Author's Note: I'm sorry for the long wait. I'm near the end of my semester and i'm graduating later this month. I just need to concentrate on these last two weeks then I'll be free to write full time again. The last assignments I've been getting have been time consuming. Also one last thing, I just want let all of those who read this know something. I'm going to finish this story, i'm not going to abandon it. I'm determined to finish it and that's what i'm going to do. Believe me I have something special planned and i'm going to see to it. Here's the chapter, enjoy.

Chapter 12: The Labs

The elevator dinged as both metal doors opened, revealing a three way intersection. Oroku Saki exited the elevator and headed straight, with Don trailing behind him. After announcing that he wanted to see the labs Oroku waited till his charge finished his food and then escorted the olive green turtle to the labs. Apparently he didn't want the turtle to wait that long. Nothing but silence happened as they moved to their destination.

Don was nervous about this, mainly because he wasn't sure what to expect from his decision. The thought of being able to use the latest tools known today interested him. But yet there was still that part of him that made him not so sure about this.

Still he followed, not wanting to back out of what he asked for. They walked down the hall a few yards and a large metal double doors stood before them. On the side of the wall is a card reader. Both eyes watched as they stopped and Shredder reached into his pocket and pulled out a keycard. Sliding it through the reader the light turned green, indicating the room unlocked.

"I have to remember to give you an access card later," Shredder spoke to Don, which caused him to jump a bit, before opening the door.

"But…all I said was I wanted to see it," Don responded, confused as to why he'll be given access even though he wanted a tour.

The door then slid open automatically as Oroku stepped in. "Believe me when I say that you'll defiantly consider it once you see what I have to offer."

With that he stepped in, leaving the olive green turtle standing where he was, confused a bit. "He can't have something that'll really catch my interest…can he?" Don thought to himself as he followed.

He and Shredder crossed the entrance and entered a small room with another set of double sliding doors before them. They both stood in the middle of the room and waited for the door behind them to close. Once that happened the door in front of them opened.

"Whoa…" Don suddenly said as both eyes looked upon the room before him. The area they entered is huge, many tables set up with various equipment, computers, tools. Many cabinets with various chemicles inside, dry erase boards. There were also scientists there, all of them working on their own work to notice the two.

Shredder looked at his charge's face and couldn't help but grin, he got the turtle hooked, now he just needed to reel him in. "As you can see Junko, this whole area is dedicated to research and development," Explained as he walked further into the room, Don following closely behind as he looked around with keen interest.

"As I said before, we have all the latest in technological equipment here, as well as the most power fullest computers released," he held his hand out, as if to point out everything as they walked.

"This…is fascinating…" Don was a loss for words. Both eyes were glued to some of the contents on a table he stopped by. "Whoa." There were various working tools that laid before him, screw drivers, drills, sauntering irons, microscopes. All of them in pristine condition, almost as if they were brand new.

"I never seen tools like this…not like all the nearly rusted ones I found," Don thought to himself as he continued to stare.

"See something you like Junko?" Oroku asked as he stood by the turtle's side.

"Uh…yeah. I never…seen tools In such great condition like this." Which was true, because all the tools in his lab were ones that he had to scavenge, or repair. Most of the things he previously had were very hard to come by at the junkyard. Just seeing brand new tools blew his mind away. Just then he looked at another table and his whole body froze. "Whoa...is that...a..." He couldn't even finish the sentence as he walked over and looked at the item.

It's a 3D printer! It was a machine with a see through plastic case. Inisde is a small plateform that can be raised and lowered. on top was a needle that could be adjusted. This type of machine can print 3D models of anything that was sent to it. This is something that blew Don away. "I...never seen one in person..."

"Like I said, up to date equipment," Shredder responded with a grin. He had reeled in the turtle a bit and now it was time to fully pull him in. "Matter of fact…how would you like to try out some of equipment we have here?"

Don froze as he turned to his escort, a look of one a child would have inside a candy story on his face. "R-Really?"

"Yes," Oroku then called over one of the scientist in the room. A small male with brown hair.

