Better Genes 7

I wanna extend a big thanks to everyone for their reviews and of course to my TMNT sister BrightLotusMoon for her help in helping me with this story. I also wanna say thank you to Hidden Mist Ninja for their input for this chapter. Thanks a lot.

Just to be clear on something, I don't hate Splinter, quite the contrary, I like Splinter but he does have his flaws, as all parents do. I know that he loves his sons dearly and would do whatever it takes to protect his children, like any parent would. I also know that no parent is perfect and they all make mistakes. However there were a few things that he did that really bothered me, Mikey's rematch being at the top on the list. It always bothered me that he just decides to leave Mikey to fend for himself just to teach him a lesson in humility, and that Raph and Donnie went along with it. All because they wanted him to stop boasting about his Battle Nexus win. Then after learning that the whole thing had been a set up and Mikey won, not one of them so much as apologized or talked to him about it.

I get that they were annoyed by Mikey's constant boasting about his win (I would be too) but you'd think that Splinter would've taken him aside and talked to him about it before it got out of hand. There are other ways to teach someone humility but in my opinion what Splinter did was just plain cruel, and that's something I can't overlook.

I also think that Mikey would be withdrawn from Splinter after that, he knows that Splinter did it to teach him a lesson but that kind of betrayal would still hurt. That's why I had Donnie be the one that he talks to about it. I feel that Donnie would feel guilty about it or at least be concerned about Mikey's wellbeing that he'd want to make sure that he's alright.

If anyone thinks that I was too harsh on Splinter, I'm sorry but that's just how I feel about it. You can agree with me or not, I really don't care.

Hope you like this new chapter.

'''''

Darkness, pain, fear…

That was all the feral turtle knew since waking up in a dark dank underground tunnel.

Not knowing how he got there. Why was he there? And why his whole body hurt so much?

Then as he tried to gather his thoughts while hiding in one of the dark tunnels, he heard voices, calling out for… something… or someone.

He remembers getting angry. Intruders, invading his tunnels, hunting for him! But then he hesitated, the voices… they sounded familiar. He knew those voices but… he didn't know why.

Then a bright light shined in his face, the light hurt his eyes. He heard the familiar voices again, they were turtles… he knew them, didn't he? They looked familiar, they sounded familiar, they even smelled familiar… but then why was he afraid of them?

When they started talking to him, he began to relax… little by little, but then a loud noise made him jump. The noise hurt his hearing, it made him angry. It came from one of the turtles, then acting on impulse he attacked, knocking away two of the turtles.

The last one stood in front of him, talking to him, calling him… Mi… Mik… something…

He continued to stare at the turtle, something was… familiar… but he wasn't sure what it was. Then he got angry, so angry that he let out a angry roar before grabbing the terrified turtle. The other two turtles rushed at him, so he threw the one that he held at them, sending them all to the ground.

His instincts told him to attack while they were down… but he doesn't. Something stops him, telling him not to hurt them. It confuses him, his head started to hurt before he roared in anger. Then he fled.

He didn't know how far he ran down the tunnels, he just knew that he had to distance himself from the turtles. He didn't know why… he just had too. When he finally stopped, he had no idea where he was… yet somehow… he knew the tunnels. The familiar sounds of water dripping from above, the pungent smell of sewage and wet metal filled his nose, but it didn't bother him too much.

He started making his way through the darkened tunnels. As he did, images started flashing in his mind. Images of a giant rat, the three turtles from before, laughing, smiling, chatting. Then the images changed, some were of humans and creatures, good and bad, places and battles, a red creature in a metal man suit then a bright flash of light…

He didn't understand why he was he seeing these things! What did the images mean? And those other turtles, he knew them… they were his kin, but then…. why did he attack them? And why did he flee from them?

Then he heard someone in the tunnels.

Feeling the need to hide he took refuge in the overhead metal pipes, keeping to the shadows. He didn't know where that last thought came from but it made sense… in a way.

Then one of the turtles from earlier showed up. What was he doing here?

