Finally, we're getting somewhere with this! For the longest time, I didn't have a clue as to what I was writing. Most of the time, I have a beginning in mind, and bits of pieces to the end, but no idea as to how I'm gonna connect the two.
However, we've finally reached the ending chapters! This shall be so much easier now! (laughs) Hopefully...
So let's get on with it! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Pi90katana comes with an excessive imagination, admirable morals, and several mood disorders. Ownership of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles not included.
&&&&&
Stockman made his way to the hallway nervously, many things on his mind. He knew he was in big trouble with Bishop, which put Bishop in trouble with his superiors, which made greater trouble for the scientist, but that wasn't the most important thing on his list right now.
The Slayer was out. Loose. More than likely, coming for him.
By sheer miracle, all thanks to post-modern science, he had cheated death all of these times, and maintained his IQ. Stockman valued his genius, therefore valuing his life. His brain seemed to be the only thing about him that was important to any of his employers, these days.
But the Slayer could change all that. Free, he had more room to use to his advantage; he could take Stockman by surprise anywhere. He also had the ability to do more damage to his creator than anything on Earth had yet achieved.
"Those moronic turtles!" Stockman cursed them under his breath. "We'd all be happy if they just kept to their own business; I'd be in one piece and they wouldn't be in near-death situations all the time, but no, they just have to interfere!"
Every corner he passed, Stockman made sure to check for sudden movement. Since youth all he'd been was just moderately suspicious of everyone and everything, even though they were inferior to him; never paranoid. Now was a good time to develop such apprehension, however.
He thanked God that he hadn't left the remote he used to control the Slayer's suit, and therefore his movements, in the other room. If only it didn't work just at close-range...
The device could not be completely relied on. If he wasn't quick enough, the Slayer would get it. He needed another plan.
He didn't want to kill the only soldier he'd been able to manufacture, but if worst came to worst, it might have to be done.
Grinning to himself, Stockman made a quick stop in one of his other rooms. This plan would also have to be acted out speedily, but if it worked, he wouldn't have to worry about the Slayer harming him.
Stockman had his trump card.
&&&&&
Hands spread out in front of him, fingers slightly clenched into graceful curves, the young Slayer stood in front of the rows of children, reminding Michelangelo of a magician doing hocus-pocus. Different get-up, though.
He and Donny had already been informed of the Slayer's newfound compliant nature to help them, if only to prove that he wasn't like the scientist who'd made him what he was. They also knew of how he'd healed Raph and Leo.
This guy was certainly surprising. Nevertheless, the only person who didn't have their eyes on him was Leo. Instead, the elder turtle's gaze roamed restlessly over each child that lay still before them.
At the moment, the Slayer was disconnecting the children from the nightmare he had made for them, as well as himself. He'd told them that this would take a little while, as well as a great deal of concentration. But he was willing to answer a few questions while doing so.
Don folded his arms over his chest. "So, if you were done with these kids and not planning to harm them anymore, why didn't you do this in the first place?"
There was a pause before the Slayer answered. When he did, it sounded like he knew his explanation wouldn't be highly accepted. Even though they don't play with them anymore, every child has a hard time parting with their toys...
Not only was he interesting, he was downright creepy.
Yet, he pitied him. There was a sadness to this boy that was depressing without even completely understanding it.
After giving him some time to concentrate again, Mikey asked his own question. "Hey, why do you only talk to us via telepathy?" Being an avid superhero fan, Mike knew these big words.
He heard a snicker in his head. What, you think I do this for fun...? Or maybe that I'm showing off...?
Mikey suddenly felt like he was crossing into a sensitive zone. "Uh, no- well, maybe- uh... are you?"
The laughter was gone. No... So you understand, telepathy and telekinesis are the hardest of my abilities to master; they take the most out of me...
Donny nodded. "That makes sense." He turned to his brothers. "In terms of what Stockman's turned him into, he's essentially like a baby. It's like learning how to talk or walk; it takes time and practice before you can get it completely right."
