Chapter 11
Inner Turmoil
A few days later, Izo Arashi stepped into Arden's laboratory with subtle smile on his lips.
"Doctor?" he called out, and shortly after, Arden stepped out from behind one of several large devices.
"You called, master?" Arden answered, the scarred side of his face wrinkling as he smiled.
"That I did, William. I wanted to congratulate you on the Venomous Five's successful mission. Our scouts report that the infighting among the Purple Dragons have all but ceased, with only a handful of minor members still resisting."
"I trust that they will not be an issue for very long." Arden said with a smirk.
"Quite so. In fact, you can expect some new… 'volunteers' in the near future." Arashi said with a smirk of his own.
"Oh, excellent! I have some experiments that I'd love to try."
"I bet you do. And I must admit, sending the Venomous Five was a far better choice than I had anticipated. You did well in your assessment of their utility in this."
"Every now and then, they need to feel useful."
"And they were, of that there is no doubt. Even master Shredder has spoken of how pleased he is."
"That pleases me greatly." Arden said, bowing slightly at the indirect praise he received. "Has there been any word on who will lead the Purple Dragons now?"
"Some Alex, or something. Honestly, William, I didn't pay attention. What's important is that the Purple Dragons are back where they belong… under our Foot."
Both men snickered at the little joke, and failed to notice a couple of eyes observing them from the entrance to the laboratory.
Coral had arrived for a scheduled examination by doctor Arden, but upon seeing that he was otherwise occupied, she decided to wait until he was done, yet she couldn't help but listening in on the conversation. It was in her nature after all, she was created to spy.
She knew that Komodo and the others had withheld some information in their rapport, and in this case it wasn't an issue, as their superiors didn't care how they brought the Purple Dragons under control, just that they did, and that was just what had been reported.
But her thoughts were brought elsewhere. The man that was talking to Arden was none other than Arashi, the second in command of the Foot. She knew this, despite this being the first time seeing him, no doubt thanks to information Arden had planted in her mind during her creation.
And yet, there was something that felt… off. She recognised the man, no doubt about that, but it was something about that recognition that felt like more than just implanted information. If she didn't know any better, it was as if she actually knew the man, but that couldn't be the case. She was only a little over a week old, and had never even seen him with her own eyes before.
Had she?
She tried to rack her brain for an answer, but found nothing.
Nothing, except for the fragmented memories of the strange dreams and flashbacks she had been having. None of that made any sense to her, as they only very loosely matched her experiences and implanted information.
Could it be because of some form of degradation?
She wasn't sure, and she didn't have the time to think about it at the moment, for Arden and Arashi had finished their talk, and the latter was heading her way.
Having no desire to face him, at least not until she knew the reasons to why she felt as she did, she quickly hid from him, waiting until he was out of sight before returning to the laboratory.
"Ah, there you are, my dear." Arden said when he saw the mutant. "Running a bit late, are we?"
"I was… delayed, master."
"I see. Well, that can happen to the best of us." he motioned for her to take a seat on a medical bed, and she complied, letting the doctor run his tests.
While he did, Coral's mind began to wander.
She found herself looking through the eyes of a Foot ninja, training and sparring with several other Foot ninja. Using various weapons and practising stealth techniques. Swearing loyalty the Foot, and to their leader, Arashi.
"There, all done." Arden's voice brought Coral out of her thoughts and back to reality.
"Anything of concern, master?" Coral asked.
"You are the very image of health and physique, an excellent creature all in all, and I should I know." Arden snickered. "Unless you have anything to add, you're free to go, my dear."
"No, nothing."
"Very well. Oh, before you leave, I want you to know that master Shredder is very pleased with the last mission. You and the Venomous Five can expect some little extra in the near future."
"I understand, master."
"Speaking of which, have you made any progress with your own mission yet?"
"Minimal, at best, master. Gaining their trust takes time, but I do have an angle I'm working on."
"Very good, my dear. Keep me informed."
"I will, master."
Leaving the laboratory, Coral thought back on what she just said.
'I will, master'.
Not 'I will tell you everything, master'.
