Chapter Twenty One

" How's that lock coming, Donnie?"

Donatello pulled his drill back and the round copper deadbolt lock fell out of the door and clattered onto the ground below them. He then rose to his feet and replaced the drill into his bag, then slowly pushed the door back. Leonardo stuck his head through the open doorway, looked around the empty and dark kitchen, then waved his brothers in.

" Do you think any of them are still in here?" Michelangelo asked as he nervously twirled one of his nunchucks around.

"I don't think so, Mikey." Donatello turned on a small black flashlight and swung the light along the painted yellow walls of the small kitchen. " Dr. Gershin already got what he was after. Why would he stick around for us?"

Michelangelo then dropped his eyes to the white tiled floor under his feet. " I hope they're okay."

"Don't think about that right now, Mikey. We need to stay focused." Leonardo stopped them at the doorway of the kitchen, and allowed Donatello to shine the flashlight into the spacious living room. As he moved the light around, they noticed there was several white folding tables lined along the bare white walls, and several folding chairs scattered between the tables. When he moved the light up farther, they gasped at the many computer systems and radar equipment that sat on the tables. Donatello quickly moved over to one of the computers and hit the power button. After a few seconds, the screen turned bright blue, and something written in German scrolled across the screen.

" What's that say?" Michelangelo asked as he and Leonardo joined Donatello.

Donatello studied the red letters. " I'm not sure. I never really studied the German language. I only know a few words."

Leonardo then pointed his finger to the small turtle shaped icon at the bottom of the screen. " What's that?"

Donatello drug the mouse down the screen and clicked on the icon. The opening screen disappeared, and they all gasped as the next screen popped up.

" What the-?" Michelangelo asked as he leaned in closer to the screen. "Are those pictures of our house?"

" Not only that," Donatello clicked on more pictures, enlarging them one by one. Leonardo recognized one as the day him and Donatello took Splinter to the airport. Another one was of him and Angie talking outside, and there was another of Michelangelo and Mandy out on the front porch. Leonardo then narrowed his eyes as the last one was of him and Linda that night they had fought out on the beach.

"Look at the dates on some of these!" Donatello pointed the mouse. " The earliest of these goes back to last year, about a month after Mikey brought Mandy to the house!"

"They've been studying us," Leonardo said. " They knew each and every little thing we did." He then turned away from the computer and glared into the darkness of the house. Michelangelo felt Leonardo's anger, and he patted his brother's shoulder, not knowing what to say to Leonardo to make him fell better.

" Not only have they been watching us," Donatello then clicked on another icon and up popped what looked like a voice recorder and another list of dates. He clicked on the first one, and Leonardo's eyes grew as he heard the voices of him and his brothers echo into the darkness.

"They've been listening in on us too." Leonardo turned back around and watched the lines on the screen jump up and down as the recording played. Donatello stopped it, then clicked on another, and they all listened to the conversation they had with Mandy the night she told them the truth about her father and Dr. Gershin. Donatello shook his head, and pushed the stop button again. He then moved over to another table, and picked up a set of headphones, then played with a few buttons that sat on the control panel in front of him. Seconds later, he could hear the voices of the firefighters that were in their house that very moment.

" How did they get surveillance stuff into our house anyway?" Michelangelo asked as he peered through the dirty white curtains to their house across the street.

Leonardo sat down in the seat Donatello had vacated, and moved the mouse down the list of voice recordings. " They knew our every move, Mikey. They knew when we woke up, when we left the house. Everything."

Michelangelo then shuddered. " That's creepy! Do you think they were watching us in the shower too?"

Leonardo slowly lifted his eyes to Michelangelo as he pressed down on the mouse button. Michelangelo's eyes then grew as he heard his own voice singing back at him as the sound of running water filled the background.

" Okay, I officially feel violated!" Michelangelo stepped away from the computer and wrapped his arms around himself as he shuddered again.

Donatello set down the headphones and moved back to the computer. " Is there anything on there that might say where they went to?"

Leonardo clicked the pages back to the first screen and looked around the various icons that sat on the blue screen. " It's all in German. How are we supposed to find anything if we can't read it?"