Suddenly more images flashed in his mind again. The same turtle was talking to him, joking and… making crude remarks that he didn't like, calling him names and pain… on the back of his head. Then he saw the turtle standing above him, looking enraged with a metal pipe in his hand…

The familiar primal rage from before returned again as he growled angrily.

He remembers waiting till the turtle was right below him before he struck. He grabbed the turtle by his shell before tossing him on his back. He came down and then grabbed the downed turtle by the leg before he could get away, then a loud shout came at him and he was suddenly hit in the stomach by something before hitting the ground on his shell.

That hurt, it hurt a lot! He saw a familiar human aiding the turtle. This made him even angrier.

How dare these two intrude here and then attack him!

He attacked the human and turtle, attacking with his claws and tail. During the fight they began talking to him, saying things about being friends, buds and bros. This only added confusion to his burning anger. Why were they are attacking him if they knew him? Why did they both say that they didn't want to hurt him? None of it made sense!

He managed to knock the human down but then the turtle interfered. That made him angrier, so he charged the turtle with his claws, then he grabbed the turtle when he was distracted.

He remembers feeling a sense of satisfaction as he began to squeeze his captured prey in his grip but then he stopped when the turtle said something….. something about family… brothers…

Family…. brothers… for some reason those words made him pause. He felt a strange yet comforting warmth inside of him… he began to hear laughter, he saw smiles… he remembered that this turtle and the others were his kin before setting him back down.

But soon that warmth was replaced with throbbing pain when his head began to hurt. His instincts demanding him to attack these intruders! To get rid of them now! Yet at the same time his instincts were telling him to not attack them… they were… his family.

Fighting through the pain, he grabbed the worried looking turtle and tossed him away from him.

It felt like a battle was taking place inside his own head! Voices telling him to attack and not to attack. Finally when the pain subsided, he turned to the human and turtle and the rage returned. He knew that somehow they caused him this pain. When they started running from him, he went after them. He wouldn't let them get away.

He followed them through the tunnels, almost catching them. Then the turtle tried to get him into a large glass cage, they were trying to capture him! When he knocked the one turtle away the other two showed up and attacked him. One kicked him in the chest then the other knocked him down.

Then the gator showed up, grabbed him and then tried to force him into the cage. He struggled in the gator's hold until he was able to break free.

Then he faced the mutant gator, at first the gator refused to fight him but soon they both were fighting each other. He tried to catch the gator off guard but that didn't work, then he and the gator wrestled on the ground before they both regained their footing then proceeded to slam each other into the cement walls of the tunnels. Then the gator threw him to the ground, held him down and then…. he collapsed into darkness.

,,

He didn't know how long he was out. All he could remember was fighting the gator in the tunnels then… nothing. When he opened his eyes, he found himself trapped in a glass tube cage.

No! No, he didn't want to be in here! He roared before punching at the glass. He punched, scratched, and kicked at the glass of his prison, but nothing he did worked. The glass wouldn't give. He attacked the glass for a long time before his hands, shoulders, and feet couldn't stand the pain anymore.

He tried ramming his shell into the glass, but that didn't work either. He even tried head butting the glass but after just one hit he never did it again. The collision hurt his head real bad that he stumbled back and then landed on his butt, nursing his aching head.

Every so often he'd spot someone staring at him, wether it was the rat, one of the humans, one of the turtles or the gator, all of them looking sad. Some of them even had water in their eyes.

The rat, for some odd reason, would sit in front of his glass cage and just sit there. He found it really annoying him then he got mad, so mad that he resumed his attempts to break free of this thing. Yet something about the rat puzzled him. He remembers him from the images back in the tunnels, some were good and some were not. The way the rat was looking at him made him want to reach out to him but also… makes him want to get his claws on him and…

No! Why was he thinking like that? Why was he feeling these things? Where was this burning rage coming from? This wasn't him… was it? He growls in frustration as he resumes attacking the glass of his entrapment.

