Author's Notes

(1) I DO NOT own Ninja Turtles

(2) Bear with me -the introductions are nearly over!

(3) PLZ review!!

Adkins didn't just monitor my stats and improve my ability to fly, making me the tough prisoner behind tough polymer glass, but he forced me to fight Tzu time after time. I found out that Tzu was fast, agile and very good at keeping out of sight until he wanted to be seen. His fangs, which slid forward when he opened his jaws wide, were poisonous. But he was barred from using them in our combat. Adkins was training us both up for something –I was sure of it.

I learnt a lot about Tzu during the evenings. Although we were parted by polymer and glass, we developed hand signals that allowed us to exchange information. Tzu had been fourteen when he had first come here, but he had been prisoner for two years before I was brought down. He hadn't lost his memory in the mutation, and he knew he was called Liam Marks. He also knew where he came from. Together we made a pact: if ever we escaped our captivation, we would set out together to find one another's families. It was a desperate hope, but it was one that we clung to. It was the only one we had left.

Although we seemed like two conflicting personalities, we were actually like two sides of the same coin. Tzu was the strong and capable leader, taking the lead in strength and endurance. I was the willingly obedient lesser of the duo, but the more intelligent. Adkins was spending a lot of time with me, perfecting my technological and logical skills. I was the brains and Tzu was the muscle. It worked well for us.

We lived in our prisons for two whole years, never fully knowing why we were being trained to fight or why my computer and problem solving skills were being raised to new and high levels. But gradually I was being taught to hack the securest networks around, how to get around the toughest fire walls as though they were made out of a child's building blocks. He must have some plan that he was preparing us for besides keeping us as souvenirs of his genius. I won't deny that he was a genius, but he was mad and dangerous.

Two years after my captivity had begun, when I was sixteen, Tzu and I finally learnt the answer to this riddle.

Adkins was the only man I had seen for years. There were no visits, and it made sense. Who knew we were down here? This was a section of the sewer system that had long ago fallen into disrepair, meaning a new section had to be built, but then remodelled as a hidden laboratory.

But if we had thought Adkins was working alone, we were soon to find out just how wrong that assumption had been.

After two years of life trapped in this underground lab, a tall man arrived unannounced just as I was being herded back into my cage. He had the looks of an American who had lived in Japan for decades, so much so he was wearing clothing associated with martial artists. Adkins hurried over to him, looking both awed and somewhat fearful. This man had to be involved in some way, but I could not see how.

The two circled the lab, going over computers and files, before their attention focused on Tzu and me. As they came to stand in front of my cage, I could see Adkins swelling. It was almost as though he would burst. I had long trained myself to lip-read, so it didn't take me long to figure out what he was saying.

"And this is my newest creation, and I personally find Takara the best of the duo. As you can obviously see, she has had her human DNA combined with that of a falcon. Due to the fact she was fit and fast before I seized her, her system adapted better than I thought possible. She has a lifespan of over a hundred years now.

"She may not be the most skilled fighter, but she can hold her own in a defensive position. I've trained her to be the intelligent one of the two, but they do work best as a team."

"I will see for myself," the man said. He turned away from the glass, and moved back towards Tzu's tank. He stood in front of Tzu for several minutes before returning to Adkins who stood uneasily in front of my cage.

"Personally I'd prefer to keep only the reptile. He is all I really need. But if they do work as a team, I cannot order the destruction of one and expect the other to work fully. So name your price."

As they turned away to haggle, I looked at Tzu. I saw it in his eyes: he was as disturbed by this man's attitude to me just as I was. He would have separated us, and permanently. No matter how temporarily it may be, we weren't willing to be separated. We had to get out of here before we fell into his hands.

After several moments, the adults obviously reached an agreement, and we were sold to the man we knew so little about. So that had been Adkins' meaning for abducting and creating us –just to sell us on to a benefactor who couldn't care less about me. I was sure Tzu would be released whereas I would be left in the cage. But we didn't even know why we were created, besides to be sold for some unknown reason.

Adkins paused in front of my cage and looked carefully at me. It seemed he was most proud of me as a creation, but that clearly wasn't a view shared by his partner. I could almost see regret in his eyes, but I had long ago taught myself I was nothing to him.

It was our last night in this underground lab, one way or another. Tomorrow the man would be here to collect us and start using us for his own ends with no consideration as to what he was doing to us or how we felt about it. To him, I was the useless one. But if Tzu and I were together, working as a team, nothing could stop us. That was the only reason he had brought me, I was sure –to make sure Tzu would work at his full potential.

Normally the two assistants were here to keep an eye on the monitors and prevent any night escape attempts, but they had left with the mysterious man. Adkins never stayed in the underground lab, choosing to stay somewhere overhead.