Donatello moved his flashlight around the room again. " There has to be something we can go on! Everyone we've ever gone up against has left something behind!" He turned back to his brothers. " Just look for anything, even if it's as meaningless as a piece of lint." He then pulled out two more flashlights and handed them to his brothers. Leonardo headed for the back rooms of the house, while Michelangelo went upstairs. Donatello stayed around the computers, then noticed a pile of papers hanging from the printer next to the computer. He pulled them off the printer, then shoved them together. He then read them over and over again, hoping he might catch something that he would recognize among the German lettering. He slammed the papers down in frustration, then closed his eyes and rubbed at his forehead. As he sighed heavily and reopened his eyes, Donatello looked back down at a piece that had been tossed aside and he wrinkled his forehead as he finally recognized one of the words.

"Fällt?" Donatello read, then sat back in the chair as he thought. He looked over the rest of the papers in his hands and noticed the word was repeated on every page. Falls? What the hell is that supposed to mean! He looked back down the paper then noticed the word in front of it.

" Niagara?" His head then shot up from the papers and he jumped to his feet. " Leo! Mikey! I know where they are!"

Raphael slowly woke up from the darkness that had come over his eyes, and he moaned as the pain from his bullet wound shot down his arm, then throughout his body. He rose up his head as he tried to focus his vision in the dim lighting, and another pain shot down his spine. He cursed softly, then tried again to raise his head, and he squinted his eyes as he looked around. Raphael then heard sobbing coming from across the room, and he narrowed his eyes more, he could make out two bodies across the room from him. He then pulled on his arms, and found that they were tied together behind his back He swung his legs around and brought himself around to a sitting position, wincing as he used his injured shoulder to push his body up. Raphael then looked back down on the floor beside of him and saw Linda laying motionless next to him. He swung his leg around and poked at her with his toes, then grabbing her shirt and shaking her.

"Linda! Hey! Wake up!" Raphael whispered loudly as Linda moaned and turned her head around. It was then that Raphael noticed the sling she had use to carry Andrea in was gone, and it made Raphael's blood boil.

"Raph?"

Raphael then turned his head back to the shadows across the room. " Angie? You okay?"

"Not really." Angie answered, and the sobbing Raphael had heard earlier increased.

"Come on, Mandy," Raphael's heart began to ache as the young girl cried harder. " We're gonna get outta this. Don't worry."

Linda then opened her eyes and she gazed up at Raphael. " Where's Andrea?"

Raphael looked down at her and his eyes burned red. " I swear ta God if they hurt that kid, I'm gonna-"

Suddenly the lights above them flashed on, and they all turned their heads away. When Raphael looked back up, he could hear the sounds of a massive generator humming in the distance, and something else that sounded like rushing water. His eyes followed the tall gray control panel that wrapped around on the wall next to them, then landed on a familiar figure as it stepped in the small room.

"Ah! You are all awake finally!" Dr. Gershin clasped his hands together as he moved toward Raphael, and the stomping of his black combat boots echoed around the ceiling and back down into Raphael's ears. " I was beginning to think I was going to have to kill you all while you were knocked out." He then squatted down and looked into Raphael's burning gaze. " But that wouldn't have been much fun for me."

"Where's Andrea at, you piece of shit?" Raphael growled at the doctor, but then felt a sting in his cheek as Gershin slapped him with the back of his clawed hand.

" First off, I do not tolerate foul language!" The doctor snarled his teeth as Raphael rose his head. " Remind me to cut your tongue out before I kill you."He then stood back up and crossed his arms over his chest. " And why do you even care about that little one if she is not yours?"

Raphael glared up at the doctor. " Don't matter if she is or not! She's just a baby! Now what the hell did you do with her, you fuckin'-" Raphael then felt blood pool into his mouth as the doctor's boot met with his jaw.

" I told you not to speak like that, you worthless pig!" Gershin then laughed as Raphael spit his bloody saliva on the floor next to him.

" Leave him alone!" Linda shouted as she pushed herself up to her knees. Gershin looked over at her, seeing the fire of anger also burning in her eyes, and an evil smile crept on his face as her knelt down in front of her.

