Chapter 33-Cart Ride To The Nest
Once they had reached the top of the stairs, the group found themselves at the start of one of the mining tracks. It was there that they spotted a mine cart ahead of them.
"Hold on, yer not suggestin' dat we ride dis thing?" Raph asked hesitantly.
"Do you see any other way…?" Luis questioned bluntly.
"Come on, Raph, it's big enough for all of us to ride in…We don't have much of a choice, anyway…" Donnie said after assessing the size of the mine cart.
Despite their reluctance, the turtle brothers approached the mine cart before allowing Luis to hop in first and then Donnie followed after.
"Give us a push, amigos!" Luis demanded.
"Who da shell put you in charge?" Raph groaned before he and Leo started pushing the mine cart to get it moving, which it did, before they too jumped in.
"There, it's moving! This should speed things up a bit…!" Luis observed confidently.
"I can't believe we're doin' dis…" Raph groaned again.
"Hey, we're in a hurry, right? Oh, by the way…" Luis replied firmly.
"What now?" Raph asked grumpily.
"I hope you like thrill rides…!" Luis chimed just before the cart approached a dip on the tracks.
"Waaaaaaah!" The turtle brothers cried out as the cart went down fast on the track.
As they returned to an even level, they suddenly heard sounds of screeching and then saw sparks on the right side of the cart.
"We're going off the rails! Lean!" Luis shouted.
The group leaned over to the left and managed to readjust the wheels to prevent the cart from toppling over. However, they weren't in the clear yet.
"Boards, up ahead!" Donnie alerted as he pointed at the wooden planks blocking their way. Raph was the first to get his shotgun out and blast the boards off just as they approached them.
The cart continued on down the track without a problem until it got closer to a crossroad; the left track led towards a dead end, whilst the right track was clear.
"Oye! Switch tracks! If we don't, we're gonna crash!" Luis shouted urgently.
Being the one with the most accurate aim, Donnie took out his handgun and took a shot at the switch. It successfully hit its target and the rail was switched just as the cart zoomed past.
"Shell, that was close…" Leo breathed out in relief.
As they continued on, the group heard voices echoing in the tunnels, and it wasn't until they were next to the other railway tracks that they saw their enemies zooming towards them from both sides with crossbows containing fire arrows in hand.
"It's them! Watch out!" Luis cried out.
The turtle brothers went straight into action and readied their weapons. Leo managed to take out the enemies on the left, whilst Raph and Donnie took out the ones on the right. The cart then picked up speed and headed towards a winding bend.
"Left turn! Now, heading to the right!" Luis cried out whilst the group leaned in different positions to keep the cart stable. Then, the track ahead was ramped upwards and caused the cart to fly up into the air.
"Woooooooaaaaaahhhhh!" The group cried as the cart flew and landed on the other end of the track and continued on.
Soon, Luis saw the official end of the track and pulled the break hard, causing sparks to fly. The turtle brothers braced themselves for impact until the cart slowly came to a stop just inches away from the wooden fence.
"Please, tell me dat's it…" Raph pleaded after releasing his breath.
"Afraid not. Things are just getting started…" Luis answered sadly before he and the turtles jumped out of the cart.
The group headed up a set of stairs and continued on a long path before reaching another mine cart, much to Raph's dismay. Luis wasted no time in jumping into the cart before Donnie followed his lead.
"Alright, let's go!" Luis urged.
"Ugh, not dis again…" Raph groaned as he and Leo started pushing the cart.
"Come on, Raph, it's our only way to get out of this place and rescue Mikey…" Leo reminded his immediate younger brother.
"I know, I know…" Raph replied before he and Leo jumped into the cart as it started to pick up speed.
This time, the cave was more spacious and had multiple tracks built all around it, but the group still had to be on their guard. It wasn't long until the cart started to lose its balance as it took a hard turn.
"Hey! The cart's tipping over!" Luis shouted before he and the turtle brothers leaned to the right to keep the cart from tipping and falling to the left.
Then, as they rode further on through the cave, the group was confronted by more of their enemies. This time, there were twice more due to multiple tracks being dotted all over the place, and one of them had a chainsaw.
"We've got trouble!" Leo alerted the others as he took his gun out again.
"Oh, great! Another chainsaw freak, no surprise there!" Raph exclaimed sarcastically as he shot at the other enemies, taking them out.
