Chapter 5: Symbiote in Sewers
Several days later, Donnie was in his lab, surfing the web for any news regarding Foot Clan activity. An interesting headline popped up, labeled: Something Slimy This Way Comes. He clicked on it, and started reading. Very quickly he realized they had a dangerous situation on their hands. "Whoa," said Donnie. "Guys! Come in here!" His brothers entered, and Donnie read the article aloud.
"Early Wednesday morning a local NYC sewer worker was making his rounds when he suddenly noticed a thick red slime covering the main tunnel entrance like a giant spiderweb. The sewers were closed off, and several scientific experts, along with the global law-enforcement organization S.H.I.E.L.D., were called in. It turns out that the slime was a living organism. It has the ability to fuse with other organisms, and turn them into monsters. This was unfortunately discovered when a HazMat suited team went in to collect a sample. The sewers are closed off, and residents are advised to keep an eye on their toilets, sinks and bathtubs in case of any slime."
"That's downright creepy," Raph said.
"I think I saw this in a movie once," said Mikey. "Some astronauts found a slimy blob on their spaceship and took it home. They kept it alive in a tank of water. Then a power surge mutated it, and it crawled out and terrorized the world."
"What happened at the end?" asked Leo.
Mikey suddenly became slightly angry. "I wouldn't know, because you came in and changed the channel to watch Super Robo Mecha Force Five!"
"Oh, yeah, I remember that," Leo said. "That was fun episode."
Donnie tried to bring his brothers back on topic. "What if that thing makes it to the lair?" he asked. "It could hurt Master Splinter, or worse, April!"
"Or us!" Mikey said. "What if that thing has a taste for turtles?"
"Calm down," said Leo. "We need to get out there and stop it, whatever it is, before it gets here."
"Should we tell Master Splinter we're going?" asked Raph.
"No way," Leo said. "He's in the middle of a meditation session."
The turtles knew better than to disturb their sensei when he was meditating. And it wasn't like they could just wait for him to finish, either. Splinter's meditation sessions were notoriously long, the average one lasting about two and a half hours. Privately, Mikey believed that Splinter used the "meditation" excuse to take a nap, though he had no wish to test his theory.
Soon the turtles were wandering through the sewers of New York City, searching for the source of the red slime that covered the walls in thick strands. Whatever the stuff was, it had spread like a weed through the sewer systems.
They came upon an area where it seemed a battle had happened. A large 4x4 truck with an eagle logo on its hood lay tipped over. The glass on the windshield and windows had been shattered. Red slime was everywhere.
"Whoa," said Leo. "Well, whatever it is, we know it's pretty strong."
"Definitely," Donnie replied. "That's a S.H.I.E.L.D. truck. It's built for durability."
"Something doesn't feel right," Raph said. "Like, where are all the bodies? Normally, there'd be guys laying on the ground out cold."
"Maybe whatever-it-was ate them," Leo suggested.
"Then it might eat us, bros!" shouted Mikey. "I can't be eaten by a slimy something! I have my whole life ahead! Like I have to do my bucket list!" He pulled an impossibly long list out of his shell and held it up for all to see.
All three of his brothers looked at him. "You have a bucket list?" asked Leo.
"Duh," said Mikey. "Yes! One of the websites I surfed said every normal teenager should have one."
At that moment Donnie stepped up. "Well, Mikey, there are two things wrong with what you just said. First off, you are not a normal teenager by any definition of the word. And second . . ." His face blazed with anger. "You were on MY COMPUTER?! Without permission?!"
Mikey gulped. "Yeah. But this time I wasn't eating garbage and apple core pizza, like last time."
"It doesn't matter. You shouldn't have been on there anyway. Last time, you dropped some trash in the disc reader and nearly wrecked the whole thing!"
Mikey knew he was about to get into trouble, so he quickly changed the subject. Pointing at a puddle of red goo, he shouted, "Ooh! I can cross off something on my list! 'Touch something unknown and super disgusting!'" He bent towards it but was hauled backwards by the shell by Leo.
"Do you have ANY idea how incredibly stupid that is?" Leo yelled. "That stuff can take over your mind and control you!"
Raph suddenly became aware of several people creeping up behind them. He turned to see five agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. coming towards them. Each soldier had the right side of their bodies completely covered in slime. The slime-covered half of their bodies had a big white pupil-less eye and half of a mouth full of sharp teeth that morphed into their normal mouth on the left side.
