TMNT: the unexpected friendship
Chapter 19: Uncovering Secrets
"Shhhh, someone's down there." Bianca whispered as she pushed a finger to her lips. She looked down cautiously and couldn't see very clearly, but then saw green scales pop out in the moonlight.
"Let's find out for sure." She can hear Donny saying to his brothers.
"Guys?" She calls down. She then jumps off the building's ledge and uses her fire to soften her landing.
"Bianca?" Mikey asked astonished. She landed lightly on her feet and stands up.
"Hey, what are you doing here?"
"We were tracking one of the guardians here and we're using one of my devices to see what's up. What are you doing here?" Donny asked.
"I was looking for James, and the search lead me here."
"Why didn't you tell us?" Leo asked.
"Because I'm her number one guy now." Taiyo finally decided to join the ranks and he plopped his arm over Bianca's shoulders. She squeezed a pressure point in between the shoulder and the socket and Taiyo cramped and whimpered slightly under the pain.
"Get, off, now." She growls.
"Uh, who's this?" Mikey asks skeptically.
"This is Taiyo, he's an assassin." Bianca introduce nonchalantly.
"And where'd you pick this freak out." Raph asked as he crossed his arms.
"Same way I picked you guys out, through Shredder." Bianca joked.
"Shredder!" They exclaim together.
"It's cool, with tin butt gone, he's a solo act, and he's good." Bianca explained with her hands up in defense.
"Not too good for you sweetie." Taiyo smirks at her and wiggles his eyebrows.
"Quit it." She nudged him roughly in the ribs.
"Do you really need this bozo?" Raph asked.
"Of course she-"
"Not really, but he seems harmless enough." Bianca answered honestly as she interrupted Taiyo trying to stand up for himself.
"Hey come on, you fought me, I am definitely powerful, like the-"
"All-powerful sun god you're named after. Goodness you're like a broken record." Bianca rolled her eyes at him.
"Can't help but be proud. And besides, you still owe me."
"Ugh, fine. Can he please stay? I made a deal with him." She almost begs to the guys, knowing that they hate new people.
"What kind of deal?" Leo asked.
"He'd help me, then I'd help him." Bianca answered simply. Before someone else could argue or stand up for themselves again the Battle Shell pulled up behind them and they all stared.
"Who's driving?" Bianca asked curiously as she tilted her head slightly. The driver's door opens and April's head sticks out.
"Hey guys, oh hi Bianca, wasn't expecting to…uh, whose this?" April asks skeptically.
"Taiyo, April, April, Taiyo." Bianca sighed as she got into the van, Taiyo following not too far behind.
"Sup." He said with a nod in her direction.
"Uhm, okay." April commented as she got back into the driver's seat and everyone else began to pile in as well.
"Did you bring it?" Donny asks April as she removes a bag from under her seat.
"I think I got everything on the list." She stated as she handed him the bag. He searched through it and gave a thumbs up and saying,
"Perfect."
"List? List of what?" Bianca asked.
"Material I would need to set up my little surveillance spy turtle cam." Donny explained as he held up the small turtle camera device.
"Aw, it's so cute." Bianca cooed.
"Isn't that a bit obvious." Taiyo argued.
"It's super silent and has special reflectors on its shell to keep it pretty invisible to most people." Donny commented.
"Let's begin." Leo stated. Donny nodded and allowed the little turtle to retract into its shell and use wheels at the bottom of the shell to roll away, as he hooked up the console to control the turtle cam towards the building. It strolled in unnoticed by the security guard standing in front.
"Now, let's see what's behind door number one." Donny navigated the camera to look at the door to the right of the security guard but the chair the security guard was sitting in suddenly hit the camera and the turtle went spinning out of control.
"Whoa, I'm getting carsick." Mikey said covering his mouth as he stared at the screen too long. When it finally stopped the camera was facing the sign that was behind the security guard's station.
"Uh guys, here's a new wrinkle." Donny stated curiously. It read TCRI: techno-cosmic research institute.
"I don't get it." Mikey said.
"Techno Cosmic Research Institute." Donny read.
"So?" Leo asked.
"Yeah?" Raph asked.
"Huh?" Mikey rubbed his head.
"You're point?" Bianca asked.
"Say the first letter in each word." Donny suggested.
"What, T-C-R-I? Sorry, it's not ringing any…bells…" Mikey paused as something suddenly struck him and the turtles all paused and stared at each other in shock.
"TCRI: dat's the, the…" Raph couldn't even get the words out properly.
"The, the…" Mikey tried for him but failed too.
"The what! Tell me." April asked aggravated by the anticipation.
