Ch 5 Breaking In.
Donnie slammed his fist on his lab table startling his brothers from their sleep. "I don't get it!" He yelled out. "I just can't figure this herb out?" He looked from his computer to his microscope. He had placed a slide with a dot of Splinter's blood under the scope to be examined. "It just doesn't make sense." He stated in exasperation. "I can make this herb work with the mutagen in our blood so we can become younger or even healthier but I can't reverse the effects?" He rubbed his tired eyes and shook his head. "I just don't know what to do." He turned to his brothers who were watching him anxiously. "I'm sorry guys." Donnie whispered to them. "But I don't think there is anything I can do to stop Master Splinter from getting younger." He picked up the slide and looked at the blood closely. "But from what I can tell," He continued. "Is that by the end of this week, Master Splinter will revert back to an infant and then eventually…." He let his voice trail off. He looked up at the others, the looks on their faces told him they understood what he had not said.
"This is all my fault." Mikey whispered.
"No Mikey," Leo attempted to soothe. He went to place a hand on his baby brother's should but Mikey turned away from him.
"Yes it is." Mikey said with tears running down his face. "I was the one who gave him the entire vial trying to make him better; I was the one who didn't think about what could've happened." He cried. "And that makes it all my fault." Crying hard, Mikey quickly ran over to the exit of the lab.
"Mikey, where ya goin?" Raph demanded.
"I'm going to check on Master Splinter." He announced. "Someone should be with him in case..." He let out a choked sob. "In case he gets worse."
His brothers watched him leave the lab with heavy hearts. They looked back at each other and lowered their eyes. "Poor Mikey." Donnie whispered. "What he did may not have been right but I can understand why he did it."
"Yeah," Raph agreed. "With everything that goes on in our life, and he being so afraid of losing us I'm not surprised by what he did." He gave a slight snort. "Hell, I'm surprised I didn't think to do it."
Nodding thoughtfully, Leo turned to Donnie. "So what do you think our next step should be?" He asked.
Donnie rubbed his chin thoughtfully. But after a few minutes, he shook his head. "This herb is from another planet so unless I can get a hold of the Fugitoid so he can possibly give me some clue as to what I should be looking for," Donnie gave his two brothers an exasperated look. "I can't even begin to think of what we should do next."
Leo narrowed his eyes and nodded. "Well, maybe we should…"
"Guys! Guys!" They looked up as Mikey came running back into the lab looking frantic.
"What's the matter Mikey?" Leo demanded.
"What is it?" Raph asked looking at his youngest brother with concern.
"It's Master Splinter!" Mikey told them with tears rolling down his cheeks. "He's...He's gone!"
"WHAT?!" His brothers yelled out.
"But how can that be?!" Donnie exclaimed as the others let out a loud, startled gasp. He quickly started out of the lab with Leo and Raph following closely behind him. "The herb was supposed to extend his life, not kill him!"
"Do you think the sedative you gave him may have had an adverse effect Donnie?" Leo asked.
"I don't know but it is possible." Donnie said as he felt his throat start to burn. "Of course it could also be because he's gotten smaller and the smaller someone is the faster their heart beats which means the drug could be speeding up causing him to..."
"Enough Don!" Raph yelled out. "You're ramblin' again!"
Donnie placed his hands to his face and shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe I've gone from trying to help him to killing him!"
Mikey wiped the tears from his face and watched in confusion as his three brothers ran out of the lab and toward their Sensei's room. "Guys wait!" He called out as he heard what Donnie had said. "He's not dead!" The other three stopped and looked back at him in bewilderment.
"But you just said…."
"I know what I said!" Mikey yelled. "I said he's gone, vanished, vamoosed." He let out a loud huff. "He took off and I've searched the lair but I don't think he's here."
His brothers let out a sigh of relief. "Well ya could've said that instead Mikey." Raph told him sitting down on the couch and putting his hand over his chest. "Ya almost gave us heart attacks."
"I wonder where Master Splinter went off to?" Donnie mused.
Leo looked over to where Raph was sitting on the couch. "Wait." Leo said walking toward his red banded brother. "Didn't Master Splinter leave a katana on the couch?"
The others looked at the couch then back at each other as a dawning look crossed their faces. "Oh no." Raph moaned as he stood up and walked over to the dojo. The others followed then one by one, grabbed their weapons from their racks and within moments, ran out the door and stepped out into the sewers.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Splinter made his way to the side of Saki's building. He looked up at the looming tower and decided he needed to make his way up to the top where Saki's throne room was. He made his way to the back, sticking to the shadows and keeping his eyes open for any sign of the foot. With the use of his extremely sharp claws, he began to scale the walls and made his way to a window. With the hilt of his sword he smashed it in and jumped inside.
He surveyed his surroundings and determined he was in the hallway just outside the room where he hoped Saki would be. As he began to slowly make his way toward a door, two ninjas who had been alerted by the breaking of glass ran out the door and stopped short at the sight of the large grey rat coming toward them.
"What the hell is he doing here?" One ninja whispered to the other.
"I don't know but we're going to make sure he'll wish he never came here." They brandished their weapons and prepared to do battle, looking around they realized the rat was alone.
"The turtles are not with him." The first ninja sneered. Splinter could see the evil glint in his eyes as he prepared to charge at him. "This will be an easy kill."
The second ninja laughed. "We will make him tell us where those loathsome turtles are first then enjoy listening to him scream as we rip his tongue out."
The other nodded. "Shredder will enjoy hearing it."
"You think you can stop me from getting to the Shredder?" Splinter demanded as he readied his sword "Then come and try."
The two ninja ran toward Splinter who easily dodged the swing of their katanas. He flipped over one ninja then turned and, after kicking the other ninja in the back which sent him sprawling head first into a wall, turned back to the first and thrust his sword into the ninja's back. A loud cry was soon heard followed by a gurgling coughing sound as the sword was roughly removed from his back.
Splinter turned back to the other ninja who was sitting up and moaning as he rubbed his head. He watched angrily as his comrade slowly slid down along the wall leaving a trail of blood as he went. "You will pay for that you filthy rodent!" The ninja screamed as he jumped up and prepared to run his sword through Splinter.
Splinter dodged the sword and, as the ninja ran past the large rat, jumped up and slammed his feet into the man's back causing him to once again slam into the wall. The ninja turned and was just about to jump up and continue to fight when Splinter thrust the sword into the human's shoulder and pinned him to the wall.
"Pathetic!" Splinter hissed at the ninja. "I do not have time for this foolishness!" Splinter yelled at him. "Where is your Master Foot scum?" He demanded in a low and angry voice.
The human gritted his teeth and clenched his jaw shut. It was clear to Splinter the human was not going to tell him without some persuasion. Splinter moved the sword slightly back and forth causing the foot member to hiss in pain.
Splinter clenched his jaw. "The Shredder," He whispered menacingly to him. "Where is he?"
Sweat poured down the ninja's face but he still refused to respond. Only his eyes darting quickly to where the door to Shredder's throne room was clued Splinter to where his nemesis might be. Splinter stood and roughly pulled the sword out of the shoulder of the ninja's shoulder causing the ninja to let out a strained and painful grunt. Splinter scowled down at him as he angrily slammed the hilt of his sword against the ninjas head. Satisfied the ninja would no longer be a threat, Splinter made his way over to the door and opened it up slowly. He peered into the room and, looking around cautiously, stepped in.
