Forward And Back Again

Safe Haven

The bus stopped at its destination in the Upstate area. As soon as it did, six figures quietly leaped off of the roof of the bus in the dead of night.

The bus soon departed as the Turtles, Splinter, and Renet looked around.

"Nothing like getting the wind and all them bugs in your face," Raph spat on the ground, wiping away at his own mouth.

Their journey to their location hadn't exactly been the smoothest of rides, considering they were forced to board a bus in an unconventional fashion.

Before them in Upstate New York was a building that resembled a mansion.

"Sorry we had to do this," Donny told him. "But us boarding any kind of transport would've been tricky. Even in our time buses have cameras inside and if they caught us, we would've been in more trouble."

"Is that really the place?" asked Renet.

"It is," confirmed Donatello. "This is where the former Agent Bishop lives now."

"We gonna go up there or not?" asked Raph.

"I'm just wondering how much Mr. Mad Scientist changed in this new timeline," Michelangelo said eagerly.

As the group headed towards the road to the mansion, they had no idea they were still being monitored.

oooo

Via satellite, Torbin Zixx was tracking everything in the world with advanced AI and state-of-the-art surveillance technology.

The Emperor stood besides multiple pop up screens as Boss Zukko stood by his side.

"Did I ever mention it's good to be king?" asked Emperor Zixx.

"You've made that clear," Boss Zukko told him.

Soon, a red, inhuman creature coalesced in front of both Boss Zukko and Emperor Zixx.

"I believe I have found them, my Emperor," Viral told Zixx.

"Good work, Viral," Torbin Zixx smiled.

Viral opened up a new holographic screen right in front of Torbin Zixx.

"Hmm, so that's where they're going," Zixx rubbed his chin. "Interesting. Makes sense though."

"They are indeed headed to the Bishop residency," Viral confirmed.

"I'm glad we have a fix on them," Torbin Zixx noted.

"Do you wish to send the Governor General to handle this?" asked Viral.

"I was hoping to send Jammerhead but now he's undergoing repairs and Dun is overseeing that," Zixx shook his head.

"I will go," Boss Zukko told them.

"Uh, are you sure?" asked Torbin Zixx. "Aren't you supposed to be my royal advisor? Because I can't recall a single moment in human history where a king sent his advisor to battle."

"I got you this far, didn't I?" Zukko answered. "And I will be the one who will see this to the end with those Turtles."

"Well, I trust you know what you're doing," Zixx conceded.

"Excellent," Zukko smiled. "I will take a contingent of forces and handle this personally."

oooo

"So, uh, do we knock?" asked Mikey, looking up at the night sky. "It is kinda late and the crickets are already chirping."

"Plus, Bishop might not take too kindly to strangers, especially considering we just randomly show up out of nowhere," Leo acknowledged.

"I thought Bishop was one of the good guys now?" asked Renet.

"Well, he's still kind of a hard case," Raph told her. "Dude's got issues… whether he's hero or villain."

"That's right."

A figure stepped out of the woods training an energy rifle on the entire group.

"Because to do the right thing, you can't always be soft. Do me a favor and identify yourselves at once!"

The Turtles, Splinter, and Renet looked up to see Bishop before them dressed up in plain, white clothes, wearing a similar cybernetic visor he had as President Bishop. They realized they were still cloaked and wearing robes to disguise themselves.

"Easy Bishop," Leo told him. "We're not here to start any trouble. Guys, remove the hoods."

The entire group took off their hoods to reveal their faces. At seeing who he was dealing with, Agent Bishop looked genuinely surprised and put down his rifle.

"Could… could it be?" asked Bishop in shock.

"It's us," Leo told him. "We've made it to this future."

"This future?" Bishop raised an eyebrow.

The long-lived man could tell from Leo's choice of words that something wasn't exactly right.

"It's complicated," Donatello told them. "We can explain it to you now if you'd like."

Bishop looked down briefly before coming to a decision.

"You can tell me later," Bishop finally relented. "All of you are welcome inside first."

"Thank you," Splinter told him graciously. "My sons and I appreciate your generosity."

Bishop pressed down on some codes on his gate to open it up.

"Come inside with me," Bishop beckoned.

"Now that I think of it, we could use water and a warm meal," Michelangelo noted.

"For once, Mikey," Raph told him. "You ain't wrong."

oooo

"Wow, this is… unexpected" Mikey looked around the mansion.

All around them were human and alien children playing together. In all this time, Bishop in this timeline had become some kind of warden or caretaker.

"This man was once a ruthless villain?" Renet asked Leo.

"Well, people change," Leo told her. "I just didn't expect him to undergo this change."

"Give it back!"

