Finally, finally, finally… I can introduce my OC in the way I always wanted.
Thanks to everyone who read the last chapter! I never got so many reviews for a chappie (more than twice as much as usual ), so thank you so much! I really appreciate your nice comments and ideas!
gabumon: It was obvious, wasn't it? Yes, you had the right idea ;).
TMNT, Splinter etc. are property of Mirage.
Thanks to Cynlee for betareading and corrections!
Chapter 14: The Price for Survival- Part a
"There is an answer to the darkest times.
It's clear we don't understand but the last thing on my mind
Is to leave you.
I believe that we're in this together.
Don't scream - there are so many roads left.
Relax, take it easy
For there is nothing that we can do.
Relax, take it easy
Blame it on me…"
Mika: Relax
Pain. Blurred vision. Where…? Can't move. Trapped. Pain. Head… So much pain. Consciousness came back in waves, interrupted by long black periods of oblivion. No feelings in arms and legs. A severe injury of the head… memory gaps… pain. In every fiber of the body. Not moving. Lying in a cave, being buried under tons of massive rocks, entombed… Pain. Black. No vision. Muggy, oxygen-poor air. Too difficult to breath, and again unconsciousness. A last thought flashed through his oxygen deprived brain: He hadn't been alone… Black.
--
They worked in pairs. Only two of them could shift the rocks at the same time, or they would cause a further collapse. Leatherhead had come to their aid immediately after Don had contacted him. His strength was a big help.
Don had toyed with the idea of employing a few of the machines he had developed, but abandoned this plan at once. It probably would do more harm than good, but he really wished for some kind of heat-seeking machine which was able to scan cave-ins. The tracker said the signal was about ten to fifteen meters away. When the whole cave came down three hours ago, the oxygen should be exhausted soon…
He shook his head energetically. Sometimes it was hard to be such a thinker!
Currently Mikey and Don were working at the entrance. Leatherhead stood behind them, setting aside every stone they handed back to him. They had already managed to dig in nearly three meters, supporting the stones with iron beams, when Mikey found something. A piece of black fabric, moistened with blood. A smashed human arm. Not Splinter. Hairy, male. Not Tally.
In silence, they freed the body of a dead foot soldier, who hadn't been as lucky as his comrades. Everyone of the brothers was grateful it wasn't their father. Everyone gulped and toughened himself because of the bodies - and the sights- they were yet to find.
It took them another two hours, and it was again Mikey who gasped sharply. His rough, bleeding fingers had brushed something soft and warm- something with brown fur. It wasn't moving. For a blink of a moment they hesitated, horrified by their thoughts what they might find when they'd move the stones. The image of the foot soldier was still fresh in their minds. Then they increased their efforts and worked in frantic haste, until they uncovered the body of their master.
Splinter lay on his chest. Because of his dark fur and clothes and the dim light, no one could say how badly he was injured. His right arm and his feet were still covered with small rocks and dust. Donatello knelt down; nobody dared to breathe as he searched for a pulse. Then he turned around, tears in his eyes, and nodded blissfully. His brothers began shouting and cheering, Raph and Leatherhead gave each other high five while Mikey tried to glomp onto Raphael's back. Raphael, taken by surprise, stumbled backwards and fell on Mikey.
"Jauuauauaouch!"
The overall pressure dissolved in roaring laughter.
"He has been really lucky", said Don and pointed at the stones. "One of the supporting beams must have fallen somewhere over his heads. This had blocked the bigger stones, so he was only buried and not smashed."
"And Tally?" Michelangelo suddenly interrupted.
Don sighed.
"I don't know. You and I will bring Splinter home, and the others will search for her."
Leonardo, Raphael and Leatherhead nodded. They were physically stronger than Don and Mikey, and Donatello was needed to care for Splinter. So they carefully pulled Splinter out of the loose chippings- and noticed that his right hand clutched another. A human hand. Tally.
They carefully freed her, and were very relieved when Don announced that her pulse was steady, too. They could see her usual bright skin, now much darker, covered and smudgy with blood and dust.
As fast as they could, they brought the two lucky survivors back to the lair. They chatted and laughed happily, and Mikey belted out a loud
"Cowabungaiaiaiaiaiaia-OUCH!"
"Mikey, you moron! You want to attract all the foot still down here?"
Raph damped his brothers enthusiasm not even a tiny little bit. While Leo was driving the Sewer Slider and Mikey and Raph were bickering, Don cared about the still unconscious Tally and Splinter- and kept his thoughts for himself. Tally's skin felt strange, so gluey- and not only because of the blood. He tried to rub the dust and blood from her arm, but the skin remained dark. She was feverish and her pulse was, although steady, very high. Too high.
