Guest and Katestarlight25
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Only 2 chapters left after this chapter. I'll probably post them tomorrow or sometime this week depending if I have time to upload. ;)
I don't proofread my chapters! Lol I just dish them out as I write them cause I'm too lazy to do it.
Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT. But I do own my OCs!
On with the story!
Enjoy!
50 YEARS LATER
Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
Murphy's law.
The three had come to hated it before because it always seemed to be correct and now, they despised it with a passion. It was probably the only thing Donnie hated most about science. That stupid "supposed" law of nature seemed to ruin everything for him and his family. Because everything they thought that could go wrong on their last mission against the Newtralizer and Dregg , did go wrong. It created a mess that they couldn't fix anymore. They had been too late in knowing about the bomb. So many lives were lost. Raph, Kayla and Donnie had somehow managed to make it out alive. Everyone else...they weren't quite sure. But Kayla had given them hope. If she had died, then that mean Mikey was still alive somewhere. Then again she said she wasn't quite sure since her and Mikey never bonded so she wasn't sure but it was enough to give them hope. So they searched none stop for days, months…years. They would not give up until they found their friends and family.
The world was not the same anymore. It was a wasteland. There weren't any humans anymore. Only mutants and in very rare moments an Aeonian would be spotted but even they were slowly becoming less and less. Mutant clans had began to hunt them down for their abilities, using them as tools for their own survival. It was a miracle they had even managed to survive this long.
"We need fuel, Don. We're down to two barrels. Never gonna make it to Merchant Town on two barrels" Raph said over the walkie-talkie as he continued to drive while Kayla sat leaning against the van's wall trying to sleep for a few minutes. They had to get rest whenever they could find the time. Sometimes they weren't so lucky and had to go without sleep for days. They took turns driving and keeping lookout and the one that wasn't doing either of those slept as much as they could before they had to switch turns.
"Scanning now" Donnie's voice replied back "Sorry, Raph, there's nothing for at least 100 miles. Looks like we'll just have to—"
"Make do, like always!" Raph snapped back "Make do" he sighed in defeat.
"Now entering the Savage Desert. Keep one hand on the wheel and the other on your blaster" Donnie warned.
"Every second, Don, every second" he nudged Kayla with his other foot that wasn't on the gas and her eyes snapped open in alarm.
"We're entering Savage Desert" he told her. She stood up and began working out the kinks in her body. Savage Desert was never safe to travel in the day or night and all three of them always had to be on high alert for scavengers or scavs as they liked to call them.
"Want me to drive?" Kayla offered.
"Nah, why don't you go with Donnie for extra back up"
"Got it" she nodded and opened the roof's hatch to climb outside.
They drove until the sun set and stop for a break for food. Kayla managed to catch a small lizard and Raph caught some roaches.
"Desert roaches, Raphael?" Kayla smirked as she roasted her catch on a machete.
"And to think you used to be afraid of bugs" Donnie teased.
"I was? I don't remember that" Raph muttered as took a bite.
"Well, out here, bugs are one of the few sources of the nine essential proteins your body needs to survive. Those little critters, they contain histidine, isoleucine—"
"I do remember you used to annoy me with all the science talk." Raph cut Donnie off making Kayla laugh.
"Don't worry, Raph. One day you'll get those memories back" Donnie yawned "But my cyber cortex needs to go into rest mode. Powering down. Good night Raph, Kayla"
"Good night, brother" Raph replied back.
"Night Donnie, I'll take first watch, it's time you got some rest" Kayla stood up.
"Do you think they're alive? That she's alive?" he said softly. He didn't remember her quite well but he always saw her in his dreams. She was always smiling at him and it filled him with warmth. Donnie and Kayla have mentioned her before but he can't quite place who she is but he knows that she's important at least he feels like she is.
"I don't know" She whispered softly "The bond doesn't affect you as strong as us, if she were dead you should feel something, it's intense and you rather be dead"
"Wouldn't I just die like you?"
