattered glass and a monstrous shriek. Everyone whirled around to see the bird/worm/fish chimera lunging out of its tank.
"What the hell?!" Karai shouted.
The massive beast lunged at Titus, tackling him to the ground. Its eyes were glowing with bright green light as it scratched and clawed at the gorilla mutant. Splinter looked between the fallen Hisako and the beast, realization dawning.
"So that was her plan," he let out.
"Whoa whoa, hold up," Mikey cut in. "Are you saying Hisako's possessing that thing?"
"Her consciousness was transferred into her current body," Donnie realized. "She must have replicated the process and transferred herself to the chimera."
The chimera batted Titus aside, cawing loudly and pointing at Smith with a talon, and they got her intent.
"I'll take Hisako and keep an eye on her battle," Kasumi insisted. "The rest of you stop Smith!"
They all chased after the fleeing Smith, backing him into a corner.
"At the risk of sounding cliché…" he began before drawing a handgun, "I won't go down without a fight."
Everyone paused, looking at the gun wearily. Karai carefully lifted her arms, then lashed out with a snake hand, biting down on Smith's hand and making him drop the gun. Smith roared in pain, clutching his hand, and Antonio promptly tackled him to the ground, cuffing him as Karai retracted her hand with a smirk.
"Donnie, you have any anti-venom on you?" she asked.
"Luckily, yes," Donnie handed a small vial to Wolfgang. "Death's too good for this creep."
Meanwhile, the chimera had managed to soundly destroy Titus, reverting him to his human form. With a caw of victory, the glow in its eyes faded and it collapsed. Hisako's eyes cleared up and she sat up herself with a gasp, panting heavily as she flexed her fingers and toes.
"I can't believe that actually worked."
Some time later, the Meta had been shut down, Titus and Smith being escorted to vans by EPF soldiers. Ravenwood oversaw everything, giving the squirrels affectionate hugs.
"Good job, you five," she said before turning to the Hamato Clan. "And thank you for everything."
"It's no trouble," Leo assured.
"What's gonna happen to all of Smith's chimeras?" Kagome asked.
"We'll contain them for now," Ravenwood replied. "If they have brain functions, we'll contact the main branch for a cure. If not, we'll make sure they receive proper arrangements."
"Thanks for all your help," Antonio told them. "Here's hoping next time we meet, it's under more normal circumstances."
"Agreed," said Leo, shaking his hand.
With that, the Hamato family took their leave, heading back to the plane.
"Well, that was eventful," Donnie mused.
"Tell me about it," Raph agreed. "Did not expect that during our fuel stop."
"Wonder what the clan will think of this," Mikey pondered.
"You know what they say," Splinter began. "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas."
That got a laugh out of the others. Splinter himself managed a chuckle.
"I made a funny!" the rat ninja declared as they boarded the plane.
Author's Note:
Another one down.
Ravenwood is from the IDW comics, while the mutant squirrels (sans Maddie, who's my OC), are from an old TMNT chapter book I used to have called Buried Treasure.
Please R&R. Until next time!