April and Casey already waited for them in the lair, armed with bandages and medicine. They brought the two into the medical area, and while Don cared for Splinter, April treated Tally. They bandaged the two up, luckily not disturbed by Don's eager to help but pretty distracting brothers. Casey guarded the door to keep them away from the beds as long as Don and April needed time.
"That's strange", April said.
Don looked up.
"What?" he asked, exhausted. While they were digging and later on the drive back home, there had flushed enough adrenaline through his veins to keep a whole herd of elephants awake and active. But now, he just wanted to sleep until new-year.
April had wrapped up Tally's worst injuries. It was a miracle that both of them had survived, and as far as he could tell, neither had any broken bones. Splinter had a very nasty cut on his arm and a laceration on his head, and his ankle was swollen and infected. Tally had an open wound on her head as well. Probably both had concussions, but further than that they had a lot of superficial cuts and wounds and many bruises, but nothing really life-threatening.
"Their guardian angels have worked overtime", he muttered.
April smiled.
"Yes, sure. But look- I can't get this strange dirt from her skin. It almost feels- slimy. What has she been into?"
Don stood up to have a closer look at Tally. He carefully stroked a wet cloth over her arm, then he rubbed harder. Her skin reddened a bit, but stayed dark. He bent down to examine her arm and was shocked. It wasn't skin- it was fur! Very short brown hairs had grown all over Tally's body.
"April", he asked nervous, "have you touched this slime?"
She shook her head.
"I cleaned her first. But…"
She shrugged helplessly. Don reached for the bucket of now dirty water she'd been using.
"I suppose I better have a closer look at this!"
When he stood up, he nearly spilled the water. April touched his arm and gently directed him to the third bed in the medical area.
"Later. You need to sleep. I'll stay and care for them, I promise. Right now there's nothing you can do anyway."
Don nodded, too exhausted to argue. He glanced at the clock on the wall. It was 3 am.
When he woke up the next morning, Leonardo sat between his and Splinter's bed. April was nowhere to be seen. For a moment Don was tempted to close his eyes again to catch another five minutes of sleep, but unfortunately his brother had already seen his movements. Sighting deeply, Don stood up.
"Good morning, bro. Mikey's still asleep, Raphael and I haven' t even been to bed. We settled April on the sofa, she collapsed sometime in the morning."
Don felt the stirring of a guilty conscience.
"I really hope she hasn't overextended herself".
He stepped to his fathers bed, watching him and Tally in the next one. Splinter laid peacefully sleeping, but Tally had crouched on her side in fetal position. The sheets of her bed were soaked with her sweat. The brown fur was visible now even at that distance, and her body shape had become… odd. Donatello didn't know how to describe this. His scientific side was fascinated by the biochemical processes which must be occuring in her body right now, but on the other hand he was disgusted by his own thoughts. For his brothers, his father and himself, the mutation had been the greatest of all gifts possible- it had allowed them to life a life of self-conscious humanoid beings instead of animals. But Tally already had a life… and just what had caused this transformation?
He walked to her bed and touched her forehead. Frightened he pulled his hand back- she was virtually burning up with fever.
"I hope you haven't poured away the water."
Leo shook his head no.
"I put the bucket in the ice box, just in case."
Tally's hands were clenched in the blankets. Her already sharpened, almost claw-like fingernails had ripped holes into them. Don tried to gently loosen her grip, but couldn't do so without force.
"I suppose they haven't woken up yet?"
Leo smiled ghostly.
"Believe me, that you wouldn't have been able to sleep on!"
Don nodded wearily and went to the showers to disperse the last remains of sleep from his head.
Leo watched his brother leaving and grabbed the book which he had tried to read last night. Not that he managed to, he had noticed that he had read the same paragraph over and over again without being able to understand just a single word of it. What had happened in that cave? Why did they go there? And why had he just waited that long? If he would have just hurried, searched for them sooner, followed them from the beginning…
He sighed and closed the book. He knew he'd done everything he could, but he knew his conscience would torture him anyway. The best he could had done was not the best what could had be done at all. He had failed- again, as on the ship. And again, it had almost cost his father's life.
After his shower, Donatello stumbled into the kitchen to satisfy his growling stomach. His youngest brother sat at the table and was absently playing with a spoon, trying to flip it into a glass which stood a little bit aside. Don watched him for a few moments, then he sat down besides him.
"They'll be fine, you know?"
Mikey only sighted and made another attempt to hit his glass goal. An uneaten bowl with cereal was set next to the sink.
"Still want to eat this?"
Mikey shrugged, so Don took the bowl. Long years of little food and hunger had taught them all never to waste consumables. He silently started to eat, but the permanent "pling pling pling" when the spoon hit the glass was getting on his nerves.
"Can't you stop that? You're going to break it!"
Mikey shrugged again and instead of aiming for the glass, he pounded the spoon against the table. Finally Don had enough. He grabbed his arm, and with a
"Come on!"
he led him to the medical area, where Leo was still watching over their two patients.