Since there was no one around to try and prevent our escape, this was the perfect opportunity. And it was also our last chance to make it to the surface. But our cages were both made out of tough polymer that was almost unbreakable. The cages were almost unbreakable, but not quite. And the doors had a specific access code. Thanks to Adkins' training, I had been able to memorise Tzu's. So if I got out, I was in the ideal position to get Tzu out. If he busted out, I could signal my own code through to him.

But first we had to take care of the alarms. I could sense tripwire and alarms built into the polymer of my cage. We had never tried to break out before, so we had no idea how long it would take before reinforcements arrived. And the last thing either of us wanted to do was summon anyone with stun-guns or worse.

As soon as the lights were dimmed for the evening, my eyes adjusted to the light from Tzu's tank. He always had a light on to keep warm. Being mixed with a snake meant that his blood heat fluctuated between night and day, so at night, he had to have some artificial heat.

I unfolded my wings, rising on the air to the first corner of the cage. This was delicate work; if I got this wrong, the alarm would trigger automatically. Then we were in major trouble.

Barely two minutes later, just as I was preparing to finish off the one alarm, was tapping quite fiercely on the wall joining our enclosures together. I glanced at the computer bank and saw that someone or something had tripped an alarm in the corridor leading to the lab. I cursed mentally as I returned to the ground, curling up.

I wasn't prepared for what happened next. There was a beep at my door and it hissed back. Still I did not look up, even though I knew there were only three people with the access code to my door. I felt a hand fall on my shoulder, and then someone was shaking me awake. Guessing it was safe to pretend to wake up I uncurled from my sleeping position to find Adkins crouching over me.

"I want you to get out of here, Takara," he said as I struggled to come to terms with what I was seeing and hearing. Adkins was risking his own neck to get me to safety? Talk about the unexpected. Adkins ploughed on

"I made you to create a team of you and Tzu. I created you on that man's whim when all along he had no desire to use you. If he wants only Tzu, I'm willing to give up everything and let you go so you can work as I trained you. You know enough to survive on our own."

"But why did you do this to us?" I asked, desperate to know the answer to at least one puzzle before I left. I was planning to escape, but this sudden change of heart was more than I had ever expected.

"I wanted to prove that human life could be altered with animal DNA, a theory that had caused me to lose all fame and favour. When I met Saki, I was a disgraced man. He made me an offer: if I could create two beings to his specifications, he would see me returned to the history books as one of the greatest scientists in the world.

"But when he turned on you, I saw he was only interested in himself. I want you to know freedom, so I'm giving up everything to hide you. Now, get out of here. And trust no one."

"What about Tzu?" I asked, looking at the cage next to me. Tzu was there, looking confused. If we were to escape, there would be no time to fill him in until we were out of the immediate danger zone. There was no way I was going to leave him behind.

"I know you know the code to his cage," Adkins said. "I spotted you watching my fingers on the pad several times. That's why I'm so proud of you –you are so sharp, not to mention intelligent. Take your friend and go."

I got to my feet and darted for the entrance. I looked to the man who was setting us free, and almost said thanks. But I remembered the experiments I had suffered at his whim for years, the way I had been no more than machine to him as he pushed me to the limits of my strength and endurance with no mercy. There was no way he would hear a thank you from us now, not until he had shown himself to be a real ally.

I darted to Tzu's cage and ran the numbers through my brain, tapping in the right code as soon as I was sure of it. Automatically the door swished open, and I gestured my friend out into the open. As he raided the cupboards that we knew held food and medical supplies, I grabbed the tools I had been trained to use to disable alarms and rewire security. Then I spotted a laptop on the desktop. I had been using it for weeks, as part of my training. I knew it had constantly changing pass codes, making it completely undetectable. And Adkins had given me a valuable word: Saki. Once I knew more, I could hack into the security of that cruel man and find out all that he was hiding. I snatched it up and took off.

Tzu and I knew no further than the entrance of the lab, so as soon as we had forced our way out, we were automatically lost. The stink got to me; it was awful. I was sure it was ten times worse than it had been when I had first been dragged into the underground. I guess that goes to show you just how much I had been altered.

"Takara!" I heard Tzu call out. I turned to see him gesturing to me to join him. "Come on," Tzu was waiting for me at the far end of the tunnel. As I joined him, I saw he had had the foresight to grab a map of the system. I remembered seeing one tacked up to the wall, but I would have never thought to grab it. I was happy to let Tzu take the lead. I hurried to join him, and we ran side by side away from the place we had been held as prisoners for years.

Side by side we ran. I could feel my wings aching to unfold, to soar closer to freedom with every beat. But if I chose a wrong turn while flying, I would never find Tzu in this maze of pipes. So for now I was content to keep my feet on the ground.

We kept up the pace for several hours. As we realised that daybreak was coming, we slowed down, considering the map several times, looking for an entrance to the surface. We were running out of time, and we both knew it.