Still scanning the children, Leo said what was all on their minds. "That means he probably still has a whole lot more learning to do."
The Slayer may have very well not even reached the full extent of his abilities.
"So..." Mikey brought the subject back around; "You do the whole voice-in-the-head-thingy... why?"
Because, this is the only way I can talk...
Raph frowned. "What the shell are ya talkin' about? You do have a mouth, right?"
Yes...! The Slayer snapped. He calmed down. Look, if you open the grate on my mask, you'll see what I mean... The only reason why it's there is so I can eat...
All four were fairly curious about this. Carefully, just in case the Slayer had something else in plan, Don opened the grate and stepped away, the shiny metal hatch hanging aside to reveal a young mouth.
The Slayer opened it. From his teeth, Mikey could see just how small he was. The rows of teeth looked like kernels of corn, just barely a few shades lighter than that famous yellow. The sizes varied, meaning that he'd still had several appointments to make with the Tooth Fairy when Stockman found him.
Yet it wasn't the teeth that were so interesting. They were just what Mikey tried to distract himself with.
Though the teeth were like what you might find in any child's mouth that didn't brush them, there was a huge difference about this mouth. Mainly that it didn't house a tongue.
Rather, it looked like that at some point it had. Though Mikey immediately turned his attention to something else, he thought he'd seen the stub of what had used to be the child's tongue.
The boy closed his mouth. Wordlessly, pity written on his features, as were on Mikey's, Don closed the grate. The Slayer explained. Stockman was constantly aggravated by my yelling at him... When he was finishing one of the last procedures on me, I woke up from one surgery without my tongue... He removed it when I was out... His voice turned bitter. He said I'd learn to live without it...
Mikey suddenly didn't necessarily blame this kid for wanting to kill Stockman so badly anymore.
&&&&&
Unlike normal conversations, Leo didn't need to remain right in front of the child Slayer in order to hear what he had to say. Stepping away from him and his brothers, Leo listened to the tale while looking among the children.
He felt sympathy for the Slayer, very much so, in fact, but he wasn't as important as what Leo searched for with inner restlessness and excitation.
After a wave of silence passed since the Slayer had last 'spoken', Leo heard his voice inside his head, telling them all that he was almost done.
Moving along the rows of children, examining each face, Leo was at times able to recognize some of the children from his nightmares. The faces weren't as familiar as the vibes they put off.
He knew their memories, and they knew his. He'd stop and linger for a few moments when he saw them, feeling more compassion for them then the Slayer, who'd put them through it, but then he'd move on. They weren't the one he was looking for.
And then he found her.
At the far end, Silhouette rested on the last table. The children had regained a considerable amount of their natural coloring since the Slayer had started this disconnection process. Her story was no different.
She was as still as the grave, but she only looked like she was sleeping. Leo's frown deepened. He knew exactly which memory Sil had been tortured with over and over again. If only for a day, it was too much.
He couldn't imagine how hard it had to have been for some of the first few kids. This had been going on for months.
In the short time since he'd known her, Leo had found a friendship with this little girl. She was almost like a sister. Though at times she could be a little more than strong-willed, all she'd wanted and tried to do was help people. And it'd almost killed her.
For once, Leo was almost, and strangely, grateful to Stockman. If it weren't for him, Sil very well could have died. Because of him.
Still, Leo wasn't sure if death would've been any worse than this.
Touching her hand, the blue-clad turtle smiled, feeling the warmth come back to her cold skin. The wait for her to awaken wasn't long; the Slayer had said he was almost done.
Wrinkling her freckled nose for a second, Sil sneezed and then opened one green eye, closing it upon seeing the bright light overhead.
Aware of how little time they had to get out of here and away from Stockman, Leo prodded her. "C'mon, Sil. Wake up."
Partly, she opened her eyes. "...Leo?"
Leo nodded. "Yeah, it's me."
As the little girl remembered what had happened, she sat up. "How'd you-"
He watched as her gaze focused on something behind him. Turning, Leo saw how the other kids were waking up, also noticing his brothers coming towards him.