"Uh, guys?" Raph said. "I figured out where the bodies ended up going."
Meanwhile, April had arrived at the lair for a visit. "Hello?" she called. "Anyone home?"
There was no answer. April walked into the center of the lair and sat down. She took out a book she was supposed to be reading for English class. Absently she scratched a scab on her arm, put there because of a skating accident involving Casey Jones. The scab ripped off, and suddenly she felt something wet and stick drip onto her arm.
She looked at her arm, spotting a drop of redness. At first April thought she was bleeding again, but then another drop landed on her from above.
April looked up. A puddle of slime was on the wooden stairs above her, and dripped over the side.
April suddenly felt very odd. Her vision blurred, and she felt woozy. She looked down at her arm, and saw that about half of it was red and dripping. The ends of her fingers were pointy, like claws. She screamed.
In the dojo, Splinter heard the scream. His eyes snapped open. "April!" He grabbed his green crystal walking stick and ran into the main area. In the middle of the floor lay April, unmoving. "April, are you alright?"
April slowly stood up, turning to face Splinter. Half of her body was coated with thick red slime. Her normal eye was shut; the slime covered her other eye, which was now large and white, without eyelids or eyelashes. She smiled viciously, showing a mouthful of sharp teeth. "We are legion!" she hissed in an animalistic voice.
As Splinter battled the symbiote April, the turtles faced off against the five symbiote soldiers. "It looks like the slime turned them into mindless zombies!" said Donnie.
Raph grinned. "So how do we know if it infects Mikey?"
"Hey!" Mikey shouted.
The symbiote soldiers attacked, raising their automatic weapons. "Don't let them touch your skin!" warned Leo.
Donatello leaped in front of his brothers, spinning his staff at an incredible speed. The first round of bullets met with this attack and ricocheted off. Now the turtles jumped out from behind their brother to attack. The soldiers were strong and powerful, with quick reflexes. Leo attacked one, but it dodged his swords and leaped for his face. He ducked, and as the creature passed over him he smacked it with the handle of his katana. The creature shrieked and fell to the ground.
Raph spun his sais and tried to stab another creature, but it grabbed the blades. As both of them pushed against the knives, Donnie swung his staff around and smacked another one into the downed S.H.I.E.L.D. truck. Mikey tied one up in his nunchuks and swung it around before smacking it against the ground. Raph freed his sais and punched the last symbiote S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in the face, using the points of his sais to protect his hands.
As the infected soldiers lay on the ground, the symbiote melted off them and fused with the stuff on the walls. The agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. had been returned to their normal state.
"Let's get them out of here," said Leo, sheathing his katanas. After dragging the men to the main sewer branch, they ran down a separate branch until reaching a subway station. A derailed train lay on the tracks, tipped over onto its side. Gaping holes had been ripped in each of the train cars. Red slime hung about like deadly spiderweb.
"Oh, man," breathed Donnie, "this is insane."
Splinter, in all his ninja history, had never been in a fight like this before, not even against Oroku Saki. It was taking every skill he knew just to stay alive. The April/symbiote seemed to draw its energy from the air around it, and thus held a never-ending supply of energy. However, Splinter had a good amount of energy, as he had been meditating for a while before this.
The April/symbiote suddenly generated a tessen from her slime-covered arm. Seeing the weapon, Splinter reacted instantly and blocked the strike with his walking stick. Then he hit the symbiotic creature with a kick, knocking it backward. The April/symbiote regained its balance and came at him, hissing. Splinter flew straight up into the air to avoid the fan and caught the creature in the chest with a tail whip.
As the April/symbiote lay gasping for breath, the fan on the end of its arm dematerialized. "I am not your enemy, April!" said Splinter. "Try to think!"
The creature dropped down, spun to its rear, and whipped its clawed arm in an arc. Splinter sank to the ground, and after a moment attempted to get up. It was then that he realized his left arm had been cut by the attack, and saw the slime covering his arm.
At that moment a wild fury was unleashed inside him. It lashed out in all directions, its enormous destructive force struggling to find something to punish. A thousand voices screamed inside his head, and he was vaguely aware that one of them was his own. He realized he was no longer in control of his own mind or body. It felt like the time the Rat King had taken over him, but this . . . this was worse. This time he was actually aware of what he was doing, though could do nothing to stop it. It was as if he were trapped behind a glass wall in his own mind, being forced to watch whatever atrocities the new Splinter/symbiote would commit.
A dull hum throbbed in his head. The symbiote part of his mind reacted by heading off into the maze of sewer systems, with the April/symbiote close behind.
Soon after the two new symbiote hosts had left, the turtles came running in to their hideout. They had decided to first prepare themselves with information on whatever it was they were fighting.
Donnie rushed to his lab, booting up the computer. "I'll bet I can simply hack into the S.H.I.E.L.D. database and search for any and all information on this new threat." His fingers dashed over the keyboard, as various messages popped up onscreen. Finally, Donnie whooped. "Success! Now, to find information concerning 'Symbiote' . . ." After a few minutes, he said, "Guys, listen to this."
His brothers crowded around the screen as Donnie began. "Apparently, these symbiotes are a species of amorphous symbiotic extraterrestrials from the Andromeda Galaxy called the Klyntar." He went on reading directly from the article. "'In their natural state, the Klyntar were benevolent, and endeavoured to create an intergalactic peacekeeping society by using the symbiosis they need to subsist in order to transform worthy hosts into the ultimate noble warriors. However, to achieve this perfect symbiosis, the host must have a perfect blend of moral and physical ideals. If not, the resulting symbiosis would corrupt both the Klyntar and its host.' So basically, humans do not have a perfect blend. 'Symbiotes are fully aware and sentient creatures, but when corrupted are also vicious and wild, compelling their hosts to violence'-"
"Yeah, yeah, great, Donnie," interrupted Leo. "But does it say anything about stopping them?"
Donnie scrolled down for a bit before continuing. "'All symbiotes seem to have a weakness against very large vibrations and heat. The Leader mentioned that symbiotes also have a weakness to magnesium, however, this turned out to be false as it had no effect on Venom.' Who's Venom?"
"It doesn't matter," said Raph, "because if he's behind this then we'll just take him down." He pounded a fist into his palm.
Suddenly everyone heard Mikey shrieking from the kitchen. "Dudes! That slime thing just ate my pizza!"
His brothers charged in to see Mikey struggling to tear a pizza in half, the other half being covered by red slime. "Oh no you don't, you're not getting MY pizza!"
"Mikey, let it go!" Leo and Raph grabbed him as Donnie quickly took hold of the pizza. He placed it on the stove and turned all four burners on High. Flames leapt up, and the symbiote shrieked before melting into nothing.
"Nooo!" Mikey wept as his brothers let him go. "The pizza! It was so young! So beautiful!"
No one paid attention to him as a sudden dread filled their minds. "Hey, guys?" asked Leo. "Has anyone seen Splinter and April?"
This statement sparked a panicked search for their friend and mentor. Finally Raph called everyone to the dojo, where he held the portrait of the human Splinter, Hamato Yoshi, with his family. The glass was cracked, and red slime dripped from the frame.
"We're going," Leo said, drawing a katana. "NOW!"
The turtles had been following the red slime for about a mile underground, thanks much in part to Donatello. He had transformed his Ooze Specs goggles into Symbiote Specs. Using this, they were able to detect traces of symbiote ooze, which they had been following for nearly a half hour.
"Dudes, this is awful!" Mikey wailed. "We're gonna get our brains turned into mush!"
Raph patted him on the back. "Don't worry, little brother. The symbiote will have no effect on you, because your brains are already nothing but oatmeal."
Mikey sighed in relief.
"Where are we?" asked Leo.
"According to my calculations raised his hand, indicating silence. Then he pointed ahead of them. The turtles were inside a large room filled with machinery. It looked to be a water treatment area. Dozens of people milled around, each of them partially covered by red slime. Leo spotted two familiar faces in the crowd and pointed. "There's April. And Master Splinter!"
Donnie aimed his Symbiote Specs into the crowd. "That one looks to be the leader," he said, pointing to a creepy-looking being who was mainly red in color. He had large rugged white eyes and a large smile filled with pink gums and fanged teeth. You could easily see the muscles bulging underneath the slime that coated him, suggesting he had super strength. Four symbiotic tendrils rooted in his back writhed and squirmed in the air.
The creature crawled up to the top of a large water storage tank, surveying his minions below. "We are ready, at last," he snarled, and his voice sent shivers up the turtles' spines. "The world once feared us, called us freaks. But tonight all that changes. We will rise to rule the earth. The Klyntar will consume everyone on this miserable planet." He raised both hands in the air. "We are Carnage, and we're gonna paint the whole world red!"
"This guy's insane," Leo whispered.
Donnie gazed at him with the Symbiote Specs. "The scanner shows heavy trace amounts of symbiote. Apparently the host's name is Cletus Kassady, a diagnosed psychopath."
"So?" asked Raph. "That doesn't make him any better. He's still going down tonight."
"Actually it does, Raph," Donnie argued. "The guy's mentally insane. There's no telling what he's going to do. And he's got no conscience. The S.H.I.E.L.D. database tells multiple times when he would kill for no reason. His first cases were when he picked random victims from the phone book and killed them."
"Point being: the guy's crazy," Leo said. "So we just have to be extra careful."
The creatures set off down the sewers with Carnage leading. Blending in with the stones of the wall, the turtles headed off down the tunnels after them.
They moved in near silence for about half a mile, when Leo whispered, "Donnie, any idea where they're going?"
"My calculations say they're underneath Oscorp Tower," Donnie answered. Oscorp Tower was the base of operations for the multinational corporation Oscorp. It was created and ran by its CEO, Norman Osborn.
Using maintenance hatches and repair access doors, the army of symbiote hosts entered the building. Carnage pointed. "What we need is up there. Go, my loyal subjects!"
The people/symbiotes set off into the depths of the Oscorp labs, looking for something-or someone. But if it was up to the security systems of the labs, they wouldn't get very far. A series of motion-sensing turrets opened fire on the crowd of monsters, taking down many of them. The ones behind merely used the luckless ones as meat shields, to get to the turrets and destroy them. The Splinter/symbiote was most useful here; his years of ninja expertise came in handy as he ducked and dodged the fire and took out the turrets.
But that wasn't all. Now a series of laser walls sprang up, preventing the army from advancing further. They simply climbed the walls and crawled upside down on the ceiling to get to their destination.
The turtles had no trouble at all getting past the security, but did indeed have some trouble figuring out what the symbiotes were after. That is, until they spotted Carnage sneaking into a room with a glowing green light coming from it.
"Oh, no," Donnie gasped, as he saw what was inside the room. "Mutagen!" Mutagen was a dangerous substance from Dimension X. Any creature that was exposed to mutagen would rapidly increase in size, strength and intelligence and even possibly gain superpowers, though its unstable nature made mutations dangerously unpredictable.
The turtles suddenly realized Carnage's wicked plan. "He's going to use that to turn himself and his army into unstoppable warriors!" said Leo.
Carnage reached a tentacle into the mutagen, absorbing it into himself. Several seconds passed, then he gave a screech as green light began to glow from him. He fell down onto his knees, writhing as the mutagen changed him. He grew in size, until he was almost as large as Leatherhead. He began laughing manically. "I'm even stronger than before!" he roared. "The mutagen is coursing through my veins. Nothing in the world would dare attack me. I'm invincible!" He paused. "I could get even with Spider-Man now." Again he laughed, and many in his army laughed with him.
"He is crazy," said Donnie.
"We need to get in there and stop this before it gets any worse," Leo ordered. "So let's go. But quietly. We can't be detected."
"Do you really need to say that every time we go somewhere?" asked Raph. "We're ninjas. We know how to be quiet."
As the turtles walked off, Mikey accidentally tripped on a pipe and fell into Donnie. Both turtles fell to the floor with a crash. As the symbiotic people turned towards them, the turtles glared at their youngest brother.
"MIKEY!"
The new and improved Carnage looked up. "What do we have here?" He pointed at the turtles. "Get them!"
The army of people/symbiotes charged. The turtles drew their weapons. "So what's the plan, fearless leader?" asked Raph.
"Donnie, you're the smart one," Leo answered. "What should we do?"
Donatello gazed at the incoming people/symbiotes through his Symbiote Specs. "According to the article, these things are extremely sensitive to heat and sound. We should be able to use that to our advantage."
The turtles dodged the first wave of people/symbiotes. Raph twirled his sais and struck a pipe above him, sending a shower of filthy water onto the people/symbiotes. Meanwhile, Donnie's mind raced rapidly. "I've got an idea, but it's risky. We'll have to get the symbiotes out of here, and onto the streets. And we'll have to split up."
"And let's not forget about that mutagen," said Leo. "Thankfully, it's only one canister."