" And what are you going to do, my dear?" Gershin ran his fingers over Linda's hair, letting it fall slowly as he pulled his hand back. " You know, you are quite a beauty. I might just keep you around for my own pleasure." Linda then screamed out as Gershin grabbed onto her hair again and jerked her head toward him. He put his lips to her ear and then whispered. " I know I can make you cry out louder than Leonardo can."

As he released his hand, Linda felt the tears well up in her eyes and she turned her head away, feeling very ashamed of herself. Raphael then saw how shaken Linda had been and his anger grew as he watched her body shudder as she cried. Gershin moved away from them, and Raphael pushed himself over to Linda.

" What did that bastard say to you?" Raphael whispered as Linda looked at him through her tears.

" It doesn't matter," Linda said as she started to sniff back her tears. " I'm going to kill him with my bare hands!"

Raphael then sat back away from her as he watched the hatred grow in Linda's eyes. He then turned and looked to where Angie and Mandy were sitting on the floor, and finally noticed that they were locked in thick metal handcuffs that covered their hands, and they were both were wearing metal collars around their necks. Gershin stood over them and the girls huddled together.

" Well, Ms. Anderson. We finally meet after all of these years." He placed his palms together and bowed to her. " You are as beautiful as your mother. Probably even more so."

"Don't talk to me, you psycho!" Mandy shouted at Gershin. " My father should have had you locked up when he had the chance!"

Gershin held up his right hand and stuck out his claws. " Yes, well, I got to him before he had that chance. He was a brave fighter, but his brain outweighed his brawn, I'm afraid." Gershin then smiled at Mandy. " Your mother put up quite a fight too. You should have heard her! She pleaded for the lives of you and your brothers, right up until her dying breath."

Mandy then sucked in her breath and spit up at Gershin's face. The tears then began to roll down her face again as she watched Gershin wipe his face.

" It's a good thing I don't need you anymore!" Gershin then slammed his boot into Mandy's knee, and she screamed out as the bones crumbled under the flesh. " It would have been a shame to destroy you for that senseless act!" Gershin then turned back to Raphael. " Now then, as I was saying before these fraus interrupted me, why does the life of that child matter to you, Raphael?" He knelt back down in front of Raphael on one knee and folded his hands together.

Raphael didn't answer the doctor as he stared into the tiger's yellow eyes. He then dropped his eyes to the concrete floor under them.

" You do know that it is your fault that everything turned out like it did!" Gershin pulled Raphael's shirt collar toward him, then shoved the turtle down. " I told Vanessa not to get involved with you and your family! She went against every order I gave her and set my plans back! I wasted so much time and money because of her ignorance!"

Raphael narrowed his eyes as he pushed himself back up. " What are you talkin' about?"

Gershin sighed as he rubbed his forehead. " I see. It is time for the bad guy to give the explanation so that all of the pieces fall in line." Gershin then laughed at himself and slowly rose to his feet. " Well, I don't think I'm going to waste my breath on it. Things actually turned out better than I had thought, and now it won't matter to you because all of you will die soon." Gershin then turned around and walked out of the heavy metal door, and the girls jumped as it slammed shut.

Raphael's eyes went back to the floor as Gershin's words ran around in his head, and he shook off the thought that Vanessa had been working for the doctor, only because he didn't want to believe it. Raphael then looked up at Angie, locking his eyes with hers, and knew that she was thinking the same thing.

Donatello braced himself as Leonardo swerved around another long line of cars on the interstate, and felt a hint of panic creep up on him when he saw the Jeeps' speedometer reach ninety. He sighed, letting out his fears, then bent back down to the pile of papers on his lap. He entered another line of German words into the translator on his laptop, and tapped his fingers as the English words popped back up. He then moved the pointer across the words, highlighted them, then copied and pasted them onto an empty notebook page.

" Okay, Mike. What exit do I need to take?" Leonardo asked his youngest brother without removing his eyes from the rainy road.

Michelangelo flipped the map around and traced the lines of the map with his fingers.

"We need to get on 86, then hit highway 90, so it will be the third one up." Michelangelo then turned around and watched Donatello work. " How's it going back there?"

" I've just about got it." Donatello tighten his teeth on the pencil in his mouth as his fingers flew over the keyboard. " I don't know why I didn't think of using my translator program in the first place. We might have been there by now."