That's what she would have told him back when she was fresh out of the pod, but now… she withheld things. Her dreams, flashes of memories, stray thoughts, she kept all of those things a secret from her creator.
Her mind brought back the memory of training, and she now examined it more closely, and there were things that didn't add up.
While the stealth training certainly was useful, so could the weapons training be, and yet, neither she nor the rest of Venomous Five really used any weapons, with a few exceptions, such as Mamba favouring a tanto.
But what really caught her attention was the part about swearing loyalty to Foot, specifically their leader, Arashi
But that couldn't be right.
Shredder was the leader, with Arashi as his second in command. Even Coral knew that. So why did she think that Arashi was in charge?
The information in her mind was contradicting itself, and she needed to find out why. But how?
She knew that she should see doctor Arden about it, but something told her not to, that he wasn't to be trusted. Another contradiction.
A thought formed in her mind.
Could something like this be why the Venomous Five were as they were? The reason why they withhold information or even straight out disobey their masters? That some of the information that they had been given was contradicting itself?
It certainly seemed like a possibility, one that she needed to investigate further. Perhaps she could lean a bit on Nile to get some more information, but she'd have to be careful how she asked about it.
She made her way towards the nest, hoping to get the answers she sought.
As, she did, another memory came to her.
The final part of a nightmare she had been having.
A male voice saying only a single word, a word she knew was how the owner of the voice saw her.
Garbage.
Only now, she saw a face to go with the voice, and she recognised them both.
It was Arashi.
'What is wrong with me?' she wondered, genuinely worried.
Meanwhile, in the depths of the sewers, the Hamato clan went about their business in their Lair, or at least as well as they could.
After the events with Diablo, everyone had their own way of dealing with his betrayal, especially Monalisa, whom had been hurt the worst by her brother's action, at least on the emotional level.
She was angry, sad, and generally upset beyond words, and it would be a long time before she felt that she could even talk about it, even to those closest to her. So instead, once her physical wounds had healed enough, she had decided to vent her frustrations on practice targets in the dojo.
It had been two weeks since, and the only results that she had gotten were damaged targets, as her frustration just refused to be released. There had been several times that she had had to end her training after breaking down in tears.
This was one of those times.
"Why…" She sobbed, tears falling. "Why, Callum… Why… Why did you do this…"
Watching from the entrance to the dojo, Monalisa's daughter Pandora worried greatly for her mother. She was about to hurry over to her, when a firm hand was placed on her shoulder and held her in place.
"Leave her be, geisha." said a hushed, yet kind voice.
"Uncle Leo?"
"Your mother needs some time to herself right now."
"But…"
"Listen." Leonardo lowered himself to eye level with the young hybrid. "You're worried about her, I understand, we are all worried about her, but after what happened with Callum… Diablo… there's not much we can really do for her right now. She will come to us when she feels that she's ready. We just need to give her some space and time. Okay?"
Pandora looked first at her uncle, then at her mother, whom had returned to striking the targets, and then back at Leonardo.
"Okay…" she said in a defeated voice. She wanted to help her mother, but she didn't know how, so she reluctantly trusted what Leonardo had said, leaving the dojo together with the blue-masked turtle.
Michelangelo was deep in thought, sitting at his laptop, a chat program open on it. He had stared at the screen for what might have been hours.
A pair of fingers snapped in front of his face, bringing him back to the world around him.
"Huh?"
"Finally! I've been trying to get your attention for several minutes. I almost thought your brain had finally left your skull." Raphael said.
"Sorry, bro. Guess I was miles away."
"I'm not even sure you were in the same time-zone, Mikey." Raphael said, pulling up a chair and sitting down next to his youngest brother. "Are you alright?"
"Not really." Michelangelo sighed. "After my run in with this Coral chick, I've been having a delayed near-death experience."
"Hey, if it's any comfort, I don't blame you. If Donnie is right, and let's face it, he usually is, then she's the deadliest mutant the Foot has ever gotten. You were luckier than you had any right to be, and I'm happy for that."
"Me too."