"TCRI was printed on the canister of ooze that mutated us into what we are." Donny commented as it finally hit everyone in the Battle Shell the significance of this organization.
"And the plot thickens…" Bianca commented softly.
"The secret to our origin could very well lie in the walls of that building." Leo chimed in.
"We gotta keep lookin' round." Raph suggested.
"Okay, let's snoop around." Donny nodded as he continued to navigate with the Battle Shell. Everyone leaned in close to get a better look at the screen. "Uh, you guys are sucking up the oxygen right out of my personal space here."
"Sorry." Everyone as they back off slowly, but then reeled themselves in closer again. After navigating for a few moments, Donny found a new door to explore.
"Jackpot, the security control room: the brains to their security systems." Donny smiled, as he got closer.
"Can you look under that door to see what we're up against?" Leo asked.
"I think so." He was motioning for the neck to reach under the door when shoes were approaching the door from the other side. "Eh, uh-oh." Donny tried backing up as quickly as he could but the camera was sent spinning out of control again and he couldn't control it and then it suddenly went offline.
"Okay, so that died quickly." Bianca sighed.
"Well now what?" Mikey asked.
"Master Splinter might be in there, answers we've been looking for our whole lives might be in there. So that means, we're going in there." Leo commanded.
"Great, let's head back to the lair and make a plan." Donny suggested.
"Sounds cool, always wanted to see your guys' base of operations." Taiyo commented as he was the first to buckle up.
"Nah-uh, Bianca may trust you, but you're on a short leash with us, you're staying here, stake out the building." Raph ordered as he ripped Taiyo out of the seat and threw him out of the Battle Shell.
"What, there's no way I'm listening to you!" Taiyo argued as he tried to get back in, with Raph blocking his way again. Bianca decided it would be best to intervene and sugarcoat the situation.
"Listen, I know it's not the best job in the world, but it would be really helpful if we have constant supervision on what's going on here. It's an important job." Taiyo smiled at the importance of the task and fell for her bait.
"Right, leave it to me." He said proudly. He ran up the fire escape to get to the top of the building they were on previously.
"What a kiss up, I can't believe you're buying his shtick." Raph growled as they began to drive away and to the abandoned warehouse to their lair.
"He's not all bad, behind all the obnoxious egocentric remarks he's good at what he does and he can be a very reliable source, and he's loyal." Bianca tried to make him sound better than she actually thought.
"Yeah, like a pet guinea pig." Mikey joked and got a fist bump from Raph.
"He's not all bad…he's kind of bad but there's good in him."
"You sure you're not trying to convince yourself first?" Leo commented from the seat next to her.
"I know him well enough to know he won't go running away."
"Whatever." Donny sighed and they finally made it to the warehouse. They entered and summoned the elevator from below and they took it downstairs to begin scheming. It took a few moments for the team to set up their gear and dig up some dirt on the building.
"Now, what exactly have we found out about TCRI?" Leo asked as he stood in front of the TV screens that displayed the many pictures of the TCRI building. "April?" He asked as he directed everyone's attention to her.
"Okay: TCRI is a highly successful new technologies company that's been around for the past 25 years, and who's head corporate liaison is a Mr. Mortu."
"These are the blueprints, submitted to the state city planner's office when the building was constructed." Leo stated.
"Looks as boring as it does on the inside as well as the outside." Bianca commented.
"Here's some of what our shell-cam recorded before it became road kill." Donny stated as he pulled up information from his computer and put it on the screen. "Surveillance cameras cover the perimeter and the roof, all laced with alarm sensors."
"So what we need is someone smart, capable and techno-savvy enough to get in, find the alarm cut off and, cut it off." Leo stated.
"Me!" Mikey cheered as his hand shot up from his upside down position from the ceiling, he was currently testing out a new method of sneaking around with a self-belay system.
"No, April." Leo corrected, which is when April's head shot up from scanning the computer in her lap.
"Me?"
"Don't act so surprised, you are brilliant with technology, and quite savvy." Bianca compliments as she nudged her playfully.
"You'll sneak in past the guard, enter the security control room and deactivate the cameras and alarms." Leo instructed.
"O-kay…" April complied nervously.
"Here's a schematic of some basic security panels you're likely to find inside." Donny said as he handed her a small device that looked like a taken apart iPod.
"Once the alarms are off, you'll contact us on the shell cell and we'll gain access through the roof ventilation system." Leo continued.
"Makes, total sense…"
"After we're in, you'll set up the alarms and surveillance cameras and then sneak back outside unnoticed."