"Don't worry about it, Donnie." Leonardo responded as he veered the Jeep around more cars.

"What is all of that anyway?" Michelangelo turned around farther, pulling the top strap of his seatbelt over his head.

"Transcriptions of what Gershin's team has been doing," Donatello said without lifting his head. "They've been keeping records of what they've accomplished and where they've failed."

"Why would they do that?" Michelangelo asked as he wrinkled his forehead in confusion.

Donatello shrugged as he hit the enter button. " Gershin's a weird guy who does weird things for weird reasons. He's more anal than Leo is."

Leonardo looked into his mirror and gave Donatello a smug smile. " Thank you, Don."

Donatello laughed at his brother, then began to read over the pages that sat on his laptop screen. Michelangelo watched Donatello's face as the light from the screen reflected off of it in the dark Jeep, and he became scared as Donatello's expression fell.

"Donnie?" Michelangelo gulped. " What is it?"

Donatello shook his head as he continued to stare at the screen in disbelief. " No. There is no way that's true."

Leonardo looked back into the mirror and saw the shock in Donatello's eyes as they flew across the pages. " What did you find, Don?"

"It just can't be true!" Donatello's eyes moved down the screen, then to the window beside of him. He watched the rain slammed against the glass as he refused to believe what he had just read. He then shut the laptop, and placed it down onto the floorboard under his seat.

" Donnie!" Leonardo shouted, waking Donatello out of his trance.

Donatello slowly rose his eyes up to the mirror were Leonardo's stare was waiting.

" Vanessa was one of them."

" What!" Michelangelo felt his nerves go on edge as he blankly stared at his brother.

Donatello leaned forward and spoke softly. "This is going to be hard to believe guys, but Vanessa was working under Gershin the entire time we've known her. Possibly even before that."

Leonardo drew in a sharp breath as his eyes looked out of the windshield, not wanting to believe that his good friend had been the enemy all along. " She supplied them with the explosives, didn't she?"

Donatello sighed, then began to speak again. " Remember when her doctor told us about the condition that was causing Vanessa's race to become extinct? Well, Vanessa's grandfather caught wind of what Mandy's father was doing, and he formed an alliance with Dr. Gershin to steal the DNA secrets, hoping it would give their people a chance to refurbished their numbers."

"Was Leslie in on it too?" Leonardo asked without looking back.

" No." Donatello shook his head. " She didn't agree with what her father was doing. That's why she moved here. But anyway, Vanessa's grandfather has been exporting weapons and explosives out of Africa to Gershin teams in Germany and here in the U.S. After her grandfather passed on, Vanessa's parents took over, then Vanessa herself. Since she was so determined to help her people, she volunteered herself to become Gershin's test subject."

"Test subject?" Michelangelo scratched his head. " You mean to get knocked up, right?"

Donatello stared blankly at Michelangelo's choice of words. " Geesh, Mike. But yeah, that's why. Then enters Chad. Not only does it give her a chance to produce an offspring with the proposed 'super' DNA, but it also gives Gershin a stream of money to use to continued his twisted research."

"Vanessa did all of that under Chad's nose, and he had no idea she was stealing from him." Leonardo moved the Jeep over to the other lane to pass more vehicles.

"Yep!" Donatello nodded. " Meanwhile, Gershin continued to go after Mandy's parents, who, as it says in his report, he personally murdered them back in 1989, when Mandy was ten years old."

Michelangelo's eyes narrowed as he felt a burning sensation in the pit of his stomach.

"That asshole." He turned back around, and met Leonardo's stare. " Sorry. That just really pisses me off! How could he be so cruel?" He then punched the door, causing his brothers jump. " I'm going to beat that guy senseless!"

"Easy, Mikey." Leonardo released the steering wheel and squeezed Michelangelo's shoulder, then looked back at Donatello through the mirror. " So, then we enter the picture. Now what?"

Donatello laughed. " Well, like we all know, Raphael finds Vanessa, fulfilling the promise he made to Leslie to find her niece and return the necklace, and as we found out later, Vanessa began to develop feelings for Raph, and it throws Gershin plans out of the window. Suddenly, Vanessa wants to abort her mission and break all ties with the Germans, which of course pisses Gershin off even more. She threatens to turn him in as he threatens her to kill her if she leaves. Then, bam! She ends up pregnant after years of trying to conceive with a human."