"Yes sir?"

"Set up a small work area for Junko, he's interested in trying out some of the tools we have."

"On it," the male walked away to fulfill the job that was given to him.

This made Donny confused a bit, curious as to why Shredder is letting try out his equipment if he didn't agree with the deal that is given to him. "Um…not to be rude but…why are you letting me use the tools if I just asked to look?"

"What better way of looking than using the equipment you might be working with?" Shredder grinned

This made sense, but still confused the olive green turtle still. But he's so entranced at the aspect of working in conditions that he would dream of. The prospects of this out weighed his rational side as he slowly started to give into temptation.

"Come now, I'll show you where you'll be able to try out everything," Shredder then usher Don further into the lab, which the olive green turtle followed. Near the back of the labs there were a few rooms, most likely private labs.

Donny took a careful look and saw that on the wall next to the door there were some metal nameplates. Most likely these were reserved for certain scientist here, maybe the best they had. Both eyes then rose in confusion as his escort led him to one of those rooms. When both eyes scanned the nameplate, he found it to be blank.

The door already open they both walked in, the contents inside made Don's eyes go wide. There were a couple clean white tables, with some wall mounted cabinets. There were things inside the cabinets but he couldn't really get a good look at what is stored inside. There were a few of the tools he saw just now on the tables. He was also shocked to find a 3D printer inside as well, there was some sort of large glass panel against the wall that looked interesting. But one of the biggest things that surprised him was that there's a computer.

A desktop computer rested on one of the tables. Both eyes widen as he looked it over. The contents looked more advanced than the computer he used to have. The CPU is large and looked advanced looking, just like all the computer webpages he saw in the past. The monitor is different, it was a flat screen, a twenty inch screen that looked like it has pixelated crystals. This is basically the computer of his dreams, one that he wanted for so long.

He walked over to the computer and touched it, still not believing that this is for real. His mind still blown away at the fact that he gets to use all this, all because he wanted to see the labs.

"I see this is all to your liking," Shredder's voice knocked the turtle out of his thoughts.

"Uh…yeah," Don turned to face his guide, an uneasy look on his face on account of the situation. "This…is a lot. I mean I thought I'd get to try out the equipment out there," he indicated outside the room where the rest of the scientist were.

"These room are usually reserved for the scientist who have proved to be most valuable here. But because of the circumstances you proved, I thought this would prove to your liking. And also I don't think you would be comfortable being around others right now."

Donny thought about this and it was true. He's in an area with people he didn't know, and working around them might make him feel uneasy. So the privacy of the room would help a lot. "Yeah…I understand that."

"And think, if you agree to the offer, this'll be your private lab," Shredder announced with a grin, which made Don drop his mouth and look at him with wide eyes.

"Wha…I mean…why give me something like this if I haven't done anything for you?"

"Great things will come from you Junko. I know this." Before Don could say anything Oroku then looked at a watch he had, noticing the time. "There's something I have to take care of. I'll leave you here for now if that's acceptable for you."

"Uh…sure," Don nodded, a bit of nervousness started to creep on him at the prospects of being left alone. But still he decided not to express those feelings for now.

"Good, just do what you normally do in a lab. And if you have any question please feel free to ask around," Shredder spoke as he turned and left the room, leaving the olive green turtle alone in the room.

After seeing his escort leave Don then turned and looked at the private lab once again. Both eyes scanned at all the contents within the small room, part of his mind still blown away at all that he could use, all still on a trial basis. "Well…guess I should look around more," Don said to himself as he walked around, checking the room further. The first thing he did was go over to the glass panel. Just by looking at it he could tell it was glass but something about it was different.

He reached out and touched the glass and was shocked to see it light up. Just then a bunch of icons appeared on the panel. "Whoa...is this what I think it is?" slowly he reached forward and touched an icon labeled, 'Informational video'. just then a windown popped up and a video started playing. "Whoa!" Don then pressed a pause icon as the picture froze. "This smart glass technology...I never thought something like this would exist! Or better yet...I never thought I would be touching it..." Don stared in amazement. He couldn't believe what he has access to, all this stuff was his to use and boy he was going to enjoy every second of his time here.

