Hope you guys are liking this so far. Any comments or questions, something you don't understand or something you want to point out just send me a note. This is the longest story I've ever written, buckle up folks it's over 20 chapters! Hope you enjoy the ride!
Not long after their first defeat at the hands of the metal foot some even more disturbing news came to their attention via the nightly news. In a monumental battle between the metal foot and three of the cities greatest superheroes, the Foot had displayed a hereto unknown ability…he had literally taken the hero's super powers away from them!
Video footage showed the metal Foot hitting the three heroes with a bright green beam, and seconds later their powers were completely gone. The foot had proceeded to do the same thing to the heroes that he had done to the turtles, namely beat them into the pavement. Two were taken to the emergency room with severe injuries and the third was on life support not expected to make it through the week. The three turtles watched the news reports of the incidents with wide eyes and jaws hanging wide open.
How were they going to stop the Foot now when even the city's super powered heroes were taken out mere seconds into the battle?
Raph let out a growl and began to stomp around the room clenching his fists. " Man can things get any worse?"
"Whenever anyone says something like that it usually does Raph." Leo said his eye ridges furroughing as he stared at the TV screens.
"Man this is a nightmare, I can't watch this anymore.. I'm gonna go check on Donnie." Mike said his face bleak.
"We could really use that brain power of his right now." Raph sighed coming to a stop beside the couch Leo was standing in front of.
"I don't know if even Don could come up with a way to stop this guy…" Leo sighed.
"You gotta be kidding me Leo. Have you been on a different planet than me the last sixteen years? Donnie can come up with anything." Mike scoffed. " You just wait, as soon as he wakes up he'll find a way to take out that tin plated Foot.
"I hope you're right Mike, for the sake of the city I hope you're right."
It was early on a Saturday morning and Leonardo was sitting beside Don's bed reading him the morning newspaper.
He had just finished an article about a new technological breakthrough in the computer industry when he was startled by a groan from the bed. The newspaper was immediately tossed aside as Leo shot upright and clutched Donatello's hand.
Don groaned again, and blinked groggily putting his one free hand to his face.
" Donnie, Donnie are you okay?" Leo asked concerned.
Don looked up at Leo, and tried to focus his eyes on him. " L..Leo?"
" Yeah Don, it's me. Don't worry, you're home, you're safe. Man you had us scared there for awhile bro, how are you feeling?"
" Uh…" Don cleared his throat. " Thirsty."
" Right, I'll go get you some water." Leo nodded and turning he rushed for the door, shouting at the top of his lungs as soon as he got out of the room that Donatello was awake.
Don winced at the sound of Leo's shouting, then blinked puzzled at the room around him like it was a stranger's room instead of his own. His eyes landed on a comic book sitting on the table beside his bed; curiously he picked it up and scanned the cover noticing the words Silver Sentry printed in large letters at the top of the comic. There was an image of the Silver Sentry himself in a dynamic mid flight pose drawn right in the center of the cover. He flipped through the book examining each one of the pages with growing interest and a strange light in his eyes.
Then Leo came back into the room interrupting him; a glass of water and Mike, Raph and Splinter right behind him. The room filed with joyful exclamations as everybody crowed around Don to hug him, hold his hand and tell him how glad they were that he was awake. Don smiled at them faintly, assuring them that he was fine in an oddly deeper, more gravely tone of voice than they were used to. They were so glad to see him awake however that none of them really paid any attention to it.
" My sons, I believe we should let Donatello get some rest." Splinter said finally, nodding at them to leave the room.
" Sure Sensei, I'll go call April and let her know Don's awake." Leo said his face plastered with a huge grin. " See you later Don."
" Get some rest Donnie, you'll be back on your feet in no time." Raph said patting his brother's shoulder.
Splinter looked to Mikey but the orange masked turtle shook his head and gave his father a pleading look. "I need to talk to Donnie about something Sensei, please?"
Splinter nodded, understanding what it was that Mikey wanted. He turned to Don. " I will bring you some herbal tea, I shall return shortly my son."
" Thank you Sensei." Don nodded.
When Splinter was gone Mike sat in a chair beside Don's bed. He noticed that Don was holding the Silver Sentry comic.
"Hey, I see you found my Silver Sentry comic..I was reading it to you yesterday..I guess I forgot it." He grinned nervously.
Don turned the comic over in his hands. " You have more of these don't you Mike?" He asked in his strange voice.
" Yeah." Mike said raising an eye ridge. "Tons more, I'll bring them if you want. You can read them all." He looked a bit puzzled. "Uh, why the sudden interest Donnie, you've never wanted to look at any of my comics before."
