CHAPTER 16

Turtle soup

Raphael hated injections. Especially injections administered by Purple Dragons that contained an unknown substance of which the effects had not been established. He'd understood Leonardo's gesticulations to go along with it, but he didn't like it. Not one bit. If this all turned out badly, his brother was never going to hear the end of it.

Ignoring the stinging pain in his arm and putting on his best zombie face, Raph shuffled through to the body of the warehouse in the company of his clones. If they didn't have such gormless expressions, he'd be part of quite the handsome crowd. Of course, it would have been better if he wasn't joining a group of Mikeys. That was a parade of nightmares right there.

The room was set out into various zones. He passed a pile of moth eaten mattresses piled with tatty blankets that were presumably where the clones slept, before heading onwards towards where two long rows of tables were surrounded with mismatched, dilapidated seating.

In turn, each clone was being handed a bowl of indeterminable beige slop then taking a place at the table. There, they worked methodically through consuming the unappetising gruel in their off-putting, perpetual silence. Raphael wordlessly took the bowl he was handed, then obediently took his seat with his clones.

Glancing around, as far as he could count Mikey must be amongst his own clones and was actually doing a good job of blending in. So good that Raph couldn't actually pick him out from the group as they began to wolf down the unappetising meal. It was probably just as well that his brother's stomach seemed to be made of iron.

Where was Leo? Surely there must be more of a plan than just joining the ranks of the clones for free board and lodging. Looking towards where the stragglers were being handed their bowls of mush, Raph caught what must have been the real Donnie subtly giving the meal he was handed a faintly revolted look, before reverting back to a gormless expression.

Behind him, the next turtle in line took the bowl as it was offered and uttered a reflexive, "Thanks."

Raphael smirked slightly. Finally, things were about to get interesting.

He watched as Leonardo, flustered, realised his mistake and tried to salvage the situation.

"I mean… Er…" he stammered, "The one known as the clone of Leonardo is not the one known as Leonardo in this place known as here."

"How is talking like a Kraang going to help?" spluttered Donnie.

"The turtles!" Tsoi exclaimed. "The real turtles!"

"Dorks." Raph muttered, getting back to his feet and flinging his bowl of food at Tsoi. Watching it crash into the guy's head and then coat him in the sticky gruel felt very therapeutic.

He was surprised and initially pleased as his action seemed to trigger all his clones to mimic him and also fling their bowls of slop at Tsoi. Then the plan went downhill, as a bowl and its half-eaten contents hit Raph instead.

"What the-?!" he exclaimed, turning towards the collection of Mikeys who were preparing to mimic the movements of Michelangelo-prime and chuck their food towards the Raphaels.

Raph roared in anger. "MIKEY!"

"Awesome. FOOD FIGHT!" cheered Casey, skating in through the abandoned doorway and snatching a bowl of slop off the serving table.

April followed him in, carrying the box containing the manufactured enzyme.

"Get them!" insisted Fong, moments before being hit in the face by a spoonful of gruel launched by Casey.

Leonardo nimbly dodged as several nearby clones drew their weapons and turned on him. "Take out the Purple Dragons." he directed.

"With pleasure." Raph muttered, racing over to Sid. Picking up a large stock pot, he slammed it down over the human's head and then kicked him into the wall for good measure. With a groan, the gang member slumped unconscious to the ground.

Across the other side of the room, he saw Leo knock down the slop covered Fong while Donnie dealt with an equally messy Tsoi. Really, with Hun absent the Purple Dragons were about as dangerous as Ice-cream Kitty during a heat wave.

"Don't hit the clones yet." Leonardo warned, as he dodged away from several, "We don't want them to explode."

Raphael rolled his eyes. "Yeah, thanks for the recap. I'd forgotten about that."

"How do we get the enzymes into them?" April asked, hurrying over.

Leo hesitated a moment. "We… Ask nicely?"

"Hey, clones!" he called, jumping onto a chair and clashing his swords together to try and attract their attention.

Silence fell as all the clones hesitated. Falteringly, Leonardo launched into, "Uh… Before we can fight… First, we need to observe the ancient ritual of the, er, traditional pre-fight… Vitamins!"

"Really, Leo?" Raphael snarked, arms folded, "That's the best you can come up with?"

"I'd like to see you do better!"

"There's an ancient ritual of pre-fight vitamins?" Casey whispered to April.

Raph walked over and reached into the box that his brother was holding. Grabbing one of the capsules, he raised it up so the clones could see. Then he threw the pill into his own mouth.

