Heya readers, last place we left off, the Kemeko Clone had been searching in the real Kemeko's room to learn about her and delay anyone finding out the truth.
So far no-one has suspected she's a clone, but is that about to change?
Note: Vulstrun belongs to Tyroth Darkstorm in his fic 'Nemesis'
Chapter Thirty
Suspicious
Later in the day, or night as the mutants were nocturnal, Donatello went into his medical room to check on Pandora, and he was pleased to see she was looking better.
As he entered, he saw the young hybrid was reading a comic book Michelangelo had given her and he saw her swollen eye had gone down.
As Pandora heard her uncle enter, she looked up from the comic.
"Hi Uncle Don!" she said.
"Heya Geisha." He replied, "I can see you're looking better!"
"I feel better too!" Pandora said, "I don't feel any pain, apart from a little stinging where Cobra dribbled on me, yuck! But other than that, I'm okay."
"That's great to hear!" Donatello smiled as he walked over and started to look over her wounds.
"Hmmm, ah yes, you're healing nicely, your cuts have healed up, and the burns have almost faded." He looked at his niece.
"It's proof that you carry the same healing salamander qualities of your mother, as well as being a mutant." He said "Yet, unlike the Mutopians, you do take longer to heal."
Pandora nodded.
"Does that mean I'm free to leave the medical room Uncle Don?" she asked.
Donatello frowned and looked over Pandora's wounds again.
"Well, from what I've observed, your wounds are healing, and you feel no pain?"
"Nope nope!" Pandora winked.
"Then yes, you're free to go!" Donatello said.
"Sweet!" Pandora said getting off the bed and putting on a red silk dressing gown that hung nearby.
"Yet." Donatello spoke making Pandora stop in her tracks.
"What?" the hybrid asked as she turned to her uncle.
"Despite your physical wounds healing, how is your mind, after what happened in the cells?" Donatello asked.
Pandora looked down.
"I won't lie Uncle Don." She said, "But I was terrified, and I still feel hurt in my mind at what they did, but I vow not to let it stop me, I refuse!"
"You are a brave girl!" Donatello said with a smile "Well, after what happened in Mutopia with Vulstrun, you have gotten stronger and braver as you've gotten older and more experienced."
Pandora smiled at her uncle then looked down blinking away a few tears that threatened to fill her eyes.
"Well, I try." She spoke.
Donatello chuckled and flicked her chin affectionately.
"I wonder how Kemeko is?" Pandora asked.
"Come to think of it." She thought to herself, "She didn't come into the medical room to see how I was, especially since she say she blames herself for what happened."
"I think she's still upset." Donatello said, "I wouldn't be surprised, especially after what happened."
Pandora nodded.
"Do you think I should go and talk to her?" she asked, "If she allows me to, of course?"
"I see no reason why not." Donatello shrugged "You're the best person to talk to about problems if she doesn't want to talk to us grown-ups."
"I'll give it a shot at least." Pandora replied as they walked out of the room and into the main lair, Michelangelo was in the TV area munching on some potato chips whilst watching the TVs, but she couldn't see her parents, Uncle Leonardo, nor her grandfather, so she guessed they were in their respected rooms, the dojo, or the quiet room.
Walking up to the bedrooms, Pandora walked up to Kemeko's room.
"I hope I can speak to you Kemeko and listen to you if you want to release your woes." She said quietly as she approached the door.
Inside Kemeko's room, the clone had been reading the journals as well as studying the photos she had found as well as where certain things were in the room, so nothing looked suspicious.
She had tried to activate a tracker she had in her clothes, hoping it would give away her location, but to her dismay, the tracker didn't work inside the lair, and she wondered whether it was because of the signal as they were so low underground, or because of Donatello's security systems.
"Damn!" she thought to herself "If the tracker here won't work, I may have to leave the lair to get a better signal out of range or get to higher ground then activate the tracker then lead the scouts down here."
As she thought hard about a plan, a knock at the door made her jump and she quickly shoved the briefcases under the chest of drawers where she found them, as well as under the bed and jumped up.
"Who is it?" she asked, quickly looking in the mirror to check her eyes and she was pleased they were Kemeko's grey blue ones rather than the snake eyes.
"I must be careful!" she thought "If my eyes give me away, the game is up! Dr Arden did tell me that certain emotions would give them away!"
"It's Pandora!" she heard the hybrid call from the other side "can I come in?"
"Sure!" the clone Kemeko called, and she sat on the bed keeping her back to the door.
Pandora opened the door carefully and looked in.
"Kem?" she asked "Are, are you okay?"
"Still feeling upset." The clone replied, "Still reeling from the shock."
"I'm not surprised." Pandora said walking over and sitting on the dressing table stool.
"How are your wounds?" Clone Kemeko asked as she analysed the hybrid's wounds.
"Feeling better." Pandora replied, "Uncle Don let me go just five minutes ago, it's a good thing I got mum's healing abilities, being part salamander and all!"
"That soothes my heart." Kemeko said "And I'm so sorry they did that to you!"
"It's not your fault Kem!" Pandora said, "You did beg Shredder not to have them hurt me when they dragged me away from you in his throne room, but he gave the order, shows he's a dishonourable prick!"