Why? Why do they keep looking at him like that? Why were they keeping him in this… thing? Why won't they let him out?! WHY!?

A loud shout caught his attention, he watched as everyone rushed to where the gator the female human and one of the turtles were. The turtle was upset and everyone had gathered around him.

As he watched this he felt a sudden urge to get to the upset turtle, to be there for him and comfort him too, but he couldn't. He was stuck inside this glass cage.

This confuses him, why did it bother him to see that one of the turtles was upset? Weren't they and the gator the ones who put him in here? So why did it bother him?

He didn't have time to dwell on this question when he saw the turtles, the rat, and gator and the humans gather in front of his cage. He didn't know what they were doing and he didn't like it.

Then the inside started filling up with a mist. It burned his eyes and his throat, then he started feeling tired. He fought to stay awake but he couldn't fight it. Once again he collapsed into darkness.

,,

When he woke up again he was still in the glass prison. He remembers what happened, he sees the turtles, the gator and the rat, and he got angry. He growls as he resumes his attempts to break free of his glass prison with more ferocity then before.

Then the turtles left, leaving the rat and gator with him. Both of them occasionally glancing at him with sad frowns. The rat put his hand on the glass, telling him to be calm. He doesn't want to be calm, He wants to get out!

Some time later the turtle returns, they don't look happy about something. Then the gator got angry until he was calmed by one of the turtles and the rat.

The feral turtle then looks down, he sees one of the turtles looking sadly at him. Why? What was happening? Why were they moving his glass cage outside? Where were they taking him?

He saw that they were approaching a large building. Looking at it made him uneasy, angry even, he didn't want to go in there, but that's exactly where they were going. He doubles his efforts to break out but the results were the same as before.

Inside were more humans. Each of them armed with weapons. He didn't like it.

He hears a voice talking, he knew that voice. He sees… something approach his glass cage, it doesn't look like a human but the voice was unmistakable.

Images flashed in his mind, images of a man wearing a white coat looking arrogantly smug, small metal monsters eating through stone walls and approaching him. The man's head in a machine, attacking him, grinning maliciously at him. The last image was of the same man, his body made of metal and rotting flesh, attacking him and the turtles and the two humans before dropping into the river.

He hears the thing make a snide remark about him, he growls at the thing. He wanted to get his claws on it and tear it to pieces!

Then hears another voice and like the first one, he knows that voice. It belongs to a man dressed in all black. Something about the man scares him and infuriates him. He reeked of death… and evil.

He doesn't like him, and neither do the ones that brought him here.

'''''

"Oh ho, now this is just too much." Stockman chortled, "Though I don't know why I'm surprised that the stupid turtle got himself infected and mutated into a brainless beast. Not that the dullard had a brain to begin with."

Raph turned to Donnie, "What'd he just say?"

"He just called Mikey… an idiot." Donnie answered through clenched teeth.

Stockman's vile remark made the mutant family seethe with anger. Leatherhead let out a vicious hiss, how dare this vile subhuman insult his dear friend.

The brothers and Splinter were thinking the same thing, with different colorful choice of words in mind. Raph's hands were on his sais while Donnie's hand was inching towards his bo staff but Leo's firm reminder of why they were there diffused the situation, somewhat. Even though he himself would love nothing more than to sharpen his katanas on Stockman's skeletal robotic limbs.

If you could even call them limbs.

"And where did you get this pathetic Containment Unit? In a junk yard?" Stockman mocked.

"You're one to talk Stockman." Raph snarled, "Where'd you get that new body of yours? In a dumpster behind Frankenstein's R Us?"

"More like the defective pile." Leo added.

"Yeah like his last body." Donnie added coldly, "For someone who brags about his unmatched genius, it's ironic that you can't even make yourself a functional body without it falling apart."

"Why you… how dare you despicable turtles insult my superior genius!" Stockman bellowed, "Why I should…"

"ENOUGH!" Bishop commanded, his patience wearing thin, "Can we get on with this?"

