Chapter 19:

"No! Mikey!" Analise sat up quickly and looked around in her immediate area. She was in the lair, covered with a light blanket and was nestled down on the couch before she sat up. The lair was quiet and dark as most of the occupants were missing, Casey and April were up top in search of clues and Splinter was probably meditating. Analise put a hand to her chest to help calm down her rapid beating heart and shallow breathing. She felt a hard jolt to her system. The problem was she didn't know where it was coming from or what it meant other than what she suspected was pain.

Analise heard movement from her side in the next room over. She turned her head to look over the small indoor moat and saw Deidra slumped over the control panel with the lights from the screens highlighting her back. She looked so uncomfortable. Analise got up from the couch and walked over to her friend.

"Deidra?" she asked in a whisper and then pushed at the shoulder closest to her, "Deidra?"

Deidra took a deep breath and rubbed her eyes as she tried to wake up, "Yeah?"

"Any word from them yet?" Analise asked and wrapped her arms around herself. It was the first time since she had come down that she had actually felt the cold.

Deidra shifted her eyes to the screens and tapped on a few keys. A large blank window popped up in front of them and she shook her head with a grimace, "No one has answered yet. Not since Donatello broke contact. What time is it?"

Analise didn't even need to look at her watch, "Five in the morning."

Deidra looked up at Analise who looked like she was concentrating on the screen as if that would bring up one of the guys' communicators. The map of the area where the communicators were last active was next to the blank screen. Deidra rubbed one of her shoulders and tilted her head to the side to crack her neck.

"I knew that we should have gone with Don," Deidra muttered.

"And be in the same boat? Maybe worse?" Analise asked and gained her friend's attention. She looked determined with her jaw set and mind made up about something, "If the guys had a hard time fending off whatever it was, we would have been fresh meat."

Deidra was about to argue the point until she saw Splinter come into the main room from his own. Both girls turned to him and bowed their heads in respect. He bowed back slightly and looked at the screens in front of them.

"My sons?" he asked simply.

"They haven't answered since Don took off," Deidra reported.

Analise rubbed the sides of her arms as a spot deep in her chest began to get heavy with dread. It was beginning to feel like lead and she didn't like the extra weight. It was bad enough that she was worrying like she was. Even her mother caught on to the tone of her voice when she called Analise the night before to check up on her daughter. When she can't hide it from her mother, it was pretty bad. She gritted her teeth and let out a loud sigh.

"Analise?" Splinter shifted his eyes to her. Both Analise and Deidra turned to look at him, "What do you sense?"

Analise furrowed her eyebrows and then shut her eyes. She was having a hard time placing it, but if her initial gut was right from this morning there was only one conclusion.

"Mikey," she said simply, "I sense Mikey, but not like he is usually. It's something bad. Something totally different."

"I sense the same," he nodded, "For all my sons."

"Then we need to find them," Deidra punched the computer, "I know this is Donnie's pride and joy, but this bunch of wires isn't doing anything for them. We need to get out there."

"I cannot it good conscious just send you girls out there alone," Splinter argues.

"Master Splinter," Analise started, "Mikey is in trouble and, if my feelings are correct, in pain. I can't just sit by and wait until I can't feel anything from him anymore."

Splinter looked into her eyes and saw everything that she felt. Her pain, her worry, confusion and shining brightly in the back her hope and love. She would be heading to the surface to find him if he gave her permission or not. His eyes shifted to Deidra who looked at her hands. He knew that she also cared for his sons. One more than the others, but who he didn't think she even knew yet. She would join her friend to the surface, if not instigate the journey.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes momentarily. Both girls waited eagerly for his decision.

"We should call Casey Jones."

"I was hoping you would say that," Deidra smiled and took out her phone. As she took it off locked mode to dial his number, an incoming call flashed on her screen. She frowned, "It's work."

"Talk about bad timing," Analise said as she turned to Splinter.

"Jenson," Deidra answered the phone.

"Morning, agent," Seeper said in a tired tone from the other end of the phone, "I've got some bad news."

"Just what I needed this morning," she shook her head and looked up at the ceiling of the lair, "Is it Cherise Velmont?"

"No."

"No?" she asked and looked to Analise and Splinter, "Who?"

"It's Stephanie Witers. We need you to come in."

Seeper's voice was loud enough that both Splinter and Analise heard the unanswered command. Deidra turned to them as they both simultaneously took a deep breath and tried to feel for the piece of dread. It had subsided which made them both feel more assured that the boys were more comfortable than before. They nodded to her.

"I will be there in a half hour."

"See you then, agent."

Analise grabbed her shell cell and put her other hand on Deidra, "Go to work. I will look with Casey and Splinter."

"What can I do at work that I can't do here?" she asked as she swung her jacket on.

"Track him with more than what we have," she answered with a small smile, "I know you're worried and so am I. I will keep you posted. Get what you can from the meeting. So we can find them."

"Use what you got too," Deidra pointed to her head to allude to Analise's sense of feeling. Analise nodded and Deidra put her shell cell in her bag along with her cell phone, "I will give you a call when I am out of that meeting. Come pick me up. We will use whatever I got to track the guys down."

"No problemo," Analise answered and watched Deidra walk out of the lair. She turned to Splinter, "Are you ready for a trip top side, Master Splinter?"

"I believe it is in order," he nodded.

"And I will call in the back up," Analise flipped open her shell cell and punched in Casey's number.

Deidra walked into the department, with no shower and no clean change of clothes. It was bad enough that she was distracted by the turtles missing; she didn't even give herself enough time for too much hygiene done that morning. She saw that Edmunds came in right after her and signed in at the front desk before continuing toward the briefing room. She looked him over from bottom to top. He seemed to be in bad shape, possible worse than she was.

"What wrong with you?" she asked as she gave him another look over.

"I could ask you the same, Agent," he answered and looked her over as well, "Looking over dead bodies isn't my idea of a successful night's work."

"What is when you're a forensic examiner?" she asked and walked into the briefing room so she didn't have to hear the answer. He was a lot more snippy than usual and didn't even try to make a pass at her. Maybe he finally got the clue that she wasn't interested and was a little bitter about it. She shrugged at her internal monologue. She didn't need the drama of it all.

"The last players have arrived," Seeper announced as Edmunds and Deidra both stepped into the room and sat down in a chair. Darson and Algut were already in the small room and had taken the far chairs to one side. Seeper turned to the screen and flashed a picture of a mutilated mostly human body onto the screen, "This is what is left of Miss Witers."

"She looks more human this time around," Algut said and turned to Seeper, "Didn't have enough time to go all out on the poor girl?"

"I don't think that was it," Darson shook her head, "From what Doctor Edmunds and I discovered was that her genes were merged like Miss Delone's had with a canine. But it seemed like the genes were in the process of reverting back to human."

Deidra's ears perked up and she turned to Darson, "You mean that the sicko is trying to reverse the process that he had subjected her to?"

"Precisely," she nodded, "Why? I am not totally clear on."

"Probably to induce more torture, the bastard."

"Or to see how far he could go," Edmunds put in, "Every scientist wants to discover the range in which he could push the subjects. Maybe he thinks himself as a scientist more than anything else."

"Something along a mad scientist," Algut muttered, "Is there anything else that we have found out?"

"We think that the Purple Dragons are now in total partnership with him," Seeper said with a heavy sigh, "With a high profile gang like that with connections throughout New York, I don't know how we are going to pin point him."

"What about looking in abandoned areas," Deidra said without much forethought, "Maybe he's hiding low in there until he can find a new identity."

"And if he already has one?" Edmunds asked, "What then?"

"Just because you have a new face, doesn't always mean that you have a new place to live yet," she shot back.

"Back down you two," Seeper barked at both of them, "You both seem like you've been through hell the last couple of nights. Focus on the case, will you?"

Deidra nodded and looked back at the body shots taken of Miss Witers.

"Edmunds, I want you and Darson on every bit of the autopsy. Not just blood and hair samples, I want you two in there wrist and elbow deep, you got me?"

"Yes sir," Darson said as Edmunds just nodded.

"I know that this is beginning to get tiring to us all," Seeper sighed, "But he still has Miss Velmont. And we have to bring her home."

"Why do you think he still has her?" Algut asked and then looked over pointedly at Deidra.

"I've been thinking that over on my way here," she nodded and took a long look at the picture in from of her, "I think he's saving her."

"Saving her from what?" Edmunds asked.

"She's different from the other victims," Deidra pointed out, "She was taken from outside of her home instead of outside a bar. She was nearly ten years older than the eldest victim up until then. She was when he decided to change MO as well. Maybe he sees her as his girlfriend."

"His what?" Algut asked.

"Come again?" Seeper joined in.

"In the profile I said that in whatever relationship he may have, he would become attached and very needy. Maybe when he grabbed her it wasn't for the killing or experiments, but because something about her caught his eye and he wanted her."