Kayla shook her head "You're not of Aeonian blood like me but you'll feel like a part of you was destroyed"
"What's it feel like for you now? You and Mikey never bonded would it feel differently?"
"Honestly?" She sighed while rubbing over her heart "It hurts...but it's manageable. I think it's because we didn't complete the bond. It could be different for you though" she answered honestly.
"What if it already happened? What if I'm still alive because I don't have Aeonian blood"
"Does it feel like it?" she asked him seriously.
He shook his head because he didn't feel like that. But he did feel like something was missing and he just wanted it back. But what if he was wrong? "Maybe we should just face the facts. They're gone and they're never coming back"
"We survived—"
"By sheer luck" he cut her off.
"I'm not dead so that means Mikey isn't either"
"You were injured severely after the blast who's to say you didn't confused the pain with a different one. What if you survived like your dad did?"
"I know the difference between physical pain and a bond fracture it is not the same" she hissed out angry.
"How could you know unless it already happened and you're in denial"
"Go fuck yourself Raph" she shoved him and stood up going a little farther away from the campsite.
Neither noticed Donatello had been listening to their conversation. He glanced down to his metal hands. What if Raph was right? He didn't have his body but he like to think he had a soul…yet why did it feel like he was alone. Like something was…gone.
Catherine, where are you? He thought as he finally shut down to get some rest.
"Huh?" Kayla glanced around their camp as she heard a noise "Raph get up" she whispered putting a lid on the fire and searched the area some more. Raph immediately stood up and followed her movements. They were both ambushed and tackled to the ground. Raph stabbed one of them with his sai making them yell in pain while Kayla kicked the one that was holding her between the legs and escaped his hold as he clutched his groin.
"Kayla!"
"I'm fine" she summoned a powerful wind to put some distance between them and their enemies. Before Raph was knocked to the ground again. She went to help him only for two more to grab hold of her.
"Nice to meet you. You can call me Verminator Rex. Maybe you can help us. We're looking for a girl and a map." Said the badger mutant with a robotic eye as he grinned down at Raph.
"Oh, here, let me show you the map to my fist!" Raph snarled and punched him away. The badger's lackeys growled and began beating on him.
"Leave him alone!" Kayla shouted as wind whipped around her.
"It's an Aeonian! Knock her out! We can use her and when she's done being useful we can sell her for a hefty sum at the black market" Rex told his men.
"No!" Raph snarled as they hit her behind the neck making her pass out.
"Everything you have belongs to Honey Badger Ravages now, You old terrapin including your shell." Rex laughed. Raph reached for his phone and pressed a button to call for help.
"Donnie!" Raph shouted.
Donnie sprung out of the vehicle and began to fight them giving Raph a chance to stand up and knock a few away.
"Robo-high three!" Donnie said in victory.
"No time. Look!" he pointed towards the desert and picked up Kayla from the ground and made a run for it to their ride.
"Aww, desert wasteland apples" Donnie quickly followed his brother inside.
"You got to be kidding me!" Raph growled when he couldn't start up their ride.
"Time to kick some badger butt!" The engine roared to life and he took off at high speeds "Zoinks! Really, really big rocket launcher" Donnie said as he continued to fire at them. Raph looked around the vehicle for something to help them turn the tides in their favor when he spotted his bomb.
"Well, I was saving this for a rainy day" he sighed.
"Newsflash, Raph. It hasn't rained in 842 days, 7 hours, and 32 minutes. Translation: use it!" Donnie shouted. Raph threw it and pressed a button when they were far enough causing a huge explosion to go off.
"Whoo-hoo! Kiss the Honey Badger Ravagers good-bye!" he laughed.
They managed to make it out and in a few hours Kayla woke up in a startle.
"What happened? Why does everyone keep Knocking me out!" She grumbled rubbing her sore neck.
"Don't worry you're safe" Raph grunted "Hey, Don, scan the area. Donnie?
