In the last chapter, Tyroth explored his mind and found what seemed to be hi subconscious. Now, Donnie is attempting uncover the secret of Tyroth's healing power.
I don't own TMNT
Chapter 9
Secrets Of The Blood
An hour had passed since Tyroth started train in the dojo, and after hearing about his control-issues the gang were worried for his sake. Seeing as they could nothing to help him at the moment, they decided to do something else.
Mikey had hogged the sofa and had started the TV, while Leo sat down in one of the chairs reading a book on feudal Japan. Splinter had walked over to his room for some meditation of his own and Donnie was back in his lab, doing various kinds of tests on Tyroth's blood. Raph was able to get Mikey to surrender part of the sofa to him and Mona, who now sat close together. Sephie was playing with Mikey's cat, Klunk, using a strand of her own hair, the cat had immediately taken a shine to the new mutant.
Tyroth interrupted his training when he felt a familiar feeling from his stomach, signaling that he was hungry. Walking over to the kitchen he decided to first check in with Donnie to see how the test was coming along.
Looking into the lab he saw the purple-masked turtle working on one of several computers, the lab itself was filled with all kinds of machines and gadgets.
"Nice lab you got here." he said as he looked around. Donnie turned his head from the monitor.
"Thanks. It works quite well, if I may say so, but I wouldn't mind upgrading it."
"You sound just like our own computer genius back in Mutopia, calls himself Hacker. A fitting name considering that he's probably the worlds best hackers."
"Really? Well you haven't seen me in action yet, not to brag or anything."
"Don't get me wrong Donnie, I have no doubt that you're good. But he has an unfair advantage."
"Oh, and what would that be?"
"He's part spider, so he has six arms with four fingers on each hand as well as eight eyes. And on top of that he is, what was it called again, ambidextrous. Which means that he can use all of his hands independently."
"Uh... yeah, I guess that gives him an advantage. I would like to meet him some day and discuss tech, one 'geek' to another. That would be interesting."
A beep from the computer made both mutants look at the screen.
"Speaking of interesting." Donnie said "The tests are done. Could you go and get the others while I check the results? I'm guessing they might want to know as well."
A few minutes later, all mutants were gathered in the lab, curious to Donnie's discovery. He was very excited about it and it showed.
"Allow me to show you the secret behind Tyroth's amazing healing abilities." Donnie said gesturing to a large screen as an image appeared. The image consisted of several red and white blood-cells as well as a large number of smaller dark red cells.
"What we are looking at here is Tyroth's blood-cells, just like us he has red and white ones, but it is the darker ones that are interesting. They aren't blood-cells at all, they are in fact some sort of stem cells."
"Stem cells? There has been a lot on the news about research into that. Can't they be used to grow organs or something?" Monalisa asked.
"Correct. They are basically what forms the body of a fetus, and grows into all other cells, regardless of if it is braincells or muscle-cells. At least that is what happens with normal stem cells, the ones in Tyroth are more like stem cells on steroids. Somehow they seek out injuries, at said injury they multiply and undergoes a metamorphosis into whatever kind of cell that is needed. And that process takes almost no time at all."
"But where do they come from?" Leo asked "Is it because of the well?"
"That was my first thought. But when I checked Sephie's sample, I didn't find any. My guess is that they are a normal part of his dragon biology. And that's not all."
"There's more?" Mikey asked, not quite understanding everything.
"They react on adrenaline like you react to caffeine, Mikey."
"That can't be good." Raph said, shooting a glance at his youngest brother.
"Actually, it is very good, for Tyroth at least. When the cells go into, let's call it 'hyper mode', they are far more effective in terms of healing. So during battle when large amounts of adrenaline is released, his body heals itself more than twice as fast as when he is relaxing. And all of this works together with the normal healing ability that we all have. However, I think that there is a limit to how much he can heal, as the stem cells must be produced somewhere. If too many are used in a short time, his body won't heal as fast until more have been produced, and that probably takes a lot of energy too, that's my theory at least."
"No wonder that I'm extra hungry if I get hurt in a fight." said Tyroth as he looked at the image. "Speaking of which, I was on my way to grab something to eat."
"Now that sounds like a good idea." Mikey said.
Tyroth and Mikey walked out of the lab with Sephie following close by. Still in the lab, Leo asked a very serious question.
"What do you think would happen if the Foot or someone else got hold of his DNA?"
"They would probably try recreate what Dr Arden started with Mona's DNA," Donnie answered, fearing the possibility, "and considering that they were able to amplify it, if they do the same to Tyroth's DNA, we're doomed." Raph gulped at the statement and Mona shuddered at the thought, they did not want to go through that again.
"Then it would be best if they are kept safe. It would be very devastating if any of our enemies gained his power, or discovered the secret behind their mutations." said the old rat. "I think that they would be safer if they stay here, at least until they know how to defend themselves against our enemies."
In the throne room of the Foot Headquarters, a man dressed in black with slick, black hair tied up in a ponytail stood before the ornate throne, looking over the twelve Foot-ninja protecting him. Across the room stood a figure in a dark cloak, the individual was guarded by two men completely clad in slim steel armor with red visors and the numbers one and two engraved on the left side of their chests respectively.
Between the two groups lay four dead Foot-ninja, with smoking holes the size of golf balls in their chests, the insides of the wounds scorched.
"Now, that isn't the way to greet your future business partner, mister Izo Arashi." said the hooded man with a hazy voice.
"Business partner?!" Arashi answered angrily "You invade my headquarter, kill my men and dare to assume that you are to be my 'business partner'?!"
"If you are finished with your tantrum, mister Izo, allow me to present my proposition to you. It has come to my attention that your organization are in constant conflict with a group of mutant turtles as well as a mutant lizard. So far you have only been close to terminate them once and failed."
Arashi boiled with anger at the mention of his failed attempt, his hand rubbed the scar on his shoulder he had obtained during the battle. At the time he took some pride in that at least one of the turtles would be eliminated, but just weeks later his scouts reported that all mutants lived and was in good health.
"How do you know this?!"
"I know how to know. Information is a resource, and unfortunately it is the only resource that I still have, but I digress. My offer is that I gain access to your facilities and resources so that I can rebuild what I have lost and remove a few obstacles, in return I will allow you to make use of my equipment to solve your mutant problem. And you have seen what they can do." the hooded man gestured to his guards with a badly charred hand.
The offer sounded preposterous, yet tempting. Arashi had seen how easily his ninja were killed at the hands of the intruders. He had to be sure that the hooded man wouldn't betray him if he accepted the offer.
"How do I know that you will keep your end of the bargain? You may double-cross me when you have what you want."
"And ruin any possible cooperation in the future? No, mister Izo, I hope that when our business is done, we may join forces to expand our influence. And after seeing that your enemies have gotten new allies, who overpowered your ninja earlier tonight, an alliance of your own will tip the scales in your favor"
Arashi thought about it for quite some time. He hated the turtles with his very essence, and the future plans sounded rather appealing. After a while he came to the conclusion that the advantages outweighed the risks.
"Then it would seem that we have a deal. What is your name, 'partner'?"
The hooded man removed the hood to reveal a face, as badly charred as his hand, with a metal plate covering his left side and several tubes filled with red liquid, running up from his chest into the head. He had an evil smile.
"You may call me Overlord."
A new enemy has appeared, how will this affect the turtles. Read on to find out.
I'm hoping that you understood what I wrote on Tyroth's healing ability.