Outside the city the turtles and Splinter made their way back to their friend's location. It took a bit of time before the aged rat could recompose himself before they decided to get back to their friends. His three sons walked away from that experience with a better understanding of what their father felt, and were more determined to find their brother.

They approached the spot where they tied up the Foot ninja but when they returned they were surprised to see the Foot ninja knocked out.

"What happened?" Leo was the first to asked, his father and brothers stopping near the unconscious ninja.

"The guy ended up shouting at us a lot and I got tired of it," Casey explained to his friends, leaning against the tree.

"So…you knocked him out?" Mikey asked for all of them.

"You could say that," April responded for them, standing up from her spot on the ground.

"So, what did you find out from him?" Raph asked.

"It's just like he said earlier, he was given orders to destroy the building we were in earlier. He wasn't given any reason why," Their red haired friend told them.

"And Donatello?" Splinter asked, hoping there was something mentioned about his son.

"Sadly no," Casey was the one to break this piece of news. This caused a disheartening look on the old rat's face. Everyone could tell this piece of news hurt him the most.

"That's all we managed to get out of him before Casey knocked him out," April finished for them.

"Well, we're back at square one again," Leo sighed as silent was brought upon the group. Interrogating the Foot ninja seemed to be almost a waste and now they weren't sure what to do. "So…what should we do about him?" Leo motioned to the tied up ninja.

"Something," Raph responded as everyone looked at the bound ninja's way. No movement of any kind was made at all from him. "We can't let him go free, he knows what he know."

"Then what are you suggesting?" Leo asked, eyes narrowing, not liking the vibe he was getting from his brother. "Leaving him here tied up?"

"What else can we do? There's no way we can't let him leave with us knowing what he knows," the red clad turtle spoke back to his brother.

"But that's just like killing him," Mikey responded, which earned a familiar silence between them. Remembering what had happened earlier.

"What other options do we have?" Raph asked, wanting them put in an idea.

"We're not killing him or leaving him out here," Leo argued, knowing an argument is coming, which wasn't needed at the moment.

"We can't just let him go," Raph's eyes narrowed. "There's no other option."

"Enough!" Splinter's voice rang out, stopping his two oldest son's bickering. Everyone then looked at the rat without speaking, waiting to hear what he had to say. "We are letting him go."

"But sensei what about-" the emerald turtle is silence by his master raising a hand.

"I nearly made the mistake of taking his life. He doesn't deserve to die for something he must have not been a part of, nor can we leave him here tied to a tree. We untie him and we leave, nothing more." No one made a sound after hearing his words, they knew changing his mind wouldn't happen. "Leonardo, cut him free."

"Yes sensei," Leo nodded as he walked over to the bound ninja, unsheathed a katana and cut the rope.

"Let us be going," Splinter spoke as he walked off towards where the battle shell is parked. One by one everyone followed, leaving behind the knocked out ninja.

The next couple of minute was spent in silence as the group headed for their vehicle. No one sure what to say at the moment. When the battle shell appeared in their view they all walked a bit faster to it. Before they could get inside Splinter stopped and turned to them, motioning for them to do the same.

"What's sensei?" Mikey asked first.

Both of the rat's eyes closed as he took a breath, letting himself settle before speaking. "We've all been through a lot these past few months. All the worrying and tiring searches. I think we all should take a break to recover."

Everyone is shocked at the suggestion that is being made, especially since it's coming from Splinter himself. Just taking a break means only one thing to them.

"Master Splinter…wouldn't that mean we've given up in a way?" Leo asked, not sure what to make of this.

"No," the rat shook his head, then tried to reassure everyone. "I only think we should rest our tired bodies and souls before we jump back into the quarrel we are facing. It does us no good to be out of it when the situation demands us to be at its fullest."