During the fight, Donnie spotted some fuel barrels on the enemies' tracks and shot at them instead once the enemies on the right side got closer to them, blowing them to smithereens.
"Nice one, Donnie!" Leo praised.
However, even though they took out those with the crossbows, the chainsaw man didn't go down yet and had suddenly disappeared in a different direction. Moments later, the group's cart went up as the track curved upwards, and then it went down again at full speed.
"Waaaaah!" The turtle brothers screamed and held on for dear life.
"Ha, ha! This is kinda fun!" Luis cried out excitedly.
"Yeah! Mikey would've loved this!" Donnie agreed, despite not being very keen on the cart ride himself.
But the fun side of the experience soon disappeared when the cart was going so fast that it was starting to wobble and produce sparks during the corner turnings.
"Careful! This thing's gonna flip!" Luis shouted before he and the group each leaned on a specific side of the cart to keep it balanced.
As the group travelled further, they were met with not only more separate tracks, but also the chainsaw man and more of his friends again.
"Guess who's back!" Leo alerted the others.
The group took out their weapons again and went straight into action; Leo and Raph faced off against the chainsaw man, whilst Donnie and Luis fought against the infected miners on the right side of the cart.
As the chainsaw man's cart got closer to them, he aimed his chainsaw at the group's cart and struck it hard, causing a gaping hole in it but it didn't hit anyone inside.
"Oye! They're gonna destroy the cart if we don't do something fast!" Luis told the others urgently.
Hearing this, Raph decided to change weapons. He put away his handgun and took his hunter's shotgun off his back before he took aim at the chainsaw man.
BANG! BANG!
Two shots were fired at close range, and the chainsaw man was finally taken out.
"End of da line, freak!" Raph shouted victoriously.
As the cart travelled further down the tracks, Luis noticed something on the right side of the cave that was out of place from the way the mines looked like.
"Look! You can see where they dig up the bugs!" Luis suddenly shouted as he pointed at a large tower-like structure with holes in it.
"Whoa…It's huge…!" Donnie exclaimed in awe as he and his older brothers looked at the large nest.
Just then, Luis spotted something further up ahead from the group's location.
"Ahead!" He cried.
The turtle brothers looked ahead and their eyes instantly widened in horror; the rail on the track had been damaged and disconnected from the rest of it with the ends bent upwards.
"Yer kiddin' me…" Raph gaped.
"Pull the brake!" Leo told Luis, who grabbed and pulled the brake lever to try and slow down and stop the cart.
But then…
SNAP!
The brake lever snapped and broke off completely. Luis then collapsed in disbelief.
"What!?" Leo questioned before he watched as Luis lifted up the broken handle to show him what happened whilst looking at him with a sheepish expression on his face.
"Are ya serious!?" Raph shouted.
"Jump!" Donnie shouted before he, his older brothers, and Luis jumped out of the cart and flew down towards the other side of the mine.
Leo, Raph, and Donnie were able to land on the hard surface, but Luis had fallen short and landed at the edge.
"Oye!" Luis called out for help whilst hanging on for dear life.
"Luis!?" Leo called out.
"Can I get a hand?" Luis demanded desperately.
Leo and his brothers hurried over to the edge and took Luis's hands before pulling him up to safety.
"Next time, give us a '3, 2, 1', will you?" Luis advised.
"Whatever…" Raph replied flatly.
"Hey, look! There's a lift! We should be able to get out of this mine from there!" Donnie alerted the others as he pointed at an elevator not too far from where the group was standing.
"Ok, then let's get on it!" Luis replied happily.
Just as they were about to cross the wooden bridge towards it, however…
CRASH!
The bridge collapsed out of nowhere, much to the group's shock and surprise.
"What!?" "No way…Give me a break!" Raph and Luis exclaimed in shock.
"I'm sure we can still make it if we circle around…Come on!" Leo told the others before he started making a move towards the alternate pathway.
"Ugh, dis is becomin' a pain in my shell…" Raph groaned before he and Donnie started following Leo.
"Here, here…" Luis agreed before he followed the turtles from behind.
The group jumped down their side of the bridge from one wooden and rocky ledge to another until they reached the last level of the mine. As they crossed a wooden bridge, Leo spotted something up ahead that looked familiar.
