What's this? A chapter that was updated just about a week after the first? As if there is some kind of schedule? 1 for 1 on weekly updates, nice!
Chapter 2: Squirrelinoids
"Remind me again why the squirrelinoids were our pick for first mutant to go after?" grumbled Raph from his place at the back of the pack as the turtles searched deeper and deeper through the dark sewer tunnels.
"Because" replied Leo while scanning the dark for any signs of mutant activity, "they're a potential danger to civilians, and we've put off this problem for long enough. Also Splinter told us to."
"Yeah, Raph," inputted Donnie, briefly looking up from the mutagen scanner to fiddle with the syringe he had partially filled with retro-mutagen, "Did you expect flushing them down the sewers to magically solve the problem? It's not like they drowned or anything. They're probably still wandering around somewhere".
"What?!" exclaimed Mikey, "You're telling me my genius plan didn't actually work? But it worked in my comic!"
"Yeah, but in your comic the aliens were flushed into space," sighed Donnie, "where there's no oxygen? The sewers wouldn't exactly kill them, just...hold them for a little while".
Mikey silently pouted as they turned down another tunnel, following Donnie's lead as his scanner searched for any trace of the rogue mutants. The dank tunnels were quiet except for the beeping of the mutagen scanner, and the distant trickle of water. It seemed like nothing could live down in the man-made depths, let alone monster squirrels, until the illusion was shattered by the occasional darting rat brushing against their feet. They had been wandering down here going further and further from the surface for nearly two hours, and so far the search had been a bust.
"I'm just saying" continued Raph, breaking the heavy silence of the lifeless underground, "Couldn't we have chosen a mutant that was less dangerous? Or that was above ground? Or that wasn't a crazy murdering monster that could suddenly attack us out of the dark and we would have like no room to defend ourselves?"
"Raphael" teased Leo, glancing back from where he stood just behind Donnie to smirk at his younger brother, "Are you telling me that you're scared?"
"I'm not scared! Who said I was scared? These are totally rational, not-at-all fear-fuelled questions", Raph vehemently denied.
"It's alright, dude" comforted Mikey, "I'd be scared of mutant monsters that had replicated inside of my stomach, too".
Fortunately for Raph, the darkness hid his sickened expression, and how his face turned a little more green than usual, "Not helping, Mikey!"
"Guys, stop it" snapped Donnie, briefly looking up from his scanner to pin his brothers with a criticizing glare, "I can barely hear my scanner with all of your arguing!"
"Who cares?" complained Raph, glad to be off the subject of his supposed fears, "Even with you being able to hear it, we've been at this for two hours for squat! We haven't found anything!"
Donnie opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted as the beeps on the scanner grew quicker and more frequent.
"Looks like the hunt is on" he said instead, continuing on in the direction of the beeping scanner.
"And it wasn't on before because….why?" grumbled Raph, both still scared and glad to finally be able to deal with fear the way he knew best: punching it.
Ignoring Raph (which had become the norm in the last half hour), Leo turned to everyone and tried to turn the mood more serious. "Ok, everyone, here's the plan (since it has been like forever since I last said it)," Donnie couldn't help glaring at the subtle jab, "Donnie has the retro-mutagen, so me, Raph, and Mikey will try to incapacitate the Squirellinoids, and then Donnie will spritz them with some of the retro-mutagen. Everyone needs to be extremely careful while that happens, unless you want to spend the rest of your life being fed pellets in an aquarium. On that note, everyone got their gloves?"
"Yes, sir" replied Raph in a mocking salute, "For all the good that will do."
"I'm still working on something more protective, but for now it's better that you have the gloves than nothing" said Donnie, as the team pulled on pairs of specially made for mutant turtle hands, elbow-length gloves. Mikey couldn't help but giggle at the comically-large length of them. "They look like something from some super-cheesy sci-fi show".
Leo continued, "Alright. Raph, got your rope?"
"Yup," he replied, twirling the hooked end of his grappling line.
"Mikey, do you have your kusarigama?"
"C'mon Leo, I'm not that dumb. Of course I've got'em!"
The group stopped as the tunnel they were in reached a larger chamber, and the beeps became so frequent that one could hardly be distinguished from the other. All at once, their posture straightened, and they looked less like a disorganized group of teenage brothers, and more like a skilled and deadly team of ninja. Donnie quickly turned off the scanner and tucked it in his belt. Sending a quick nod towards the rest of the team, he slipped into step behind them, and they all silently moved into the chamber.
The three mutated squirrels were restlessly sleeping in the center, curled up on a mess of garbage of chip bags, shopping bags, ripped up cloth of unknown origin, and various bodies of small birds and cats. Their dinners. Mikey stifled a small gasp at the sight of the mutant nest.
With a quick glance around the room, Leo confirmed that all three of the squirrelanoids were there, and signaled to the incapacitating-team. Each brother flanked out to take down a mutant-squirrel each. Leo counted down on his fingers, and at zero all three of the teens quickly and stealthily threw ropes or chains around the napping mutants. Instantly, the killer squirrels shot awake, and thrashed in attempts to throw off the binds. Leo, Raph, and Mikey held tough, wrapping the chains around their wrists for better grip, and leaning against the squirrelinoids with all of their strength.
"Any time now, Donnie!" shouted Raph as he tugged the fighting squirrel mutant back.
Not wasting time or breath on a response, Donnie pulled off the safety cap of the retromutagen, and dashed towards the one Mikey held, the most likely one to break free first. Taking an extra careful second to aim, so as not to accidentally hit his younger brother, Donnie spritzed the struggling mutant before immediately moving on to the next one. One after another the raging rodents were sprayed with the cure for their monstrous mutations, and they all struggled harder, but as their elongated limbs shrunk back into place and their fur grew back in patches, the squirrels gradually calmed down. After a brief moment, all of the brothers let out a relieved breath as the sewer tunnel was left with nothing more dangerous than three scampering, normal squirrels.
"Aw, yeah, boi!" cried Mikey in victory, sharing a cheerful high-three with each of his brothers, "The Mutant Cure-Squad was a success! Let's get pizza to celebrate!"
"Just let me do one thing first" said Donnie, carefully approaching the wandering critters with a cat carrier in his hand. He quickly herded the still somewhat disoriented squirrels into the carrier, and then turned back to his brothers. "Ok, now we can go".
The brothers headed up to the surface to get some Antonios, joking and playfully shoving each other, but Donnie hung back a bit. Pausing for a moment, he opened up the carrier and nudged the squirrels out. The normal, harmless, cured animals paused only a moment to sniff the air, before running off down the alley, back into the city. Donnie smiled to himself, proud and glad to have gotten rid of one more danger in the already dangerous town, then ran to catch up with his brothers.
Tonight they would celebrate, but he knew there was a lot more work to do.
So, anyway, this was the first real chapter of this story. R&R, until next chapter.