Splinter's argument started to ring true in everyone's heads. For the past months they had been doing nothing but tiring themselves out trying to find their brother. They weren't really sure if their determination is fueled by adrenaline but slowly the tiredness they never felt seemed to slowly catch up to them. A small break wouldn't hurt but the fear of missing something that could help them find their brother was there. Still it wouldn't help if they were out of it.

"Alright, maybe it might help," Leo said in confirmation.

"Sure…a break is something that we may need," Raph seconded.

"I guess," Mikey went last. All three brothers didn't look at their father as they made their decision. In a way, it didn't feel right to them.

They were decided, they didn't' need to talk about where they needed to go. Splinter turned to their human friends, "Mr. Jones, will you drive?"

"Uh…yeah, everyone in then," Casey responded, getting where it was they wanted to go. Everyone soon piled in the vehicle and soon drove off.

Multiple types sounded as Don typed away at the computer he had been supplied with. He had lost time on how long he'd been on it, fascinated at how much better and faster it is than his old one. He had already checked out the rest of the room, finding some very useful items. There were some jars with various chemicals in them, some soldering irons, some handheld welders, microscopes and other things he could only dream about, all in pristine condition.

After finishing looking over everything, and then doing again, still not being able to believe what he's seeing. He then turned to the computer, the one item he saved for last. He started exploring some of the functions he had been allowed to have. Mostly he found a few writing programs, good for taking notes, some special programs used for computer projects. But one of the most interesting things he found out is that he had access to some of the lower security parts of the Foot's mainframe.

Some of the files he had access to are some of the time charts certain personal had, some of the minor inventory they had stored, and other things that weren't that much interesting. The thought of forcefully accessing the higher security files crossed his mind. But for some reason there was a voice telling him not to. "I can't just…ruin the trust I have," Donny spoke to himself. "Can't I? No it wouldn't be right."

He didn't want to do it, but yet some other part of him told him to. A two side battle started in his head and he wanted it to stop. Shaking his head he decided to drop the matter. Instead he decided to look more into the files he had access to.

Don wasn't sure why but he clicked on the files that were labeled 'Trash Records'. A few other folders popped up. He then clicked on the one that was labeled 'recycle' but something strange popped up.

"Password required"

"What?" Don was taken back. The way the words blinked surprised him, but also what else was flashing. "Only one attempt?" Apparently whoever access this file only had one attempt to put in the password. "Why would a password be needed just to look at recycle records?"

He was knocked out of his train of thought as a knock on the door was made. Both eyes then looked over at the doorway, a smile appeared at who it was, "Gavin!"

"Hey, finally made it down here huh?" the brunette responded with a smile of his own. He walked in and looked around the room, "Man you're lucky, you get this private lab all to yourself and on your first day."

"Well…technically I haven't agreed to work here…Mr. Saki is only letting me try the equipment out first," Don responded, exiting out of the files and standing up.

"Ah, but still you're lucky. A lot of the scientist here strive to get one of these labs, it has more stuff than it does outside," the human leaned against one of the tables.

"Well…I guess I am," Donny responded, not wanting to add in the lab would be his if he agreed to work.

"Still it's nice to see you down here, maybe we can talk later," he stood up straight and headed for the door.

"You in a hurry or something?" the olive green turtle asked out of curiosity. It seemed like their conversation is being cut short.

"Kind of, I'm just taking a break from a huge pain," Gavin turned to look at his friend. His smile changed to one of annoyance, which was at something else.

"What's wrong?" curiosity hit Don, wanting to know what's going on.

"Well, one of our tech guys accidently opened an unknown email before taking all the safety precautions to make sure it's nothing bad," His head shook as a sigh escaped him. "Unfortunately the email contained a bad Trojan, which slowly infected our systems. Luckily I managed to isolate the virus in a non-critical area of our servers. But I'm having trouble trying to delete it."

Don raised an eye as he heard the problem, his mental gears starting to grind as he listened and a few theories popped into his head. For some reason he felt like helping. "You mind…if I take a look?"

That caused Gavin to raise an eye, "Why?"