"Raph!" Donatello exclaimed, "Don't-!"

But it was too late, as Raphael had already committed to swallowing the tablet. He then turned with a scowl, "What? You said these were safe! For us."

Donnie grimaced. "That was before we received the protein injections…"

The mimicking plan seemed to work, as the clones surged forward to reach into the box Leo was holding and obediently take an enzyme capsules. Raph moved aside, towards where Donnie was standing. He then fixed his brother with a furious glare.

"You'll be fine." Donatello hastily reassured, as Leonardo finished doling out the enzyme and hopped down off the seat. "Or, at least, mostly fine. Eventually."

Raphael opened his mouth to demand more detail from his scholarly brother, but was cut off from speaking as one of the clones barrelled enthusiastically into him.

"You still wanna fight?" Raph snapped, batting the Mikey away. It seemed that the timeout for the attack of the clones had apparently finished, now that the 'pre-fight ritual' was complete. At least, with the enzyme administered, the hands-off approach was now obsolete.

The one that hit him was lost amongst others that surged forward. But Raphael managed to trip up one of the other Mikey clones, then hit him with a chair for good measure.

"Heh, actually this is kinda fun." he revelled, savouring the opportunity as then turned and punched a Leonardo right in the middle of its self-righteous face.

His target reeled backwards. "Hey! Watch it, Raph!"

"Well, how was I meant to know it was you?" Raph pointed out, ducking away from one of his own clones.

Leo twisted to dodge a blow from a Mikey clone. "Just be careful!" he stated, as he kicked the feet out from a Donatello that was passing next to him.

"Ow!" the turtle complained, as he crashed into the floor. "Leo!"

"Sorry, Don." Leo apologised. "Ok, new plan… Only fight yourself!"

"How does that work for me and Casey?" April asked, as she ducked under a swinging bo staff and then twisted nimbly to kick one of the clones over.

"Maybe if we sing?" Donnie suggested, scrambling back to his feet.

Raph punched a nearby clone of himself. "That's not going to happen!"

Casey skated by, hooking the ankles of a line of clones and dropping them to the ground. "Well, then just keep talking!"

"Speaking of talking…" April started, "Where's Mikey?"

Raph hesitated from attacking and glanced around, his stomach turning. But no, it was fine. From counting earlier he knew that there were five of each Donnie and Leo clones, and four each of the Raph and Mikey clones. A rapid recount revealed five Mikeys in the room, which meant that one of them must be their Mikey.

"Hey, Mikey!" he yelled, "Which one are you?"

"You told him to follow and keep his mouth shut." Donnie reminded, tripping up one of his own clones and then returning to humming merrily as he fought.

Leonardo seemed to have adopted the same tact and even seemed to be trying to hum in harmony with Donatello. The slightly off-key sound was driving Raphael to distraction.

Growling furiously, he snapped at the largest group of Mikey clones, "You can talk now, Mikey!"

There still came no answer, until Raphael roared in anger. At which point, a cheeky voice came from behind him.

"You really couldn't tell which one was me?"

Raph whirled round and smacked his brother across the head.

"Ow!" Mikey whined. "Why are you mad? Being quiet that long was really tough, dude!"

"Besides," he then grinned, "I tried to show you where I was. With my super turtle bro hug attack!"

Raphael's eyes widened. "That was you? YOU'RE the one who restarted this fight?"

The smallest turtle chuckled sheepishly. "I forgot the clones would copy me."

Raph dived to tackle his brother to the ground.

Nearby, Leo stopped humming long enough to call over to Donnie, "How long do we need to keep this up for, Donnie!"

"Not long." came the answer. "Any moment now…"

From the far side of the room, one of the Leonardo clones suddenly melted into a pool of mutagen. It engulfed the box containing the remaining enzyme capsules that, fortunately, were seemingly no longer required.

Donnie grinned. "Can I call it, or what?"

"Get on the tables." Leo called. "Everyone up on the tables! Now! … And bring the Purple Dragons."

With a look of disgust, Raph released Mikey and grabbed the nearby form of. He dragged him up onto the table top, as the clones all started to dissolve. He was followed by Mikey and Leo, who grabbed Fong and Sid respectively. Meanwhile April, Casey and Donnie all ended up on the far table, safely out of the way as the remainder of the clones liquefied.

