"Interesting. Interesting, indeed."

"Hank," I remark, my arms crossed over my chest as I sit on a stool in the lab. "You can examine their DNA for your own amusement later. Right now, we're actually on something of a schedule. Armageddon tends to get me a little antsy."

"How many times must I tell you?" Nightcrawler asks wearily without looking up from his book. "Armageddon is the final battle between God and the Devil. Given our current circumstance, I would hardly think it appropriate to compare-"

"Kurt," I tell him. "Book. Read. We've got some turtles to save, remember?" He offers me a wry glance before going back to his studies. I keep my eye on Hank McCoy as he examines a fresh blood sample from Leonardo. The turtle in question and his sensei are both sitting cross-legged on the floor, obviously meditating. Leatherhead's decided to stick close to the large, blue-furred Hank, probably seeing him as a mammalian foil to both him and Donatello.

"I've heard that the turtles paid us a brief visit once before," Hank murmurs, standing straight and putting his glasses back on, "but no one told me that they were quite so unique. An actual genetic amalgamation of both reptile and human DNA, merging together so perfectly that the subject takes on the best attributes of both species and nearly none of their weakness."

"Yeah," I tell him sarcastically, balling my mask up in my hand. "The only weakness these guys have is the knack of stumbling across all of the most dangerous enemies in the book. Mother Nature's a funny type of gal."

Hank gives me a small smile as Leatherhead looks through the microscope. "And who among us can say that he hasn't attracted his fair share of personal nemeses? As Emerson said, 'He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare, and he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere.'" I thank him very much, telling him I'll look for him at the next big poetry slam.

"Have you come up with anything, Dr. McCoy?" Leonardo asks, looking up from his meditation. Though Splinter hasn't moved from his position, Leonardo is visibly worried. "The longer we stay cooped up in here, the stronger a hold those demons have over the others."

"And the greater the likelihood that they can find us," Nightcrawler informs us. "If your communicators have a tracking device within them, I would not put it past them to activate it and find out where we are."

"The shell cells don't work," I remind him. "Remember? They were dead when we checked them."

"All but Leonardo's," Nightcrawler says, finally looking up at me. "And his friend's. Casey, was it? There is the very distinct possibility that, if these demons possess the mind control over their hosts that this book seems to be suggesting, then Donatello or the others can very easily coerce Casey to lead them straight to us."

"Thanks for telling me," Leonardo says, hastily climbing to his feet and reaching for his shell cell. "I wished you'd said something earlier, but hey, I might as well take what I can get." Nightcrawler sarcastically tells him that he's the brave leader; he should have thought of it. Since he's not looking at Leonardo, Nightcrawler can't see how much his sarcasm hurts the turtle.

"Hank," I say as Leonardo takes Splinter's shell cell and tries to find some way to get rid of them. "Got anything that can scramble the tracking signal? I'd rather they not be forced to destroy their main means of communication with their friends. If those demons try to get to Casey or April-"

"Then I'll be forced to momentarily forget that they're inside my brothers," Leonardo finishes darkly. "Raphael managed to fight the thing that was controlling him. If he won't fight back knowing that he's about to do something terrible to Casey… then it's too late. So help me, if it's too late, then I'm going to have to make myself stronger."

"I must warn you against resigning yourself to that, Leonardo," Hank tells him, stepping towards the turtle. Putting a hand on Leo's shoulder, he reaches out for the shell cells with his other hand. "We have fought Apocalypse and his Horsemen before. Yes, the battles were often terrible and some people walked away scarred… but they did walk away. We even managed to retrieve a fellow X-Man named Archangel, who had temporarily served as Death. So you see, fighting this possession is simply a matter of will."

"It was, Henry," Nightcrawler whispers, standing with his book. "However, I feel that this is vastly different from our previous encounters with the Horsemen." We turn to look at him, and I tell him that my spider-sense should be tingling, given the tone of voice he's using.

"It is true that we have managed to return people such as Archangel, Polaris, and even Wolverine from Apocalypse's grip," he tells us. "However, let us not forget that the turtles are of a completely different stock from the rest of us. Someone knows this, and someone is exploiting this. Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo have been fundamentally altered, along with being possessed by demons. Up until now, the Horsemen have either been brainwashed or worked for Apocalypse of their own free will. Never have members of the supernatural been involved."

"So what does this mean?" Leonardo asks, aggressively approaching Nightcrawler. "Everyone here has been marveling over my genetic structure and talking about possession and willpower, but no one's giving me a clear idea of what needs to be done. Science and the supernatural are mixing together and are stealing my brothers away from me! Stop giving me more reasons to lose hope; just tell me what I need to do to get them back!"

"Hey, whoa," I say, stepping in front of him and putting my hand on his chest to keep him back. "Chill out. Relax, meditate, do what you need to do. We're working on finding an answer. Sorry to make everything look so bleak and dismal, but that's the way things are right now. You can either freak out about it, or you can accept that and use it as motivation to keep your head on straight." Firmly grabbing his shoulder, I look him in the eye. "We're a team, remember? We don't let one another down. I said I'd help you. That's what I'm going to do."

