The newscast featuring his picture had come and gone, Don had focused on it briefly to listen to what they had to say about him but when the sports started he ignored it again.
The first seed to becoming the most feared hero in the city had been planted, they knew he existed and were already speculating widly about him. Now all the had to do was defeat the Foot…and he could continue his other plans. He smiled as he thought about what the future held. If he were in the right position there was so much he could do for the city, given the right resources there was so much his incredible intelliect and his physical proweress could accomplish. In the beginning he had thought of trying to include his brothers in his plans, but had quickly come to realize it would be no use. They were set in their ways, they prefered to live in the shadows of the sewers like animals, instead of taking their rightful places above as protectors of the city. Don had little faith in their abilities anyway, he would be better off carrying out his plans on his own. He would miss them of course, and when his plans succeded he would graciously provide them places in the new world he had created but for now he would be on his own. He worked better alone anyway. Alone he would not only make the city a better place by ridding it of crime for good, but he would also use his intelligence to create inventions to improve the lives of its citizens. He nodded to himself as he mulled it over, yes he'd start small and work his way up. Perhaps he'd take over the old Stocktronics building Baxter had abandoned; once he had enough media attention and recognition he could go where he liked in the city, and move as freely as he pleased. He could do a lot with that old building of Baxters', even more than the fool Stockman could have ever dreamed of. Baxter Stockman had been a genious, but he had been foolish enough to let his ego get the better of him. Don would not make the same mistake. Yes the future was layed out in front of him for the taking..all he had to do was stop the Metalic Menace.
And of course Shredder.
At that thought Don frowned slightly..and then he shrugged. Shredder would be another matter entirely, but Don was confident that he would find a way to deal with the villan when the time came. For now the Metal Foot was his most pressing problem, and it was a a problem he indended to take care of..with prejudice.
Beeping and taping sounds filled the air inside the Battle Shell as Don put the on board computers to use analyzing the energy signatures he'd gotten from the Metal Foot's suit.
He frowned to himself as he examined the data he was getting, and he put a hand to his chin in thought. The energy signature wasn't terrestrial in origin, yet he wasn't sure it was entirely extra-terrestrial either. More analysis suggested the suit was actually using its human wearer's energy, feeding off of him. Don looked up at an electronic map of the city he had showing on a nearby screen. He would have to return to where the gauntlet had been made in the first place and see if there was any information he could find on it, and any possible weaknesses. He tapped the panel in front of him with a finger.
He would be returning to the place where it had all been started, his birthplace so to speak. He felt it ironic that to stop the metal foot and ensure a future for the city and for his brothers he'd have to go back into a place that represented the past. The gauntlet's past and his own past. Well not exactly his past, but perhaps his birth yes that was a better word. His creation.
Don thought about the new name the press seemed to have given him, it had a nice ring to it. He was a dark turtle, a new and improved version of Donatello. Better than Donatello had ever been..a Dark Donatello. Yes that sounded about right, a new name for an entirely new being.
Dark Don..it seemed…fitting.
He stared at the building marked on the map, he hoped there was something there to give him a clue as to the origins of the suit and any possibly weaknesses..if not the past wouldn't matter much anymore..because there wouldn't be a future.
He got inside the building with little trouble, they hadn't bothered to re-install the building alarm and there was no one on guard, probably because there wasn't much left to guard. As he crept across the familiar floor and up the familiar stairs, towards that door where he and Mike had first confronted the foot and the gauntlet; he began to hear voices coming from beyond the door. As he got closer he could hear that they were at least two men arguing heavily, who had already been arguing for a time.
"Now ah would like at know whut exactly it is yur doin' about findin' mah gauntlet Starling and how exactly yur plannin' on gettin it back from that maniac who's been using it ta rob, plunder and just about destroy half the damn city." Came an indignant voice with a country accent.
"I have the matter under control Mr.Kinglsy, things will be arranged shortly. The gauntlet will be returned to its rightful place by the end of the week. I guarantee it." The second man, presumably Starling spoke without emotion, his voice had cold, hard steel in it.