"So what's the deal with the laptop?"
"Well, I was trying to write a message to Kate, telling her about my encounter with Coral, but… I'm not sure I should. I mean, they already have enough to deal with as is, with that whole Diablo mess."
"Don't wanna give her more to stress about? Good call."
"Yeah… I care about her, and she cares about me, but I don't think I'd be doing her any favours by telling her that I was this close to being either captured or killed. What if knowing that makes her mess up and get hurt?"
"Then you know what I think?" Raphael reached over and closed the laptop. "Just leave it at that. Send her a message when you've got something better to tell her. Some happier news, maybe a new comic book or something like that."
"I did get a few new ones before we ran into Jake and… well, I never got to read them. Guess I'll do that." Michelangelo said with a small smile.
"Guys?" they heard Donatello ask, and mere seconds later, the purple-masked turtle poked his head into the room. "I though I heard the two of you in here. Could you come to the medical room for a moment, there's been some developments top side."
A few moments later, the adults had been gathered in the medical room, while Pandora and Kemeko were left to watch TV under Splinter's supervision.
"What's this about?" Monalisa asked, dark rings under her eyes and her voice tired and gruff, a stark contrast to her usual self.
"I got a call from April and Casey, they've been keeping tabs on the situation since we left for Mutopia. And after Jake shot Hun dead, the streets have been crazy, the Purple Dragons having almost descended into a civil war."
"Not unlike what happened after we took down the Shredder the first time." said Leonardo, remembering how the Foot, Purple Dragons, mafia, and general crime groups had almost waged an all out war on each other in the power vacuum.
"Pretty much, yeah, and granted, that's to be expected."
"Yeah, they all want to be top dog now." said Raphael, crossing his arms. "What are the odds that they wipe themselves out?"
"That's the weird thing, Raph, just the other day, they all stopped their bickering and got unified again."
"No way, dude! How'd they pull that off so quickly?" Michelangelo asked.
"We're not sure, yet. Though we have our suspicions that the Foot are involved, having put their house back in order again."
"Typical." Monalisa scoffed. "But at least it won't escalate and endanger civilians."
"A small victory, but it's something at least." Leonardo agreed.
"There is one more thing, though." Donatello added. "Not sure if it's important, but April did some digging, and she found this."
Donatello picks up a paper from the bench next to him, a print from his computer. On it was a picture of a person that they all recognised, Kyle.
"That scrawny little head-fucked shrimp!?" Raphael exclaimed, remembering how Kyle had ordered his goons to execute the red-masked turtle after they walked into a trap. It was still a miracle that he survived, even with the aid of the angel-like woman that had saved him.
"We haven't seen him for years." Monalisa added. "Always kept away from the front lines, the coward."
"Well, we won't see him again." said Donatello. "They found him dead earlier this morning."
"Shame, I would have loved to repay him for what he did." Raphael growled.
"Same here." said Monalisa.
"Think he died during the infighting?" Leonardo asked.
"Maybe, but the initial report got me concerned. They mention a pair of puncture wounds on the side of his neck, almost like a large snake bite."
"Snake!? That sounds like those V5 chicks!" said Michelangelo.
"If that's the case, then the Foot must have sent the Venomous Five to put the gang in place again." said Leonardo. "I think we should go top side and investigate a bit ourselves."
"If it's all the same to you, Fearless, I'm staying right here." said Michelangelo. "One round with those creeps every two weeks is all that I'm allowed by my doctor."
"Don't worry, Mikey. With your injury, you wouldn't be going either way. And I will stay here to keep an eye on you and master Splinter." said Donatello. "Same with you, Raph, that hole in your hand needs to heal just as much."
"Spoilsport." Raphael scoffed.
"That means it's you and me, Mona. You up for a run?" Leonardo.
"Let's do this" she said, hoping that maybe this could help her take her mind off things.
The more Coral learns, the more she questions what she knows.
And Mona is in a pretty bad place following Diablo's betrayal in Bloodrayne666's story Falling Inside the Black, also big thanks to Bloodrayne666 for her imput and help with this chapter.