The Slayer was tagging along.
Already knowing what she was probably about to do, Leo put his arm up. "Sil-" He started warningly.
Too late. Sil practically leapt off the table, marching right up to him. "Why, you little-" She cut herself off, trying to send a left hook into the boy's metal-guarded jaw.
Catching her small fist in his equally small hand, the Slayer tossed it aside, only to get tackled. Knocking him to the floor was about the extent of the damage she could do to him however; her punches didn't work so well.
Sighing mentally, the Slayer looked in their direction. If you don't get her off of me in a few seconds, I might actually have to hurt her out of annoyance...
Raph snorted. "I don't know; I'm kinda enjoyin' it. I was gonna do this to ya later, but she looks like she's havin' more fun."
Sil turned her face to Raph with her teeth clenched. "Shut up, Raph."
Seeing that a few of the other kids who were getting up wanted to follow Sil's example, Leo chose to end it there. Gently, he pulled the girl off of him. "All right, that's enough anger management for the day."
Tired out from her recent experience, Sil complied; though she did not look happy about it. "Are you kidding? You know what he's done; I'm not finished with him!"
The others seemed to agree as his brothers tried to calm him down. Leo noticed that some of them, as well as Sil herself, were on the verge of tears. "It's okay." He told her. Bottom lip trembling slightly, Sil leaned into him, crying into his plastron. "It's all right now." He let her cry for a few seconds before explaining to her what had happened.
Sniffing, Sil wiped the tears off her face. "So, he's helping us now?"
Leo nodded.
Frowning, the twelve-year-old girl moved her long black hair out of her face and behind her ear as she turned to face the Slayer. She looked him over. "Sorry..." She mumbled. Pausing for a second, she added, "Thanks, for helping- but I still kinda hate your guts."
Leo could almost see the venom dripping off her words.
The Slayer shrugged. Don't worry... You wouldn't be the first...
Surrounded by children, Don rubbed his hands. "Okay, so how are we supposed to get out of here?"
&&&&&
After awaking to police sirens and finding that half of her house was missing, April O'neil cursed Stockman for destroying another one of her apartments.
That done, she woke up Casey. The two of them managed to escape the scene before the cops could show up and slow them down from finding the guys. Besides, April had no idea as to what kind of story she could invent to logically explain why an entire wall of her apartment was missing that the police would buy.
Yeah, I think Bigfoot took it. He had some kind of surfing contest with the Abominable Snowman, or something.
Oh yeah. That was going to work.
After calling Master Splinter to tell him about what had happened, she and Casey got into her van. Using her Shell Cell, she tracked down the guys, telling Casey where to turn.
The simple task turned out to be a little harder with Casey Jones as a driver. Half the time, she was too sick from one of his sharp turns to read the screen properly.
Finally, however, they came up on a large facility. Parking outside of it, they walked up to a darkened side of the fenced property. Scaling it, with Casey not too far behind, April was again grateful for high school gymnastics and peeved with how easily clothing could tear. Frowning at her ripped pants, she promised to do some killer shopping when she got back home.
Landing on the other side, knees bent for impact, April straightened her posture and looked up at the building as Casey crashed to the ground next to her. Allowing him time to stand up and choose a hockey stick from his golf bag, April looked back down at the device in her hands that marked the guys', or at least their Shell Cell's, positions with a blip.
"Don't worry guys, we're coming." April whispered. She smiled as Casey put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
She just hoped that when and if they found them, they'd be alive.
&&&&&
While Leo and Mikey waited with the children in the other room Donny and Raph, accompanied by the Slayer, went next door, into the room that had once imprisoned him.
Working quickly on one of the computers in here, Don tried to cut out the cameras. "There; done." He said as a printer nearby hummed, smiling. "That should provide a little cover for us. I can't access the motion detectors from here; apparently they're only obtainable from Stockman's robotic body, but this is better than nothing."
