Good evening, readers! I hope this update finds you all in good spirits! The last time we left off on a bit of an ominous note, and that feeling will continue through this chapter. Are you ready for more? Please enjoy!
As Donnie continued to analyze the tooth, Leo was in his room, looking over missing child posters and marking off spots on a map, Splinter looking everything over with him. Raphael stood guard in the tunnels, looking around for anything suspicious. Mikey was seated on the couch, the glow of the television illuminating his face. He laughed as he watched his favorite show, one of the few things that could cheer him up when he was down.
It was then that Mikey sensed something wasn't right. His smile slowly faded as the screen flickered, as if the program had been tampered with.
That's when he saw it.
He was frozen as his eyes widened, the remote shaking in his hand. That clown that had pursued him not once, but twice, was now staring at him from within the screen.
"Don't be afraid... don't be afraid..." Mikey said under his breath, though his heart was hammering at a maddening pace. He glanced to the side, wondering if he should be calling for his brothers or his father. He was afraid if he said anything, even moved an inch, something would happen.
"You like watching space shows, don't you, Mikey?" The clown cackled. "Everything floats in space, you know... and soon, you'll float too!" Suddenly, the clown's arm shot out from the television. The screen did not break as the hand phased through, Mikey screaming as he scrambled back.
"You guys, I seriously think I ate some bad pizza!" Mikey shouted as the clown hissed, continuing to emerge from the television.
"Mikey, I know you're not feeling well, but it's going to take time to heal. Just keep watching your show, I really need to concentrate here!" Donnie shouted from his lab.
"I really don't want to do that right now!" Mikey exclaimed. "Leo, Raph, somebody!"
Raphael could hear Mikey's cries echoing from within the tunnels, striding briskly back into their lair. "Mikey, what's-" His eyes widened when he entered the lounge, sprinting over as he unsheathed his daggers. "What the hell is that?!"
"It's that clown, he's coming after me!" Mikey shouted as Raphael narrowed his eyes. He growled as the clown's face began to phase through the screen, baring its teeth. As it began to wriggle erratically, continuing to morph through the screen, Raph thrust his foot forward. He made contact with the clown's face, knocking the television back as it disappeared inside it. Silence came after the television smashed to pieces on the ground, Raph staring at if for a moment.
"Get up. Get up, Mikey!" Raph hissed, moving his behind him. He then strode over, sifting through the pieces with his foot to make sure no danger remained. "Is that the thing that hurt you?"
"Yeah, he has all these sharp teeth and everything!" Mikey exclaimed.
"What is going on in here, what is all the commotion?" Splinter asked as he and Leo came into the lounge.
"It was here! That clown guy was in the TV and it tried to kill me!" Mikey exclaimed, to which Leo stopped, giving him a look.
"Leo." Raph approached him. "He's not making it up. I just busted that thing in. Something... was coming through the screen. I can't explain it any other way."
"Raph, if someone was intruding, Donnie's sensors would have picked it up." Leo said.
"Well, they didn't. Now what?" Raph asked.
Leo felt like punching a wall. "Alright. We need to put our heads together. Take what we know and go with it. This guy can shape shift."
"Walk through walls like a ghost..." Mikey whined.
"And has an appetite for kids... and mutant turtles." Raph finished, curling his lip. "This guy has it out for us."
"What do you mean?" Mikey asked.
"This stuff has been happening to us for weeks. I see that now. Look: what happened the day of the fair, with Mikey, now April and Donnie... we're being targeted." Raph said.
"But we don't even know him, let alone the reason why he's attacking us."
"I don't care about knowing him. I only care about making sure I pummel the shit out of him."
"Raphael, you must learn your enemy. Learning about your enemy will make your force against him stronger. Diving into a fog without seeing what lurks within it spells destruction." Splinter spoke up, the taller turtle hissing under his breath. "We must also look after April and Casey. They have close ties with us, their lives are also in danger."
"With all due respect, sensei..." Raph looked over at him. "... how in the hell do we learn about something when we don't even know what it is?"
Meanwhile, Casey whistled to himself as he finished his shift at the pizzeria, moving past the counter to put some things away and gather his belongings after closing up shop. He had made sure everything was locked and secured, nodding to himself before heading into the back room. He checked his phone briefly, snickering to himself before pocketing it. He slung his backpack over his shoulder, making his way back to the front. He noticed something out of the corner of his eyes then, stopping dead in his tracks. He slowly turned towards the front door, mouthing something under his breath. In the short time he had been in the back room, a large symbol had been spray painted along the front door and window- from the inside. Casey slowly took out his mask, putting it on as he grabbed his hockey stick. His heart was racing now, his breathing uneven.
