Chapter 20

Memories

The three turtles, Splinter and Sephie fought bravely against the small army of ninja. Splinter, Donatello and Michelangelo focused mainly on disrupting the enemy, disarming them and striking at their knees and head, occasionally killing some of them. Leonardo and Sephie used their bladed weapons to cut down any ninja that were between them and Raphael and Monalisa.

Monalisa watched her family and friend fight, where as her mate could only listen, laying with his back against the action.

"How's it going?" Raphael asked.

"It could be better, the Foot outnumber them."

"Okay, now then?"

"Now!"

Monalisa and Raphael suddenly sprung to their feet, surprising the ninja guarding them. Quick as a flash, the mutant couple beat the two ninja senseless and retrieved their weapons. With a nod to each other, they then joined the fight, giving the other mutants some well needed aid.

"Need some help, Don?" Raphael asked with a smirk when he stabbed the ninja Donatello was fighting with in the back.

"Thanks, bro, but I thought that the two of you were incapacitated."

"We were, but it didn't last for very long." said Monalisa, slashing down another ninja. "The effect wore off shortly after we got here, but there were too many ninja for us to deal with at the time. When we heard what Arashi planned, we simply waited for you guys. Sorry that we made you worry."

"Hey, you're okay, and that's enough for me." said Michelangelo.

"Ditto, now let's deal with these fools and go and help Tyroth." said Sephie.

Arashi was furious with Arden, who had guaranteed that his gas worked. Now their hostages were aiding the rest of the mutants, and the only thing they could do at the moment was to call in more ninja. With the press of a button, several doors and trapdoors opened and the number of Foot ninja more than doubled.

While the mutants and the Foot fought, Tyroth was locked in combat with the Foot's champion. He slashed with both sword and claws like crazy against his foe, while the ninja did the same. While Tyroth managed to block and parry the ninja's attacks, the ninja had to jump, duck and dodge to avoid the dragon's attacks, as one slash from his mighty blade could cut straight through a man, weapons and all.

The battle had left most of the dungeon in ruins, as much were cut to pieces, crushed or burned. Even the fighters had shown signs of the battle in the form of various cuts, but the wounds on both had healed, leaving only bloodstains as evidence of their fight, aside from the cuts on the ninja's uniform.

Erica and Richard watched the battle from their cell in awe and horror. The way their son fought was so unlike him, it was so fierce, almost beast like. But, what scared them the most was that they knew who their son was fighting, and he wouldn't listen.

After blocking an overhead slash, Tyroth countered with a slash aimed at the ninja's knees. The ninja saw this and jumped over the blade with ease, evading the attack completely, however, the ninja wasn't able to avoid the dragon's follow up attack. Immediately after he had swung his sword, Tyroth spun around and struck the ninja on the hip with his tail, sending the ninja flying.

Seeing his chance, with the ninja temporary floored, Tyroth dashed toward his foe, with his sword raised for the kill.

"Raymond! Stop!" Erica cried out, finally reaching his ears.

"That's your sister! That's Jennifer!" Richard yelled.

Stopping a few feet in front of the ninja, his sword still raised, Tyroth had a look of shock and disbelief on his face. It couldn't be…

While the dragon was distracted, the ninja threw one of the short swords at him, impaling him by the collarbone, causing him to drop his sword and stagger backwards. With the ninja lunging at him, Tyroth reacted by breathing fire at his attacker, and while the ninja managed to duck under the flames, they still managed to set the mask on fire.

The ninja quickly pulled off the burning piece of cloth, and Tyroth couldn't believe his eyes. It was really Jennifer, but changed. Her eyes were murderous, and yet strangely empty. The left side of her face was completely covered in green scales with a light red hue at the edges, Tyroth recognized that, it was very similar to that of the crossbreeds Arden had created before. Tyroth's blood boiled at the mere thought of that bastard laying even a finger on Jennifer, but the shock and sorrow he felt was almost too much to bare. He didn't know what to do. How could he save her?

Wasting no time, Jennifer continued her attacks, trying to slash Tyroth with her last sword. Coming to his senses, Tyroth managed to dodge the attacks, despite still having the other blade in his torso. He needed to find a way to stop Jennifer without hurting her, but how?

As they moved through the room, attacking and dodging respectively, Tyroth noticed several tools of torture laying on the floor next to them, among which there was a tazer, still in what appeared to be working order. Seeing this, the dragon got an idea.

Shoving away Jennifer with a kick. Tyroth threw himself toward the tazer and grabbed it. He prayed that his plan would work and began channelling his mana into the device, causing it to glow red. With Jennifer charging at him, Tyroth switched on the tazer and red sparks formed at the tips. Before Jennifer was able to properly attack the dragon, Tyroth jabbed the tazer into Jennifer's stomach and red electricity surged through her body, making her cry out in pain before collapsing.

"Jennifer!"

"Mom! Dad! Stay back! She may still be dangerous!" Tyroth cautioned. As he knelt beside her, Jennifer's eyes began to flutter and slowly opening.