"It all rests on your shoulders girl, no pressure." Mikey chimed on, popping by April's head again from the ceiling.
"Uh-huh, that's all good, there's just a teeny tiny detail of that plan that you're missing." April paused dramatically. "There's a guard sitting right there!"
"We'll be employing an old ninja trick: the art of distraction." Donny smirked. That's when the elevator door opened and Casey Jones joined the party.
"Somebody call for a distraction?" He called happily as he played with the bat in his hands.
"Yes, but when we need a bozo, we'll let you know." Bianca joked.
"My life is in the hands of a lunatic." April sighed.
"Ah!" Comes a scream from Mikey. Everyone looks up and sees Mikey caught in the different ropes he's been playing with. "Somebody wanna help me out here?"
"Better keep counting Apes…" Bianca commented as she stared at the poor turtle tied up in the strings of the belay. April sighs deeper into herself and Bianca rubs her back in hopes to comfort her. With everything set to start the mission, they set out again to the surface in the Battle Shell and arrive in the same ally they were before. An eager Taiyo jumps down from the building and confronts the first person to leave the van.
"Well it took you guys long enough, I've been waiting up for what seems like-" And he's faced with a Bianca decked out in her ninja outfit she had always left at the guys' place to keep so when she trained she would have it. It was a tank top with a high collar that could cover her mouth with part of the front mesh but it was covering her chest. It was cut off a bit above her belly button and she wore shorts under long baggy pants that had the sides cut off slightly so some skin showed, but it was easy to move in. she had special shoes that were like sandals at the bottom to create more ease for stealth operations. The attire was consistently colored black but had some silver mixed in between with some green accents as well. And to her suggestions from Donny, it's completely fire proof.
"Wow…"
"What were you saying?" Bianca asked obliviously.
"Uhm, nothing, glad you could make it." He smiled stupidly. Bianca looked at him weirdly for a moment and then decided to move on. "The place has been quiet since you've left." He called after her.
"Pick your jaw up off the floor." Raph grumbled as he bumped into the assassin slightly. Taiyo huffed but continued to act seriously; for as long as he could.
"So, you ready April?" Leo asked as April stepped out of the Battle Shell in her office wear outfit.
"I think so…"
"Just breathe April, you'll be fine, this is very simple, just pretend like you're filing a complaint on a company. Easy." Bianca soothed her.
"Yeah, easy for you to say since you're not the one doing it!" April whisper hissed.
"Just chill and get moving." Bianca said bending her leg back and using the side of her foot to nudge April forward slightly from behind.
"I like it when you're bossy." Taiyo whispered suggestively.
"Shut up loser." Bianca growled.
"You can definitely do it April." Donny encouraged. She continued to sigh and play with the mike hesitantly before barging through the doors with as much confidence as she could. Everyone listened to her carefully as she tried to reason with the security guard to let her in.
"Dr. Vander Pepper?" Mikey asked through the mike set, curious as to the interesting name choice that April decided to give herself. When April's plan for a distraction didn't seem to work, Leo cues Casey with his props to venture to the office building next. He barges in clumsily and he paused, not knowing exactly what to do again; like a sudden real-life stage fright.
"Remember Casey, just distract him long enough for April to slip in and slip out." Leo reminded the hockey puck.
"Ya, don't screw dis up bonehead." Raph mumbled.
"If anyone's gonna screw this up it'll be you freak face!" Casey argued over the head set.
"You were saying…" Bianca sighed as she recovered from her face palm from Casey almost already blowing up their secret plot.
"Moron." Raph grumbled.
"Could he get any lamer?" Bianca laughed lightly to herself.
"Doesn't matter, he's doing his job now, that's all that matters." Leo stated as he carefully watched the commotion from inside.
"Let's move." Donny ordered, as everyone scaled the building next to them and then Donny used a grappling hook to secure a line from the building they were standing on to the TCRI building. The guys walked on the rope like a tight rope. Looking at the guys master their balance was making Bianca misjudge herself.
"Uh, I don't feel this to be very safe. My training with Splinter hasn't taken me this far." Bianca said nervously.
"You'll be fine." Donny chided. Bianca tries to take her first step on the wire but panics when it wobbles under her nervous feet. She decides to go from it a different approach.
"You know, I'm just gonna travel this way, it'll make me feel better." Bianca said from her upside down position as she used her hands and wrapping her legs around the string to move across.
"Whatever." Raph laughed lightly at her actions.
"Yeah, I'm gonna follow your lead." Taiyo mused as he mimicked Bianca.
"And who said he was coming?" Mikey piped up rudely.
"I did." Taiyo said with confidence.