"Yes… of course." Stockman said begrudgingly, "Ready the cell for transfer." He ordered the soldiers.

Four of Bishop's men moved towards the platform holding the Containment Unit. Each of them using electric rods to move the platform towards Stockman's holding cell.

The mutant family moved aside. Raph had to gently pull Donnie away when the bo wielding ninja didn't move. He understood Donnie's hesitance, they all did, but they had to do it.

"Doctor," Bishop spoke, "Is this transfer necessary?"

"It is if you want more than his blood pressure and temperature." Stockman quipped. If he had a face, he'd be scowling at the government agent. How dare this paranoid dullard question him. He was the scientific genius here, he knew what he was doing and he would prove it to everyone. Then he turns to the soldiers, "Now open that hunk of junk."

One of the soldiers punches a code on the platform, creating a laser grid tunnel between the Containment Unit and the Holding Cell. The Containment Unit opened, but Mikey didn't move, even though he wanted to get out of the Bio Unit. He growled when a soldier slapped the glass of the Unit.

"Move it you ugly freak!"

Leo and his family watched anxiously as Mikey slowly stepped out of the Bio Unit, taking a few steps towards Stockman's holding cell. Each of them urging and praying for this to be over and done with, but then the feral turtle stops when the hatch opened.

"C'mon Mikey, just a few more steps." Leo whispers.

"Hey, move it ya big dumb beast!" A soldier yelled using his electric rod to zap the feral turtle in the leg.

Mikey roared in pain, stepping away from the crackling rod.

"Go on, get!" Another soldier shouted zapping the roaring turtle on the shoulder.

"Raaaarrr!"

The mutant family could only watch in horror at what was being done to their youngest family member. Leatherhead clenched his fists as he looked away, seeing this was bringing back horrible flashbacks of his captivity.

"Stop it! You're hurting him!" Donnie shouted.

"Shut up freak!" Another soldier shouted as he zapped Mikey again.

With an angry roar Mikey grabbed both electrical rods and brought the two ends together, zapping both soldiers holding the rods while also de-powering the laser grid surrounding him. The two remaining soldiers tried to push him into the Holding Cell but Mikey knocked them back with a quick lash of his tail.

"STOCKMAN!" Bishop bellowed.

"Mikey no…"

Stockman turned to the remaining soldiers, "Well don't just stand there! Subdue that mutant monstrosity!" He ordered, pointing at Mikey.

"No! Don't shoot him!" Leo shouted.

The soldiers who were standing guard soon began firing their weapons at Mikey. Mikey, acting on pure primal instincts, ducked behind the Holding Cell. The glass shielding him from their weapons. He bent down, grabbing the bottom of the holding cell, then using his new incredible strength he lifts it from the base then heaves the glass sphere at the soldiers. The soldiers scattered before the Cell reaches them, it shatters into pieces when it hits the ground.

"Oh fuck." Raph mutters.

"Nice going Stockman! You just made it worse!" Donnie glared.

"This… this is all just a…. minor setback!"

Mikey spotted the robotic skeleton the was Baxter Stockman. Letting out a ferocious growl. He picked up the broken glass hatch and chucked it at at the terrified scientist. Stockman would've been sawed in half had it not been for a perfectly aimed Bo staff catching his 'legs' as he stepped back and making him to fall. He barely missed the sharp jagged edges of the broken hatch by an inch.

Before Mikey could resume his assault on the walking skeletal subhuman, he spotted more soldiers aiming guns at him. He hissed when they started firing at him, he ducked down on all fours and charged at them. The men were scared shitless that this thing could move so fast despite its size. Dodging left and right, easily avoiding their shots, Mikey then swung his body around hitting the anxious men with a powerful swipe from his tail. Snapping and breaking several human bones in the process.

More soldiers rushed in and jumped onto Mikey, hoping that their combined weight would bring down the ferocious mutant, if not slow him down. It didn't. If anything, it just pissed him off. Mikey easily threw them off, grabbing the ones that still hung on and tossing them like rag dolls into more approaching soldiers.