"Let's just say that recent events have..opened my eyes a bit." Don said and then smiled a very strange smile; not at all the type of smile that one would expect to see on his face. It was the smile of someone who wasn't exactly in possession of all of his marbles, and it wasn't at all pleasant. Mikey saw it and for some reason he couldn't fathom began to feel slightly uneasy.
" Yeah, uh about that. Look Donnie I just wanted to say, you know, I'm sorry. What happened to you was my fault, I mean..if I hadn't have talked you into going out there with me.." Mikey said floundering in his effort to get his words out.
" Shhh Mikey." Don held up a hand. "Don't worry little bro, I'm not mad at you. Far from it, I should thank you."
Mikey looked confused. " Thank me, but why? I got you.."
"Shot by a strange energy ball, tossed of a balcony and electrocuted?" Don supplied raising an eye ridge. When Mikey looked hurt and Don placed a hand on his brother's shoulder.
"It's okay. What happened has changed everything Mike; my eyes are clear, my brains and my muscles are working better than they have in my entire life- in fact I think you can say it's made me a new turtle. This is a golden opportunity and I'm going to grab it with both hands." Don made a grasping motion, his eyes beginning to take on a slight glint of insanity.
Mike looked puzzled. " Opportunity ? What opportunity?"
"This Mikey." Don pulled his brother closer and held up the Silver Sentry comic. " This Super Hero business that you've been babbling about for so long. I admit I once thought it nonsense but I see now that it's far from it. It's our big chance Mikey."
Mikey looked puzzled. " You mean, you want to put on a suit too?"
Don nodded, "Not right now though, I have an idea but it will take some time to design."
"Um if you don't mind my asking Don, why?" Mike didn't know whether to be happy Don wanted to put on a costume too, or wonder about his brother's sanity.
"For justice Mike. The costume itself isn't the point, it's what the costume lets you do." Don held up the Newspaper Leo had been reading him, and pointed to the front page, which featured a very large picture of the battle between the metal Foot and the three heroes. The headline read " Who can stop the Metal Menace?"
"You're not wanting to go up against that guy alone are you Don?" Mike asked his eyes wide. "Leo, Raph and I have already fought him and we got our shells kicked in. Nothing can make a dent in that armor of his."
At that Don sat up, surprised. "You three went up against that metal foot?"
"Yeah, we wanted to get him for what he did to you, unfortunately he got us instead. I've still got bruises in places I didn't even know I had."
Don's eyes took on a strange light and he grabbed Mike's arm. " When I get out of this bed I want you to tell me exactly what happened Mike, everything you can remember in exact detail."
"Uh, sure but it all happened so fast. Just tell me you aren't going after that guy alone Donnie. If you've got a plan it can wait until you've gotten well again, and then we can all go after him."
"I've got the makings of a plan but I need more information first. I need time to find out a way to stop that suit of his. For that I need the costume, and some extras to go with it."
"Believe me, there's nothing I'd like more than to put on my Turtle Titan suit Don, but remember when I first put it on? What you guys told me? We're ninja, we're supposed to stay in the shadows. We can't be super heroes, we don't even have powers."
Don made a dismissive gesture. " Batman doesn't have powers, and neither does Iron Man. They've got something better than powers, they've got this." Don tapped his own temple. " Brains Mikey. Brains. You were on the right track with your gadget idea." He gave his brother's head a rub and released him.
Mikey was getting more puzzled by the minute. He was just getting over the euphoria of seeing Donatello alive and awake, and now the brother he had just spent weeks worrying about seemed to have woken up a few cards short of a full deck.
"Uh, Donnie are you feeling okay?"
"I'm just fine Mikey." Don said looking at the comic with another one of his smiles. "I'm just fine. I have some ideas for a few more gadgets for your suit, how about we take it for another spin when I can get out of this bed."
Mike's eyes widened. "No way, look what happened the last time you went out with me Donnie. I don't want anything like that happening again." He said looking sad.
Don patted his brother on the shoulder. "Don't worry Mikey, nothing will happen to me. I can take care of myself now."
Mike started to ask what his brother meant with " now" when Splinter came back into the room, tea cup in hand.
"I believe it is time to let your brother get some rest Michelangelo." Their Sensei said with a fatherly smile as he handed Don the tea.
Mike nodded and stood looking back at his brother uncertainly.
Don gave Mike smile. " We'll continue what we were talking about later Mike."
Mike tried to put on a smile in return but only managed a half one, and then he decided to leave before he got even more confused than he already was. The more he thought about the conversation he had just had with his brother, the less sense it all seemed to make.
Frowning as he thought he made his way to his room, there he took out the turtle Titan Costume, sat on his bed and stared at it… thinking.