The Lair: 2003 Cartoonverse
Mikey sat there, crunching on some really good gourmet chips he had found in the back of the cupboard, playing Mortal Kombat, irritated that he couldn't get past Scorpion. After losing for the fifth time he bit his bottom lip, glaring at the controller before turning to pet his cat. "Yanno, Klunk? I think my controller might be broken." Klunk didn't reply, he just looked up and purred.
Bored, Mike stretched and looked around, pondering if he should swap for some Katamari Damacy and weighing how quickly Raph would try to beat him if he turned the volume up to 40. It bothered him how quiet the lair was today. No practice on Sunday and Leo was off with Master Splinter. Donnie was in his lab tinkering and Raph was doing whatever Raph did when he wanted to be left alone. "I wish you knew how to play video games." He said to Klunk as he stood.
"mrow?" Klunk stood, arching his back.
"You don't have thumbs, Klunk…" Mikey explained gently, pausing to pet him some more.
There was a lingering pause in the silence and then a crackling sound like static interference. Mike frowned, walking over to the TV and giving it a firm thunk on the top of the box. When the noise continued he bit his lip. "That usually works…" he murmured, flicking both the PS2 and the television off. Still the noise continued.
Klunk stood, stretching and making soft yeowling sounds. Mike started to look around, wondering if the noise was bothering Don or Raph when there was a loud crash, similar to the sound of Raph knocking the punching bag off the hanger and into the wall, followed by the sound of shelves breaking and things falling. The youngest turtle snapped his head around, eyes wide, and stared.
"Raph, did you just do that?" he called out, wondering if he had missed some sort of temper tantrum elsewhere. The static crackling faded away.
"Did what? What the hell are you talkin' about Mikey?" Mike snapped his head around, surprised that his older brother's voice came from the exact opposite direction. Raph stalked out of his room, looking annoyed.
"Did you guys hear that?" Don asked, hustling up, his eyes oddly distorted by the goggles he was wearing. Mike stifled a chuckle.
Raph put his hands on his hips. "What are you two hearing?"
His youngest brother let his eyes widen. "Something crashed into the library, I thought it was you throwing something!"
"Thanks, Mikey. I'm not the only one who causes breakage around here." The red clad brother groused, glaring at him.
"You do cause your fair share." Don mused. Before Raph could get too ticked off he added, "but I heard it too. We should check out what happened."
There wasn't much that either brother could argue with that, and Mikey shuffled off first towards the library. Raph stopped for a few seconds and grabbed his sais before following.
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The library itself looked like a giant wrecking ball swung through it; or in this case a mutant turtle, shell first. Raphael had tucked, expecting to hit the wall and roll, but when the wall wasn't quite there he moved, trying to regain his bearings and ended up hitting the bookshelf…hard. Now he found himself underneath the bookshelf trying to collect his senses, wondering why there were books everywhere.
Something was wrong, and it was something he couldn't quite define. Subtly everything was different. The air was heavier, it smelled a bit more foul. The lights were darker, even the colors were greyer. That and his head hurt steadily.
"Check this out!" Mike's voice was filled with concerned wonder as he looked inside at the mess of books. "What happened?"
His brainy brother looked in a furrowed his brow. "Looks like the bookshelf just…fell over."
"I don't think so." Always slightly paranoid Raph bit his bottom lip as his dark eyes searched the room. "Somethin's moving under there." His observation made all three brothers tense. Seeing as he was the only one currently armed, Raph pushed past his brothers and stepped forward. Whatever or whoever it was, the books were moving like a human might be underneath but it was hard to see details. Raph didn't mince words. "Who the hell are you?"
Under the shelf Raphael groaned a little, trying to get his vision to clear. That voice sounded stunningly familiar and stunningly alien all at the same time. "Who's asking?" he quipped back.
"Not funny." The hotheaded brother growled, reaching down to pick the intruder up out of the books. Behind him Don held up a hand.
"It could be a trap, Raph."