"See? Master Splinter is just sleeping. And Tally… is just…"
His brother looked directly in his face, as if he expected Donatello to continue, to end the sentence as the one before. Don turned his head away.
Still unusually silent, Michelangelo knelt down and reached carefully for the hand of his master. Gently he stroked over his matted fur. When he finally spoke, his voice was croaky and almost noiseless.
"How could he be fine under all those rocks? The Foot we found…"
His voice broke and he continued to palm his fur. When he looked up, tears were shimmering in his eyes.
"What if he has a serious concussion? Or internal injuries? He might never wake up again! Heck, a whole cave fell on his head!"
Donatello kneeled down next to his brother, trying to calm him.
"He's not feverish, and his pupils narrow at light, I tested it. He has been really really lucky, and he will wake up and be fine."
"You promise?"
Don hesitated for the blink of a moment, but that was already enough to terrify his brother again.
"Yes, I promise."
Mikey nodded, satisfied for the moment. He had no reason to doubt Donatello's word, because up to now he had always been right. Don exchanged a fast look with Leonardo, hoping that he could keep up his errorless statistic.
The brothers took turns in watching Splinter and Tally. The morning and midday passed by, but they still showed no sign of change for the better. Don had started to analyze the slimy water, assisted by April. After a few minutes, they silently agreed and brought the microscope and the necessary lab instruments into the medical area.
"This slime looks familiar… too familiar."
Leo looked up from his book. In all this hours, he just managed to read a few pages.
"What do you mean?"
"It has the same structure as the utrom ooze…"
Leo looked over to Tally. Her outward appearance was still her human form, but altogether she looked more like his master.
"Well, that's a surprise!"
They both watched her as she moved restlessly in her bed, shaken by fever and convulsions.
"Can you heal it?"
"Heal? I do not even understand how it works in the first place!"
"Poor Tally."
April, who had been silent up to now, went over to her bed and gently cleaned Tally's face with a cold washcloth.
"I mean, what's she gonna do? For you guys, it was different, you have never known another live, but she has a family, a job, a life on the surface."
"Maybe I can find a way together with Leatherhead. Maybe we can even contact the utroms, or maybe Master Splinter's friends in the battle nexus have a cure."
He didn't believe it himself.
In the late afternoon, at least one of their sorrows was reduced. Leo sat next to his father's bed when he saw his eyelids flitter. He immediately positioned himself in a way Splinter wouldn't been able to look at Tally. Splinter look vaguely in his direction until he was able to focus his glance.
"What… happened?"
He tried to sit up, but Leo pressed him down to the pillow at once.
"It's okay, you're both safe. We found you by following the signal of the shell cell. Tally is still asleep. You have a few nasty cuts, but Don says it's nothing serious."
Splinter carefully touched his forehead with his unhurt left hand.
"I have a bad headache", he whispered. "How is Tally?"
Leo briefly wondered. Tally? Not "Miss Brown"?
"Well… she's not that badly hurt…."
His master's eyes narrowed immediately.
"What's wrong with her?"
He tried to look at her bed, but Leo was still in the way.
"Please relax, master. Donatello is working on it and…"
Immediately Splinter jumped up, just to be convulsed with pain. In the very last moment, Leo was able to get a bowl when his father had to throw up. Splinter vomited gall bladder and gastric acid and fell weakly into his son's arms, coughing and shuddering convulsively. Leo held him tight, and when Splinter seemed to had calmed down a bit, he carefully put a pillow behind his back and helped him to sit leaning on the wall. Splinter pressed both palms again his forehead and breathed intensely. He still had to fight against his nausea.
"What has happened?" he croaked again, not even sure if he wanted to know the answer.
"We hoped you could tell us. What happened in the cave?"
In short sentences, Splinter told his oldest about the happenings in the cavern. Talking exhausted him very much and he only wanted to sleep. But even more important was his concern about Tally. What did his son kept secret? Don had entered while he told his story. When he ended, Don nodded as if a question was finally solved.
"The ooze was a side product of the transmat technology. I assume it was in the canister and triggered the transformation."
"Transformation? What transformation?"
Leo stepped aside so that Splinter could look at Tally's bed. He stared in disbelief at her form, her obvious pain, and then at the bandage on his right arm.
"My blood… she touched me…"
Leo closed his eyes.
"Don is working at an antidote."
But Splinter didn't seem to hear him.
"This is my fault!"
Leo already opened his mouth to protest, but when he saw the horror in his father's face, the feelings of guilt and self-accusation in his eyes, he remained silent, for he know what it was like. No matter what he was going to do or say, Splinter would blame himself.
And Tally?
That remained to be seen. From his point of view, it was an accident, but would she see it so as well? He disbelieved and could only hope against better knowledge she wouldn't accuse his father.