CHAPTER 9
Mass explosions
"Whoa!" Leonardo gasped, as he vaulted over the disused turnpikes and headed into the midst of the lair. "What happened?"
It hadn't exactly been tidy when they'd left, but now it looked like a whirlwind had torn through the area and scattered everything in its midst. Yet for all the strewn possessions and scattered food, the core furniture was still intact and in position.
That, along with the lack of actual carnage, relaxed Leo from his initial worry that there had been an attack launched in their absence. Instead it looked more like someone had been on a messy rampage.
Michelangelo quickly raised his hands, anticipating the usual blame target in such circumstances. "I swear, it wasn't me!"
"Of course it wasn't you. You were with us the whole time."
Donatello turned conspiratorially to his youngest brother. "Do you think Raphael literally exploded this time?" he joked.
"Mm… It's entirely possible." Mikey deduced.
Ignoring the other two, Leo headed over to the midst of the mess. There, he frowned slightly as he caught sight of the magazine he'd only gotten half way through reading earlier. He reached over to pick it up, but quickly dropped it again.
"Ugh, it's all wet! And… Eww-!"
"Unless he's experiencing an extreme regression, I doubt this was Raph." Donatello reasoned, peering at the squiggly doodles all over the case of his laptop. He then scowled as he opened the device up and found the remains of a slice of pizza squashed inside.
"Guys!" called Michelangelo. "Look…"
He was pointing at the box where the egg they rescued earlier had been nestled. Instead, there was now just pieces of broken shell.
"It hatched!" Donnie exclaimed, setting his laptop down and walking over to pick up some of the pieces. "Amazing… I wish I'd been here to see it."
"I guess we know the culprit of the mess, then." Leonardo deduced, before failing to resist the temptation to rub the facts in Donatello's face. "It was Raph after all."
"Yeah, but not our Raph." Donnie retorted.
Mikey looked around the room again, then gasped. "Dudes! We had it all wrong. I've just worked out what Shredder's master plan is."
"Oh?" prompted Leo, though he didn't anticipate his brother's deduction to be particularly credible.
"He wanted us to find the egg, and for us to bring it home." Michelangelo clarified, worriedly. "He's released into our midst… A weapon of mass distraction!"
Donatello face palmed. "Seriously?"
"So where's Raph and, er, Raph two?" asked Mikey, looking around.
"Split up. Find them." instructed Leo.
Raph!" called Mikey, setting off towards the bedrooms. "Raphael! Where are you, Bro?"
Donnie predictably turned to head into his lab.
That left the dojo for Leonardo to investigate. Heading there, he was relieved to find the tree unblemished and in perfect health, the rugs covering the floor were spotless and the paper screens pristine as always. The mess seemed to be isolated to the living area.
On the far side of the room, the ornately decorated panels leading to Splinter's room were ajar. Leo crept closer, nudging the door back further and peering to see whether Raph was inside. He wasn't, but their master was sat quietly meditating.
At the disturbance Splinter opened one eye to glare at Leonardo, who quickly recoiled and bowed apologetically, sliding the door closed again as he did. He turned to head back to the living area, but was stopped as Michelangelo appeared breathlessly in front of him.
"Dude, come quickly!" he called urgently. "I found Raph!"
Leo's heart worriedly skipped a beat. "What happened? Is he ok?"
"Come on!" Mikey yelled, turning and racing away.
By the time Leonardo reached the landing outside their bedrooms, Donatello had also been summoned and was looking around in concern and confusion.
"Mikey, what's the problem?" Leo asked.
Michelangelo put his finger to his lips. "Shh! This way, Dudes."
He crept over towards Raph's room, then carefully reached out and pushed the door open for them. Leo shared a brief, uncertain glance with his other brother before they both leant in for a better view.
Raphael was asleep on his bed, completely unharmed save the same bandage on his ankle that had been there previously. However laying on top of his plastron, rising and falling with his breathing, was cuddled what could only be described as his miniature.
Looking to be roughly the age of a toddler, the small mutant turtle was sucking its thumb with one hand, while the other hand was wrapped tightly around one of the trailing ties from Raphael's mask.
"They're so cuuute!" gushed Michelangelo, keeping his voice quiet as he hopped excitedly from foot to foot.
Wordlessly, Donatello pulled out his T-phone and snapped a picture.
"What are you doing?!" Leo hissed, as the flash went off.
Whether it was due to the light or the noise was unclear, but Raph's eyes flew open. His gaze snapped to the doorway, where Leo and Don were instantly caught as spectators. They both hastily retreated, anticipating an explosion of proportions that only the most hot headed turtle could manage.
But it didn't come. Instead, Raphael slowly and carefully slid his sleeping miniature off his chest and onto the bed, taking pains to disentangle the small fingers from his mask as he did so. Standing, he then stealthily padded over to the doorway.