"Maybe I can help."

"Once again, why? I mean this doesn't affect you what so ever." He was still confused at the assistance he was being offered.

"You're having trouble, just want to see if I can help resolve it," Don explained, stating his case.

Gavin remained silent for a second, thinking over the help he's being offered. This problem had been plaguing him for a few hours, and maybe using someone else's help could work. What else could he have to lose, "Ok, follow me."

Don nodded as he followed the human outside the lab. They passed a few of the tables and scientist there as they made their way to their destination. It was weird for the olive green turtle, the humans weren't paying any mind to him, it was like he was one of them. It was weird when he thought about it.

A couple minutes later they came to a corner part of the room where a table is set up, along with a desktop computer, plugged into various CPUs on a rack. Gave then started typing on the computer, logging in.

"This is the system I managed to isolate the virus in. Most of the files and programs are corrupted and won't work," he finished and stood aside.

Don then approached the monitor to take a look at the problem. He clicked on a few of the programs and noticed a corruption error appeared. "Where exactly is the virus."

"Some of us aren't sure, it seems to be jumping from program to program, it makes it hard trying to find it."

"Run any anti-viral programs?"

Gavin nodded as he leaned against the table, "Yeah, plenty of them. They seem not to have an effect for some reason.

"Hmm…" Don started to think. A virus that seemed to be immune to anti-virus software. It couldn't be destroyed but yet needed to be removed from the system. An idea came to done as he started to type away at the computer. Kept clicking on many files to he smiled when screen popped with saying 'DLL error'. "Found it," Don responded as he then restarted the computer.

"What are you doing?" Gavin asked leaned on the desk, eyes on the computer.

"Hold on," Don responded as he typed away. Once the computer started he hit F8, which put the computer in safe mode. Once it was fully booted up Don then opened up the programs window on the control panel. He typed in the program name and clicked remove, then did the same with any other files associated with the program. He grinned as he stepped back, "Check to see if it's still there."

Gavin raised an eyes as he didn't say anything. He wasn't really sure what he did but he didn't question it as he moved to the computer and initiate a quick scan of the system. A few minutes passed as the program did its work. Once it was finished both eyes rose in shock, "It's not there…it's gone."

Don smiled as he held a prould expression. "I managed to find out which program the virus is effecting. All I had to do is restart the computer in safe mode and remove the infected program, which removed the virus."

"Wait," Gavin then looked at the olive green turtle. "What about the program you removed?"

"Just do a system restore and the program will be returned, but this time virus free."

"Wow, either way it's gone, and you saved me a lot of time and work," He chuckled at the situation. "Thanks a ton, I owe you."

"It's alright, i'm glad to help," Don waved his hand, indicating it wasn't a problem.

"Man it's a good think you came by, I'm not sure-"

"You, stop!" A voice from behind sounded.

Both of them looked at what was going on. Apparently a medium sized scientist was pushing others away as he started off in a sprint, he seemed to be holding something, but was being blocked from his vision.

"He has important files stop him!" one of the other scientist shouted.

What happened next shocked Donatello, not at first though. It was as if his instincts kicked in and his body was on autopilot. He rushed forward, and things seemed to slow down as both eyes scanned a table he passed. They came upon a hammer that laid there. Reached he grabbed and threw it at the fleeing scientist. The object sailed through the air and struck the guy in the back, causing him to fall forward onto the ground, sliding to a stop.

The interference Donny made created enough time for the rest of the scientist to cover the fallen one, pinning him to the floor.

"Wow, nice throw," Gavin commented as he moved towards the others.

By now some guards came in and picked the escaping scientist up and cuffed him. They were escorting him out when Shredder walked back in, a confused look on his face, "What's going on here?" His tone sharp, demanding answers.

One of the other scientist stepped forward and answered the question. "Sir, Eric took some of our important files and started making a run for it. He may be a spy or something. He would have gotten away but Junko managed to stop him."