Bishop orders for reinforcements, ordering his men to subdue Mikey by any means necessary, even by lethal force.

"Mikey!" Leo shouts.

"Hang on bro, we're coming!" Raph shouts as he, Leo, Donnie and Leatherhead rush to his aid.

Leatherhead quickly grabbed Mikey in a full Nelson hold, pulling him away from a downed soldier before he crushed him.

Leo, Raph, and Donnie (after getting his staff back) quickly disarmed the soldiers that were aiming to shoot their baby brother.

Donnie spots a soldier that Mikey had knocked down earlier, holding what looked like a rocket launcher in his hands.

"Say good night freaks." He said taking aim at Mikey and Leatherhead.

"NO!"

Donnie quickly rushes towards the soldier. He swings his staff upward, hitting the gun which flew out of the soldiers hands. Then he kicks the soldier away. Another soldier came at him with an electrical rod but Donnie avoided the attack then swung his staff at the mans forearm, a loud 'Crack' was heard followed by the man's painful screams as he dropped the rod before being kicked away by the furious ninja.

"You broke my arm you freak!" The soldier yelled clutching his broken arm.

"There's over two hundred bones in the human body. That was one!" Donnie glared, "If you don't want anymore of your skeleton broken, I suggest that you stay down!" He said coldly.

Leatherhead struggled to keep his grip on Mikey as he fought to break free from the gator's hold, "Michelangelo, please you must calm down my friend!"

"RRRRAAAARRR!"

Mikey continued to struggle to break free. In the midst of the struggle, Leathherhead lost his footing which caused the two massive mutants to tumble to the ground with Leatherhead taking the most of the brunt of the fall. While Leatherhead was stunned, Mikey freed himself then turned to the downed gator with his fists raised above his head.

"Leatherhead!"

"Mikey No!"

Leo, Raph, and Donnie quickly came to the gator's aid, leaping onto their mutated brother in hopes of stopping him from attacking their fallen friend. Leo leapt onto Mikey's shell wrapping his arms around his neck whilst Raph and Donnie grabbed hold of his arms.

"Mikey please stop!" Don pleaded.

"Calm down bro! We're trying ta… help ya!" Raph said, struggling to hold on.

"Mikey it's us, your brothers! Try to focus!" Leo put his hand on Mikey's head hoping to connect with his ki to calm him down, but all he could sense with fear and primal rage.

Mikey roared as he throws Raph and Donnie off of his arms, then he reached up and grabbed Leo by his shell and throws him off. Then a small canister shot through the air and hits Mikey in his plastron, it exploded in a cloud of smoke, knocking him to the ground.

Bishop's men circled the fallen mutant, they're weapons at the ready to put down the wild beast. When the smoke from the grenade cleared everyone, save the mutant family, were dumbstruck that the feral turtle was gone.

The soldiers were perplexed and terrified. How can something so big just vanish into thin air? Until one of the soldiers spotted something move.

"Holy shit! It can camouflage!"

Unfortunately the warning came too little too late as the soldiers were knocked down or picked up and thrown savagely to the ground.

'Interesting.' Bishop mused, 'In addiction to the increased strength and speed, the mutation has given Michelangelo the ability to use camouflage to render himself invisible.' He tapped the side of his glasses, soon a brightly lit inferred vision of the mutated turtle appeared, 'Hmm, there you are.' He smirked then turned to his soldiers, "Switch to inferred mode immediately!" Bishop commanded. When he looked back he saw a bright red and yellow blur right in front of him, "Auhh!" He yelled before he was knocked back from an unseen blow to his torso.

To Bishop it felt as though a charging pissed off bull had just rammed him in chest, knocking the wind right out of him.

"Raaarrr!"

"Michelangelo!"

The Federal Agent looked up to see Leatherhead tackle Mikey, who was visible again, to the ground. The two massive mutants began viciously grappling with one another.