"T-tyroth..." she said.

"I'm here, sis. Are you alright?"

"I'm… sorry… for what I did. I didn't want to fight you, but… I couldn't help it." she said, tears falling from her eyes, once again filled with life. "I tried to fight back, I really did, but I was too weak."

"It's okay, it wasn't your fault." Tyroth said, pulling Jennifer into a warm hug. "I know how it is to have someone else controlling you."

"Jennifer!" Erica called out and threw herself around her daughter's neck as soon as Tyroth had broken the hug, and Richard wasn't far behind. "I thought that we had lost you."

"Mom, Dad, I was so scared. I wanted to help you, but I couldn't."

"What did those bastards do to you?" Richard asked, looking at Jennifer's reptilian features.

"They… they made me call Ty- I mean, Raymond, then they forced him to do as they said, or they would punish you. After that, they brought me to what I thought was another dungeon, but it was a lab, and Arden… he sedated me. After that, I have some memories..."

Flashback

Arashi walked into Arden's lab, anxious to see the doctor's latest creation, as it was less than a day until it had to be ready to face the dragon in combat.

"Ah, master. Here to check the results of my labour I take it." Arden said when he saw Arashi enter the lab.

"Correct, doctor. I hope that things are going well."

Arden nodded and pointed at a giant glass tube at the far side of the room. Floating in the clear liquid inside, was a young woman with blond hair. Aside from the breathing mask, she was completely naked, which made it easy to see that she wasn't fully human. Green scales with a red hue covered her shins, lower arms, hands, a portion of her chest above the breasts and the left side of her face. If one looked slightly from the side, one could also see some scales on her sides continuing to her back. Additionally, she was rather muscular and well built, and instead of fingernails she had black claws.

Arashi eyed the woman with suspicion, and Arden noticed this.

"Is something wrong, master? You look troubled."

"I expected something… more, than a slightly mutated human."

"Do no be fooled by her appearance, master. Young miss Jennifer's augmentations goes deep."

"Is that so? Tell me then, will she be able to deal with the dragon?"

"She will, there's no need for concern. I actually wanted to keep her mostly human, even though I honestly didn't have much of a choice since the dragon destroyed my old lab. This new process isn't perfected yet, but when it is, it will be superior to the old one. But the reason for keeping her human-like, is to trick the dragon, if he sees anything non-human, he'll be more cautious, but if he believes that he's fighting a human, he'll be caught off guard by her power."

"I see. What kind of DNA did you use for her? The scales look a bit familiar."

"The same I used for the crossbreeds, a mix of the dragon's and that slut, Monalisa. Jennifer here will be the first of a new breed of mutant warriors, for I have learned from the past. The turtles were able to hold their own against both the clones and crossbreeds, despite being outnumbered, and that was before they strengthened themselves with my super serums. What I want, is mutants that can take on the turtles one-on-one, and now I'm very close to perfecting that. Just imagine when we can make superior dragon mutants for the Shredder's army."

"A pleasant thought indeed, but there is one thing that puzzles me. Only half of her face shows signs of mutation, is that a flaw or do you have a reason for that?"

"That is a bit of a test, to see just how precise I can be with the new procedure, you could also say that it is my… signature, one part of the face disfigured. And should the dragon manage to unmask her, he's in for quite the shock."

"I must question if that is a smart move, William, we've both seen how he reacted when he thought that Monalisa was killed."

"You speak true, master, but I've seen the security footage from that battle, before the dragon entered the fray, and the turtles were hesitant to fight the clones due to their resemblance to the dragon. He won't be able to do anything against his own sister once he learns of her fate, she will be the ultimate weapon against him. And should he succeed in killing her before that, his spirit will be utterly crushed when he realizes that he killed her. He will feel anger, but he will be overwhelmed by sorrow and guilt, and be rendered helpless."

"It seems like you've got it all figured out. How long until she's ready?"

"Another hour, and then she'll be ready for a 'test-run', a sparring match against our ninja. I just need to finish the imprinting."

Arashi took another look at Jennifer, and saw her eyelids flutter and slowly open halfway, only to slowly close again.

"Is she awake?" he asked, rather surprised.

"To a certain extent, yes, but it's nothing to worry about, it is required for the imprinting, a minor flaw that I will correct later, right now, I must finish the process."

"So she is aware then? Can she hear us?"

"I believe she can, but it matters not. Soon, her mind will be overwritten and she will be ready. Though, the more time I have to work on her, the longer she will survive."

"Time is of the essence, doctor, I need her to be ready for the dragon."

"Oh, she will." Arden said with an evil smirk.

End Flashback

"… I heard everything they said… it was horrible, I was trapped inside my own body while they did this to me..." Jennifer said with tears running down her cheeks. Erica pulled her closer, trying to comfort her, but she could hardly believe it all.

"Bastards!" Tyroth growled, clenching his fists. "And they call me monster. I swear, those fuckers will pay with their lives!"

"But why would anyone do something like this? What are they after?" said Richard, keeping an arm around his wife and daughter.