"Well we say buzz off weirdo." Leo growled with authority.
"You're the weirdo's walking along a rope like circus, freaks." Taiyo insulted.
"Quit it all of you." Bianca demanded, getting in between the two of them. "Look, why do you want to come anyway Taiyo? I appreciate you getting me this far, but this isn't your mission, you're free to go and do, whatever assassins do in their free time." She chimed turning to him sweetly.
"Look, I want to protect you." He says, obviously her charms on him weren't working at the moment. Maybe it had to do with the fact that they stopped in the middle of the wire and were hanging over a street from pretty high up.
"Why?"
"Because I know there's something special about you, and I don't want you getting hurt." Taiyo stated.
"That's sweet but I would feel awful if you got hurt on this mission." Bianca responded rather touched but she didn't have time to take him on board. He didn't even know half the plan.
"Don't worry about it, I've got this. This'll be a cake walk compared to what I'm used to."
"This, is easy stuff, it only gets more challenging from here." Donny added.
"I like a challenge."
"Fine. He comes, but the second he becomes a hazard to our mission, he's booted out." Leo sighed as he continued forward.
"This isn't going to work." April said over the communicators they were all wearing on their ears.
"What's the problem April?" Donny asked curiously.
"I don't recognize the technology. Nothing makes sense in here. I can't turn off the roof alarms or the cameras." You could hear the frustration in her voice.
"So much for our genius." Bianca sighed as they all made it to a ledge of the TCRI building before touching the rooftop.
"Uh, anyone got a plan B?" Mikey asked.
"April, we'll handle the cameras, just get the alarm turned off any way you can." Leo said.
"Whatever, don't come whining to me if we all get captured and tortured, and stuff." April was offline for a few moments as she attempted to figure out the controls. Suddenly April cheers and says, "Guys, you're good to go."
"Now there's our genius." Bianca cheered happily. "Okay, so ideas for the camera would be nice." She stated as she directed her comment mainly to Donny.
"I got this one." Donny smiled as he took out a camera from his bag and threw it to Leo. "Leo, take pictures of where the cameras are angled towards to, I'll cover you."
"How exactly?" Taiyo asked.
"With this." Donny pulled out a stuffed pigeon from his bag he had been carrying with him.
"Do you always carry a stuffed pigeon in your bag?" Bianca asked nervously.
"Now always…" Donny laughs to himself. "Hurry with that picture."
"Got it." Leo states as the last of the photos was developing. Donny looks it over to make sure it's the right angle and when it is he gives a thumbs up.
"Picture perfect." Bianca laughed. Donny positioned the photo in place as he maneuvered the pigeon to block the camera and then set the picture to make it look like nothing had happened.
"I don't know what bothers me more, that this thing actually works, or that Don carries around a pigeon puppet." Mikey commented as Donny packs up his materials.
"Right!" Bianca added, agreeing with Mikey. The next move was to get into the building through the ventilation units, but when Raph went over to open it, he looked at it curiously.
"Hey, it's a fake. It doesn't go nowhere. What kind of people would put a fake vent on the roof?" Raph asked annoyed at there not being a way in.
"A kind who want this place to look normal." Donny comments.
"Why can't anything we do ever be normal." Bianca sighed inwardly.
"So now what?" Mikey asked.
"We cut through a window." Leo suggested.
"That sounds terribly dangerous." Bianca said nervously.
"I thought you'd be up for danger." He jokes.
"Usually I am, but scaling a building," She trailed off, not wanting to finish that thought as she looked over the edge. "Won't we get caught?"
"We'll be using these." Donny stated as he took out suction cups for everyone to put on their hands and knees.
"Right, cuz that makes it all better, suction cups. I don't see anything wrong with that." Taiyo stated as everyone got a pair of suction cups and started carefully climbing down the windows.
"Why do you make this seem so easy? I keep getting stuck."
"It just comes naturally to us I guess. Now hurry up slowpoke." Mikey jokes. As they approach a window, Donny takes out another turtle shaped gadget and places it in the center of the window. The neck of the turtle gadget sticks out and starts to create a circle, trying to cut a hole in the window, but failing.
"Diamond-edged blades, and they're not even scratching the surface." Donny noted curiously as he placed the item back in his bag. "This is no ordinary window glass." He said feeling the glass.
"We better think of something, cuz who knows how long that bat happy idiot in the lobby can keep it up." Raph mentioned as they began scaling the side of the building again.
"April, the roof and the windows are a no-go." Donny speaks into the headset.
"You want another way in? No problem, this thing is a piece of cake." April laughs as you can hear her knuckles crack.
