Allison's tears weren't over concern that Raphael may turn into an ordinary turtle.

Instead she was crying because, for once, he had seemed happy. She finally saw a glimpse into the real Raphael. He was just a kid who wanted to go and watch some movies, a kid who wanted to blend in. And now… whatever was happening to him, that dream just dissipated as quickly as it had appeared.

Allison threw herself out of the space cruiser, back into the demolished remains of the uppermost basement levels of Bishop's base. Outside, she heard a sharp cry and a sudden thud. For a moment, she thought that this was Raphael hitting the floor, but she quickly remembered about Leonardo and the Rat King.

Jogging around the back of the ship, she saw Leonardo on the ground, trying to get up. The Rat King, his back to her, was slowly approaching him, still feeling in front of him as a testament to his blindness. She caught sight of something shining behind him, and realized that these were shards of a broken blade. Leonardo's katana. Gone.

Thinking quickly, she speedily yet silently made her way to the two hilts lying forgotten on the ground. Picking them up, she saw that Leonardo had managed to turn himself so that he was facing the Rat King, trying to edge away to the left without sound.

The Rat King stopped suddenly. Allison tried extra hard to be silent, hoping to at least sever one of his arms or even his head with what was left of the blade on each hilt. Just as she was only a yard behind him, the Rat King suddenly whirled about, flailing an arm out at her. It caught her in the chest, throwing her clear across the room.

She let out a yelp as she slammed into a wall. The world spun around her, but she willed herself to stay conscious. Her eyelids felt heavy. Concussion, she realized. That was definitely a concussion.

Seeing the Rat King turn his attention to Allison, Leonardo jumped to his feet. Remembering about the butterfly knives he had taken from Allison's display case, he reached behind him and leapt for his opponent. Seeming to have been engrossed in his new target, the Rat King was slow to respond and only manage to turn just as Leonardo sunk his short blade into his throat. The turtle was appalled by the close contact. He had meant to give the knives to Raphael in case his sais were gone; he hadn't intended on using such a close-range weapon himself.

Leaping away just as the creature attempted to strike, Leonardo observed the wound he had just made. Again, the Rat King seemed to show no outward signs of having felt a thing, but his movements were much slower. This was a good sign. This proved that, whatever Bishop had done to revamp this thing's threshold of pain, he had to sacrifice immortality. Either that, or he simply hadn't been finished playing with his toy yet.

With a whimper that was meant to be a yell, the Rat King threw himself at Leonardo. Knowing precisely what to do, Leonardo sidestepped the creature, jutting out his knife and allowing the Rat King's neck to land upon it as the turtle pivoted away. The lack of blood disturbed Leonardo even more than the sound of the inanimate head rolling on the ground.

He looked down at the headless body, its eternally enraged head sitting besides it as a Halloween lawn decoration might. Yes, even as dejected as it was, Leonardo found that he could still pity the creature. That, again, was another comfort to him. Putting his unfamiliar weapons away, Leonardo murmured, "And so it ends the same way it had before."

"Who ever said this was the end?"

The next series of events occurred far too quickly for Leonardo to make accurate sense of. He looked up and saw Bishop and several of his men standing at the doorway to the former room. Just as he acknowledged the laser mounted on Bishop's wrist, a red blast headed his way. He turned and just managed to realize that he wouldn't be able to completely jump out of the line of fire when he felt a pair of hands on his shell, pushing him out of the way. Landing in a roll, he quickly stood and readied his knives again. A lump formed in his throat when he realized what had happened.

"April!" Casey ran to April's side as she hit the floor, grabbing onto her shoulder. Understanding April's risk to save him, Leonardo narrowed his eyes and glared at Bishop. "How endearing," the man stated darkly. "She'll put her life on the line for a reptile. What are girls thinking these days?"

A sharp chain zoomed in from the side, successfully dismantling Bishop's laser. With more disappointment than surprise, Bishop turned to see Michelangelo gripping his kusarigama, an uncharacteristically intense expression on his face. "Bad move, dude," he told Bishop. "Hittin' a lady's never a good idea."

Michelangelo jerked the chain, not expecting Bishop to anticipate the pull and use it to help him fly. The turtle had no time to duck before Bishop's foot made contact with his chest, knocking him away. However, Bishop also had no time to regain his footing before being hit solidly in the stomach by Donatello's bo just after the turtle released more spheres of mercuric fulminate, keeping Bishop's men at bay. "You go messing with our friends," Donatello nearly growled, "and you'd better be willing to mess with all of us."

Bishop grabbed at Donatello's bo, meaning to yank it out of his grasp, when he felt two hands grab him by the shoulders and whip him around. Staring into Casey Jones' face, he heard the fuming man yell, "Yeah, and if ya mess with my girlfriend, then you'd better have funeral plans ready!"

Casey swung at Bishop, but Bishop easily grabbed hold of his fist and twisted his arm. "Stubborn fool," Bishop muttered as he attempted to break the man's arm. He would have succeeded, had he not felt a sudden sting of pain. Looking down, he saw two shuriken jutting out of his chest. His eyes rose to look at Leonardo, who was readying two more throwing stars. "I couldn't think of a better term myself," Leonardo spoke coolly.

Casey managed to break out of Bishop's grip, but Bishop only grabbed a handful of the man's dark hair and pulled him sharply backwards, causing him to collide with both Michelangelo and Donatello. Dodging the pair of shuriken hurled at him, he ran for Leonardo. As the turtle readied his knives, Bishop parried with the enforced gauntlets of his armor. Their strained faces only inches away from one another, Bishop and Leonardo stared one another down.

Quietly impressed by the turtle's strength and determination, Bishop breathed, "I should commend you, Leonardo. This makes the third time that you and your brothers defeated my Slayer. I suppose this either means that my next version needs to be even more superior-" In a backhanded effort, Bishop slammed his shoe down against Leonardo's foot and pushed him sprawling to the ground, wrenching one of his knives out of his grasp. "-or I just have to get rid of you once and for all."

Just as he was about to lunge for the downfallen turtle, a hot laser blast hit his hand, causing him to drop the appropriated weapon. Looking up, he saw that April O'Neil woman with a gun. A quick glance to the semi-conscious girl at her feet told him that she had gotten it off of this girl and, as she was currently a better shot, decided to use it to her advantage.

He was hit again in the chest, and used this energy to drive him into a backwards flip. Bishop quickly saw that his men had either deserted him or had already been dealt with by the turtles. On his feet, he came to a bitter realization. Once again, he was outnumbered and beaten.

Silently cursing the frailty and incompetence of his men, he turned and ran. "Another day then, friends," he said as he hurriedly made his way out. Despite his speed, he felt something wrap itself around his ankles. As he tripped and fell, he felt himself being pulled backwards, and knew that that Michelangelo brat had caught him.

"Like the song goes," Michelangelo said, cautiously stepping up behind Bishop, "no day but today." He was right to be cautious, as Bishop sat up and yanked his legs back, meaning to send Michelangelo flying. Foreseeing this, Michelangelo let go of the hilt of the kusarigama. By the time Bishop realized that a stone pickaxe was sailing towards his heart, it was too late.

"Eyew," Michelangelo flinched. "That had to hurt."

Casey had made his way over to April, who was staring at Bishop's rigid body. "Is that it?" April asked. "Is he-?" Casey let out an embittered laugh as he shook his head and responded, "I wouldn't count on it. We'd probably have to cut off his head and burn the body. Stickin' a clove 'a garlic in his mouth might work, too."

"Can't supply that last bit," Donatello said, helping Leonardo to his feet. "But while you all were busy, I set up detonators throughout the room and as far outside of it as I could throw them. The insanity ends here."

Michelangelo went over to Allison, who was mumbling incoherently to herself. "Then let's get in the air quick, bro," he said as he picked the girl up in his arms. "Looks like our old bud here's gonna need someone to look after her."

The contact with Michelangelo focused her somewhat. "M… Mike?" Michelangelo smiled at her as the group walked back to the ship. "For sure, bud. Raph's in the ship, right? We'll have Donnie give the two of you a look over and-" He was alarmed when Allison cut him off, her eyes flying wildly as she searched for Donatello. Finding him, she pleaded, "Donatello, Raphael's in trouble! Go inside and help him! He… he's mutating again!"

"Mutating?" Donatello blinked at her. "Again?" Before Allison could explain, Donatello sped off into the space cruiser. April looked down, realizing something. "So that's what Stockman meant when he said that the serum somehow accelerated Raphael's mutation rather than reversing it. Whatever he had given Allison to turn her back into a human, he intended to use on Raphael to turn him back into a turtle. Instead…." Shocked, she turned back to Allison. "Allison… what… what's happened to him? He hasn't... hasn't turned into a… a…?"

