As Bishop stepped out of the helicopter, he glanced around. Really, he thought to himself. One would think such battle-hardened creatures would be more careful about who they show themselves to. Ah, well. It makes my job easier.
He looked towards the house; his men were surrounding it, and there was no way the turtles could escape. They would be his! Lights made sure they couldn't pull a ninja trick and escape using the shadows. Bishop knew they would not get out of here… not without his permission.
"Sir! Thermal readings show two humans, the rat, and the four turtles. One is… different, sir!" a soldier shouted, saluting. Bishop waved at him and the man ran on his way.
"Well, Bishop, I hope you will succeed this time," a robotic voice said. Stockman, re-built into a machine, emerged from the chopper.
"Calm yourself, Stockman," Bishop said quietly. "We've got them like rats in a trap."
"Are you sure they cannot escape?"
"Absolutely." Bishop's cat-shaped mouth turned upwards in a sneering smile. "For too long have they thwarted my plans."
"Indeed. Well, where are they?"
"We're about to gas the house," Bishop answered, giving the hand signal to order the troops to don masks. He slipped one on as well, and Stockman shifted impatiently.
"Let's move!" Bishop cried, grabbing a stun gun from the chopper.
Inside the house, Raph was cursing fluently and loudly. Mike had released Leonardo, who was glaring at them. Don was trying to find them a way out, and Master Splinter was waiting, his tail thrashing in agitation. Casey and April, her red hair bouncing, were fidgeting on the couch.
"Arg!" Raph growled, spinning his Sai. "Let's take 'em already!"
"Not a good idea," Don interrupted. "My scanners show that they're coming in, and they've got stun guns. We've got to get outta here."
"I'll distract them," Leo said suddenly. "You guys run for the woods. I am more agile," he argued when Don started to contradict him.
"You're a bigger target," Raph pointed out mercilessly. "I'll go."
"You don't have a way to get out safely without being shot down," Leo shot back, his wings fanning.
"My sons, save your bickering. They approach." Master Splinter positioned himself in front of April and Casey, his walking stick held like a katana. Raph grumbled but got on one side of the door, Leo on the other. Mike and Donnie stood further in the room, shrouded by darkness.
"Well, Winged One, what now?" Raph hissed.
"Shhh!" Leo ordered, listening. "There's a troop coming. Bishop's men! Twenty, at least."
"Alright. Let's show these humans what we're made of!"
A pounding broke down the door just as Raph made his exclamation. The men filed into the house, not seeing the two turtles lurking by the door.
"Cowabunga!" a cry came, signaling for the attack. Mike, his energy boosted by the purple goo Raph had shoved in his mouth, bounced out of hiding, his nunchucks whirling. Don followed, his bo making quick work from far enough away so no one could grab him. Raph and Leo shot out the door, heading for Bishop and Stockman themselves.
"Bishop!" Leo roared, his wings fanning and striking out at Bishop's hired goons. "Raph, get the others out!"
However, Raph didn't need to, for Mikey and Don were fighting a path to the forest, followed closely by Master Splinter and their human friends. Leo turned his mind back to the fight, telling himself that Mike would be fine.
Bishop stood in front of Leo, gawking at the turtle. Stockman was struck speechless as well.
"What happened to you?" Bishop stammered. Leo raised a katana and slid into a defensive position.
"I changed," he murmured, then darted forward on the attack. Shaking himself, Bishop blocked the attack with a metal stun baton. If he could just touch the winged turtle, he would be able to knock him down and out of the fight.
Raph was engaged with Stockman's robotic body, stabbing again and again with his Sai in an effort to shut it down or slow it. Stockman was ranting as he fought back, and they were pretty evenly matched.
Mike and Don were no where in sight, and Bishop's men were standing at the ready, but let their leader deal with the larger turtle. Stockman was hurling insults to Raph, who was quickly losing it in a blood rage.