"Way to go, I told you this wouldn't be so hard with that brain of yours." Bianca smiles as they wait for her answer eagerly.
"There we go; there's some sort of exhaust covering on the west side, ninth floor." April announced.
"We'll check it out. Thanks." Leo responded as they head to the next window.
"There's nothing here." Taiyo complains.
"Hold on." Leo stated, as everyone stays silent for a moment. "Hear that, air's coming out. You can feel it too." Leo said waving his hand slowly over the center of the window.
"Amazing. Maybe it's some kind of hologram."
"Yay, a way in!" Mikey cheers as he sticks his body in to look through.
"Mikey, no!" Donny urges but it was too late.
"Whoa!" They heard Mikey muse from the other side.
"Mikey, you okay?" Bianca asks warily as she waits to see if he'll come up, also curious as to what they were dealing with. Then Mikey springs up from his spot and his suction cups give out from the movement and he falls on Donny, who gets dragged down as well, removed from the wall.
"Mikey!" Leo called.
"Whoa!" Donny and Mikey screamed as the tumbled down towards the ground.
"NO!" Bianca screamed out as she frantically tried reaching for them but missed. Thankfully they were as resourceful as ever and were able to regain their positions on the walls and carefully climb back up to the rest of the group. "Gods, you guys are going to be the end of me."
"Since when are you polytheistic?" Leo asks curiously.
"Since I've talked with Phoenix, he told me a lot more than I had expected." Bianca laughed as she recalled what they discussed while she was taking her very long nap.
"Who's Phoenix? Is that like a codename?" Taiyo pipes up.
"Boy, are you behind." Raph laughs dryly.
"Hey!" Taiyo shouts.
"Shhhh." Bianca whisper yelled as she got their attention. "Do I need to separate you two?"
"Guys, are you okay?" April's voice ran through their heads.
"There's a booby trapped hologram covering the ninth floor exhaust port. It's active and the only way inside, can you shut it down?" Leo asks hopefully.
"Uh, stand by. Deactivate ninth floor exhaust port." Once April says that, a hole appears in the middle of the window.
"Way to go April." Donny cheers happily.
"Let's move." Leo suggests as they all make a slow crawl inside the building.
"We're in April." Donny announces to April.
"That's great guys." She sighed happily but then she takes a sharp breath in that the mike picked up. "Uh-oh."
"April? April, what's wrong?" Bianca asked frantically when she wasn't answering.
"Casey and I need to go. We'll talk soon!"
"Wait!" Bianca tries to keep her friend on the line but she cuts off suddenly and the line's dead. "What are we supposed to do, just sit here and wait while our friends become these guys' prisoners?"
"We can't go down there." Leo said, trying to sooth her panicked self.
"And why not?" She yelled.
"We have to hope they'll be more resourceful as they always are and make it out okay. I mean, how much trouble could they be in?" Donny mused, though as nice as he was being, it wasn't helping Bianca feel any better. Once the light on the mike blinked back on, meaning someone else had turned their mike back on, Leo addressed April and Casey in both mikes.
"Hey, are you guys safe?" He asks with plenty of concern.
"Barely. Listen guys, there's more to this place than meets the eye." But as the guys moved further into the hallway they were in, the signal got cut out and April was barely heard over the headset anymore.
"April. April? We lost her." Leo sighed.
"My guess is that there's some kind of signal dampener in here." Donny hypothesized.
"Guys, Shhhh." Raph motioned for them to come to where he was standing over a vent that was cut out so you could see what was below. Once the guard was past the spot, the guys jumped down, but Leo stayed back suddenly to tell Taiyo and Bianca,
"Stay up here until the coast's clear."
"Kay." She smiles as he hops down to join his brothers. Once the guard was completely out of sight, Leo signals up to Bianca and she jumps down into the hallway along with Taiyo.
"C'mon, we can't lose him." Bianca said as they run after the man but when they enter the doorway the man had just entered, he was gone. "Or we can." The room was small but on each side of the room was a door.
"Which way do you think he went?" Taiyo asked. Mikey was first to open a door.
"Déjà vu, it's just like this one." Mikey said as he looked from the new room to the one they were currently standing in.
"Scout this floor, then meet back here in five." Leo suggested. So everyone went through a door, though Bianca tagged along with Leo and Taiyo tagged along with Donny. They wandered through the identical rooms at first calmly and curiously, but once they all started seeing the same room over and over again, they started running between the rooms until everyone ended up opening doors that led to the hallway they had originally started in.
"How, when?" Bianca breathed as she looked from the rooms they were wandering through to the hallway.
