Chapter 7

Home Free

Michelangelo practically burst through the entrance to the lair, not calming down until he was certain that it was closed, at which point he leaned his back against the wall and slid down to the floor, finally taking deep breathes to relax a bit.

"Mikey?" he heard someone ask. "Mikey, are you alright?"

Looking up, he saw Monalisa standing in front of him, her face still having the saddened look that hadn't left her since the Diablo incident, but there were clear signs of concern as well.

"Hey… sis…" Michelangelo said between breathes, trying to force a smile.

"What happened? Why are you…?" Monalisa began, but stopped when she noticed the bloodstain on Michelangelo's bandages. "You're bleeding?! What happened, Mikey?! Tell me!"

"Just help me to our dear Doc-brother… and I'll tell you all… and maybe fetch me some water or soda too… I could really use something to drink…"

"Ahh… that hit the spot." Michelangelo said with a sigh of relief as he had taken a mouthful of water. He was now sitting in the medical room while Donatello checked his wound. The other adults were also present, while Pandora and Kemeko were busy playing together in another part of the lair.

"The stitches have broken, and your wounds reopened, but not much, just enough to bleed." Donatello said after examining Michelangelo's arm. "Won't be hard to stitch up again, but I thought I told you to be careful with your arm."

"As did I." said Leonardo. "You promised me to be careful before you left, that's the only reason why I agreed to let you go to the surface."

"And I was careful! You wouldn't believe how difficult it was to get topside using only one arm. But it wasn't my fault, I didn't really have much choice."

"What do you mean, my son?" Splinter asked.

"I ran into a couple of old foes of ours; the snakes of the Foot."

"Mamba and Cobra?!" Monalisa exclaimed, and the other adults shared concerned looks.

"Bingo! The two snakes caught me by surprise and cornered me."

"And that's how you tore your stitches?" Donatello asked.

"More or less, bro, I think." Michelangelo answered with a nod. "They didn't really hurt me, but they did hold me in a strong grip, but I managed to outsmart them and break free."

"Good thing that they're even dumber than you are." said Raphael.

"You got that right, Raph." Michelangelo replied with a smile, but that smile quickly faded and was replaced with a face of worry. "But that's not all that happened. Those two weren't alone."

"What do you mean?" Monalisa asked.

"Were there ninja as well? Or more of the Venomous Five?" Leonardo followed up.

"Almost the last one. There was another mutant, a new snake chick that I've never seen before."

"A new mutant?! Arden must be behind that one!" said Raphael, clenching his fists.

"That's what Mamba and Cobra said, that he had made a new member for them. But this snake, she was different from the other two. I think she's much smarter than the others, for she kept telling them to stop fooling around when they had cornered me, and if they had, I don't think I would have been able to make a run for it like I did."

"That is most troubling." said Splinter as he held his chin in thought.

"Indeed, master Splinter." said Donatello. "The Venomous Five are very dangerous with their innate venom and superior strength compared to us, but one of their biggest weaknesses has always been their lower intelligence. But if this new mutant is more intelligent, then we could be in a lot of trouble, especially if she ends up calling the shots. However, regardless of that, we still need to know what kind of snake this new mutant is, so that we can prepare ourselves."

"Knowing Arden, she's without a doubt venomous, just like the rest." said Monalisa.

"Well, sorry to disappoint you guys, but I have no idea what kind of snake she was." Michelangelo said apologetic. "But I do remember how she looked."

"That could be enough to identify her species." said Leonardo. "Tell us everything that you can remember, Mikey."

"Okay, well…" he thought for a moment. "She was a real redhead, in scales I mean, not hair, that was black, but yeah, her head was really red, as were her tail, stomach and hands. Her back was black I think, and her sides, arms and legs were a very, very blue blue. I think they called her Coral, or something."

Hearing that description and name, Donatello went pale and stopped what he was doing, just staring at his youngest brother with a fearful look.

"Don?"

"My son? Is something wrong?"

"Very wrong…" Donatello said. "If Mikey's description is accurate, then this new mutant is in all likeliness a blue coral snake."

"I take it that's bad?" Michelangelo said, scratching his head a bit.