"Where the hell are you...?!" He growled, looking around the store. "Show yourself, damn it!" He grew tenser by the moment, his eyes unable to avert from the violet colored spray paint. Just then, he heard the counter bell ring, whirling around. He slowly made his way over as a gloved hand pressed it repeatedly in rhythmic succession, Casey clenching his teeth. He waited to see if the crouched individual would show themselves, even speak, but they simply continued to ring the bell. When he came closer, it finally stopped, the hand retracting as Casey was poised to swing. He furrowed his brows when slowly, a balloon rose from the same spot that the hand had been, Casey following it with his eyes. He squinted, barely able to see his reflection upon the shiny material. When he saw something beside his reflection suddenly, he whirled around, swinging as something red darted out of the way. He hissed, glancing over his shoulder to see someone now standing before him, holding the balloon. It floated upwards slowly, revealing the clown's face as he smiled sinisterly.
"Hiya, Arnold."
Casey was seething, pointing at the front of the store. "Did you do this?!"
"Aww, you don't like it? I know it means a lot to you." The clown chuckled.
"You better start telling me who the hell you are and what the fuck you think you're doing here. I swear, I will knock every damn tooth out of your head." Casey spat.
"How much do you want to bet on that, Arnold?"
"Stop calling me that, asshole!" Casey hopped over the counter, but the clown was quick, evading him. Casey looked all around, flipping his mask up to see better. "Where the hell did you go?! Get back here and fight me, freak!"
"Oh, dear... I guess we started off on the wrong foot, didn't we?" His voice was heard before Casey felt a hard shove against his side, falling to the ground with a thud. The clown stood over him, staring down for a moment before pressing a foot against Casey's chest, preventing him from getting back to his feet. He growled as he tried to no avail to shove the foot off. "Let me let you in on a secret. I wouldn't bet too much on that whole... tooth thing, that you said earlier." The clown leaned in closer, his face barely an inch from Casey's. He winced, thinking he may have felt cartilage in his chest pop once or twice as the foot pressed harder against him. He wondered how in the hell this guy was able to exert so much pressure, as if his foot was made out of lead. "You hate this, don't you? Feeling like you're drowning. Sinking. I can fix that, Casey."
"Fuck you." Casey spat as he wheezed, his arms trembling as his muscles exerted all their energy. Alas, the clown's foot did not budge. He knew if he did not get out of this soon, that his ribs would most likely break at this rate.
"You've got a bad mouth, don't you? Perhaps I can show you my little secret now... I'll show you a bad mouth!" The clown smirked, growling as he began to unhinge his jaw. Casey's brows twisted as the clown's mouth grew and grew, revealing row after row of razor sharp teeth. Just as the clown was about to attack, the sound of the store door opening distracted them both, Casey whipping his head towards its direction.
"Casey? Are you here?" April's voice was heard.
Casey gasped for air, realizing that the clown had vanished without a trace, not understanding how this was possible when he had been practically crushing him. He scrambled to his feet, wiping his forehead. He hurried over to April, hesitating a moment when he noticed that the Purple Dragon symbol that had been spray painted was also gone.
"We have to go." He said, grabbing his back pack and began to drag April out of the store.
"Casey, why- what the hell is going on-"
"Not now. Not here." Was all he said as he walked out, locking the door behind him before striding down the street.
"Casey- Casey Jones, you stop right now and tell me why you're dragging me around like this!" April tore her arm away, Casey whirling around.
"I don't know what kind of shit is going on, but we are figuring it out. I was out of the room for no more than a second, the store was locked up, and a giant sign was spray painted on the front of the store. The sign of the Purple Dragon gang, April. Oh, and what else, what else... oh yeah! That clown freak nearly crushed my rib cage!"
April's face dropped. "What...?" She said barely above a whisper. "But... I didn't see anything-"
"I know you didn't. It was all gone when you came in, but it's real. It's real, April." He stressed, shaking his head. "No more games. This is serious now."
"This is serious 'now?'" She scoffed. "So it wasn't serious before? When it came into my apartment?" April exclaimed. "That wasn't 'serious' enough for you? Did you think that was all some game?"