I have to admit, Leo's scaring me. He was practically yelling just a second ago, and I can see the panic hiding just beneath the surface. From what I can tell, he's dealt with scientific experimentation before. He's dealt with mystical forces before. But those two things are now joining forces to create something completely new and unfamiliar, and this new enemy's already taken down all of his brothers, right under his nose. He knows that if it gets to him… well, he knows he can't let it get to him. And I know it, too. And I won't let it. I think he sees that in my eyes.

"The only way to do this is to think things through logically." I look back at Leatherhead as he speaks. "The trio are both possessed and genetically tainted. The only way to get them back would be to purge them of both these demons and of this X-gene that has been forced into their systems. We already know that human science has come up with a way to purge the gene from a person's body in the effort to limit human-mutants. With this blood sample of Leonardo's, Dr. McCoy and I can begin testing ways to expel the gene."

I'm about to say that figuring out how to create that dreaded "mutant cure" on an entirely new species of mutant might take months, but I hold it in for Leonardo's sake. Instead, I merely tell him, "I don't think we've got the time for that, Leatherhead."

"Perhaps not," Nightcrawler brings up. "But their mutations were not induced through actual scientific testing, so far as I can tell from my readings. I have come to the conclusion that these demons actually have something of a nearly-gaseous body, and it was the merging of this body with that of the turtles' that introduced the corrupted X-gene into their bloodstream. Exorcising these demons may be enough to at least get them back into their right minds, which will enable us to study them enough to turn them back to normal. Our only hope is to get to them before Apocalypse does."

"Before Apocalypse?" I ask. "But… I thought he already did get to them. The big, gray-faced man Donatello said he saw? The creepy shop owner? Doesn't that-"

"Now that you mention it," Hank muses after locking the shell cells in what looks like a small safe, "I would hardly consider Apocalypse to be the type of creature to masquerade as the owner of a Halloween store. It's been so long since he's lived among humanity, he would hardly be able to blend in. I suppose that means his faithful lackey is behind this."

"I would hardly call Mister Sinister a 'faithful lackey,'" Nightcrawler states.

"Mister Sinister?" Leonardo questions, raising an eye ridge. "You're kidding. My brothers are being bested by someone who calls himself Mister Sinister?" I give him a raised eyebrow myself, telling him that he's one to talk. One of his greatest enemies was named after a kitchen appliance.

"Sinister is another old mutant, a former professional rival of Charles Darwin's," Nightcrawler explains. "His natural brilliance and his long experience have made him something of a genetic genius, making even Dr. McCoy look like a dolt in comparison. No offense, Henry."

"None taken at all," Hank responds. To Leonardo, he continues, "I am willing to bet that Sinister has heard of these demons that so wish to emulate the Horsemen and set up his shop directly at their point of origin, where their presence is the strongest. Of course, if he's involved, then things are a little more up in the air. It's possible that he did have a hand in their secondary mutation after all, or that he's collected samples of their DNA to use for his cloning experiments. If this is the case, we must either destroy his lab, or him. And I think we'd have more luck blowing up the majority of Queens than attempting to annihilate him for good."

"That's not going to keep me from trying," Leonardo says confidently. "Once we find out where his lab is, I'll gladly plant the explosions at different points just before tackling him myself."

"Ah, how quickly they forget," Nightcrawler says with a tired smile. "You, my dear boy, are the last person we will want on the scene. I am willing to bet that, without guidance, the demons acting as the three Horsemen are likely to bicker themselves into their own demise. If they have a leader, however, the situation will only become more complicated. As far as the X-Men know, Apocalypse is no longer on Earth, as his previous misdeeds have caught up to him and he has been detained for judgment by a group who call themselves the Celestials. However, with the Four Horsemen revived and using the bodies of such rare and powerful creatures as yourselves, Sinister may just be able to return Apocalypse to Earth and thus defy all of the cosmic powers of the Celestials, causing chaos beyond belief. That is what the prophesies within this book seem to be hinting at, at any rate."

"Huh," I remark, trying not to succumb to a headache. "Swell. An ancient Spanish text expounding upon demons, possession, and cataclysmic prophesies, conveniently located in the library of a 'friend.' This Amanda girl of yours sounds like one heck of a date."

"Actually," he grins in response, "did I mention she is my foster sister and the ruler of Limbo?" Leonardo, Leatherhead, and I gape at him. Hank merely smiles and asks how is Amanda Sefton doing these days?

A hand on his head, Leatherhead mentions, "I suppose truth really is stranger than fiction."

"My personal acquaintances aside," Nightcrawler goes on, putting the book down on a nearby table, "we cannot let Sinister bring Apocalypse back to Earth. Now that I can understand the references in this text, I dare to see an end to this entire debacle. Leonardo, I maintain that our success depends upon you laying low."