"Well ah'm not so sure ah should be puttin any stock in any o' yer guarantees Starling, seein as though ah gave you the task of keepin it safe in the first place en you managed ta loose it ta three men dressed in black pijamas and two men wearin' turtle costumes. C'mon Starling, two men in turtle costumes?" Said Kingsly condescendingly.
If possible the knives in Starling's voice were sharper when he spoke. "I don't know about those turtle men but those others weren't just men in pijamas. They were Ninja, Kingsly and not just any Ninja they were Foot Ninja. Do you know what that means?"
"Should ah??" Kingsly sighed.
"You should, the Foot Ninja belong to The Shredder. Surely you've heard of him." There was the slightest hint of an evil smile in Starling's voice then. Outside the door Don frowned. This Starling sounded dangerous, almost as dangerous as The Shredder himself.
Kingly made a choking sound. "Shredder?!"
"Yes Shredder." Starling said, clearly enjoying startling his employer.
"But…but..but…why?"
"You might want to let me check your employees again Kingsly, you probably have a member of his organization working here somewhere, a spy to put it literally. There's no other way he could have known about the gauntlet, I took every step necessary to conceal its existence completely."
"But you checked mah employees before we even got started on the whole damn thing, how the Sam hill could you miss one?"
"The only possible mistake on my part, I did not take it into account that Shredder might have somewhere working here. It might be a longtime worker who just happens to work for the Shredder on the side, Shredder might not have known about the manufacture of the gauntlet at all…until it was done."
Kingsly snorted. "Only possible mistake mah ear Starling. Fine, go over um again, it aint like their much use 'til we get that gauntlet back anyway. Now ah want you to stop being beatin around the bush and tell me exactly what it is that yur doing to get that gauntlet back."
"Do you really want to know Kingsly?" Starling asked coldly.
"Well o' course ah do otherwise ah wouldna asked it two times already, ah might sound like a country bumpkin ta you Kingsly but that don't mean ah'm anywhere near stupid." Kingly snapped back, clearly not intimidated by Starling at all.
"Of course not. I will be employing what are called Mercenaries." Starling said.
"Mercenaries?" Kingsly sounded puzzled. "Punks in body armor, and automatic weapons..them sort o' mercenaries?"
"Close. These "punks" as you put it are highly trained individuals, they will be employing weapons using high levels of electricity instead of automatic weapons, which will not work against the gauntlet's extended armor."
"Are you nuts Starling yur gonna fry the damn gauntlet completely!"
"It is the suit's only weakness, a low enough current will cause the gauntlet to retract the armor and put it into dormancy temporarily."
"Yeah en a high enough current's gonna turn it inta little bits o' metal on the sidewalk. This is one a dangerous game yer a playin Starling."
"These men are used to playing dangerous games, we don't know what the gauntlet can do Kingsly. Electricity is their only hope."
Kingsly gave in with a heavy sigh. "All right fine, Starling we're gonna do it yur way. But if that gauntlet ends up in a pile o' ashes yur out of a job. What about Shredder?"
"What about him?"
"Well do ja think he's just gonna stand aside and watch while a bunch o' Mercenaries attack two of his own Ninja?"
"We don't know really know if Shredder is even behind this crime spree, for all we know he could be after those two Foot himself. This is why it's better not to get involved ourselves and send in paid cannon fodder. If they get killed by the Shredder or the Foot all we've lost is a little bit of money."Starling sounded quite unconcerned.
"Only a little bit? I'da thought Mercenaries wouldna come cheap."
"You've got a lot of money Kingsly, it shouldn't bother your bank account in the slightest. The only important thing is they aren't traceable back to us. If the Shredder does kill them, he won't be able to find out who hired them. Which do you prefer, loosing a few thousand dollars or having a very angry Shredder standing on your doorstep?"
"I wouldn't want neither but since I don't seem ta have much of a choice, seems like we're gonna be spendin' a little bit over budget this month."
"I thought that might convince you." Starling said. Don could hear the smile.