Both eyes raised as Shredder's eyes then locked on with the olive green turtle. He then walked over to him as there was a silence in the room. Standing a couple feet away he looked at the turtle, "Is this true Junko?"

He wasn't sure why but Don felt a bit nervous at the glace he's being given, this kind of thing always made him feel like this, "Yes…I picked up a hammer and threw it at him."

The response caused a smiled to form on the man's face, a chuckle came out of him as Shredder patted the turtle's shoulder, "Well done Junko, you prevented a near disaster that could have happened."

Donatello smiled at the praise he's being given, that's something that always stayed with him. He loved being praised for anything good he had done. It surprised him a lot to be getting it from Shredder and he liked it. It was strange and foreign but he accepted it, and strangely still liked it. "Th-Thank you."

"Everyone back to work now!" Oroku called out as everyone immediately did what they were order. Shredder looked at Donny again, smile on his face. "Like I said before Junko, great things will come from you. This is just the first step." Don smiled at the praise he received. Maybe things would look up at the moment. He did something good and been praised for it.

Some hours later Oroku Saki sat down in front of a few monitors, looking at the footage of the incident that had occurred in the labs. He watched as Don stopped the scientist from making his escape, and smiled as he watched it over and over again.

"Everything is starting to work out," A voice spoke up from behind.

"I can see that doctor," Shredder spoke.

Dr. Adams grinned as he looked at the footage before him. "He's starting to show some loyalty."

"It's not enough," Shredder responded, face neutral. "Stopping someone in this kind of situation is most likely an initial reaction, not much of a at will kind of response."

"So what are you saying is, that he's has some loyalty but it's not enough?"

"Exactly, something else has to be done to show that he's truly loyal to me," Shredder stood up from his chair after he turned off the monitors. "Make sure to log this into the notes before leaving."

"I will do that sir," Dr. Adams nodded.

Just then there was a knock on the door of the room they were in. Growling a bit Shredder answered, "What is it!"

The door opened and the same scientist who was carted off walked in. He stopped a few yards away before bowing. "Master I did what you asked, may I please return to my normal duties."

"Oh yes, do so. And thank you for helping with this," Oroku nodded as the man turned and left. Once gone he turned to the doctor, "I'm headed out, go and update the notes."

Dr. Adams nodded as he watched Shredder leave the room before he pulled the chair out and sat down in front of the computer in the room. He accessed the server and clicked on some of the lower security files. He clicked on the folder marked 'Trash Records' then on the file labeled 'recycle'.

"Password" The screen blinked, as he typed in the required password.

"Access granted"

He smiled as a bunch of other files popped up. All of them labeled in great detail. Some said, imprisonment time, therapy sessions, personal and other things. He clicked on one file labeled, logs. There were saved files with certain dates on them. He created a new one and named the file as today's date before opening a document and started typing.

Month 11, day 23.

Junko seems to be showing interest in the labs. Today he asked Master Shredder to see them today during breakfast. As expected he drooled over the equipment we had like a kid in a candy store. From what the other scientist told us he took an extreme interest once he had been set up in the private labs. From what I can tell a fellow scientist, Gavin B, came to him and Junko asked to help with a problem he was having. Not only did he find the problem but fixed it in a way none of the other scientist could have thought of. He shows so much potential and I can't wait to see what he can accomplish. More miraculous is that he's showing loyalty to Shredder. We staged an event with one of our Foot ninja. We had him pose as one of our scientist and fake stealing important information. No one knew it had been staged. And just like we expected Junko stopped him, just like we wanted. Lord Shredder says that he's showing loyalty but it's not enough. He's going to need to do something big to show he's completely loyal to lord Shredder. But what it is we don't know yet.

Dr. Adams saved the document before exiting out of the server he had been using. He turned the computer off before standing up and leaving. Loyalty is something they sought from Don, and surprisingly he had be slowly showing it.

A/N: Hope you like. Like I said i'm busy with these last two weeks of work and it's being demanding. Once my semester is over I'll be able to write full time again. Thank you all those who waited I appreciate you waiting. Till next time.