Clone Kemeko nodded.
"He would never be my grandfather!" she said narrowing her eyes.
"What did Uncle Leo and Grandpa say to you after they took you to your room?" Pandora asked.
Kemeko sighed and looked down.
"Father is disappointed, but he has every right to be, after what I did."
"Disappointed?" Pandora asked "Jeez! That's worse than anger." She looked to the door "Every time I was scolded, being told by my parents they were angry at me was bad enough, but disappointment…. oh boy…"
"Did he mention the accident?" Pandora asked to which clone Kemeko looked up.
"Huh?" she asked.
"When you threw the knife at him, and it got him!" Pandora reminded her cousin "That was your reason for running away!"
The clone had started to panic but when Pandora mentioned it, she was quick to speak again.
"No, he didn't." she said and lowered her head before burying her face in her hands "But I feel awful! I didn't mean to!"
"No-one blames you for that!" Pandora comforted reaching over and touching the clone's shoulder as she shivered and sobbed "We all know it was an accident."
As she comforted her cousin, the Hybrid frowned a little.
"How come she acted confused about the accident; didn't think she's forgotten it that quick? Unless, what happened at the Foot Headquarters affected her worse than I thought."
She looked at Kemeko (Or rather the clone) as she sobbed into her hands.
"Kem?" she asked but the clone just sniffled and sobbed.
"I…I don't want to talk anymore." She said, "I just want to be alone."
Pandora cocked her head on one side.
"You sure?" she asked "Sitting here in your bedroom feeling sorry for yourself won't do any good! We could go into the playroom and play some games?"
The clone stopped crying yet didn't look up from her hands.
"Play games?" she asked.
"Yeah!" Pandora said, her voice brightening up "Our video games! It'll make you feel better! And if you like, we'll play Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, or Injustice, take out your anger in the fighting games?"
The clone was quiet for a moment then lifted her head yet kept her face hidden behind her hair.
"Okay." She said, "That sounds good to me."
Pandora smiled.
"Okay! Let's go to the playroom, in fact, why don't you go in and get us started, I'll get us some snacks! Let's just hope Uncle Mikey hasn't eaten them all!" she added with a laugh then walked to the door before heading to the kitchen.
The Clone watched her go then cursed.
"Damn!" she thought "Where's the playroom in this dump?" she stood up and walked out of the bedroom and into the main lair.
"Can't be hard to find." She thought as she looked over and saw the hybrid going into the kitchen.
She climbed down the ladder from the bedroom area and onto the lower level then began to run around looking into the different areas.
She saw the Japanese style sliding doors of one room, but she passed that, she then saw another room that was empty apart from some junk that the mutants had salvaged on one of their trips above.
The next room was a spare bedroom, as was the next one, the following one after that was the Dojo.
"Fuck!" she thought to herself "If that crossbreed my prime calls a cousin sees me, I'll be caught out! Where is that room?"
She ran along until she came to a doorway with some game and film posters covering it, touching it, it opened and to her relief she saw it was the playroom.
"Bingo!" she thought as she walked in and took a moment to take in the way the room was decorated.
There were shelves filled with video games, books, DVDs, comics, and ornaments, posters of video games and films, mainly of Kung Fu Panda, Dungeons and Dragons, Transformers, Super Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog, Mortal Kombat and many more.
A large TV covered one wall with many games' consoles and a DVD/Blu-Ray player attached to it.
There were a couple of sofas and armchairs, a large green carpet with beanbags and large pillows in the shape of turtles and a few stuffed toys, mostly turtles and pandas.
"Cute." She thought as she looked then began to switch on the TV and games consoles.
Just as she turned them on, Pandora arrived with a tray of snacks and drinks.
Amongst the snacks were a couple of bags of Doritos, buttered popcorn and two bottles of soda and two glasses.
"Here we are!" Pandora said brightly as she placed the snacks on the floor before them.
The clone forced a smile.
"So! What game shall we play?" Pandora asked "Mortal Kombat? Mario Party? Or what about Super Smash Brawl?"
She picked up Super Smash Brawl and the clone nodded in agreement and Pandora instantly set up the Wii.
"I wonder if you'll beat me this time?" Pandora challenged "You said you would last time we played!"
"Oh, yes I did!" The clone replied as she sat down and picked up a controller.
"You sure did!" Pandora said, "What was it you said to me?"
The clone looked up and she felt her blood run cold.
"Shit…" she thought.
"Um…" she said "I um…"
"You said, don't get cocky! I'm ready for a rematch anytime!" Pandora said.
"Oh yes!" the clone said brightly "Now I remember! After today…I just…"
"It's okay!" Pandora said then sat on a red beanbag ready to play, yet she glanced sideways at Kemeko.
"It wasn't that long ago you said that!" she thought to herself "It was just before your birthday party! How could you forget?"
She looked at Kemeko then up at the screen as the game loaded up and they started to choose their characters.
"Are you sure you're feeling alright?" she thought "Either that…or something's off about you…"
So Pandora's left the medical room, and is trying to cheer who she thinks is her cousin up, but she's starting to notice a few things off about the clone! Will she realise the truth before it's too late? Well keep checking back to find out!