Chapter 2: Destiny is a choice
Baxter stared down at the small figure on the bed. He looked so small..so helpless..he knew what it was like to feel like that. To feel small, to feel helpless. To feel scared and alone. He's not going to remember anything. A small voice in the back of his mind whispered. He's going to wake up completely alone with no memories at all...if he even wakes up Baxter closed his eyes. It was not his fault! He didn't ask for the stupid slef-sacrificing hero to jump in and save him! He didn't ask for Leo to shield him from the fire.
He did not ask for Leo to literally take a bullet for him! A bullet from an electric powered mutagen gun. The mutagen was intended for Tigerclaw, Rasar and Fishface, those goons who had wronged him. It was meant as a security measure ensuring his protection, a guarantee to never be bothered by those from his past again."Revenge and vendetta will only lead to a life of pain and suffering Baxter. The turtle's words echoed over in his brain, cutting him to the core. "If you truly want to turn over a new leaf. Truly want to start over, then you have to let the past go." Baxter opened his eyes. The turtle..Leo..was right. Revenge was not the way to go. Shredder had made himself a monster. In the end he had become everything he had ever despised. He did not want to suffer the same fate. He had claimed to be in charge of his own destiny, the ruler of his own life. Here was his chance to prove it. Here was his chance to really start anew. He was human now, he still had all the knowledge he had before, and the knowledge and knowhow he had gained over the years working under shredder and working with Krangg technology. He could move away, move to a place where no one knew him. Get a job, and just live a normal life. He could gain the recognition, respect and attention he had always craved. But the right way this time. But what is that destiny? A life of crime? Where you manipulate, and cause harm to others as you claim others have done to you? No. He was tired of being a villain. The blame game. The vendettas. It had led him to where he was now. Alone. Hurt. Confused. And in a hospital.
Speaking of which his gaze wandered over to the figure on the bed next to him.
The young man was covered in bandages. When the firefighters arrived on scene, the building had already collapsed. They were lucky to even be alive. Their rescuers had found them near the edge of the building, covered in a heap of rubble. It had been a close call, the doctors performed CPR on Leo in the ambulance and rushed him into emergency surgery as soon as they had arrived.
Baxtor had been much luckier. When Leo pushed him out of harm's way with the gun, he had shielded him from the blast of the weapon, but he had also covered him with his body which in turn saved his life a second time as the building collapsed in a firefly rubble. Baxter suffered severe burns, a broken left leg and right arm as well as a concussion and several bruised ribs.
His savior had suffered severe burns as well, along with broken bones for sure. But more alarming was the broken rib that had punctured his lung, and the tremendous head wound. When he wakes with amnesia the doctors will probably blame it on the head wound. If he wakes at all.
Baxter found back angry tears. He didn't know why he cared. He shouldn't care. The figure on the cot next to him was his enemy! His enemy that saved his life. His enemy that believed there was still good in him. Believed he could turn over a new leaf. A person that stepped in front of a gun for him.
But what new leaf was there for Leo?
Just looking at him, there was no way to recognize him as what he was before. He was no longer a mutant, he was no longer a turtle. The figure on the cot next to him was human. He appeared to be in his early twenties if even that, possibly only nineteen or eighteen. He was of Japanese descent, with long black hair that hung down near his eyes.
The mutagen he had designed for Shredder's remaining goons was a reverse retromutagen. Where retromutagen reversed the mutagen effects, his creation went a step in the opposite direction. Regular mutagen, mutated people or animals into a combination of what they were before and the last thing they touched. Retromegen, turned a person back to what they originally were, but reverse retromutagen mutated the person into whatever they were in contact with that affected their original mutation. For example, Fishface would have turned him into a fish with Tigerclaw a tiger. But the turtle had been turtles first who came in contact with a human, Hamoto Yoshi, so the reverse retromutagen acted upon Yoshi's genes and turned Leo into a human. Baxter let out a sigh, the worst part was the amnesic aspect of the mutagen. He had intended for the mutagen to turn his enemies into animals, and had not wanted them to retain memories of their past. All those in contact with the reverse retromutagen lose all memories of their past lives up until the moment they first wake up. Sadly, instead of Fishface, Tigerclaw, or Rasar, it was the turtle leader who was in contact with this ooze rendering him a human with retrograde amnesia.
..But what should he care? Who was he kidding he did care!
Baxter felt tears well up in his brown eyes as he looked over at the young man next to him. He looked so small..so alone.
He looks so small..so helpless..Baxor knew what it was like to feel like that. To feel small, to feel helpless. To feel scared and alone.
Something deep within him seemed to click. Resolve washed over him. He was going to start over. He was going to start anew. Moving to a new town was just what he needed. But he wasn't going to do it alone. He was so tired of being alone. He'd been alone since his parents died, and he was tired of facing the world alone. He knew what it felt like to be abandoned, to feel lost and unsure. He'd felt abandoned when his parents died. When he couldn't make friends, and was bullied, when he lost his job, pushed around and abused by Shredder and his goons. And how had he responded? With anger, with vengeance and revenge. "Revenge and vendetta will only lead to a life of pain and suffering Baxter" He understood that now. Destiny is a choice. And for once he's determined to make the right choice. He is not going to abandon the person who saved his life. The person who needs someone by his side right now. Life had just dealt them both a bad hand. Right now they were in the same boat. With a chance to start anew. Baxter had a choice, a choice in both their destinies.
"Hello" Baxter turned his head as the nurse entered the room. "Glad to see you awake. You are both lucky to be alive." She gave him sympathetic smiles as she walked over pulling a chair over near the two cots. "Now I know you just went through a traumatic experience and the last thing you want to do is paperwork. But neither of you had any form of identification on you when you arrived and we have not been able to contact any family for either or you."
Baxter swallowed. Family? He had no family..
"..after that sign here, and I will need you to verify your contact list and what about your friend? Does he have any family?"
He looked over to the person beside him feeling a wave of protection wash over him.
"Yes. A brother. I'm his brother I will look after him"
Tears welled up in his eyes. In his heart he felt this statement to be true. And he made a solemn promise to care and protect his new found family. They may not be family by blood, but this experience was a new start for the both of them. He would not let his brother be alone in this, he knew what it was like to be alone.
"Oh that's great" the nurse breathed, relieved. "Then I can use most of your information for his paperwork" She pulled out the second file and opened it. "What's his name?"
"Peter" Baxter smiled "his name Peter Stockman"
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