"Okay, that was weird." Mikey commented.
"I feel like a lab rat looking for cheese." Raph growled.
"It's like it's designed to keep people going in circles." Donny theorized. They suddenly heard noise coming from behind them and they made themselves scares by disappearing into the rooms they had all came from before. Once the people in the hallway were gone, everyone stepped out again and exchanged looks.
"Mikey and I can check to see where this elevator goes." Donny suggested.
"Good, and Raph and I will ghost those two." Leo stated.
"I'll go with Donny and Mikey, to avoid the whole staying in the shadows bit." Bianca shrugged nonchalantly as she stood near her teammates.
"And I'll go with you too." Taiyo said excitedly as he was about to join her until someone grabbed him by the collar from behind.
"Oh no ya don't, yer comin' with us." Raph growled.
"What, no way!" Taiyo tried resisting but it was to no hope.
"Don't argue, be a good boy and listen to him." Leo joked as he also helped lead Taiyo away from the other group until they were completely gone around a corner.
"What's gotten into them?" Bianca asked her team curiously.
"Boy if you only knew." Donny sighed, but even though Bianca didn't know quite what he was implying, she decided to just move on. Mikey held open the elevator and they all entered.
"Hm, ten floors, fifty buttons." Mikey observed. "Let's see where you take us." Mikey says pressing a random button. The doors close and the elevator brings them to another floor, which when they look out from the elevator represents exactly the floor they were on previously.
"Try another floor?" Donny suggests.
"Good idea," Mikey agrees. He presses another button at random and the same thing happens, everything was exactly the same.
"Not this again." Bianca complained, slumped against the back wall of the elevator.
"Didn't we just do this?" Mikey asked rhetorically.
"They're all the same, just like the rooms." Donny observed. So they decided to go to another floor. When they were all let down again, Mikey asked,
"Should we…"
"Next," Donny sighed as they were about to press another button, they heard someone coming from up ahead.
"Gah!" Everyone whisper yelled as Donny and Mikey got up on the ceiling of the elevator quickly, though Bianca didn't know how to do that so Donny and Mikey quickly pulled her up before the workers up turning the corner could see her. she managed to stable herself against the ceiling well, but it was definitely hurting her legs. The workers entered and one of them pressed three buttons that brought them to the floor they wanted. When they exited the elevator, that's when the gang dropped down and though Donny and Mikey landed swiftly, Bianca landed on her butt.
"God, that hurt a lot." She complained as she rubbed her butt and got up slowly.
"Wow…" Donny gasped as he stared out into the new area. Bianca looked up as she was standing and gaped as well, though not in astonishment.
"Don't you mean, ew?" She groaned as she held her stomach that was splashing around inside of her due to the disgusting site. The whole place looked like the insides of someone's stomach. There was a center pole in the middle that looked like a throat and the rest was colored red and orange and it was nasty to look at. Then the guards that were in the elevator caught their attention as they stood on platforms and were sucked down somewhere.
"Did you just see?" Donny pointed forward to where the guards were standing moments ago.
"Uh-huh." Mikey and Bianca mused together as they nodded their heads.
"Where'd they go?" Bianca asked as she examined the platforms.
"Somewhere down there I presume." Everyone looked down from the edge they were standing on, just taking everything all in.
"Myself: I would've fired the decorator." Mikey spoke up.
"You and me both." Bianca agreed as they fist bumped.
"Just look a this place, it's like a techno-organic fusion." Donny awed.
"Fascinating." Bianca said sarcastically.
"We're going down there." Donny stated.
"Looks like a giant stomach to me, which means I don't want to think of what down there entrails, or, entails." Mikey joked.
"Not funny." Bianca nudged him. Donny then handed out the different self-belay systems that he was tampering with back in the lair. Bianca held it curiously. "How does this work again?" She asked, not sure how to get it on.
"Here, lemme help." Don laughed as he came over and helped Bianca get strapped in.
"Thanks Don."
"And to answer your question from earlier, Raph and Leo are protective of you, so that's why they didn't want your, 'assassin friend', to go with you."
"And you guys aren't protective of me?" She asked skeptically.
"No, we just would've controlled our emotional states to make the situation easier."
"Oh, okay." Bianca answered simply. Then something dawned on her. "Wait as sec-" But before she could finish, Donny turned her around to face the edge, strapped the endings onto the ledge and then pushed her off saying,
"Down you go!"
"EEP!" She screamed until she stopped. She swung for a moment in place before releasing a breath and looking up to hiss, "A little warning next time would've been nice."