Casey threw his hands up. "April, you know that's not what I-"
"As usual, nothing is real enough for you until you're the one it's happening to." She said accusingly, turning to walk away.
Casey swore under his breath. "April, wait." He said, moving to grab her arm. She pulled it back, glaring at him. "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to come off that way. Of course it was serious. I just-... say stupid shit sometimes."
April exhaled slowly. "Okay." She sighed. It was always refreshing when he was at least a little mature. If only it would stick for longer than a few minutes. "We need to get underground. Looks like we both have something to tell Leo and the others. Come on." She said, Casey nodding as he followed her.
Meanwhile, Donnie widened his eyes for a moment, hopping out of his seat. "Guys- Guys, I've got something!" He exclaimed. Moments later, Leo and Raph, followed by Mikey, entered the lab area.
"Talk to me, Donnie." Leo said as his eyes looked at the screens.
"I knew this tooth was a good find, we would have never gotten these results this fast with just the-"
"Donnie. Focus." Leo reminded his brother.
"Right, sorry. So I ran several tests to try to determine the identity of our attacker by seeing if the DNA extracted matched to any on the human and mutant databases." He spoke as his fingers typed away on his keyboard. "Let's see what it has to show us." He pulled up some images on his screen, raising a brow. "Well, what a surprise, the DNA isn't a human match... now with mutants, it's a little more complex of a genomic structure, but it will at least tell us some of the traits associated with-..." He stopped when he pulled up a rotating image of DNA, his expression becoming blank.
"Donnie?" Leo shook his shoulder lightly. "What is it?"
"We don't need you losing your marbles now, it's the only good thing you've got going." Raph said.
Leo shot Raph a look before Donnie shook his head. "That's impossible."
"What is? That's a neat picture though. Look at it go round, and round, and-" Mikey stopped when Leo shot him a look that time.
"This is-... see... mutant DNA is much like a human's, but the structure of the DNA contains enhanced genomes, more complex patterning. Looking at the DNA structure of this tooth, however..." Donnie shook his head. "The structure itself is completely different. Look at these bonds. See, this is the frame of the DNA's structure, which is almost... like bare bones... and these genomes... it's as if it's interchangeable."
"What does that mean in English, Donnie?" Raph asked.
"It means that this... whatever this is, can literally change its DNA makeup. This is implying that it can take DNA from someone or something, and absorb it. Its physical form can become that thing, even change it if it could. This is beyond just shape shifting." Donnie typed away at his keyboard, clearing his throat. "Let's see if we can find out how old he is, at least. With my carbon reader, maybe we can figure out if it's fully developed." As he pulled up another report, Leo glanced back at Raph.
"Do you think this has to do with the Kraang?" Leo asked.
"Doesn't sound like the Kraang. Even they wouldn't pull this off. They're more about technology and laser guns." Raph replied.
"If you're wondering if this is possibly something not from Earth, at this point, that is entirely plausible." He then stopped, blinking at the screen.
"Hey, Donnie? Uh... I think you need to adjust your screen. That number eight is sideways..." Mikey tilted his head. "Huh. He looks kind of old for an eight year old..."
"That's not a sideways eight, Mikey... that's the symbol for infinity." Donnie furrowed his brow. "What is this thing...?" He breathed. "Can we at least see where it originated...?" He muttered, typing away at his keyboard. "Unknown location..." He leaned back in his chair, running a hand along his scalp. "So... according to these results, we have virtually no idea what we're dealing with."
"So it's another space alien, right? Can't we just... kick his butt like we did the Kraang?" Mikey asked.
"Even the Kraang's DNA could offer more information about its genetic makeup, origin, lifespan, something! This..." Donnie's voice faded. "This is nothing like I've ever seen. It's as if we're dealing with some higher, metaphysical life form."
Just then, Leo glanced over his shoulder as April and Casey approached. "Hey... what's going on?" She asked.
"Donnie's pulling up some information from that tooth he got from your apartment." Leo replied.
"Or lack, thereof." Donnie added, seeming exasperated.
"I had the interview today... I'll play the recording, but it wasn't very long. Something is very... off about all this." April said.
"Gee, you think?" Raph scoffed. "I've had enough of this guy playing hide and seek. I don't care what kind of meta-whatever life form he is, I'm going to kick his ass straight to the moon."