"Are you saying that Andy really is Raph's baby?" Michelangelo said as he turned back around.

" Andy?" Leonardo said as he made a face. " Doesn't that nickname sound kinda -boyish?"

Michelangelo shrugged his shoulders. " I don't think it does."

" I'll get to that in a second, Mikey," Donatello then continued. " After she finds out, Vanessa leaves Gershin's team, and I'm sure he wasn't too pleased about that. What Vanessa did set him back millions of dollars and about ten years of research. So, of course after Mikey brought Mandy to our place and they set up shop across the street, Gershin was shocked to find his old ally was living under our very roof. But here's something to think about: If Gershin thought Andrea was a mutant hybrid and not worth anything to him, why did they wait until after she was born before they invaded our house and took everyone, including Raph and the baby?"

Leonardo leaned back into his seat as the wheels in his head turned around. " I'm sure he knew that Andrea came out looking the way she did." He then narrowed his eyes as he thought deeper. " Wait. That's it!"

Michelangelo looked over at his brother. " What's it?"

"Gershin seems to think that since Andrea's a full blooded mutant but with a human appearance, that she's the key to the evolution of humankind. She has a stronger DNA strand than Mandy does." Leonardo smiled as he saw Donatello nodded through the mirror. " He took Raph to make sure that he really is the father." His smile then dropped when he realized something else. " But to make sure that Andrea is the real deal, that means his going have to dissect- "

" Don't say it, dude!" Michelangelo covered his ears, not wanting to hear what Leonardo had to say. " Don't even think it!"

Donatello sighed as he crossed his arms over his chest. " Do you guys also remember when Raph told us that Vanessa had 'things' to tell him? I bet she was going to reveal everything to him."

Leonardo shook his head. " I still can't believe Vanessa was working for them. I never would have thought in a million years that she was capable of that."

"She was desperate to save her people, Leo. What would you have done?" Donatello said as he looked out the window again. " When you're at the end of your rope, you'd do anything to get what you're after." He then looked back at Leonardo through the mirror. " Just like Linda did."

Leonardo turned his eyes back to the road. " I know." He sighed as he moved the Jeep over to another lane. " Sometimes things like that happen and you have no control over it."

" Hey! We're here!" Michelangelo shouted as his finger shot up to the large green exit sign that read Niagara Falls.

Leonardo took a deep breath as he moved the Jeep down the exit ramp and onto the empty streets under the interstate. After driving another few miles, the roar of the water poured through Leonardo's open window, and he pulled his Jeep into a secluded area of trees behind the massive falls. They slowly stepped out of the Jeep, looking around for any sign of life, then they all stare into the bright lights around the falls.

Leonardo opened the back hatch of the Jeep and they pulled their weapons out as Donatello placed Raphael's sais into his duffel bag, then loaded it down with the weaponry Leonardo had hidden under the floor board. Leonardo tighten his gasp on his swords, then looked over at his brothers.

" Let's go." He whispered, then led the way as the brothers clung to the shadows, and all of the ninja training they had learned years ago came flooding back as they knocked out a few German sentries.

As they continued on their way, Leonardo's thoughts began to drift back the first training run they had gone on without Splinter, and how nervous he had been. He then jumped ahead a few years, remembering how he and his brothers had fought in the war, and even though he had grown a lot since their first outing, Leonardo remembered he was still shaken by the fact he had so many lives depending on him besides the lives of his siblings. His thoughts then went on to the personal battle he had with himself, and how he had defeated his inner demons without faltering.

So now, at the age of twenty-five, ten years after that first training run, Leonardo knew that he was finally strong enough to overcome anything that the world decided to throw at him, and he wasn't going to let anyone get between him and his loved ones ever again. He then thought of Linda, and as he led his brothers down to the underground German base, he dared Fate to get in his way, for he was more than willing to die for the woman he was planning on spending the rest of his life with.

Then in that same moment, it seemed that Fate took a step back as he and his brothers blasted their way into the base camp, and Leonardo knew that he was the one who was now in control of his destiny.