"It's incredibly bad. The blue coral snake is one of the deadliest snakes in the world." Donatello explained, and just that part causing Michelangelo to begin sweating a little. "They are snake eaters, meaning that they hunt and eat other snakes, including the king cobra, which is a snake eater as well. Their venom acts super fast, effectively paralysing every muscle, including the heart, in almost no time at all. If you're bitten, you'll be dead within a minute, two if you're lucky."

The others paled as well, with the exception of Michelangelo, who had seemingly fainted after learning how close to death he had actually been.

"Well, he's out for the count." Raphael groaned before walking over to his brother and shaking him awake again. "Hey! Wake up, Mikey. Lesson's not over yet."

"What can we do against such a deadly foe, Donny?" Leonardo asked, after he was sure that Michelangelo was fully awake again.

"Aside from avoiding to get bitten, not much I'm afraid. With such a fast acting venom, and how it works, if one is alone there is no hope for survival, even if we were to get our hands on some form of anti-venom, if there even is one, I'm actually not sure of that."

"Then I say we kill her on sight, if we can." said Raphael. "I won't let something like her get anywhere near Pandora."

"The same applies to Kemeko." said Leonardo. "And if she's smarter than the others, that just means that she's a far greater threat than any of Arden's other creations that we've faced so far. I may not like saying this, but I agree wholeheartedly with Raph's suggestion of killing her when the chance presents herself."

"Some foes are far too dangerous to be allowed to live, that is true." said Splinter. "But make sure that you do not loose yourselves in that task, my children. Once fallen, it is difficult to regain ones true path again."

"I'm more worried that Arden is making more mutants again." said Monalisa. "It's been a while since he's made any, at least that we know of."

"True." said Leonardo, holding his chin in thought. "I worry that the Foot might be so tired of not defeating us, that they've decided to try and overwhelm us with sheer numbers of mutants, rather than ninja."

"If that's the case, then there's no way we can deal with them all." said Raphael. "Even if they're stupid, if there are twenty of them for everyone of us in a fight, we're gonna lose, no question about it."

"Ugh… maybe going to Skyrim ain't such a bad idea after all." Michelangelo said with a sigh.

"You might be right, Mikey." said Leonardo. "But before we go that far, we need to know more about what the Foot is up to, and even if they are making an army of mutants, I don't think we should resort to anything more drastic than simply evacuating to Mutopia."

"I agree with Leo." said Donatello. "The Foot doesn't have a base in Chicago, so they'll have a hard time following us in any larger numbers, at least at first. But as long as we're in Chicago, we have Tyroth and the rest of the Knights to help us deal with them."

"Even so, Tyroth might be strong, there's no doubt about that…" said Raphael. "… but even he might be overwhelmed by an army of mutants. The Foot have overpowered him before, though to be fair, it did cost them, and I'm sure that it would cost them even more if they try it again."

"True that." Leonardo said with a nod. "But if we ever find us in a position that we need to move to Mutopia, we're basically signing up for joining them if they have to evacuate. And frankly, I would be fine with that. I know that we could probably find a new place for us to live, but if they've taken us in to help us, I just can't abandon them, especially not like that."

"We know how you're feeling, Leo. We all do." said Monalisa, placing her hand on his shoulder. "Ever since we met them, they've been there for us. Not just Tyroth, Sephie and the rest of the Knights, but everyone of Mutopia. Always willing to lend a hand or simply listen. They are more that just our friends, they are family."

"Well said, my daughter." Splinter said with a smile, and for a moment, he saw how the sadness that haunted Monalisa had faded.

"It's still too early to say how things will turn out." Leonardo continued. "But we will have to make a decision regardless, not to mention discuss this with Kemeko and Pandora, so we all know what to do in the worst case scenario, and let Tyroth and the others know that as well. But for now, we will wait and keep our eyes open. We will talk more about this later."

As the others nodded in agreement, Michelangelo thought back on the last he saw of Coral, and that look she gave him as he escaped. He couldn't help but shudder at the memory of the glare that chilled him to the core, and hoped that he didn't have to run into her again.

Mikey has managed to get back home safely, but not without injuries, as we saw last time. At least the others now know about Coral, and they have every right to be worried about her.

As for what the future holds for them, and Coral as well, that remains to be seen.