"A giant, slimy, turtle-munching monster?" Michelangelo finished shrilly. He stopped suddenly, as though his feet were firmly rooted on the floor. "I'm not going anywhere near that ship! Oh Donnie! Donnie! What'll become of him?"

In lieu of Donatello, it was Leonardo's turn to smack Michelangelo in the back of the head. "Calm down, o Monarch of Melodrama. Raph's… uh… not lethal. At least, not when I saw him last." Seeing Allison's impatience to get to the ship, Leonardo helped her out of Michelangelo's arms and kept an arm around her waist to keep her up. "What do you mean by 'mutating again,' Allison? What's happened?"

Rubbing her temple as Leonardo led her to the ship while the others followed, Allison tried to clear her head. She knew that the effects of a concussion could signify something more dangerous if they lasted for more than fifteen minutes… or was that five minutes? Nevertheless, she was determined to speak articulately and not let both her injuries and her emotions take control of her.

"He… started changing. Just… grunting, really. In pain. He was in lots of pain and yelled and parts of his skin started changing color and… he told me to get out. He didn't want me to see him… to see him… like that." As Leonardo helped her up into the spacecraft, she looked at the closed door to the room in which she had left Raphael. Donatello was undoubtedly in there, seeing what he could do. Would the door be closed for any reason other than there being something behind it that the others wouldn't want to see? Feeling the panic well up inside of her, Allison broke away from Leonardo and went for the door.

She was about to pull it open when Michelangelo put his arms around her, keeping her back. "No way, bud! You're not doing anything that'll risk getting you bitten by a wereturtle and turning into that crazy rat again! You stay outta there 'til we get the heads-up from Don-"

Despite Michelangelo's debut at reasonable thinking, Casey pushed past the two of them, unwilling to sit aside quietly until he knew what was happening to his friend. "Raph? Raph, buddy!" He threw the door open and stood at the doorway, even as Leonardo tried to urge him back. Leonardo closed his eyes and looked away. Whatever Raphael had become, he didn't want any of the others to witness it before even being told about the human form that he had defaulted to. Even if Raphael was simply sitting there as the broad-shouldered teenaged boy that Leonardo had seen him as, it would prove to be a huge shock to Casey and the others.

Casey's large body blocked most of the doorway, only adding to the suspense of Allison, Leonardo, April and Michelangelo. Upon hearing a low murmur that sounded like Donatello's voice from within, Allison couldn't stand it anymore. Tearing away from Michelangelo, she pushed past Casey and stepped into the room.

There, lying on a cot, was a sleeping Raphael. The old Raphael. The teenaged mutant ninja turtle Raphael. Donatello was crouched besides him, apparently just finishing a basic check of his vitals. Looking up at Allison with sympathetic eyes, he quietly told her, "Other than lots of minor cuts and tension of some of his muscles that are indicative of a recent experience of intense pain, everything's checking out. He appears normal. Once we're in the air, I'll use some of the medical equipment on this rig and do a more thorough examination."

Allison hardly heard a word he was saying. Stumbling into the room, she sunk to her knees besides Donatello, staring at Raphael. Observing the peaceful slumber, she hardly realized that Donatello was looking her over and telling her that she deserved some medical attention as well, as did April.

It didn't take long for Donatello to see that his words were going unnoticed. Once Allison ascertained that Raphael was all right, she merely stared at him, and it seemed as though she almost went into a sort of catatonia. Though he was worried about her, Donatello merely stood up and left the room. "Come on," he gently told Casey, pulling him out of the room. "Let's leave them alone for a bit until we're on our way." Casey silently obliged, shutting the door behind him.

At the cockpit, April and Donatello readied for departure. As the lights of the space cruiser turned on, the wreckage became all the more visible. "Donnie," April gasped. "Look." Following April's point, Donatello saw what alarmed her. On the ground several feet in front of them was Michelangelo's discarded kusarigama. Bishop was nowhere to be found.

Though he half-expected it, a surge of anger went through Donatello. "Crud," he muttered. Going to the detonator he carried with him, he set the charges to go off in exactly one minute. Whether or not Bishop would escape was of little consequence right now. He had his brother, and he had Allison. There was nothing on this site that he wanted to save. Taking off, Donatello did a final, half-hearted, unsuccessful visual sweep of the grounds for any sign of Bishop.

A few seconds later, as they flew off into the deserted Californian night, they heard the explosives go off.