They hammered out the details of paying the hired Mercenaries Starling had managed to find, Kinglsy gave Starling the money, and then both men could be heard walking towards the door. Thinking quickly Don backed up to the edge of the railing behind him and slowly let himself over the edge until he was dangling by nothing but his hands. He looked down and felt a strong sense of Déjà vu as the realized he was hanging once again above the same machine the other Don had been knocked into before. It wouldn't be a good idea to let himself fall this time.
The opening of a door and the sounds of footsteps.
"No mistakes this time Starling, that gauntlet wuz commissioned by a very important buyer an' mass producin it could jest bring us more money than we could ever dream of."
"Just trust me Kingsly, you'll have the gauntlet back by the end of the week." Starling sighed.
"Yeah well, we'll see about that won't we?"
The two men headed down the platform, and towards the stairs. Looking towards the distance Don realized that if they were to look up at the right time while going down the stairs they just might see him. He waited until they were just nearing the stairs and then he swung upwards flipping himself back up to the platform where he ran to the shadow covered corner. He half expected to hear shouts but neither of the men had seen him.
They went down the stairs, walked along the factory floor and went out the doors, leaving Don alone in the building. He waited long enough for them to get a suitable distance away, either by car or by foot, and then he snuck up to the door. It was locked.
The door had and electronic lock on it that only responded to a numbered code. This was no large problem for a turtle of Don's intelligence and abilities. Using a knife he got the top of the control panel off, and with the correct application of wires the doors opened. He quickly replaced the control panel and opening the door went inside.
The office was large and elegantly decorated, evidently Kingsly had expensive tastes.
On the left side was a desk and on that desk a large computer. Don checked the desk itself but found nothing over the gauntlet. That left the computer and failing that a check of the file cabinets. He turned the computer on, it was the latest in computer technology and started up quickly. He was almost immediately confronted with a password screen, he grinned he had come prepared for this too. Plugging a small device into the computer he set his own personal code breaking program to work, it didn't take long to break it. One look at the subject matter on the book shelves behind the desk told Don what the password was likely to be. James Kingly appeared to have been knighted once in his life and was absolutely obsessed with knights..and the King Arthur legend. He unhooked his device and tapped in Lancelot. It worked.
Shaking his head and grinning Don went to work searching the computer's files and soon his grin got even bigger when he hit the jackpot…everything he had ever wanted to know about the gauntlet including known weaknesses discovered in field testing.
Its main weakness was electricity.
He had also been correct in his analysis of the gauntlet's energy signature and how it fed off of its wearer. It used its wearer's physical and mental energy, increasing strength, durability, agility, thought processes, everything. Much like a drug it gave its wearer a euphoric feeling, making him feel invincible, like a living God. What the wearer would not realize is that the longer the gauntlet and the suit was worn the more he'd become addicted to it, he would also feel a need to increase his food intake to make up for the body's loss of energy, the suit would push everything in the wearer's body to its limit taking everything they had until their body finally just gave up. The company seemed to have already lost two test subjects to heart failure. Kingsly seemed intent on reproducing and manufacturing the gauntlet despite what it did to those who wore it.
If he succeeded he could create and army of gauntleted soldiers, and even though the first wave of wearers would eventually die they could create a lot of damage before they went.. and there were always more warm bodies available. The gauntlet seemed to be able to draw extra energy from its surroundings if needed..hence the de-powered super heros. The gauntlet had probably drawn out their super powered energy. It was possible that their powers would return with time, but Don could not be sure. It was too late to worry about it now.
He plugged his device back into the computer and downloaded every file he could find on the Gauntlet. He finished downloading everything, turned the computer off. He left the room closing the door behind him and began walking towards the stairs.
"Find what you were looking for?" Don whirled to find a human man walking towards him from the darkness gun in hand. Don recognized the man's voice instantly..it was Starling. The human was actually rather short for a human male, not much taller than Don. His face was not handsome, but could be considered rugged if one was inclined to be generous, his nose looked like it had been broken at some point. Don couldn't see the man's eyes but his hair was jet black he had a closely trimmed mustache and goatee also black. He was wearing a black suit and a blood red tie.
Don went into a crouch. He said nothing, and watched Starling carefully.
