"This place doesn't smell half bad, ya know, for a sewer." Jade and Raph walked down the tunnels underneath the city. Jade followed close behind Raph and kept a close eye out for anything and everything.
"Heh, yeah, once you get used to it, it's pretty easy to live down here." Raph said and continued to lead the way. "Almost there." He turned down a few more tunnels until he found tracks. "It's just over there." He said as he pointed down the abandoned rails. The walked along with Chinarose wining every now and again.
"It's okay, baby girl, we're almost there." Jade cooed. Raph stopped and gave the universal sign to keep quiet.
"I'm not sure how the guys are going to react so, uh, just follow me." They entered the lair and it was eerily quiet. "Huh.." Raph said as he lead Jade over to a den like area, a living room or sorts. "Wait here, I'm gonna go look for them." He told Jade and she simply gave a nod as she sat down with Chinarose. Meanwhile, Raph looked around and heard a voice coming from the far end of the lair: Splinter's Dojo. Raph gave a sigh and quietly walked in. He opened the door slightly and saw his three brother sitting in front of Splinter.
"Master Splinter, the Kraang are going to continue their experiments if we don't stop them." Leo said with concern.
"Yeah, and I'm not any closer to finding a retro mutagen." Donnie chimed in. "Who knows what they plan on doing if they succeed in their experimentation."
"The only way to succeed is to work as one." Splinter said as he walked across in front of them. "And that means staying together no matter the circumstances... Raphael." Splinter turned to the partially opened door and the others did as well. Raph sighed again and walked into the dojo.
"Hey guys.." He said as he went over to meet them.
"You okay?" Leo asked. Raph nodded in response then turned to Splinter.
"Leonardo told me what you told him, Raphael." Splinter said as he put a hand on his shoulder. "You mustn't let her cloud your mind. Your brothers come first. The mission at hand comes first."
"Hai, Sensei... but she needs our help." Raph pleaded. Leo stood up and went over to him.
"We will help her, but we have to figure out what the Kraang plan on doing first. If we can't stop them, everything will have been done in vein. Including helping Jade." there was silence and then a small sound. They all quickly turned, ready to defend if necessary. The intruder hesitated then slowly walk in.
"I told you to stay put!" Raph shouted in an annoyed and angry tone.
"Raphael! What is the meaning of this? Who is she!?" Splinter demanded. Leo pointed at her with his katana blade.
"You brought her to our lair? What's wrong with you!?" Leo put his katanas away and the others did the same with their weapons.
"Like I said, she needs our help! So are you three going to stand there like a bunch a dweebs or help her and her cat!?" Raph shouted and pointed at Chinarose.
"Her cat? Ugh, Raph, this is our lair, our home! Not a veterinarian's office!"
"Enough you two!" Splinter walked in between them and straight to Jade. "You must be Jade, welcome." He lowered his head as a sign of welcoming and respect. "Donatello." He called behind him. Donnie quickly went over to the two. "Take her and her.. cat.. to you lab. Do what ever you can to help the injured animal."
"Hai, Sensei." Donnie left, gesturing for Jade to follow. Raph grunted and went to follow them but Splinter held his hand up.
"Not you. Leonardo, Michelangelo. Leave us be; I'd like to speak to Raphael alone."
Jade followed Donnie through the lair, Leo and Mikey following close behind.
"Just through here." Donnie said as he opened a pair of double doors and walked into his lab.
"Whoa. You're pretty well set in here." She said as she looked around.
"Huh, yeah. I've got a lot of stuff that you don't need to get near. That means you too, Mikey!" Mikey was trying to play with some sort of tool and quickly put it down at the sound of his name.
"Heh, sorry Don." Mikey then took a few steps away from Donnie
"Jade, stay here with Donnie." Leo said as he grabbed Mikey and lightly pushed him to the door. "Mikey and I will wait in the den for you and Raph. Then we make a plan to figure out what the Kraang are up to.." Leo looked at Jade closely then left, closing the door behind him.
"He seems charming." Jade said as she followed Donnie to his lab table.
"That's Leo for you. He's our leader, so, he's always like that." Donnie began to set up what he needed to do a check up on Jade's cat. "But he's not that bad of guy. Once you get to know him." Donnie waved his hand over, gesturing to Jade to bring Chinarose over.
"Just set her here on my lab table." He said. Jade gently set down Chinarose. She whined a little, then hissed at Donnie.
"Hey, behave. He's going to help you." Chinarose gave a small and quiet mew, her ear twitching.
"Was that actual communication?" Donnie asked, slightly wowed.
"Yeah, since I got, well, mutated, I've seemed to be able to talk to cats. To Chinarose here at least." Jade pet her soft head gently, giving her a small smile. "I know what she wants to tell me and vise-versa."
"Incredible. I wonder to what extent that goes..." Donnie's thoughts drifted into the possibilities of communication between species. He started mumbling to himself, but Jade quickly knocked him out of it.
"Hey, Professor, we got a wounded animal that's putting blood stains on you table as you speak..." Jade noted in a slightly annoyed tone.
"Huh? Oh yeah, sorry." Donnie went back to the task at hand. He began to gently examine the cat as Jade softly held her down so she wouldn't scratch or bite. "Her fore limbs seem to be fine. Cuts and scraps here and there, nothing that won't heal on it's own rather quickly."
"When I found her, a heavy wood bed frame was on her, I'm not sure where though. Check her back legs and her tail." Jade said with confidence. Donnie did so and felt something that didn't feel right.
"Well, I'm no cat expert, but it seems she has a fracture somewhere." Donnie picked up her back leg slightly, making Chinarose growl at him.
"That seems to be her fibula. If you can x-ray her, we could see if it has effected the tarsus at all, and check if her tibia is the actual problem." Jade said with certainty. Donnie looked at her, slightly amazed. "What?"
"Nothing, it's just. How do you know that at the top of your head?" Donnie asked as he went off to look for an x-ray machine.
"I'm pretty good at biology... and physics. And chemistry. And science in general. But math, eh, I'm decent, but I don't enjoy it. Biology, now that's my strong suit." Donnie chuckled and came back. He then started to set up his machine.
"No kidding? I wouldn't have taking you to be a woman of science, being Ra... nevermind." Donnie smirked to himself as he finished setting up.
"What was that?" Jade asked, raising a brow.
"Nothing,nothing at all..." Donnie clapped his hands together and looked to Jade. "Let's get to work!"