Bishop stood up, finding his now broken glasses on the ground. He looked down and saw that the chest plate of his battle suit had three slashes on it. Luckily, for him at least, the titanium exoskeleton of his suit protected him from any serious damage.

After inspecting the damage done to his suit, he surveilled the damage around him. Stockman's Holding cell was demolished, his men's weapons were damaged if not destroyed, several of his men were badly wounded if they weren't already dead, and his battle suit was severely damaged. To make matters worse he had two mutant freaks fighting inside of his base. This was unacceptable, this had to stop now!

"This is Bishop to Command! Send in two more squads! Lethal force is authorized!"

"NO!" Splinter shouted, standing in front the Federal Agent, gripping his walking stick tightly in his hands, "You will not hurt my son!"

"If your son cannot be contained, then he will be put down!" He said matter of factly.

"Wait!" Leo yelled rushing to his father's side with his brothers close behind, "Please just wait! We can stop Mikey!"

"And how do you plan to do that?" Bishop asked impatiently.

"We have tranquilizers, right here!" Donnie answered, pulling out one of their tranquilizer darts from his duffel bag.

"Oh please." Stockman scoffed, "As if those puny little syringes will be enough to…"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP STOCKMAN!" The brothers yelled.

"Yes do be quiet Stockman." Bishop grunted before turning back to the brothers, "And you're sure that those are powerful enough to stop him?"

The brothers nodded, "Yes."

"Just give us five minutes." Leo pleaded.

Bishop narrowed his eyes, "You have two, or else my men will put your brother down permanently."

Leo reluctantly nodded.

Bishop ordered his men to back down until he told them otherwise.

Donnie unzipped his duffle bag and pulled out a handful of tranquilizers. He handed them out to his brothers, each one took at least three or four tranquilizers. All of them hoping that they won't need to use all of them. The brothers were feeling uneasy and sick at the thought of having to use their own tranquilizers to knock out their baby brother. They didn't want to do this… but they knew that if they didn't, then Bishop's men will kill him.

"Leatherhead!" Leo called to the gator.

Leatherhead looked over Mikey's shoulder to his friends, he saw the tranquilizers in their hands and immediately understood.

"Forgive me Michelangelo." He said as he used his strength to push Mikey back before tail whipping him to the ground. While Mikey was stunned, Leatherhead grabs him in a full Nelson hold again.

"Hurry Leonardo!" Leatherhead yelled, straining to hold onto the struggling Mikey.

Leo felt himself hesitate for a moment before a loud roar from Mikey brought him out of his stupor.

'Do it Leo! Do it NOW!'

"I'm sorry Mikey!" Leo gripped the tranquilizers tightly before rushing towards Mikey with Raph and Donnie right behind him. The guys all plunged a dart into Mikey's arms, shoulders, thighs, and plastron.

Mikey let out a roar of pain for each tranq that pierced his body. He looked to his brothers and growled as he fought to escape Leatherhead's grip. After the eighth tranquilizer, Mikey thrashing begins to slow, he starts to sway a little in Leatherhead's hold, his struggling lessened as he fought to keep his eyes open.

Leo, Raph, and Donnie calmly approached their little brother. Leo placed a hand on his plastron, "We're sorry Mikey, but it's gonna be okay." He told him gently.

Mikey gaze meets Leo's, he gently nudges Leo's hand with his snout. He then tries to reach out for the others with what little strength he had before the effects of the tranquilizers took hold of him. Unable to fight it anymore he went limp in the gators arms. Leo, Raph and Donnie all latch onto Mikey, barely able to hold back their tears while chanting 'I'm sorry little brother/Mikey' over and over again. Leatherhead also added his own tearful apology as well. Splinter could only watch with a broken heart.

Bishop watched with unsympathetic boredom before ordering his men to move in to take the unconscious mutant away. Once Michelangelo was hauled away, he turned his attention back to the brothers.

"Now then gentlemen, let's talk."

''''''

Hope you guys like this chapter, sorry it's short but this one was tricky to write. Be sure to leave a review.