Silence continued as Raph cautiously closed the bedroom door, before being suddenly broken as he finally whirled on his brothers in fury.
"YOU GUYS ARE GONNA BE SUCKING PIZZA THROUGH A STRAW!" he roared, launching himself at them.
Leonardo abruptly turned to flee, but ran smack into Donatello as the other tried to do the same thing. Losing precious escape time bouncing off one another gave Raphael all the opportunity he needed to reach them and begin a no holds barred beat down.
"Aww, he's adorable!" gushed April, "So this is what Raphael looked like as a kid?"
"We were all pretty adorable, April." Donnie volunteered. "Some of us still are."
It was the following evening after the mutant turtle egg had hatched, and all five of the mutant turtles were sat around in the living area of the lair with April and Casey. Two of them looked a bit bruised and battered.
"Yeah, aside from a few missing scars Raph looked exactly like that." Leonardo confirmed, before following up with, "But apart from looks, that thing is completely different."
"It's fascinating." Donatello said meanwhile, tapping away at his laptop. "Far as I can tell, tampering with the growth has had a detrimental effect on egocentrism and automatous thought."
Casey grinned. "Surely reducing Raph's ego can only be a good thing?"
"Yeah, like you're one to talk!" Raph retorted.
Throughout all of this, the young mutant turtle just sat there, head tilted slightly and wide green eyes staring distantly into space. As far as Leo had observed it was either in this placid state, as if awaiting instructions, or it was running around wildly with little indication of rational thought.
The thing was just creepy. It wasn't helped by the fact that, despite being less than a day old, it looked to be an equivalent of about 4 or 5 seemed to be physically aging even as they watched.
"Hey, little fella." April greeted, crouching down to smile at the child. "I'm April!"
When she didn't get a response, Michelangelo piped up; "He doesn't talk much."
"It doesn't talk at all." Leonardo snapped. They were all getting too attached to the thing and he had a feeling in his gut that it was not going to end well.
"Oh. Well, that's ok!" April beamed. "Maybe he's the strong, silent type."
"You got that right." Raphael agreed, approvingly. "I'm going to train him to fight. Then we can go on missions together. Me, and Junior."
"Junior?" Leo repeated, incredulously. "You gave it a name?"
"Technically he shared his own." Donnie pointed out, earning him a glower.
"C'mon." Raph then called, beckoning his miniature. "Let's get started!"
Like a puppy, the child jumped up and followed after as Raphael headed for the dojo.
"Aww, they seem really close." April said with a smile, watching them go.
Donatello looked up. "I have a hypothesis on that." he explained. "Raphael was the only one here when the egg hatched. I think Junior has imprinted him as his mother."
Casey grinned widely. "Dude, that's awesome! Mommy Raph."
"Well, I think it's sweet." April interjected.
"I agree with April!" Donatello quickly stated.
Mikey looked confused. "That's not what you were saying earl- Ow! Watch where you're kicking, dude!"
"I didn't kick you." Donnie stated, a picture of innocence.
"Yeah…" Leonardo said slowly, before taking a deep breath as he reached a decision that he knew his brother was not going to be happy with. "April, there's something Donatello needs to tell you."
His brother nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I've been running some scripts to process the data we found yesterday and I'd like your help to concatenate the-"
"That's not what I'm talking about." Leo said pointedly, cutting Don off.
Donatello hesitated, a look of alarm manifesting in his mismatched eyes.
"April." Leonardo started, turning to her. "There's a reason his eye changed colour. Something happened, that night when Donnie was accidentally de-mutated and we had to use the mutagen to turn him back…"
The turtle in question jumped to his feet in panic. "No, don't! Don't tell her!"
Heedless, Leo pressed on. "When he was re-mutated, there were changes to his DNA. Rather than being genetically related to Splinter…"
"Leo! Please!" Donnie begged, heartbreakingly.
"He's now genetically related to the person who touched him last…"
Hardening his heart to Donnie's pleas, Leo concluded; "You."
April's eyes widened.
"You're like Mom and Son, or Sister and Brother!" Mikey helpfully explained.
There was a splutter as Casey snorted with laughter and simultaneously began a victory dance of epic proportion. "Nice work, D! Own goal from the mutant freak… Casey Jones wins!"
Donatello's eyes flicked over to Casey, then Leo, then back to April as a turbulent array of emotions flickered across his features. There were traces of anger and frustration, combined with a significant degree of humiliation.
However, at the forefront was clearly hurt and distress, something which left Leonardo with a substantial pang of guilt. But he clung to the fact that he'd done what was needed, and in time hopefully his brother would come to forgive him and see that it was for the best.
"Donnie…" April started sympathetically, stepping towards the traumatised turtle.
But Donatello backed away in stricken alarm. "No! No, I don't want to hear it! Don't say it!"
April hesitated, confused, which just served to upset the teenager more. Especially as, in the background, Casey was still laughing in glee. With a whimper, Donnie turned and fled to his lab, slamming the door shut behind himself.