"Leo!" Mikey's panicked cry alerted Leo to a second platoon of men, who were just coming in. They had been in the woods, and they were dragging Master Splinter, Don, Casey, and April unconscious. Mikey was limping along, his leg bleeding heavily. A man hit his shoulder and the youngest turtle collapsed to his knees. Raph gave a cry; Stockman held him in two of his robotic arms, the third was coming forward with a needle.
Raph went limp a minute later as the serum from the shot pumped through his veins. Don and Mikey were awake again, and watched angrily as Raph was thrown to the ground next to them. Leo was the only one still standing.
"Well, beast, do you surrender?" Bishop purred cruelly. Mike whimpered as a man tied his hands together behind his shell. Don and Raph were bound as well, and the hothead was awake again. They were all kneeling, and poised above them were soldiers just waiting for Bishop to say the word. They held wicked knives to the turtle's throats, and would not hesitate to cut Leo's brother's throats open.
"Don't!" Raph called, then fell quiet as a human put his knife closer to Raph's throat.
"I yield," Leo accepted quietly, tossing his katana to the ground. Bishop grinned in triumph and motioned for a human to bind Leo like his brothers were. However, his wings were also tied to his body, and his tail was secured to his left leg.
"Finally! I, Baxter Stockman, will have my revenge!" Stockman was ranting and congratulating himself, looking at everything and nothing.
Leo looked up at Bishop, who was studying him intently, then glared at Stockman. His wings trembled, though with rage or hate or fear the scientist could not tell. Cocking an eyebrow, Bishop walked a slow circuit around Leonardo, who stiffened.
"Interesting. You are not merely turtle," the scientist calmly muttered. He put a hand on Leo's left wing and felt the membrane.
"Keep your hands off me," the winged turtle hissed, wrenching out of his grasp. Bishop allowed him, knowing that he'd be able to examine them later.
"Men! Move out! Load the prisoners into the choppers." The rat, the two humans, and the four turtles were shut into one copter, then each one in a separate cage. Except for the blue-banded one; he didn't fit in the one they had prepared for him. Bishop instructed that he be secured to the wall and sat in one of the chairs opposite the anomaly. The scientist was impressed; that wing span was big enough to lift this whole chopper, on a guess. The membrane was leathery…
Bishop remembered back to the time when he was young and interested in dragons. He had read all about them, become a master dragonologist before finding an alien. Then, his interests lay in the UFOs he found, and he forgot about dragons. Mostly.
He remembered some of the things he had learned, about dragon wings especially. The sockets were rotating, so the dragon could fly. The membrane was, in his favorite dragons, leathery and needed oiling every week or so. The tips had claws.
These characteristics matched the turtle's wings. The tail was another clue; the black scales that covered it were very hard, as Bishop had learned when he was smacked by it in the fight. The green skin of his foe was blacker, too, and seemed to crawl with tiny writing or squiggles.
Leonardo's horns, too, were dragon-like, pointing straight up and curving wickedly at the end, signaling that he was male. The tips looked sharp, and Bishop couldn't wait to see if he could shave some of the fiber off to better examine the under layers.
"Leonardo," Bishop said suddenly. "You seem to have changed quite a bit since we last met."
"You haven't changed at all, Bishop," the turtle spat, his wings rustling.
The scientist shrugged and smiled. "You will be fun to dissect, after you've lived your usefulness."
Leonardo was silent, but fear was evident in his posture. He glanced at his brothers, especially the one called Michelangelo. They seemed to talk to each other in that glance, for the winged turtle looked back at Bishop with anger causing his muscles to tighten.
Bishop also wondered about the blacked-out mask. Were Leo's eyes changed as well?
He reached forward, intending to find out, when a growl made him pause. Raphael was staring at him furiously.
"I wouldn't do that," he said calmly. "You stinking human!"
"I don't think you're in any position to call names, Raphael," Bishop chuckled. He moved closer to Leonardo and yanked the mask off quickly, hoping to catch the turtle with his eyes open.
However, he received a face full of flame instead. Bishop backed up, muttering curses, as his men rushed forward. He still held the mask in his hand, but the fringes were burnt and his hair was singed.
"Well, well, well."