"He's resting" She answered for him as she stretched.
"Ahhh, sometimes I really envy his sleep mode"
"Here let me drive and you get some rest" She nudged him and he gave in reluctantly.
They came to a small abandon post and Kayla searched the area.
"Kayla?" Raph called out to her.
"Over here! I thought I let you sleep in a bit more while I check this place out for supplies." She kicked over a bucket finding nothing.
"We got to find more water around here" Raph said helping her look.
"What was that?" Kayla said as she saw something move.
"What?" His eyes narrowed and he went back to back with her to cover their blind spots. A small mutant girl jumped out and wrapped them in a wire electrocuting them until they couldn't move, and she hijacked their ride.
"Great" Kayla sighed standing up and helped Raph up too. "Come on we need to start walking"
They weren't sure how long they walked but the heat was getting to them but not as bad as Raph. It seemed he was having flashbacks.
"Oh, what a day, what a lovely day. A turtle on its back. He bakes in the hot sun. Trying to turn itself over. Needs water. I need water." He muttered half crazed.
"Keep it together Raph" Kayla slapped his cheek softly.
"Can't be. It's just a mirage"
Kayla glanced toward where he was staring at and sighed in relief as a familiar battle van came into view before stopping a few feet from them.
"Donnie, what took you so long?" Raph glared.
"I was in sleep mode doing self-repairs from our last little run-in, and when I reactivated, I saw you'd turned into a young girl." He explained as he let them in.
"Young girl? What?" he shook his head and saw that she was tied up and sitting in the passage seat "Little meerkat thief. I'm tired of these scavengers. Dump her by the side of the road and let's keep moving."
"But she doesn't have any water or shelter, Raph." Donnie tried to reason with him.
"Neither did we when she left us out there for dead" Kayla snapped backed.
"Exactly. She goes." Raph agreed with Kayla.
"I won't leave her out here. That's not how Master Splinter raised us and that is not how Joshua raised you" Donnie grew angry at them.
"Leave my dad out of this Donatello" Kayla hissed.
"I don't remember being raised or Master Splinter. You can drop her at the next bomb shelter we pass." Raph growled and drove off.
"Monitoring scans indicate we're heading toward the Impossible Wasteland. The area is said to be riddled with quicksand and dangerous desert monsters."
"That's where I was going." The girl finally spoke.
"Through the wasteland?" Donnie said shocked.
"I'm looking for someone" she shrugged.
"So, you got a name besides car thief?" Raph asked.
"How did you even end up in the Wasteland all alone?" Kayla asked.
"It's a long story" the girl answered looking away.
"Don't you have a village or a tribe or something?" Donnie questioned.
"My family was destroyed a long time ago. They're gone." She glanced at her lap.
"Us too. We had two brothers and mates. They didn't make it through the M. bomb" Raph gripped the wheel tighter.
"We don't know that for sure Raph" Kayla snapped at him.
"You keep telling yourself that"
"I am Mira of the Wild Meerkat Clan. How did you end up out here with that thing?" she nodded her head towards Donnie and Kayla.
"That thing? I'm a person well, a turtle. Okay, turtle mind and a robot body, but I—"
"He used to be like me, then the mutagen explosions went off." Raph explained.
"My body was destroyed, but I was cybernetically wired to Metalhead Mark 2, a robot I designed, so I transferred my consciousness into this machine" Donnie finished off.
"Okay, okay. I have no idea what you're saying, but it's cool and I was actually referring to her" Mira said.
"Me?" Kayla's face twisted slightly offended at the statement and Raph snorted while Donnie laughed "I'm not a thing" she snapped.
"Sorry but the robot fits in more than you do, what are you?" she tilted her head curiously.
"I guess I do stand out more now since humans no longer exist" Kayla sighed.
"You're human? I've heard stories about them, but I never thought that this is what they look like" Mira's eyes widen.