Casey finally sobered at this, realising that the level of upset in the situation. Both Mikey and April moved to follow Donnie, but Leo reached out to stop them, shaking his head. "Give him some time."
"Ugh, this would have been easier if he'd just told you himself." he then lamented. "What an idiot."
"Dude, not cool." Mikey said, pouting. "He was really upset!"
"He's had plenty of time to speak up." Leonardo pointed out, ruthlessly.
Michelangelo looked towards the lab. "Yeah, but…"
Suddenly, the door flew open again and Donatello rushed back out. In one hand he was brandishing a beaker that seemed to contain mutagen. "Raphael!" he cried. "We need to stop him, before-"
"Whoa, shortest sulk ever, Dude!" Mikey said, impressed.
From the dojo there suddenly came a wet sounding explosion, which was followed by poignant silence. While Leonardo looked at the others in confusion, Donatello paled slightly.
"Oh no…"
All of them hurried to the dojo, where they were greeted with a scene of devastation. To the edge of the room Raph was stood in shock, sais drawn in unused anticipation at his sides. On the far side, a messy puddle of mutagen splattered out in all directions. It was miraculous that Raphael had not been hit, as everywhere else in the near vicinity seemed to be.
Donnie exhaled. "Raph's ok… Thank goodness."
"I… I'm ok?" Raph repeated, turning to the group. There was a dangerous, unhinged edge to his voice.
"What about Junior? Where's Junior?"
Donatello grimaced. "As far as I can hypothesise from the available evidence, the mutagenic compound they used in the emulation meant that he was structurally unstable. Consequentially, when exposed to strain the bonds holding the form together collapsed and the clone forcefully reverted to original substance."
"ENGLISH!"
"He exploded. Into mutagen." Donnie summarised, hesitantly.
Raphael stepped over, shaking with rage. "Bring. Him. Back."
"I… I can't. He's gone."
A tense few sections of silence passed, with Raph's intense green eyes staring in a mixture of disbelief, horror and shock.
"It was just a clone. Maybe it's better this way." Leo said, consolingly.
It was evidently the wrong thing to say, as Raphael's eyes bulged furiously. "Just a clone? JUST A CLONE?!"
Leonardo could feel the others glaring at him.
"You KNEW this was going to happen?!" Raph said, turning suddenly on Donatello.
"I only just realised. Dude, I'm sorry…"
Raphael roared furiously. "Maybe if you'd spent less time messing around and figured it out sooner, we could have DONE SOMETHING!"
Donatello, evidently still tender from his abject humiliation just a few minutes previously, recoiled as if slapped. "Raph, Bro, there was nothing we could have-"
Leonardo stepped in, putting himself between his two brothers. "All right fellas, that's enough."
He wasn't expecting it to be Donnie shoving him out of the way. "BACK OFF, Lame-onardo! Haven't you helped enough today?"
"Ooh, burn." Mikey murmured, from where he was spectating at a safe distance with April and Casey.
"I've never seen them fight like this." Casey said, watching in morbid fascination.
"It'll be ok." Michelangelo explained. "Sensei will come and shout at them to be quiet in a minute."
"I don't think more shouting will help this time." Splinter said from behind Mikey's shoulder, causing the turtle to jump. "This is something that they would be best to let out of their systems."
"But, Sensei…" April objected. Before she could continue, the yelling and shoving on the other side of the room seemed to be reaching some form of climax and threatening to degenerate into an all-out brawl.
"-acting like a pair of big BABIES-!" Leo was yelling, his injured voice gravelly. He threw his arms up in frustration, batting both of the others in the process. "-never listen - been trying to help - but NOOOO…"
From Donnie, in hysterical tones, there was, "-there was no WAY I could possibly-!" then followed with "-you just don't care about ANYONE except yourself-!" as he used his advantageous height to loom over the others.
The remaining turtle's irate ranting was even less intelligible and sprinkled with colourful expletives that caused Splinter to frown disapprovingly.
Eventually Raphael was the first one to snap completely, as he suddenly shoved both his brothers roughly to the floor with foot and fist before storming dramatically from the room and out of the lair with the unstoppable force of a juggernaut.
With a frustrated glance at Leo, Donnie jumped to his feet then promptly turned and stalked back to his laboratory. For the second time in half an hour, he slammed the door behind himself.
The last remaining, Leo stood and stared angrily after his disappearing brothers for several moments. His chest was heaving with barely contained fury and his fingers curled into a fist so tight his knuckles were whitening.
"I'm… Going out." Leonardo seethed to the others, feeling heated rage bubbling dangerously beneath his skin and battling frantically not to take it out on them or any inanimate part of the lair.
With that he abruptly turned towards the garage. He dropped down onto the disused railway lines and strode furiously alongside the tracks without looking back.