The group turned around to see a human orphan squabbling with a purple alien orphan over a toy. Before long, Bishop moved in to be peace-maker.

"Enough children," he told them. "You're all equals in this household and I want you to learn to share with one another."

"O-Okay…"

Both children calmed down considerably and walked off to play in a more sharing manner.

"I have a question," Leo asked Bishop. "Decades ago, did you undergo a change of heart because of the act of one alien who saved your life?"

Bishop looked down in contemplation before answering.

"I was," Bishop replied. "A long time ago, I was a different man and treated the lives of extraterrestrials as expendable lab rats. One fateful day, there was an accident in the location I was working in and Baxter Stockman went missing. In the chaos, I was trapped under rubble and an alien of all people saved me. Try as I could, I could not erase that image from that mind and over time, my attitude towards other lifeforms changed. I sought out allies and peace among other beings in the galaxy and chose the path of diplomacy over war."

"After that, did you become President of the Pan-Galactic Council?" inquired Michelangelo.

"Haha," Bishop chuckled. "I considered it. But before I could, something happened that changed my life even further."

"John, who are these people?" asked a light blue skinned alien woman with darker blue hair. "Are they your friends?"

She walked to Bishop and gave him a hug and kiss on the cheek.

"Okay, things have REALLY changed," Raph whispered to Renet.

"This is my wife Alkaid," Bishop introduced.

From what the Turtles could tell, the humanoid alien woman standing before them looked to be of the same race as Jhanna, the alien warrior woman they'd met before. Either that or she was of the same species as Starlee.

"While I was doing my intergalactic diplomacy work, I met Alkaid," Bishop informed everyone. "After we finally got married, I decided to step away from politics and run this orphanage as another way of atoning for my past crimes."

"Alright Bishop, I got no doubt you're redeemed," Raph stood up. "But in all this time, guess who became all-powerful because you decided to step away?"

Even Raph couldn't believe he was defending the very concept of Bishop becoming President. But even that idea was better in his mind than Torbin Zixx getting his way.

"It… may have been a mistake on my part," Bishop admitted. "But it's a mistake that may be too late to rectify. After I stepped away from the political field, things were peaceful with the first President of the Pan-Galactic Council for a long period of time. But over time, a darkhorse family from House Zeiss rose to power and took absolute control. Its current Emperor has even abolished his own family named and is known solely as Emperor Torbin Zixx now."

"Would it be possible for you to return to the fray?" asked Donatello. "Torbin Zixx has done something unforgivable and we need your help to undo a lot of what he's done."

"It may be too late now," admitted Bishop. "For one, I no longer have even a fraction of the resources I once had, having given that all up to take in these orphans. Additionally, the Zeiss family power structure is too deeply entrenched in all the levers and chambers of the current worldwide government. Overthrowing Zixx is going to be difficult, if not close to downright impossible."

Bishop looked around at all the children in his orphanage and then towards his wife.

"And as you can see," Bishop smiled sadly. "I also cannot afford to risk the family I have now."

"That's… understandable," Leo had to admit.

"John is all these children have," Alkaid explained. "Many of them came from broken homes on Earth and the others came from wartorn worlds across the stars."

"I see your dilemma," Splinter said to Bishop. "We can see why you cannot involve yourself. My sons and I will press you no further."

"Thank you for understanding," Alkaid smiled at them.

"Well Donny?" Raph turned to his super-genius brother. "Anything else you got?"

Donatello sighed. Contacting Bishop had pretty much been his only option. And as there was nothing on any other potential ally in this altered timeline, whether for the Inuwashi Gunjin or the future Turtle Titan, he was fresh out of options.

"I… I'll come up with something," Donny told the group. "But right now I just need to sit down and think over our options."

"I can get you some tea in the meantime," Alkaid offered him.

"Thanks," Donatello told her. "If nothing else, I'm glad Bishop was able to meet a good woman like you."

"I still have some books and records of the current power structure I can show you Donatello," Bishop told him. "Some of them are a little out-of-date but if I can at least help in this way, I can rest easier knowing I contributed in some way."

oooo

"Everyone in position?" asked Torbin Zixx.

Emperor Zixx appeared before Boss Zukko and his men in the form of a hologram on the wrist-mounted communicator Zukko had. The Triceraton royal advisor had a mixed battalion of both armed Triceraton and human warriors combined.

And all of them stood right outside the gates of Bishop's mansion.

"All your men stand at ready," Zukko replied in the affirmative.

"That's good," Zixx smiled. "Now I know John Bishop is a philanthropist and an important figure who helped Earth integrate with the rest of the galaxy but right now, we're looking at some invasive species that made their way into my timeline. I think you know what that means."