"We can't keep getting lost," Tzu panted as we ducked into a dark area to catch our breath. All I was worried about was that someone would hear us either running in the filthy water or recovering our breath. "We have to get out of this maze."

We came to a junction of many tunnels. Below us the water churned into a whirlpool, and around and above us the pipes spat out their debris.

"Now where do we go?" I asked, looking around. Tzu groaned, sinking to his knees.

"I don't know," he admitted. "But we have to get out of here. I'm going stir-crazy."

I knew Tzu had been imprisoned for four years below the streets, and he was only a couple of years older than I was. If I was getting nervous, I couldn't imagine how he was feeling. Perhaps he was already imagining the cruel man closing in on us, his cold eyes on our backs. I was trying my hardest not to think about it. But it was obvious to me that I was losing the brave fearless side of my friend –my only one in the world now. It was up to me to help him pull through.

"We can make it," I said, raising him to his feet. "Come on, Tzu, we can make it out. So let's hear your plan. You always had a plan before. And we're together, and nothing's going to separate us."

I think I managed to give him the boost needed. I was devoted to him, and he had to hide his fear in my presence to be the leader I knew. He straightened up and turned his attention to the map.

"We need to get to the highest pipeline. That will take us up to just below street level. After that, it's a matter of finding a manhole cover. But the question is how to get up there."

He wasn't fooling me –he knew as well as I did that I would have to carry him up.

"Come on, what's the point of having wings if I'm not going to use them?" I asked, spreading my wings and motioning for him to get on my back. He quickly did so and took a firm grip as I pushed off. My wings were strong enough to bear the extra weight of Tzu as well as my own body weight. We gained height, knowing our lives depended on my endurance. If my strength failed, we would freefall right into a rather disgusting cesspit.

At last I reached the tunnel I was aiming for –the highest one I could find. I let Tzu slip off my back before tucking my wings tight to my sides. I was getting desperate to find a way out into fresh air, to stretch my wings probably for the first time ever.

Tzu was already ahead, and I hurried to catch up to him. We proceeded at a walk; according to the map, we were not far from the manhole that would take us to the surface. I was examining the walls as we proceeded –they seemed newer, better maintained.

Then I saw the alarm attached to the wall, and put out a hand to halt Tzu. Who the hell would put up alarms in the sewers? It looked quite new, and was ready to trigger if someone passed by it. I was sure it would capture a picture of whoever tripped it, and neither Tzu nor I could afford to be caught on camera.

But proximity alarms required an invisible wire to be touched before setting off. So if I could discover it, we could avoid the camera and alarm, and still escape.

I knelt close and struck a match from a box of them in my bag of tricks. I could sense Tzu watching beside me in complete silence. He knew it was best not to disturb me. He had seen me disarm a fake atomic bomb in five minutes from inside his cage. Tzu knew I was capable of overcoming technical problems.

The match did the trick, revealing a laser beam running from the device to the floor of the tunnel, creating a rather tricky path through. You had to get high, and move fast. I backed off and leapt into the air, using my wings to gain more speed and height. I passed through easily. Landing, I tucked my wings in and pivoted, gesturing for Tzu to follow.

Tzu leapt into the air and although he had enhanced jumping skills, they didn't measure up to having wings. He was fast, but he was nowhere near high enough. Although we could hear nothing, I knew he had tripped the alarm and a beacon would be flashing on the console of whoever had set up that device. We had to get out of here as the alarm light colour switched from green to red.

We ran, thinking only about getting away from the proximity alarm before the owners came to check the camera. One way or another, they had a picture of Tzu in mid-leap.

"I'm sorry," Tzu panted as we ran.

"Don't worry about it," I said, concentrating on running. Without noticing it, we had swapped roles as leader and follower. "We'll be in a worse position if we're caught. So let's avoid that."

As we ran down one tunnel, we heard a vibrating noise coming from ahead, and headed straight for us. It was coming at a great velocity, and whatever it was, it was large but fast. I could tell by the sound. I was sure it belonged to whoever had set up that proximity alarm.

We came to a halt and pulled into a smaller connecting tunnel, ducking out of immediate sight. There we stopped, listening hard. About a minute later, a huge black thing pulled up just in front of the tunnel and we could hear voices talking over the now idling engine.

"So why are stopping here again?" asked one voice.

"Whatever we tagged moved down here," said another.

"Well, that tunnel's way too small for the Skimmer to get through," said a third voice, and this one sounded more like a leader than the previous two. "I guess that means we go on foot from now on."

My ears went up at that. Tagged? What could that mean? Only one possibility came to me off-hand –that proximity alarm hadn't caught an image of Tzu. Instead some sort of tracker had been placed on him. I glanced at his ankle and saw a small green tracker attached to him. Tzu saw it as well, and his eyes widened with fear.