"Sorry." He whisper yelled down to her. Soon Mikey and Donny joined her and they all slowly belayed themselves to the arc of a entrance where some of the workers were standing. As another one joined them, an announcement on the speakers said that the 'decontamination chambers were ready'.
"Huh?" Mikey asked questionably but he was more surprised but what the workers did. They started to remove their skins and reveal that there was a robot underneath. Donny covered Mikey's mouth before he could scream.
"This is grosser than I would've liked." Bianca gasped quietly.
"Can this freak show get any weirder?" Mikey asked. As the robots continued to take their skin off, in their stomachs was a small pinkish brain type alien controlling the robot.
"Shhhh." Bianca hisses as she covered both Donny and Mikey's mouths and bit her lip to keep herself quiet too. The little aliens inside the robot bodies then left the bodies to hover towards a machine where they were washed down and both the robot husks and the skin were disposed of. Another announcement blared over the speakers, but this time, it was about intruders, and the gang all exchanged nervous looks and then realized that the little alien blobs had spotted them too.
"I think we've been found out." Donny stated nervously.
"Uh-oh. Up we go!" Mikey freaked as everyone belayed himself or herself up to the ledge they were standing on before. When they got up there though they found themselves almost surrounded, but there was another way out of the crowd of weird alien robots.
"Follow me!" Donny screamed as he led Mikey and Bianca away from the creatures. Though going down a drain was the only way out, and it was filled with an orange substance that stuck to them as they slid down like going down on a water slide.
"Ugh! Okay, I'm officially grossed out." Mikey complained as he got up from the ground where they had landed once out of the pipe. He tried his best to clean himself off, as did Donny and Bianca.
"You're only grossed out now?" Bianca squeaked as she too was cleaning herself off.
"Get them!" Came a new voice as the gang's heads shot up to see the robot aliens had found them again. So they began to run away again.
"I hope that the others are having better luck than we are!" Donny hoped.
"This is ridiculous, I'm an assassin, not a ninja." Taiyo complained as he and Leo and Raph were following the workers.
"Well this is a good way to learn how to improve being a stupid assassin." Raph smirked.
"I'm already highly trained, I don't do scouting. I do killing." Taiyo stated.
"This is not about killing, we're finding out information." Leo stated.
"Yeah, yeah." Taiyo shushed them as they carry on.
"Where'd they go?" Raph asked.
"Like that's gonna do…anything." Taiyo was about to say another sly remark when Leo was pointing his sword at the wall but then it went through the wall and he had to stop mid-sentence.
"Holographic: but, without the booby trap." Leo observed.
"Then let's do it." Raph said as he went through the wall first, followed by Leo and then a nervous Taiyo. And he had good reason to be nervous since the place that they had found was completely new and out of this world.
"Okay, this is new. And wrong." Taiyo said breathlessly as he crouched down near Leo and Raph.
"I hate to think what these clowns have done to Master Splinter." Raph stated as he looked around more when the guards were gone.
"We don't even know if he's here." Leo sighed.
"Who? I thought we were looking for the babe's bro?" Taiyo asked skeptically.
"She has a name, she's not 'babe'." Leo states firmly.
"Well obviously to you, you wouldn't think she's a babe, but she definitely is." Taiyo said slyly.
"Quit talkin' about her like that." Raph growls.
"Geez, someone's a little touchy feely." Taiyo teased.
"Knock it off, both of you. we need to keep a clear head, we can't give away our position." Leo ordered as he separated the two. The two huffed and Leo lead the two hot heads further into the factory and as they looked around the corner, they found that they weren't alone. Brain looking aliens floating on platforms were staring at them, as well as some who were in robot suits.
"What the?" Raph gasped.
"Uh-oh." Leo mused. Then the little aliens starting shooting lasers that came out of their platforms.
"Gah! What are those things?" Taiyo yelled as they ran away from the aliens, trying to contain how freaked out he really felt. Suddenly the trio came to a fork in the road. With the aliens not far behind them, Leo made the quick decision.
"This way!" Pulling Raph who pulled Taiyo down the hallway to the left.
"How would you know?" Taiyo argued but got dragged along anyway. They were led to an open room with strange technology they've never seen before, but they didn't look around as they could hear the aliens coming towards them. So they decided to hide up on some beams that were scattered across the ceiling. They then waited for the perfect time to strike and began a free for all crazy fight. But as they fought the weird creatures, they found that whenever they tried fighting them, they would just heal themselves and get back up again.
"We take 'em out but they keep coming!" Raph growled and he, Leo and Taiyo were forced to back up towards the other side of the room to another door. The door opens behind them and they turn around to find the other half of their gang.