April cleared her throat. "Anyway... Mrs. Smith stopped the whole thing at one point and gave me this to read. She told me to read it somewhere safe." She took out the letter from her pocket.
"This sounds a little dangerous, April. Are you sure that envelope doesn't have anything else in it?" Donnie asked, glancing over his shoulder. He was about to get up when Casey took it, April tensing up a bit when he opened the envelope and pulled out the letter from inside.
"Looks like it's just a piece of paper with writing on it. Although, who knows. Could turn into a balloon or something." He said sarcastically, giving it back to April before pacing around a bit. "This guy is either a part of or knows the Purple Dragon." He said before explaining what happened to him back at the pizzeria.
"One, there's no way that the Purple Dragon could pull off tricks and attacks as elaborate as this. Two, according what I'm seeing here, this thing is not only not human, it's not a mutant, either." Donnie replied.
"So what are we dealing with here, then?" Casey asked.
"I haven't the slightest idea." Donnie said with an air of defeat. "My reporting isn't giving me much to work with, here."
"Well, aren't you supposed to be the smart one?" Casey asked with a bit of arrogance. "Get back on your computer and figure it out."
"Casey, I'm sure he's trying to do that." April said, shooting him a look.
"Look. I know about what happened in her apartment last night. I may not be a boy genius, but I'm not stupid. I can be a pervert sometimes, but at least I make no bones about it." Casey continued.
"Just... what exactly are you implying, here?" Donnie shot him a side glance.
"No, no... don't worry about me. Just keep dragging this out. You need to be close to April, after all, as long as this guy sticks around. She 'needs' you to protect her. I- In fact, you should just move your little geek-verse here to her apartment being you're going to be 'protecting' her overnight." Casey answered.
Donnie scoffed, shaking his head. "You are really an idiot, Casey."
"Guys, enough!" April shouted. "Casey, go sit on the couch, and Donnie, go back to doing-... whatever report you're working on." She huffed. "We are being attacked, people are being killed, and all you can think of is this petty garbage!" She shook her head, storming out of the room. Leo gave them a look, Raph shoving both of them aside before following where April went. He saw that she was sitting with Mikey, who looked over at the letter she was reading as he ate some pizza. April's eyes widened as she read it, looking up upon finishing. "Leo? Raph?" She held up the letter. "I think you need to see this."
They gathered around the table, April placing the letter on it. "Mrs. Smith describes an older cousin she had... he grew up in Maine and moved to the city, starting his own limousine business here. He then went back to Maine for a brief time to... settle a score with an old enemy. Something which had terrorized him growing up."
"Something...? Not someone?" Leo asked, April glancing at him uneasily.
"He died during that encounter, and then a terrible storm raged through the town, wiping most of it out. She warned that she believes that the creature that killed her cousin is the same creature that took Amelia."
"Maine... is that where this thing is from?" Leo questioned.
"I need to do some research, but... the letter says more. I'm going to try to look a few things up." April said, heading out of the area.
"Hang on." Casey said. "Is this the address of the limousine company?" He pointed to a spot on the letter.
"I guess... why?" April asked.
Casey was silent for a moment. "That's right down the street from where my dad's auto shop was." He slowly looked up at her.
"What's the name of it? The limo place?"
"It wasn't-... it was something else when I was growing up..." He got on his phone, looking up the address. "Here. This is the place before it closed." He showed April, who took her own phone out and made a note to herself. As she did so, something came to his mind, focusing on the thought for a short time. "I'll be back."
"Wait a second, Casey... don't go running off alone." April said. Donnie glanced up, shaking his head before he kept working.
"I'll keep an eye on him." Raph offered. "Plus, if the freak wants to hang around us, it'll give me a chance to beat the stuffing out of him." He added.
Leo rolled his eyes. "Just be careful, please."
When Raph headed into the tunnels, Casey was so far ahead, he had to run to catch up. "Hey, no beating up clowns without me."
"Hopefully we don't run into him." Casey said. "But the way things are going, he'll probably be waiting for us... it's like he's one step ahead no matter what."
"We'll get him, don't worry. So... where we going again?"
Casey shook his head. "I'll explain when we get there."
We'll cut things here for now! So, have our heroes finally found a means to learn more about their attacker? Will this give them the upper hand, or will Casey's statement about "it" always being one step ahead ring true? Find out more next time, and please leave a review with your thoughts! In the meantime, thank you again for reading, and see you next time!