Raphael gazed down at the expansive pool of mutagen covering the floor, his stomach churning in disgust. "Did you bring the hazmat suit? Looks like this is a job for Marshmalleo."

"Dudes! How are we going to clean all this up?" Mikey asked.

"Easy." replied Leo, with a knowing smile.

Nimbly, he flung a throwing star at the fire alarm button on the wall. The siren began to sound and the sprinkler system activated, sending water showering down over everyone gathered below. Most importantly, it also started to wash the mutagen away.

"Ugh, I'm drenched!" April complained, as she was caught in the impromptu shower. "And this water is freezing!"

"Yep." Casey agreed, admiring the cling of her clothes approvingly.

Donnie shot a glare at Casey, then opened his arms protectively. "I'll shelter you, April."

She willingly moved into the embrace, pressing in close and letting his reptilian body shield her from the worst of the falling water. As Casey glowered at Donatello, the turtle responded by sticking his tongue out childishly.

It didn't take long for the mutagen to clear enough to enable the group to jump down from the tables and head outside. There, the unconscious Purple Dragons were bound and left in a corner of the lot, ready for the police to collect once the emergency services responded to the fire alarm.

"Good job, everyone." lauded Leonardo, admiring their handiwork. "I'd say we're done here!"

"Guess again." came a voice from one of the other warehouses.

Hun stepped out from the shadows into a patch of moonlight that had managed to spill briefly out from between the ominous clouds above. The leader of the Purple Dragons then cracked his knuckles and adjusted his superfluous sunglasses as he readied himself.

Mikey looked around. "Just you?"

The man smirked, as from behind him an unnervingly familiar creature then stepped out from the door of the warehouse. At first glance, it looked a bit like Slash; a tall, broadly built mutant turtle with powerful muscles that hinted at impressive strength. But, there were differences. For a start, it moved with a poised grace that betrayed the nimbleness the creature was capable of and the training it must have received.

"You had to ask." Raphael berated his youngest brother.

"I thought he'd say yes!"

The creature didn't seem to possess any natural weapons beyond what any of the four turtle brothers had. However it was equipped with a variety of armaments that even the most well kitted foot-bot would be jealous of. It was also attired with armour that not only protected the regions not covered by hard carapace, but also provided a spiky hazard for melee attacks.

"Destroy them!" Hun ordered, pointing towards the group.

"That's… That's the hybrid clone they were working on!" Donatello stated in alarm.

"Dude!" Michelangelo suddenly exclaimed. "It really does have Leo's face!"

"Oh hah hah."

"How are we going to take it down?" Donnie asked, worriedly. "We haven't any more enzyme capsules."

"We make it go pop." Leo directed, drawing his swords. "Then get out of the way. Quickly."

"Oh, yeah. Great plan." Donatello grumbled. "I can't see that going wrong at all."

A proper fight, now this was more like it. Raphael stepped forward, bringing his sais eagerly to his hands and readying to rush into battle. But, before he could launch the attack, that squirming feeling in his guts returned with a vengeance. Grimacing, he shudderingly halted.

"I… I don't feel great."

Leo turned to him in concern. "Raph?"

"He looks kinda green…" Mikey offered.

Raphael tried to push through it, paying no heed to the twisting pain and taking another determined step forward to meet to hybrid clone. But it couldn't be ignored. Dropping one sai to the ground with a clatter, he quickly raised a hand to his mouth as he felt bile rising.

"I… I'm gonna hurl!"

Donatello looked on with an awkward combination of sympathy and disgust. "Yeah… That'll be the enzyme reacting with the protein. Trust me, puking is actually better than the alternative…"

"Sit this one out, Raph." ordered Leo. "I'll draw it's attention. Donnie, Mikey, you get round the back and try to flank the, uh…"

"Raphatellonardangelo!"

Donatello turned on Michelangelo. "What kind of stupid name is that?!"

"Flank the Raphatera- Raphatelly- Rapha-" Leo started, gamely trying to pronounce Mikey's name before resorting to, "Just go!"

"What about Hun?"

"Heh heh… He's mine." stated Casey, drawing two baseball bats with a wicked grin.

"April, protect Raph." Leo called, as he raced forward.

"What?!" Raphael protested. "I don't need… Uh… Urggh…"

April patted his shell sympathetically as he retched. She started to lead him to the edge of the concreted area, out of the way of the combat.

"I… I'll get that thing… In a minute…" Raph groaned as he staggered along with her, helplessly watching as his brothers raced forward to face the sinister creature without him.