Wow. Seriously, if you could've seen the expression on my face when I got my reviews… it was something like this: o. That's the best I can do with computer keys.
But seriously, I remember thinking: Well, maybe I should take more time to fix it. It's not your best, and this is an important chapter. But when I put it up, and got such terrific reviews, I was shocked! Apparently you didn't mind!
Anyways, before I get to the next chapter, I'd like to make a note. Don't kill me! Evidently, I've accidentally ruined Chibi Rose Angel's story: Mistaken Loyalties. (starts crying) I guess we had the same ideas, kind of. But if she puts it up again, and I pray she does, this story has not been plagiarized in any way whatsoever. I just got my idea down first.
Okay, wait. I have two other things to say. First, some reviewers have been wondering where Splinter is. I left him down in the sewers, remember? He's perfectly safe and will be part of the story once more in the end. I just have a hard time writing him, that's all. And secondly, much to your disappointment, I'm sure, Agent Bishop really won't be in this story, with the exception of maybe a cameo. I just feel I don't know enough about him to really write his character. Sorry!
But now, without further adieu, I shall release this chapter. Hope you like!
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"Oh, God." Yep, it was her. He could tell by her voice. The little girl looked like she'd put her hands up to her head, but it he couldn't be sure. The turtle really couldn't see. "God, Leo! You idiot! What are you doing here? If you get stuck with the rest of us, there's no way we'll be able to get out!"
"Nice to see you too." Leo said softly. His head hurt. "What's going on?"
Silhouette let out a strangled cry before speaking again. "He got you. That's what. There's no time to talk." He heard her scream again before she continued. "Okay, can you see me?"
"Kind of."
"Be more specific, Leo." He lifted his head, tried to concentrate on her features, but stopped immediately when he felt the young girl push him back down. "No! Don't do that! It just brings you one step closer to this place. Tell me what you see; just relax."
"Um," he found that was a harder task than he thought. "I can see the color of your skin. I can kinda see your hair, too."
"My eyes. What about my eyes?"
"What about them?"
"Can you tell they're green? What about the pupils?"
His head was swimming now. "Yeah, I can tell they're green. Can't see your pupils though."
"Crap!" He heard her yell, then her head rested on his plastron and he heard a muffled cry. When she was done, she lifted herself back up. "Okay, Leo. We got to get you out of here."
"Tell me what's happening, Sil. Please."
"Fine. Stockman told you about his Slayer, right? Well, that little bastard has pretty much just killed you know. That's how you get here."
"Wait." Leo paused, tried to compute this. "Are you dead?"
There was no answer at first. He felt Sil grab his hand. "No." She said softly. "But I'm not alive either." Leo felt his heart sink at those words, but the young girl continued. "I'm preserved, like all the others. In case Stockman needs me for something. Physically, it looks like I'm dead, but the mind keeps going. The Slayer wants it like that. We still feel pain." She released his hand. "Now I gotta get you out of here."
This wasn't making much sense at the moment. Was he dead like Sil? He couldn't think.
It was at that moment that an image of the Shredder flashed in his mind. A rainy night. The Elite Guard.
His heart skipped a beat, or would have if it were beating. He knew that night well. The first time the Shredder had returned; when Leo received the thrashing of his life.
Sil reappeared in his line of vision. Her voice was worried. "Has it started?"
He had a feeling that he knew what she was referring to. All he could do was nod.
The girl looked like she understood. "Okay," she had something pinched in between her thumb and pointer finger; "this is something I took off of Stockman. I have no clue what it is. I saw him use it on another kid. Somehow, it brings you out of this state, overrides the Slayer's power."
"Then why haven't you used it on yourself?"
"I can't." Sil said sadly. "It only works before you're fully merged with this place. Stockman had to use it quickly on the girl he brought in with me, put her in the wrong place or something. I swiped five off of him when he wasn't looking; it won't be long before he notices though." Leo felt her place the other four in his palm and close his fingers over them. "Keep them on you at all times. Anything that's actually on you can be willed to work here."
Leo wasn't sure. His own memory was starting up again. When it finished, he could see Sil more clearly. He assumed that wasn't a good sign. "How do you know?"
"You got the little girl's bracelet, didn't you?"
That was proof enough.
She took the item in her hand and brought it closer to his mouth. Now he could see it was orange in color. "Wait." He said.
"Leo," she hissed exasperatedly, "there's no time to wait-"
"Why didn't you tell me you watched them die?" He interrupted. The blue-clad turtle had felt the most painful memory of each and every one of these children. He remembered the one with the woman in the white lab coat and the young man in the blue scrubs.
They'd looked remarkably like Silhouette Cole..
There was silence for a few seconds, then Leo heard Sil let out another scream; one she tried to stifle, but was unable too. It was heart-wrenching, even more so than the others since he knew this little girl. Cold tears fell on his plastron.
She'd watched her family die that day.
Finally she spoke again, but her voice had lost its fire. "You never asked. And I didn't want to think about it." Another passing of quiet. "Now go."
He swallowed the orange object. Almost instantaneously, he left the world Baxter Stockman's Slayer had created for the innocent and vulnerable children of New York.
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When Raph had calmed down enough to understand that Leo might still be alive, he was at his brother's side with the rest of them. They waited for what seemed like forever. During that whole time, there was no sign of life from Leonardo. Not a heartbeat; not a breath. But according to the panel measuring all of his vitals, he was still dreaming. Raph couldn't understand it.
Mikey looked up for a second. "Maybe we could reach him." He sniffed. "Master Splinter's been teaching us all that meditation stuff…" His voice trailed off when he saw Donny shake his head.
"I already tried. It's not working. It's almost as if something's blocking me."
Raph looked down. He knew what his brother was talking about. He'd tried too.
"Amazing, isn't it?" All three heads turned to see Stockman outside there cell once more. "I have no idea how my Slayer does it, but once he's under control, it works well against my enemies."
"Your Slayer?" Donny asked. "Since when-"
Before the purple-banded turtle could finish his sentence, there was a beeping noise and the pattern of brainwaves began to change.
Raph wasn't thinking that was a good sign. "What's happenin', Don?" He asked.
His brother looked at it closely. Raphael was impatient, but he understood Donny didn't spend his free time studying brainwaves and interpreting what they meant.
Finally, he looked up at them worriedly. "I'm not sure. He's still having a nightmare, but-"
Stockman came closer to the entrance of their cell. For once, he appeared to be nervous. "Bring him closer to me."
"What?" Raph practically shouted. "You're the one who did this to him!"
"But this isn't how it was supposed to work. I instructed the Slayer to- never mind. Just bring him closer to me! I need to see what's happening."
Both Michaelangelo and Raph turned to Donny. He gave the two of them an overwhelmed glance before looking at Leo. Finally, he sighed. "I don't know what to do. Besides," Don glared at Stockman, "he's not about to let one of his specimens die when he's put so much work into him. Are you?"
Stockman's holographic image raised its head. "No. I still need him. Now will you bring him over?"
Hesitantly, Raph and Mikey did so, pushing the metal table over to the end of the cell. Stockman looked at the readings carefully. He did not look too pleased.
"Damn him! I told him not to send him there!" the scientist opened a panel on one of his robotic arms, pressing a button. It resembled a commlink, of some sort. "Slayer! Get him out of there, immediately! I still need him for-"
"Ah!" Mikey cried out.
"What happened?" Don asked him. He, Raph, even Stockman were looking at him.
Mikey pointed to Leo. "He moved." The younger turtle's finger was trained on Leo's now closed palm. It looked like he was holding something.
"What…" Stockman began. He didn't finish, for at that moment, Leo's vitals changed again; his brainwaves indicating once more to the thing that Stockman wasn't happy about.
A growl started in Raph's throat. He wanted to know what was happening. Now.
A few drops of water appeared on Leo's plastron. It was much different than the mist.
Raph was about too ask about it when all of a sudden Leo's heart started up again.
His older brother's mouth opened, taking a huge gulp of air. Leo rolled off the metal table, hitting the floor with a thud. He was shaking like a leaf.
Within seconds, Mikey had him in his arms, half hugging him, half trying to warm him up. Donny and Raph weren't far behind.
Leo's closed palm opened and out rolled four, orange objects. They looked almost like gumballs. The little things rolled all over the floor, going in opposite directions like loose change happened to do at the most inconvenient times.
One hand on his brother, Raph's eyes followed their path, watching the one that rolled over to Baxter Stockman's feet, or would have, if that force field hadn't been in the way.
The robot watched it for a long moment with a curious look. Then he turned his face to Leo, who'd begun coughing. He was freezing.
Stockman put an irritated look on his face. He was frowning.
Pushing a button on the side of their cell, he kept his glare fixed on Leonardo, but he seemed to be planning his anger for something, or somebody, else. Without another word, unusual, but not disheartening, he stomped off.
On the far side of the wall, some sort of chute opened, too small for anything larger than perhaps a large dog. It dropped several blankets onto the floor.
Donatello caught Raph's gaze for a moment, passing along the information that he'd seen the strange expression on Stockman's face as well. Then he nodded and got up to fetch blankets.
All was put aside as they then focused their attention on warming up their brother.
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Stockman entered his lab angrily. He'd been hoping for a good day, or night, in this case. He wanted something to show Bishop.
Flipping a light switch that was in the far corner, the window that overlooked the other section of his laboratory was illuminated, showing the immense lines of tables that filled it.
Side by side, the tables were laid out. Six rows of fifteen, with two tables empty. There was plenty of walking space in between each row, even for a man of Stockman's size, who was much bigger now that he had his robotic body. On every slab of metal, with the exception of the last two, there rested the body of a child.
More tables were coming soon.
He overlooked them all. Finally, his eyes rested on the area in the back, where he'd last placed two girls. The first, a little girl of five, the second, the twelve-year-old girl the turtle Leonardo was so fond of.
She was the one, he was sure. She must've been the one who'd somehow gotten hold of Stockman's Renaissance Capsules.
The only other time someone could've gotten one, and found out what they were for, was the child he thought of as forty-two. And that was too long ago. Stockman would've noticed the capsules were missing long before now.
No, it was the girl. She was a clever one. Good genomes, too. Hers had strengthened his Slayer's pyrokinetic abilities, as well as speed. Excellent problem-solving capabilities were an added bonus.
She'd taken the capsules and had given them to her green friend. How quaint. Stockman thought. A Renaissance Capsule for a freak named after a Renaissance man.
He'd have to punish her, of course. But there were other things that needed to be taken care of first.
Something started to beep on his arm. Stockman barely had time to look at it and register it as his alert for his Slayer's rage levels before a burst of flame hit the panel before him.
The scientist moved out of the way just in time. A monitor from one of the computers in the room was the next thing that attempted to hit him. Stockman began to regret giving the Slayer telekinesis.
Grabbing the remote he used to control the little Slayer, Stockman pressed the button that froze his armor, as well as some certain Human Genome functions.
The Slayer froze in place, only inched from Stockman's robotic chest. Relieved, he backed away before fixing the child with a glare. "Again, you persist. I am your master. You know these attempts are met with punishment, yet you continue."
Stockman smiled, then walked over to a metal cabinet. He opened a drawer and took out a small vile and a needle. The Slayer hated injections, especially for these reasons.
"Do you have anything to say for yourself, young man?" Stockman asked him with a sick grin on his face. Then he laughed. "That's right. You can't." Slowly, he inserted the needle into the Slayer's skin, in the only spot of his neck that was visible, right between his helmet and chest armor.
Taking a step back, Stockman grinned and watched as the observable parts of the Slayer's skin broke out like a sunburn and began to bleed. He waited two minutes before unfreezing him.
Immediately, the boy collapsed on the floor, his feet, neck, and fingers twitching. Stockman calmly walked over to his body and turned it over, removing the Slayer's visor.
What were normally brown eyes were now staring fixedly at his creator's, glowing a dull yellow. The skin around them was beginning to peel.
"Little one, it would do you well to remember you serve me and are to do as I say." He waited; let the words sink in. "I told you not to send the turtle to them. I need him for more experiments and cannot have him in a position where I do not have some sort of control over his actions. He is not yours to destroy. He belongs to me. Do you understand?"
No answer came from the Slayer; not that one was expected.
"Good boy." Stockman said, placing the visor back over the young Slayer's eyes. He'd be all right. "Now, gather your strength. Tonight will be busy."
Stockman walked out of his lab, which was built with materials to keep his Slayer locked in. The scientist left happier than when he came.
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On the floor, the Slayer sat, gazing obliviously at the ceiling. Five minutes later, his eyes returned to their normal state.
He stopped the process early. Now he had several more scars to remind him of why he hated this man who'd given him so much. All these powers, as well as understandings.
Able to sit up, the Slayer did so. Under him laid an immense puddle of blood and skin peelings. Stockman would probably send for a clean-up group of Bishop's to get rid of it. Perhaps it would be stored and used to create more like him.
The Slayer stood up and walked over to the window and still illuminated room. He wasn't allowed to hurt Stockman. He was punished each time for trying to do so. Consequently, he took his anger out on whatever he could.
A grin spread across his face as he saw the children before him begin to wriggle and scream.
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Another chapter ended. Most pleasing!
Well, we're getting closer to the ending! How far away that ending is, I'm not sure, but we're getting there!
So…now that you know that Sil is in fact alive, sort of, can I come out of my little box now? Besides, my superhero bodyguards need to get back to work now. Spiderman's makin' a movie and Batman's been giving me all this crap about how he needs to get back to Gotham… yada yada yada.
Anyways, I hoped you like this chapter. I certainly think I did a half decent job on it. I'd also like to dedicate it to my cousin, KB, who has a kidney infection. Poor guy. He had to go to the hospital and everything. But he's gonna be okay.
I'll try to get another chapter up soon! This is the part where I'm missing a piece of my story line, so I have to do some creative thinking.
In the meantime, please review!