"Good job, Donny." Raph smiled. "It'll be hard enough getting all these kids out of here without a couple of school buses. Hopefully we won't run into Stockman."
We will...
Frowning, Don nodded. "Probably, counting on our luck." The printer made a sound to alert everyone that it was done. Walking over to it, Don held it up. "I was able to find a schematic for the building. Now we should be able to navigate this place. I don't know about you, but the corn maze approach wasn't working so well."
Raph nodded in agreement. "You ain't kiddin'. Now let's blow this popsicle stand."
Going back into the other room, where Mikey was doing his best to cheer up the kids, they got ready to leave.
Momentarily ahead of the group, Mikey smiled. "Hi, I'll be your flight attendant for the ride. Remember to be as quiet as possible and to keep your legs and arms inside at all times."
Raph hit him over the back of the head. Don smiled. At least it got the kids giggling.
When they were done, they silently made their way out of the room and down the hallways. In the lead were the Slayer and the ninjas, Leo followed closely by Sil.
As they moved, Don noticed that the Slayer had the same look of concentration that he'd had while helping the kids. The purple-clad turtle tapped him on the shoulder. Knowing that he wanted his attention, the boy opened a telepathic link between them so they could avoid noise.
What are you doing? Donny asked.
You want to be able to get back to your home, right...? Seeing the confused look on Donny's face, he explained. Earlier, Stockman tortured them physically instead of mentally; before he knew what I could do... He couldn't just let them go after he got their genomes for me because they'd tell someone and ruin his work... He was planning on turning them all into individual Slayers like me...
Don got the implication of this. There had been a lot of physical torment in this child's life.
Because they bled so much, Stockman had me dilute the blood with water and dump it in the East River... I can manipulate water too, so that was easy... The blood went unnoticed, until Stockman realized that you had used it to track down that first warehouse... After you got away, he had me move the water into the sewers; he said you live down there... I'm moving it back out to the river so you can get back in...
Nodding his thanks, Donny shot a glance at Sil and shook his head. Sure, his work with those water samples had helped, but she'd been the one to find out about the warehouse.
She was very good.
Following the building's plans, the group was able to make it closer to the nearest exit than they would have had they moved around blindly in any direction. Don figured that they'd be out in about ten minutes.
That was, until the Slayer turned sharply to the left.
He's here...
&&&&&
With his heightened senses, the Slayer had heard Stockman's metallic feet hit the ground, no matter how quietly the scientist had tried to make them.
The turtles moved to his side, motioning the children to stay back as they looked down the hallway. All four drew their weapons simultaneously.
The Slayer hadn't entirely disconnected everyone from himself. Like with everyone here, minus Stockman, he could open a telepathic connection, but there was only one he was still linked to.
It was necessary, actually. It was okay to disconnect these children; they were rested and able to move, being unconscious the complete time the Slayer had tortured them with haunting memories.
But the one he'd haunted with their screams had been kept awake by the nightmares that had delivered them. As he'd told Leonardo earlier, he had been the one keeping him awake; if he weren't still doing this, it wouldn't take long for the turtle to collapse from lack of sleep.
And while he didn't think he needed his, or any of his brothers' help, for that matter, the Slayer wasn't stupid enough to deny help or underestimate the gravity of the situation.
Grinning, the Slayer looked straight at Stockman, who bore a mask of determination. Deep down, he knew that the coward was looking for a way out of this.
For once, the Slayer wished Stockman could hear him.
This is gonna be fun...
&&&&&
Ah, but you're gonna have to wait for the party!
(runs from torch and pitchforks) Sorry! C'mon! Aren't you happy I brought Sil back?
Sil: It's about time! (stomps foot) I haven't been around since Chapter Nine!
Pi: Hey, I gave you a cameo in Chapters thirteen and fourteen!
Sil: Oh, big whoop.
Pi: Be happy I even invented you.
Well, while I go and deal with my original character, who really is a sweetheart who's just having a bad day, I ask that you to please review! Thanks for reading!