"We'll do whatever we need to do," Boss Zukko promised. "You have my word."

"Thank you Boss Zukko," Zixx smiled as an exotic green skinned alien woman with white hair wrapped her arms around him. "You have my permission to act in whatever manner you deem appropriate."

"Come play with us, Torb!" the green alien girl pulled at Zixx's arm.

"Alright, catch you on the flip side!" Zixx smiled and cut the connection to go have his fun with his alien paramour.

"Everyone!" Zukko ordered. "Get ready! All bets are off in this raid!"

oooo

As everyone gathered around Donatello for his research, Raphael stood to the side with his back against the wall, crossing his arms.

Out of all their villains in the past, his hatred for Bishop was probably the most intense, being at least on par with his hatred for Shredder. And even the future Bishop of the original timeline was never his favorite person in the world despite being a being a not-too-close ally.

However, Bishop right now running an orphanage was a completely different story.

"Something the matter?" Bishop walked up to Raph.

"You really do care about Alkaid and the kids, don't you?" asked Raphael.

"It's hard to believe considering the man I used to be," Bishop answered. "But yes. Their safety and happiness is my top priority over anything else. I have a lot to atone for in life and I hope by doing this, I can make up for all the lives I destroyed."

"Well, you atoned willingly," Raph nodded. "I'm gonna make Torbin Zixx atone the hard way, whether he likes it or not."

"Did Emperor Zixx take someone from you?" asked Bishop.

"He did," answered Raph. "Someone we consider family."

Raph was torn between telling Bishop the whole story or not. If he revealed to Bishop what the original timeline was, there was always a chance that Bishop wouldn't want everything to be restored, considering how happy Bishop is with his current life. Life in the country with a wife and taking care of orphans was certainly more peaceful, relatively speaking, compared to being an overworked President who was on edge all the time balancing intergalactic politics with global security.

And truth be told, there was a part of Raph that wanted Bishop to have this happy ending after all he'd seen.

"But you know what," Raphael told Bishop. "You don't need to worry about our vendetta. It's personal because I welcomed Zixx into our lives and he stabbed us in the back."

"Alright guys, I think I've gathered enough of what I was looking for," Donatello told them. "We can head out now if you want."

"There's no need," Alkaid told him. "All of you are tired. And you can stay the night."

"Yes," Bishop told them. "All of you can rest up before you leave for your journey again."

"We appreciate that," Leo thanked the couple.

"Leonardo, I am curious," Bishop said to him. "Before, you talked about 'this' future. What exactly did you mean by that?"

"Well, it's hard to explain," Leo told him. "But I guess we'd better get down to telling you the whole story. You see, it all started back in our own time when we got a surprise visit from—"

At once, the front of the mansion exploded as pieces flew everywhere. All of the Turtles, Splinter, Renet, Bishop, and the residents sprawled to the floor to avoid the debris.

"What was that?!" Raph cried.

Multiple Triceraton and human soldiers flooded the mansion, armed to the teeth.

One heavily armored Triceraton who looked like he'd undergone experiments to become a cyborg walked in as his soldiers parted like the Red Sea for him.

"Oh my," Boss Zukko grinned. "Where are my manners?"

"Boss Zukko?" Donatello looked surprised. "What happened to this guy?"

"In the name of Emperor Torbin Zixx," one of the Triceraton soldiers shouted. "You are all under arrest!"

"Fat chance!" Raph got his sai's ready for battle.

"Do rethink your current attitude, Raphael," Boss Zukko told him.

"You invade my home, destroy the sanctity of this orphanage, put my family in danger," Bishop said seethingly, walked towards Boss Zukko. "And you think I'm going to stand by and let you pillage us in the name of that drug-addicted, lush of an Emperor called Torbin Zixx?!"

"I suggest you stay right where you are, Bishop," Zukko quickly revealed a young, tentacled alien child he had behind his back.

To further illustrate his point, Zukko pointed a blaster at the boy's head.

"Zukko, you piece of trash!" Raph shouted.

"Stand down Bishop," Zukko ordered.

Finally, Bishop had no choice but to stop where he was. His arms sagged in surrender.

"You're right," Bishop sighed. "I can't risk their lives after everything we've built together."

"Listen carefully," Zukko told them. "Here's how it's going to work. The turtles, the rat, and the blonde girl will be coming with us as prisoners."

"Great," Raph growled. "Back to the frying pan we go."

"These are the only prisoners we want," Zukko cautioned. "As for you, Bishop, it's best that you cooperate because you, your wife, and your entire adoptive family are all expendable in my eyes… and the Emperor's eyes."

As the soldiers surrounded them, Raphael and his companions realized that in this moment, the Triceraton cyborg held all the cards.

To be continued.