Leonardo's about to disagree, but his sensei was apparently done with his reflections. "Nightcrawler has proven to have a vast store of knowledge, my son. Remember, a true leader is one who is not afraid to follow the commands of others." Defeated, Leonardo asks Nightcrawler what's going on in that blue head of his.

Pleased that Leonardo's going to at least consider his idea, Nightcrawler refers back to his book. "From what I can surmise, these beings are of an uncommon class of shadow demons that crave power; a power that they believe that can get once they prove their worthiness to Apocalypse and allow him to permanently make them his new Horsemen. They have a physical body, but it is so sheer that it is almost intangible. They are more of an essence, really, with only the barest traces of a corporeal form. This is why Donatello claimed that he could almost see the struggle between Raphael and his demon. It had not yet taken root, and so it was almost like a picture that has been colored slightly outside the lines. That is the first point that I wish to bring up.

"The second point revolves around what I discovered about the lifespan of these demons. Once they encounter a host, they depend upon his life force to survive. Even once they have found an appropriate host, they can only keep him for a few minutes unless they can bury themselves within his subconscious, which is what they use the hypnosis for. As Raphael has proven, once their vessel is sick or injured, they must abandon him for a new one. If they cannot get this new host under their hypnosis in a certain period of time, then they are no more."

We stay quiet, taking this all in. "That's all great," Leonardo finally says. "My only question is, how do we get these spirits out of them?"

"Demons," Nightcrawler corrects.

"Whatever," Leonardo continues. "Like I said, I don't know if I can bring myself to hurt any of my brothers, and how can we be sure that they're being hurt only enough to free them? And once they're free, how can we make sure that none of us get possessed in turn?"

I suddenly catch Hank smiling. "I think I know of a way. There are two X-Men whom I think can do the job rather nicely, all while protecting themselves from any unfortunate mishaps." Nightcrawler grins at him and says that he thinks he knows exactly who he means, and can add a third to the list.

Hank then turns around, asking, "Leatherhead, Leonardo… I don't suppose either of you have heard of the 'mutant cure' that has recently made headlines and sparked controversy in the human-mutant community, have you?"

"Nightcrawler brought it up on our way here," Leonardo tells him. "But he says that it's unlikely that we'll be able to use that on any of my brothers. Something about it being too dangerous to isolate that single gene in the alphabet soup of our complicated DNA."

Giving Nightcrawler a sideways glance, Hank murmurs, "Yes, that does sound like something Nightcrawler would say." Nightcrawler offers him a sheepish grin as he sits at his computer desk and continues. "Though I don't suppose the so-called cure will help matters much in the case of your brothers, I would still like Leatherhead to remain here with me and help me mix up a few batches. I still have the equation in one of my files. Does that sound all right, Leatherhead?"

"It would be extremely interesting," Leatherhead concedes. "Still, I think I would rather help my friends in combat. Splinter and Leonardo could hardly take on this Sinister and the three turtles on their own, and I gather they-"

"I don't think Splinter will be joining in on the battle," Nightcrawler proclaims. Looking at Splinter, he adds, "I hope it is all right for me to speak on your behalf, my friend. But I think that, once you see the three X-Men I have in mind and learn of the plan brewing in my head, you will choose to remain here and trust in us."

Trust. There it is again. Nightcrawler's giving these guys a heck of a lot of credit, assuming that they'll trust him when he tells them to leave family matters up to complete and total strangers. Still, it must be a mutant thing. Splinter nods and says that they'll have to see about that.

After finding the file he's looking for in his computer, Hank gets up and looks to Leo. "As for you, Leonardo, there is something that I'm going to need you to do. I won't hide the fact that it's quite dangerous, but-"

"If it'll give me my brothers back," Leonardo interrupts, "then nothing's too dangerous. Like I said, just tell me what I need to do, and consider it done." Hank gives Leonardo a small smile before standing and leading him towards the other side of the lab. Curious, Splinter follows after them.

"Well, since there appears to be a plan in the making," Leatherhead brings up, "I certainly hope that someone has thought up a way to find this laboratory that Sinister is using, or to at least track down one of the other turtles." Nightcrawler looks a little crestfallen, but I snap my fingers.

"I planted a tracer on Mikey yesterday," I tell them. "I had been under the impression that all of this started with him, so I snuck one onto the knot of his bandanna. Hopefully, he hasn't untied it and discovered it. I'm sure Hank's got something that I can use as a receiver for the signal, since I left my bag back at Leatherhead's."

"Good," Nightcrawler says. "While you track them down, I will go see if the X-Men in question are available so that we may begin drawing up a formal strategy." I ask him if I should put my mask on, but he shakes his head. "No. You know them all rather well." I ask which ones he has in mind.

He answers, "Rogue, Shadowcat, and Colossus."

Author's Note: I know it seems to be heavy on the X-Men right now, but the next chapter should bring the focus back on your friendly neighborhood ninja turtles. It's just a little hard to get them in the story when they're all evil 'n stuff. :) Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter!