Ch 27. Alone Again.
Leo looked at Xever as his eyes stared coldly back at him in the rearview mirror. He looked over at his father who sat next to him in stony silence staring straight ahead. The tension was becoming unbearable and it was everything Leo could do to not jump out of the car at the first stop light. He knew his father was not happy with him but the burning question he wanted to ask finally had to be spoken.
"Um….Father?" Leo began. Out of the corner of his eye he watched as his father continued to stare ahead. "Where is Bradford?"
"You no longer need to concern yourself with him," Saki said in his monotone voice.
When he said nothing more, Leo nodded and turned toward the window. He felt a slight amount of elation wash over him at the thought of Bradford no longer being around but still, in the back of his mind, he couldn't help but wonder what happened to him. Several minutes later, they walked into their home and after removing their shoes, Saki insisted Leo come with him to the study. "But father," Leo sighed tiredly, "I just want to go bed," He told him.
But Saki's glare told Leo not to refuse so the young turtle reluctantly followed, "Sit Leonardo," Saki ordered. He walked over to where Leo saw Stockman and Falco prepping hypodermic needles.
He let out a groan as he sat down. "Why do you need more blood?" He asked in exasperation.
"We think we have a cure for your aliment," Stockman said as he began to prep Leo's arm.
Leo turned to Saki. "Father please," He implored tiredly, "I just want to go upstairs and get some rest."
"Soon Leonardo," Saki told him.
They watched as Stockman once again began to extract Leo's blood then put everything away. "What, No vitamin shots?" Leo asked with a frustrated tone.
Falco chuckled, "We need to look at things from a new angle, Leonardo." He told him. "We only need a small amount of your blood this time and next time we see you," He smiled innocently at him, "We will hopefully have everything we need to make this cancer you carry eradicated." He let out a small laugh and brought his face closer to the turtle's. "Just think Leonardo," He continued as Stockman put the vials of Leo's blood in a briefcase. "If we manage this, then you and any other cold-blooded mutant who may be afflicted by this cancer can be cured," Leo looked up at him in wonder as his eyes seem to glaze over with a look of hunger and delight. "Imagine all the things we'll do once this...vaccine...is perfected."
Leo looked at Falco curiously, he then nodded as he stood up, "May I please go to my room now?" he asked, "I'm really tired and just want to rest." He started to leave, "I'm sure the police will be getting in touch with me soon regarding Jeffrey." He told Saki as he reached the door. "Just in case you want to speak with…"
"Moore will no longer be a concern for you either, Leonardo" Saki told him as he stared coldly at him.
Leo stared back at his father, now feeling a slight amount of fear working its way up his spine at the words his father said. "Why?" Leo asked, "What did you do with him?"
"As I said Leonardo," Saki gave him a cold chilling smile, "He is no longer anyone you need to be concerned about." Saki again told him as he looked Leo up and down. "I will have Xever bring you up something to eat." Leo nodded then slowly turned to leave the study.
After Leo had left, Saki turned to Falco and Stockman. "Are you sure this new formula will give us what we want?" He demanded.
"It will take a few days to determine the results," Stockman told him, "but I am confident with the added amount of the mutagen from those Kraathatrogon worms, we will finally have exactly what we need to create the super soldiers we," He looked over at Saki and nervously cleared his throat, "You were hoping for."
"From what we could determine from the last batch of blood we took from him before you went to Japan," Falco continued. "It did show more of a resistance to breaking down and I'm confident with this new formula, the vaccine will be perfected."
"Then we'll be rich and powerful!" Stockman laughed gleefully as he began shaking hard with excitement.
Saki narrowed his eyes and looked from Stockman to Falco with extreme mistrust, "Why now are you so confident that this will work?"
He watched as Falco looked over at Stockman knowingly. "Would you like to explain it to him or should I?" He asked, smirking at him.
"Explain what to me…."Saki looked from one to the other, his gaze darkening as Stockman suddenly seemed very nervous. "Stockman?"
"Well, um you see Master Shredder," Stockman began, "Since I really was not that familiar with mutant DNA, it seems there was something about Leonardo I didn't take into account when we first started experimenting with the idea of…."
"WHAT IS IT!?" Saki screamed out as he pounded the desk with both fist.
"Well, um…." Stockman adjusted his collar nervously. "Although I did take into account that as a body grows it does go through changes, I didn't really…um….
"He didn't take into account that as some mutants get older, their blood stream, unlike a human's, tends to evolve differently due to the mutagen," Falco told him. "Since I have worked with mutants before," his eyes narrowed in obvious anger as he spoke, "I have a better understanding of them." He sneered at Stockman, "Right Baxter?"
"Well, of course," Stockman said meekly as Saki growled angrily at him, "That why we brought him in, right Master?"
"I have read about your past experiments Falco," Saki stood and leered over at Falco causing the scientist to shrink slightly in his presence. "Just make sure what happened to those mutants does not happen to him." He stood tall over him, "I would not want to make an example of you like I did to the last person who disappointed me." Falco gulped hard and nodded in fear as he watched Saki turn and go back to his desk.
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Meanwhile, Leo had made his way to his room and walked into his bathroom. He looked at his reflection in the mirror and noticed the bruises and cuts given to him by Jeffrey. In some way, when his father had mentioned he no longer had to worry about Jeffrey, a part of him felt happy at the thought his father may have done something to him, but in another way, he felt ashamed and almost at fault for everything that had happened. He shook his head as he began to run the water to start a shower. 'Just have to get past what happened.' He told himself as he got undressed, 'Jeffrey is an adult who made his own choice and he is the one that has to deal with it,' He stepped into the shower and let the water run over his skin to try and soothe his cuts and bruises. 'But of course, Bradford's the idiot for bringing him out here.' He scowled then winced slightly when he ran the soap over the open wounds. Leo finished up and got ready for bed. 'I'll probably be having nightmares for weeks now,' He climbed into bed and turned on the TV. As he looked for something to watch, a knock on the door broke through his thoughts.
"Come in." Leo said tiredly.
Xever walked in with a small bowl of soup, "Don't get used to this," He told him as he placed the soup on Leo's nightstand, "I am not your servant." He watched as Leo picked up the soup and stirred it with his spoon.
"No," Leo said looking down at his soup, "You're my dad's new lap dog." He looked up and noticed Xever scowling at him.
Xever turned and started toward the door. "Things are going to be different from now on turtle," Xever said looking back at Leo. "Now that Bradford is no longer in charge you will be answering to me," He smiled maliciously when he saw Leo look at him with an air of annoyance.
"So where is Bradford?" Leo asked as Xever started toward the door.
Xever turned and gave him an icy smile, "He has some old business to take care of so he's going on a vacation for a while," He told him, "But don't worry," He opened the door and started to leave, "He may return." He began to walk out the door, "Make sure you eat all your soup boy," he called back just before closing the door, "You know how much your father hates it when you don't finish you food."
Leo huffed and stared down at the soup, 'I could just flush it down the toilet,' he thought as he continued to stir it. 'Oh well, at least i'm being allowed to eat in my room,' Leo sighed and finally began to eat. After, he turned off the TV and laid down, attempting to sleep but after an hour of tossing and turning, he got up and walked over to the clothes he wore home. He searched through the pockets looking for his cell. 'Oh no,' He groaned as he realized the phone was nowhere to be found, 'I must have left it at Raph's.'
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After returning home, Raph, Donnie and Mikey walked into Splinter's office. Donnie sat at the desk while Raph and Mikey looked over his shoulder. "So where do you think you've seen Saki's name Don?" Raph asked as he watched his brother type furiously on the keys.
Donnie looked at the others slyly, "I just couldn't help myself," He started, "After you told me Bradford was working for Leo's dad, I started checking into his background," He explained as his fingers flew over the keys, "But I never found anyone by the name of Tartaruga," He looked over at Raph, "Which is probably why we couldn't locate an address under that name," He shrugged, "The cell number was under Leo's name but the address is probably under his dad's name." He became excited as he pressed the enter button and brought up a profile showing a younger version of Leo's father.
Mikey nodded, "Makes sense."
Raph looked from Mikey then back to Donnie as his younger brother continued. "Well, while I was checking Bradford's background, I came across that name, Saki Oroku and I found out that he works at TCRI," he said as he read the profile. "But what I really found interesting is that he has nothing to do with the research division of TCRI but the Military division." He looked back at the other two. "Do you know what that means?"
Mikey nodded excitedly then shook his head. "Uh, no not really."
"While some parts of TCRI is strictly for research much more of it deals with military research and within that division there is biological military research." Donnie told them. "And from what I'm reading, this Oroku guy is part of that division."
"Then why is he telling Leo he's doing drug research for TCRI?" Raph mused. "Unless that's part of the biological research for the military as well but...," Raph rubbed his chin. "Hmmmm, something just doesn't seem right about all this."
"Should we tell Leo?" Mikey asked.
Raph shook his head, "No," He told them as he prepared to leave the office, "Let's just wait till we're sure of what all this means." He looked at Donnie. "Maybe we should have Professor Honeycutt get us an interview with Dr. Rockwell and see if we can't talk to him about all this as well."
Donnie's eyes lit up at that thought, "Let's have professor Honeycutt invite Dr. Rockwell to our New Year's Eve party." He said excitedly as he grabbed his phone.
"Hey, Leo's going to be there too so maybe we can have him talk to this Rockwell guy too," Mikey suggested.
Raph looked at his brother dejectedly and shook his head, "I wouldn't count on him being able to come Mikey." He told him as he turned, "Something tells me Leo's dad isn't going to let him." He walked out of the room before Mikey could say anything more.
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Leo awoke the next day feeling sore and tired. His arm throbbed in pain and his body felt as though it had gone through a trash compactor. It had been a long night and no matter how hard he had tried, he just couldn't seem to fall asleep, every time he closed his eyes he would see Jeffrey's face leering down angrily as he slapped, taunted and yelled at him. He rubbed his tired swollen face and walked slowly downstairs and over to the kitchen. He looked around and noticed he was once again alone. He made his way to the fridge and looked in. 'I miss Edna,' He thought sadly as he remembered the wonderful foods she would make for him. He pulled out the milk but noticed it was expired. 'How long has it been since anyone had gone shopping?' He wondered. He looked through the cabinets and huffed. After pulling out a trash bag, he looked through the variety of food and started throwing things away. 'Next time I'll think twice before I complain about having too much of a good thing,' He groused as he finally finished clearing out the old food.
He walked to the door and began to pull on his boots and jacket. 'I'll just walk down the street to the market and get some food and milk.' He told himself as he started to place his hand on the doorknob.
Leo was just about to open the door when a flash of what happened to him the last time he went to the market came back to him and he suddenly found himself frozen in his spot. He brought his hand down and began to remove his coat and boots. "I can't do it," He said aloud as his breathing suddenly became rapid and he made his way to the living room. "I can't go outside." He sat down and began to shake, wishing with all his might he had his cell phone so he could call Raph.
He started to look around. "I need a phone." He muttered as he started to stand, "I need to call Raph," his eyes scanned the room. The only other phone he could think of was in his father's study and the only time he went in there was to have his blood taken and get his vitamin shots.
'Maybe dad's not home.' He started toward the door to the study but as he moved he found his head swimming and his breathing became more rapid. He felt the room spin and tears started streaming down his face. "What the hell is happening to me?" He cried as he turned and ran toward the stairs. He got to his room and quickly crawled into bed. He brought the covers over his head and cried hard into the pillow. "Oh God Raph," He yelled out, "I need you so much right now."