As long as we were together, we could both be caught in a matter of moments. But I wasn't going to abandon him. Besides, I hadn't been taught all about mechanics and tracking for nothing. I knew all we had to do was remove or jam the signal, and whoever had planted it would lose all trace of it.

But we had no time to jam it. We would have to remove it. I crouched down and, after hesitating, pulled at the device. It came off no problem, and I crushed it.

"Hold it," said the second voice that we had heard as we got to our feet and moved away. "I've completely lost the signal now."

"So what does that mean? What are we dealing with?" said the first voice, sounding nervous now.

"Whatever we're dealing with, Mickey, we can crush it," said a voice we had not heard before, one more aggressive than any of the others. I didn't like the sound of it. Whoever that voice belonged to was ready to do anything.

"Wait, Raph," said the third voice again. "Let's not go charging in without knowing what we're dealing with. Don, what are we dealing with?"

"It's definitely intelligent," said the second voice again, presumably belonging to whoever this Don was. "And judging from the inbuilt DNA sampler built into that tracker, it's... well, that can't be right."

This situation just got better and better. So now we knew these four had built a proximity alarm that, instead of photographing its quarry, planted a tracker that also collected a DNA sampler to identify and locate the creature. And by the sound of it, this Don couldn't believe what the readout was showing him.

"Did you have to come out with that line?" asked the first voice we had heard. Judging from what I could tell, that was Mickey. "Just spit it out, Don. Is it good news, or turn-around-and-head for-home news?"

"I can't be sure, Mickey," said Don. "I'm getting a reading that says we're dealing with something that is about two-thirds human and one-third cobra."

"But how is that possible?" asked the third voice. It was the only one I didn't have a name for.

"At a wild guess, Leo, I'd say genetic engineering," said Don. "It's how and why I don't get. But whatever it is, it might need help. Come on."

I knew this group was smart, and seemed to have no connection to the man who had brought me and Tzu; they seemed to know absolutely nothing about us. But we didn't know that for sure, and we couldn't risk falling into a trap. Until we knew more, everyone was a suspect and enemy. Call us paranoid, but unless we learnt to suspect all we weren't going to survive for long without being caught.

We backed off, aware that the four were only metres away and could therefore probably hear us. Tzu had recovered enough to resume his position as leader, and he pulled me away. I followed him down an adjoining tunnel that loomed out of the black.

We ran, aware that we were making enough noise to allow whoever it was behind us to follow even without a tracker. We had to get out soon, before they even caught a glimpse of us. I could almost sense the four as they came after us. Glancing back, I saw four torches reflecting at the back wall of the pipe we were running along. It was a matter of time before they turned the corner.

Tzu suddenly pulled up, his hand feeling the wall.

"I think this is a ladder," he said. "Come on."

He began to climb, and I glanced down the tunnel. The light of the torches was getting closer. Tzu was already at the top, wrestling with the manhole cover. He succeeded just as one of our pursuers turned the corner and flashed his light around, catching me in the eyes. The light was blinding, and I raised my hand to shield my arms.

"Takara!" Tzu hissed from street level, and I began to climb.

"Wait!" I heard a voice call from behind me, but I was waiting for nothing. We had come this far, and I wasn't about to get recaptured or intercepted this close to freedom and fresh air. I hurried up as fast as I could, and soon Tzu and I were securing the manhole cover over the exit, cutting off the pursuit route.

Below the streets, the four stood around the closed manhole cover as Donatello tried to open it. But it seemed hopeless; whoever that had been, they had secured it tightly. By the time they opened it, the two could be out of the city.

They had all seen the wings of that girl, and were sure they were as real as they were.

"It won't budge," Donatello said, returning to the floor. "I'd guess that girl was the partner of the snake-boy whose DNA I got. But whoever they were, they were desperate to get out of this system. They're both running from something."

"They seemed afraid of us more than anything," Leonardo said. "They led us quite a chase, and they are intelligent. But we have to find them. They're in trouble, and two mutant humans are just as visible as us four among humans. We can help them."

"I don't think they know that," Raphael said. "I would say it's going to take a lot to make them trust us. I'd say they won't trust even regular humans."

"Helping them is a great idea, Leonardo," Michelangelo said. "But I see some problems in that. How do we find two kids when one has got wings, and could go anywhere? And how do we get them to trust us?"

"All creatures, human and animal, need certain things," Leonardo said. "The way I see it, they will look for food and drink, shelter and security. All we have to do is stake out the most likely places where they would go."

"But if they are on the run from something, aren't they more likely to act in an unexpected way?" Michelangelo asked. "And even if they didn't, there must be dozens of likely hiding places and ways of getting food without being noticed."

"We just have to stake them all out," Leonardo said. "Don, get ready to survey the rooftops tonight. Raphael, take the Shell Bike and drive around the roads. Mickey, you're coming in the Sub-Shuttle with me to look from the river. And we've got April and Casey to cover above ground as well."