"Are you telling me he grabbed her because she was his type?" Algut asked.

"It's a long shot, but he may have," Deidra nodded, "He's kept her alive for this long and over another girl because she is something special to him."

"So she's safe?" Edmunds asked.

"Not necessarily," Deidra shook her head, "Once she does that one thing that shatters his trust in her or his perfect version of her, he will kill her. I just don't know what or when that event will occur."

"It's our job to make sure that it doesn't," Seeper stated, "Do you think he will grab another girl?"

"When he is ready, he will grab another one, yes."

"Damn."

"It is pretty interesting that you brought up old homes, Agent," Algut pointed out and took out a folder with some documentation in it, "I have some addresses that Mister Sinclair had put down as a contact for jobs and school records."

"And?"

"You'll never guess where one of them is."

Low groans echoed through a dark and somewhat empty lab. The four bins that were there earlier was now one large holding area with glass between the occupants and the one female mutant on the outside. She had dragged herself off the bed and sat against one side of the container. She had been there since just after her captor and Hun had left earlier in the day. They were both gone during most of the day unless her captor thought that she had an inkling of trying to escape. He would then have Hun stay to watch her. As it was, they left only two of the Purple Dragons outside the main doors out from the basement.

She turned to look into the container and tried to find the outline of the bodies in what little light was available. Now being part canine did have its advantages, she had much better night vision. She just wished the canine part of her would act up once in a while and she could have a better chance of escaping.

She saw the four bodies toward the middle of the container and she counted as she saw all of them were still breathing. One a little shallower than the others. It reminded her how her niece would sleep when she was having a nightmare. She put a hand up to the container and pressed against it toward the one that was breathing erratically.

"Please, wake up," she said to the container as she remembered that Stephanie could hear her when she was in one. She saw him begin to stir a little and she pressed on, "I know you can hear me. Wake up."

Michelangelo was the first one out of the sleep and opened his eyes slightly. They were foggy to begin with but, soon cleared. He saw the faint outline of the female mutant he saw earlier before he passed out. Everything was so dark except for the slight light coming in through the blocked door behind the woman, "Who are you?"

"I'm Cherise Velmont, remember?" she took a look over her shoulder before she pressed back against the glass, "You have to wake up before Hun comes back. We have to get out of here."

Michelangelo gritted his teeth and felt his whole body was still a little numb. Whatever he had injected him with was one big sedative too. He closed his eyes to concentrate and felt a little difference on what the floor felt like. He didn't stay on the thought too long since he tried to get his arm muscles to work with him. He pushed again and immediately fell back to the floor.

"Please! Try again," she pleaded with him. She thought back to what he told her as he raped her again the night before, "He said something about getting the rest of your group… the girls! He knows about the girls!"

That grabbed Michelangelo's attention. His head shifted back to the outline of her new body shape.

"He does things to girls…" she said in a sad tone and held her knees toward her body.

Michelangelo felt anger burn in his veins hotter than the solution he was injected with. His arms began to work with him and he finally enabled himself to push up into a sitting position. He took a few deep breaths and rubbed his hands against his arms. Something felt strange… really weird. Like there was more than what he was used to.

He struggled to look through the darkness to his hand, but he couldn't see through the darkness. He turned his head toward her, "Are there lights in here, dudette?"

"I don't know which switch," she picked herself from the ground and rushed to the side of the room where she knew he had a panel that controlled the lights. She opened the panel and saw three switches. She flipped one and it focused over the bed. She knew those well and immediately turned them off.

"Try another one," Michelangelo called out and closed his eyes so he wouldn't be blinded by the bright lights.

"Okay," she nodded and tried the next switch. A bright light flooded the containment unit and she watched him flinch behind closed eyelids. She gasped a little at his figure and turned slightly away until he sat in a different position.

Michelangelo opened his eyes a little at a time and then looked down at his hands, "Dude…"

Cherise cleared her throat and came back up to the glass, "If you are strong enough to survive the change. You're strong enough to stop him."

"How?" Michelangelo pulled his hands up to eye level and he bent and wiggled all five digits with tanned, pink skin. He stared wide eyed at the hands and rubbed them over his face and then his head- where there was hair, "How?"

"Calm down, they'll hear you outside," Cherise held her hands up to stop him before the Purple Dragons outside came to investigate.

Michelangelo then turned to his side where he saw three other human men. All naked, and unconscious, human men.

"Holy guacamole! Bros?!"