"Hey, fancy meeting you here." Mikey joked.
"I see you've met some friends." Bianca said pointing behind them.
"We're not too fond of them!" Taiyo stated.
"This way!" Donny instructed as the six of them now began running away and went into another room. Once there since there wasn't a doorway, they decided to push a piece of the equipment in the room down to block the doorway. After a boom, the thing fell down and successfully blocked the aliens from coming near them. They all then faced the new room they were standing in and were once again in awe.
"Whoa…" Everyone gasped as they stared. They were in a chamber with multiple pods that were along the walls and some surrounding a pillar. There wasn't a tank that wasn't empty, and in the tanks were the aliens, sleeping.
"Matrix city." Mikey gasped.
"What is this place? The morgue?" Raph asked as they ventured further into the room.
"I hope not; because look!" Leo pointed out up ahead to a certain chamber.
"Master Splinter." The guys gasped as they ran over to see their master along with Bianca and Taiyo.
"A rat? We're here for a rat?" Taiyo complained but got nudged in the side by Bianca. She was almost as worried as the guys were about their sensei.
"Aw man. Is he, is he…?" Mikey started to freak but Donny calmed his nerves when he hypothesized,
"I don't think so. From what I can tell this looks like some sort of bio-suspension unit. He's probably in stasis."
"Well let's cut him out." Raph stated as he took out his sais.
"Wait. We might do more harm than good." Leo said stopping his hotheaded brother.
"Leo's right, we don't understand this technology." Donny agreed.
"I don't care! I want them out!" Bianca argued more furiously.
"Them?" Donny questioned.
"Just, look…" She sighed, aggravated with the situation. As she showed them on the other side of Master Splinter was a man in his boxers also suspended in the containment chamber.
"Is that, James?" Leo asked.
"He's here too…" She whispered as she touched the glass covering her brother.
"At least they kept his underwear on." Mikey stated, but Raph slapped him over the head to shush him. "Ow…"
"We can't just leave them in there." Leo says.
"Don, figure something out!" Mikey pleaded.
"Okay, uhm, just, give me a minute to study this." Donny said as he looked over the tablet that was placed in front of Splinter that gave his readings from inside the chamber. However they were interrupted when something behind them exploded. Their makeshift doorway exploded and the aliens were storming through. They began to fire again at the gang. They all spiraled out of the way and began fighting once again. As they were fighting though, one of the alien's lasers went out of control and was striking everything in sight. And Donny saw that the lasers were coming dangerously close to where Splinter was resting, so right before one could hit the chamber, Donny jumped in they way.
"Oh no!" He called out as he took the hit and was sent into another room from the impact.
"Donny!" Bianca screamed. "Damn it!" She growled as she released her flames on the aliens and then turned around to sprint towards where Donny had landed. He was sprawled out on some stairs near a platform. "Donny, are you okay?" Bianca asked as she rushed over, the rest of the turtles not far behind her.
"Yeah, just help me stand up." He gasped as Bianca and the guys got him onto the platform and helped him stand up properly. Someone else came barging into the room, a new person with silvery hair and a crisp suit on.
"Listen, you must get off of there immediately." The man pleaded.
"Huh?" The gang mused as they stared at him curiously. As they tried to move, they found out they couldn't.
"I can't move my feet!" Mikey complained as everyone was stuck to the weird platform. The man rushed over to the controls on the side of the platform trying to stop it, but he looked at it sadly, and then at the gang.
"I can't stop it! It's too late."
"Too late for what? What's happening?" Bianca shrieked as the light from the platform and the many different pieces of the machine around it were glowing as well. Suddenly, Taiyo barged in to see the mess the gang go themselves in.
"Bianca!" Taiyo screamed, as he was about to approach the machine.
"Taiyo no!" Bianca said as she held out her hand for him to stop. The man in the suit held him back as the light intensified and suddenly the gang was being broken down and a big flash of light exploded through the room. When it died down, no one was left.
"Bianca!" Taiyo screamed again as he approached the platform.
"They're gone." The man sighed.
"What did you do?" Taiyo roared as he grabbed the suit of the man.
"They've been transported." He explained calmly.
"What? Where!"
"I'm not sure, there weren't any coordinates predetermined. They could be anywhere by now."
DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNN!
hope you guys liked the chapter, next up is their adventures in SPACE (*echo* space, space, space...)
i wasn't thinking of adding it beforehand but now that i've been working on writing it it's been a lot more fun for me to have bianca be involved in and you find out a lot more about who she is and stuff so yay! :)
hope you guys liked it and please review and fave! 3