"I'm not human, I'm an Aeonian and I hold similarities to that of a human but not all Aeonian look like this some look like him some look like you. It depends on who your parents were and what blood flows through their veins. My birth mother was human and my father was Aeonian" Kayla explained as best as she could.
"Aeonian…you know they hunt your kind nowadays" Mira whispered.
"I…know" Kayla said sadly. Picking up on her mood Mira decided to change the subject.
"Why are you on the road? Where are you three drongos going?" Mira asked.
"Nowhere. We hunt, look for food, fuel, weapons, and try to stay alive. That's about it." Raph shrugged.
"And we look for our family" Kayla added "They're alive, I know they are"
"No matter what grumpy over here says" Donnie agreed with Kayla.
"There's more to life than scavenging. I'm a believer. Oasis is out there. I know the Green Paradise is real." Mira said softly.
"Ha! Oasis? Dream on, kid" Raph laughed.
"You're wrong. Oasis is real, and I'm gonna find it." Mira said determine.
It was silent between them again. Raph didn't care what the girl did as long as he didn't have to help her anymore and Donnie was just glad they didn't leave her in the middle of nowhere. They spotted another old broken down gas station and stopped the car to take a look around.
"Gonna look for some fuel. Maybe we'll get lucky. Don't go anywhere" Raph warned Mira. Kayla followed him out and began searching with him but they once again found nothing.
"Of course, I couldn't be that lucky" Raph sighed.
"Raph!" Kayla called out in a panic. He ran to her to see what was wrong and found her checking on Donnie and repairing him as best as she could. His form was slouched on the ground wires fizzing and sparking.
"Oh, no! Donnie!" he checked on him and growled when he saw Mira gone. "Where is she?"
"I don't— Raph above you!" Kayla warned as Mira dropped on top of him.
Raph snarled and grabbed Mira and threw her outside the vehicle and began shooting at her. Mira being small and fast simply jumped and dodge the fires. She used her whip from when she shocked them and snapped his blaster out of his hand.
"You're pretty fast, for an old turtle" Mira commented.
Raph hid out of her view and waited for the right moment and used a rope to tie her up "Got a few surprises myself" he glared at her and strung her up to hang a few feet from the ground. Kayla came back out with Donnie following beside her his form glitching every so often but otherwise looked okay.
"Wait, wait!" Mira pleaded as she hung there defenseless "Only I know how to get through the Impossible Wasteland. I know of another turtle out there"
"My brothers are gone" he stated firmly.
"Raph wait! Let's hear her out. She could be talking about Leo or…Mikey" Kayla's voice cracked at mentioning her soul-urge's name.
"Are you kidding me? She's lying. She's only saying this so we'll let her go and once we do she'll just try to steal from us again!" Raph snarled.
"A-and if she's telling the truth? I'm not willing to take that chance"
"Fine! Stay with her! I don't care what you do but I'm not staying here any longer and she is not coming with us"
"Then I guess this is where we part ways" Kayla said bitterly.
"C-come on guys stop fighting" Donnie tried to reason.
"It's me or her Donnie" Raph warned.
"It's ok Donnie, go" Kayla smiled softly. Donnie's shoulders sagged, but he nodded in defeat. He gave her a quick hug and handed her a small device.
"It's a tracker" He explained before continuing "When he comes back to his senses, we'll be able to find you or you us"
"Thank you" Kayla said clipping the tracker to her vest and watched as they drove away. She turned towards Mira and sighed. She took out a small dagger from her boot and cut the rope that held Mira.
"Why…why would you do that?" Mira said shocked that she separated from her friends. Kayla crouched down to her level and placed her hands on Mira's shoulders.
"Did you lie about the other turtle?"
Mira shook her head "I'm telling the truth, I swear!"
"Then get on and lead the way" Kayla said offering Mira a piggy back ride.
"I can walk just fine" Mira puffed out her cheeks hating that she was being treated like a child.
Kayla smirked at her "I never said we were going to walk"
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