"Funny to see another masked weirdo break into our offices, when our most precious possession has already been stolen. Did you clean out the safe? There wasn't a lot of money in there anymore you know, I already took most of it"
Don scoffed. "I have no need of something as mundane as money."
A busy black eyebrow rose. "Oh then what else would a man that dresses up in a turtle costume and breaks into buildings want?"
Don grinned. "Do you expect me to just tell you, do you think I'm some sort of bad sci-fi movie villain?"
"Well I am the one with the gun." Starling said with a one shouldered shrug.
"If I wanted to, I could kill you before you could even pull the trigger." Don said menacingly stepping forward.
Starling squinted his eyes at Don. "Wait a minute, you're that Dark Turtle character aren't you. The one that's been on the news."
"Congratulations, you have astonishingly managed to state the obvious..and after having seen me for what 5 minutes now?" Don said sarcastically.
"Oh you're one of those characters aren't you, lots of bravado, no discernable fighting skill, mouths bigger than their brains, suicidal tendencies?" Starling rolled his eyes.
"No that's my brother. I'm the one with lots of bravado, Ninjitsu training, and an above Einstein level IQ. "
"And apparently not a lot of modesty." Starling grinned
"Modesty is out of fashion this season."
"As are Batman impersonations, I hate to say this but his last film was garbage."
"As is your suit, tell me is the Phantom of the Opera your tailor or did wake up this morning with the urge to dress like a mortician?"
Starling looked down at his suit. "I beg your pardon this is a thousand dollar suit."
"So you actually threw money in the garbage voluntarily?"
"Oh you're an amusing one. Look, I'll make you a deal, you tell me what you are actually here for and I promise I won't shoot you anywhere painful." He pointed the gun at Don's head. "Or permanent."
"I think you have trouble hearing, you wouldn't get a chance to pull the trigger. I got what I came for, and now I'm leaving. I have a metal plated Foot to stop."
Starling's eyes widened. "You're after him too? Why?"
"He has to be stopped."
"And you think you're going to do it, a delusional man in a turtle costume, dressed up as a batman look-alike? You'll be killed."
"No your Mercenaries are going to be killed…" Don moved like black lightening; suddenly he was in front of Starling grabbing the gun and wrenching it away from him..tossing it over the rail. He grabbed Starling by his suit jacket and held him up in the air slightly. "And this is not a turtle costume." He growled.
Starling stared down at him in wide eyed amazement.
"But how!" he gasped.
"I told you I am Ninja, and I am The Dark Turtle." Don tossed Starling backwards. The human landed on his back on the ground but immediately jumped to his feet. Don activated his anti-grav boots and flew up into the air. "I will stop your monstrosity and I will destroy it before it has a chance to destroy my city!" he said pointing down at Starling.
"You can't destroy it, you don't know how much it's worth!" Starling said in desperation.
"And I don't care either." Don shook his head and he flew across the factory to the door where he landed and simply opened it.
"If you destroy that gauntlet I will make you pay Dark Turtle!" Starling called across the factory shaking a fist in the air.
"Now you're getting cliché." Don shook his head and walked out the door. It had been fun, but it was time to get back work. He activated his boots, took to the air and flew to the Battle Shell where he sat down to go through every bit of information on the Gauntlet. He already the perfect plan forming in his mind, all he needed to do now was create a device that would allow him to deliver the right amount of electricity to the right spot on the gauntlet's armor…and he could put a stop to that city wrecking Foot once and for all.
Don looked up at the screens and frowned, but that would be later. Now if he was going to fight the foot he was first going to have to find him. He would have to set up a device that tracked the suit's energy signature, but he couldn't just fight the metal plated menace anywhere. He had to get the villain to a suitable place, and before he could even do that he would have to find a suitable place. He scanned through his schematics of the city randomly searching for something that might do, a large building, preferably with no people living in it or around it…then something caught his eye. A large factory was being built on a large plot of ground near the outskirts of the city near the bay. There weren't any buildings too close to it, on three sides and on the other side was nothing but water. It seemed ideal. He nodded to himself in satisfaction, he now had a location, all he needed was to find the Foot. He gathered some parts together and smiling to himself went to work.