"It could, but I'm sick of this game." He reached in and pulled up the scrap of fabric his fingers found before nearly dropping it again. "What in the shell?!"
Raph. Raphael thought. Is that Donatello? He blinked, hoping his vision would clear and someone grabbed him by the scruff of his bandana, pulling him upwards. When it did clear, he rather wished it would go back to foggy. His brothers were standing there, staring at him as if he had three heads. Hokay, first things first, find feet. He brought his feet up under him as took a good second look around. His brothers were starting to circle him, defensive. Raph had his weapons bared. Raph? Wait a second… Michelangelo, Donatello… Raphael? Is that right? The only one left is Leonardo… and I'm not Leonardo. At least I don't think so…I didn't hit my head that hard. The confusion was clearly etched on Raphael's face, and it prompted his counterpart to glare at him.
"Who the hell are you?" He asked again in a low growling tone, pushing his chest forward and spreading his shoulders to make himself look as physically big as possible.
The slightly smaller Raphael blinked once again. "Raphael?" he said it with a hint of a grin, as if wondering when the bad prank would end.
"That's not possible." Raph glared keeping the points of his sais leveled evenly at the intruding turtle. He indulged a quick look towards Don to confirm that.
The purple clad turtle paced slightly, rubbing his temple. "It could be a trick… or a clone."
"Or a robot." Mike added, seriously.
"If it's a robot I'm going to dismantle him." To punctuate his threat Raph glowered at his counterpart.
"Um, guys, this just isn't funny anymore…" Raphael protested, shifting from foot to foot, feeling a nagging headache creeping on.
"This didn't start funny," the annoyed mirror of him snarled.
Don shook his head and walked up, inspecting Raphael. "I don't know. Remember when we were in the Triceraton prison? They took detailed scans of all of us. It's conceivable they could have created clones from our DNA samples."
"Or a robot!" Mikey added again.
"Look, Mikey, it's not a freakin' robot!" Raph rolled his eyes and grabbed his counterpart's hand before the slightly smaller turtle had a chance to dodge. Raking the point of his sai across the back of his hand he was satisfied to see blood welling up. "See?!"
"Ow!" Raphael complained and frowned, using his off hand to punch Raph in the shoulder before he really thought of the consequences of such a move.
Wordlessly Raph glared at him and returned the punch, straight to his beak. Raphael's head snapped around, and he muttered lightly to himself, "Ok, so that wasn't a smart move."
"You bet your ass it wasn't a smart move!" Raph leaned over to glower once again, insinuating that robot or no, he would dismantle him if he made another move.
"What if I said I could explain?" Raphael started before he frowned. When in truth I can't. Maybe I should have listened to Donatello's lectures a bit more carefully?
"Well, where did you come from?" Mike asked, sounding curious.
"Umm. How do I put this?" It hadn't struck him before how outrageous his explanation was going to sound. "Shredder used an experimental technology to project a couple of goons into the lair through the television, and I think I got kicked through the portal…"
"Not only is he a clone, but he's a stupid one, too." The hotheaded brother quipped as he paced.
Mikey bit his lip, finding a chair. "I think it makes sense."
"You would." His elder brother groused.
Behind him Donnie sighed. "We have been through a dimensional portal in our travels before…it is possible." He took in a long deep breath before adding, "Maybe we should wait until Master Splinter arrives and we can talk about this."
Raph pointed his sai at his intruding counterpart. "And what in the shell do we do with him?"
Donatello shrugged a little bit, watching his brothers before letting his attention drift back to Raphael. "Well, unless he suddenly decides to attack, I'd just keep him here. Perhaps you two should guard him?"
"Oh, maybe he can pick up the books!" Mikey grinned a little bit, figuring that otherwise he would get stuck with that particular job.
Raph stared at his youngest brother and gave a grudging nod. "That's not a half bad idea." He kept his sais pointedly trained at the newcomer.
Raphael rolled his eyes slightly, but in the interest of not being punched again he kept any comments to himself, slowly piling books up, hoping that when all was said and done he could get some aspirin.