"Any idea is better than none," said Raph. "What is it?"
Casey Jones was practicing on the old hockey rink. He skated down the ice field towards the goal. "Jones heads for the goal," he said to himself, as he batted the puck back and forth. "The defense melts in front of him. He shoots-" He smacked the puck, which flew into the goal and landed against the net hard. A buzzer sounded.
"He scores!" Casey sank to his knees and slid across the ice on his knee pads, holding his stick over his head in victory.
The turtles ran into the building and spotted him. "Casey!" they called.
Casey stood up and skated over to them. "Hey guys! What's up?"
"Would you mind keeping some guys busy while we head to the announcer's booth?"
"Sure." Casey figured that he could handle whoever was about to come through the door. He heard noises outside the arena, and threw his skull-painted goalie mask over his face. "Scum-sucking mutant freaks, prepare to meet Casey Jones!"
The first few symbiote-infected New Yorkers charged through the door. Behind his mask, Casey gulped. "Whoa! Those are some messed-up dudes! Nothing me and my skates can't handle." He skated off onto the ice. "Come and get me, you slimy freaks!"
The people/symbiotes growled and hissed, but were not used to ice. They slipped and slid all over the place. And whenever one got too close to Casey, he fired a slapshot into its face to keep it at bay. This usually sent the creature back to sliding and slipping on the ice.
"Is that all you got?" Casey laughed. "I could do this all day."
The gargantuan Carnage broke through the wall with a roar.
The turtles stood by the entrance to the announcer's booth, keeping any people/symbiotes out. "Donnie, what's taking so long?" asked Leo over the T-Phone, jabbing an infected human with his katana.
"I'm almost there!" Donnie said. He had returned to the lair for something. "Keep them busy! Use our first distraction option!"
"Aw, sweet!" Mikey dashed over to the microphone. "I'm gonna save the world, yo!"
"Cover your ears," Leo told his brothers.
Mikey's voice boomed over the loudspeakers. "WHAT UP, DAWG? DOCTOR M IN THE HOUSE! I'M FIXING TO GO NINJA ON YOU ALL! BOOYAKASHAAAAA!"
The people/symbiotes fell to the ground, shrieking and screeching as the symbiote melted off of them. Soon, dozens of New York citizens lay on the ground, restored to their normal forms.
Carnage was also suffering the effects. He growled as strands of symbiote fell from his body. "No!" he roared. "I'm weakening! Need more mutagen!" He charged towards the door but was stopped by a leaping kick from Raph.
"You're not going anywhere!" Raph said.
Carnage snarled like an animal as the four turtles and Casey Jones cornered him. "Never corner a wounded beast," he snarled, and leaped for Casey. Casey screamed and skated out of the way. Carnage went tumbling head over heels onto the ice.
"Keep him on ice!" Casey told the turtles. "These guys wouldn't be worth jack in the NHL!"
Carnage formed several bladed weapons from the symbiote on his hands. He attacked Leo with his own weapons: twin katanas. Leo parried underneath the ferocious onslaught, but Carnage's blades only lasted for ten seconds before they crumbled into dust.
Raph went for a backstab but Carnage's symbiote sense went off and he fired a tendril of web at the roof to avoid the attack. Raph accidentally knocked Leo onto his shell. Carnage then leaped from the roof and tackled Raph, sending him on top of Leo.
It seemed as though they were done for. But then the revving of an engine was overheard, and the turtles' Stealth Bike burst through the wall. Donnie leaped out, and flung a canister of orange liquid at Carnage. "Eat retro-mutagen!" he yelled triumphantly.
Carnage bellowed as the canister burst over his head, and beads of orange retro-mutagen dripped from his body. He was effected almost instantly, screeching as the chemical reaction returned him to his normal state. The symbiote retracted into the body of Kletus Cassady as he lay on the ice rink floor.
The turtles gathered round. "So what now?" asked Mikey.
"I say we drop him off at the prison," Raph volunteered.
While Casey took the unconscious April and Splinter back to the lair, the turtles fired up the T-Rawket and flew over to Ryker's Island Prison. They used their gliders to get inside without being detected, waited momentarily while Donnie hacked the security systems, then dropped off their escaped felon in an empty cell and rebooted the security.
The Daily Bugle's headline the next morning read RECENT ESCAPEE CARNAGE MISSED PRISON AND RETURNED.