"It's me they're after, or rather my DNA, my dragon DNA. Jennie already told us what they want to do with it, an army. And they went after you to get to me. What I don't understand is how they found out about you. But that will have to wait, right now I have to get the three of you to safety."

"We're not going anywhere. Jennie hasn't recovered nearly enough to move, and you're injured too!" Erica protested. "At least let us tend to your wounds first."

"Mom, you don't have to worry about Raymond, he'll be fine." said Jennifer.

Erica and Richard didn't understand what Jennifer was talking about. As such, they were shocked when Tyroth pulled out the blade from his torso.

"I had almost forgotten about this." he said as the wound closed itself, to the amazement of his parents.

"That's one of the reasons why Arashi is after his DNA, rapid healing. And after what Arden did to me, I also have that ability, if only part of it, but I'll be fine."

"This is just too much to take in right now. Can't we take this at a later time?" said Richard.

"That's what I've been saying since I got here." said Tyroth while collecting the swords he and Jennifer had used. "Come on, I know a way out. Just be warned, the scenery on the way ain't pretty."

Tyroth led his family out the way he came, and his parents were horrified by how the hallway looked. Almost a dozen dead Foot ninja lay on the way, most of them were cut to pieces and some were burned to a crisp.

"Raymond… did you do… this?" Erica asked, no able to fathom what she saw.

"It was necessary, I couldn't have any threats to you."

After a few minutes, they reached a part of the hallway that was located in the outer parts of the building. Walking up to the glass wall, Tyroth broke a section of it with a well placed punch. The wind blew strong as he pulled his entire family into a big hug.

"Hold on tight." he said. Before anyone could ask why, he lifted them all up and jumped out through the hole. The humans screamed in fear as they all fell through the air. They were so scared that they didn't notice when they levelled out.

"You can stop screaming now if you want to. There's only a few blocks left, then you'll be safe." said Tyroth.

It took only a few more minutes before Tyroth landed in a dark alley. There stood the Battleshell, hidden in the shadows. The rear doors opened and April waved at Tyroth, a smile on her face, but that smile faded quickly when she saw the uniform Jennifer wore, and the symbols that adorned it. Tyroth noticed her worry.

"It's okay, April. She's… my sister. It's complicated."

"When isn't it? Hurry in, before we're spotted."

It didn't take long before they were all inside the truck, and Tyroth quickly introduced everyone. April and Casey couldn't help but look at Jennifer's half-reptilian face.

"Now that you're all safe, I'll head back to help the others."

"Good luck, man. Bring'em all back." said Casey.

"Wait! I'm coming too!" said Jennifer, surprising everyone.

"Jennifer?" Erica exclaimed shocked.

"Out of the question! I just got you out of that place!" said Tyroth.

"They're my friends too! I want to help them as much as you do!"

"You're staying here! You're not cut out for this!"

"Not cut out for this?! I've been cut into shape for this! Literally! I still remember everything they pumped into my mind, and you know that I can fight! And I want to make them pay for what they did to me, to us! You would do the same!"

Tyroth growled in annoyance, but she had a point, several in fact, and he had done the same, both against Overlord, Xazahl and the Foot. If anyone had hurt those he cared about, he would be hell-bent on making them pay.

"Fine." he sighed, shocking the others, his parents more so.

"Raymond!"

"Are you serious?"

"I can't deny her the right of vengeance, and she is capable of taking care of herself."

"Thank you, brother."

"Don't thank me just yet, there are a few things I want to make clear for you. We stick together all the time, I don't want you running off on your own. And when I say that we leave, we leave, on exceptions. Understood?"

"I understand, I promise that I'll follow your lead. But before we go, I want to make some adjustments to this hideous outfit."

"Raymond, Jennifer, please be careful and look after each other." said Richard.

"Richard?"

"We can't stop them, honey, we can only pray for their safety."

"I suppose you're right. I just don't like any of this. We almost lost our daughter, then we got both her and our son back and now they're both going back into that horrible place."

"I know that you're worried, and with all right, but Tyroth, emh, Raymond can handle this. Just have some faith, okay?" April said comforting.

"I promise that we'll be careful, Mom, and we'll return safe and sound." Tyroth said, hugging both his parents. "But we really have to go now. That is, if you're ready, sis."

"I'm ready, just wanted to get rid of these wretched marks." she said, having removed the belt buckle and shoulder patches with the Foot's symbol.

"Then let's go, and don't forget these." said Tyroth and handed her her swords.

Once the siblings left the Battleshell, Casey turned to the Ottosens.

"So, any of you knowing what's going on?" he asked.

"I was hoping that you could tell us, but at the very least we can tell you what we have learned so far." said Erica.

"Sounds good, then we will tell you the rest." said April. "Or some of it at least. I think that the others should be the ones to tell you the full story."

Whew, that was a close call, but yay, Jennifer has been saved! And Mona and Raph are alright too.

But what Arden did to poor Jennifer was truly monstrous. Bet she'll want to get some payback, how will that go?

Find out next time. :)