"Guys, ready your weapons…" He whispered his commanded before he took out his gun and shot at the rock-shaped object.
Except, it wasn't a rock…it was a mutated insect!
Fortunately, Leo had hit its weak spot and instantly killed it before he watched it explode into gunk.
"Wha-!? These things again!?" Raph questioned with wide eyes as he quickly took out and readied his weapon.
"Ugh, I knew it! Stay sharp! These guys have camouflage!" Luis told the turtles.
"Again, we already knew dat over a dozen bugs ago!" Raph snapped whilst keeping a visual in his surroundings.
A moment later, the group heard the recognisable sound of wings humming in the atmosphere before they saw more of the same mutated insects flying towards them from below.
"Here we go…! Let's get exterminating!" Donnie said before he started shooting at the insects.
/
5 minutes later…
The group had taken out over a dozen mutant insects, but despite this, more of them kept on coming either from the holes in the nests or from their hiding spots in their camouflaged forms to replace the deceased ones.
"I hate these insects! Take care of them for me, would you!?" Luis cried out.
"How about ya open fire and shuttin' yer mouth!" Raph snapped in annoyance.
"Hey, I'm the one with the brains, while you guys are the brawn!" Luis bit back.
"Err, you're not the only one with the smart brains here…! And, right now, my brain is telling me to take out the hive!" Donnie countered with a brainstorm.
"What!?" The others questioned.
"Think about it; the reason why the bug numbers have been never-ending is because the hive is creating more of them! If we take it out, we can stop the bugs for good!" Donnie explained.
"Good thinking, Donnie…! Let's get to that hive!" Leo agreed.
Luckily, they didn't have to search for it too hard, because the hive was directly above them and was huge in size.
"Ok, we've found the hive…How do we destroy it?" Luis questioned.
"I've spotted four areas of the hive where the bugs are being produced…If we take them all out, it'll stop the hive from making more…!" Donnie answered whilst using his analysing goggles to pinpoint the nest's weak spots.
"Alright, we'll each choose a spot and take them out, and we'll also make sure that we defeat all the insects that stand in our way! Let's go!" Leo told the others his plan.
With everyone in agreement, the group split into two and each chose a side of the nest; Leo and Luis chose the left side, whilst Raph and Donnie chose the right side. It wasn't easy for both teams to take out the weak spots since they needed a few bullet rounds to completely destroy them, and they also had to eliminate the active insects that were attempting to attack and stop them.
Eventually, the turtle brothers and Luis had managed to win the fight against the insects and destroy the nest at the same time without getting badly hurt in the process.
"Finally…The bugs have been exterminated…" Leo said after taking a moment to catch his breath.
"And the nest has been taken out too, so no more bugs will be created in this place…at least for a long while, anyway…" Donnie added in relief, now realising that the fight was over.
"Alright! Now, we can finally get ta dat elevator and get da shell outta here!" Raph cheered before he hastily started walking down the path leading towards the elevator, with his brothers and Luis following him from close behind.
Finally, after another mile of walking, the group had reached the elevator. They all hurried into the elevator and Leo pressed the button to get it moving up to the next level. As it began to move slowly, Luis decided to start a conversation to kill time.
"Whew, I'm beat…Makes you appreciate tech like this…" Luis breathed out.
"Yeah…you could say that…" Donnie agreed.
"I don't get ya, Luis…Why would ya risk yer life fer a bunch of people ya don't fully know, especially mutant ones?" Raph suddenly questioned, surprising Leo and Donnie but they didn't counter him because they too wanted to know more about Luis's true intentions.
"I told you before; it makes me feel better…" Luis answered flatly with a sigh.
"Just be straight with us for once, Luis…All we want is the truth…" Leo demanded firmly, now no longer in the mood for receiving short answers.
Knowing that there was no choice but to tell the turtle brothers the truth, Luis sighed and spoke whilst avoiding eye contact with them.
"Los Illuminados…I was working for them…"
"Los Illuminados? Is that what this evil cult is called?" Donnie questioned in surprise.
"Yes…" Luis answered grimly with a nod.
"See? Dat wasn't so hard, was it?" Raph said, a bit smugly.
"Raph..." Leo scolded lightly.
"Look, I know that just helping the four of you won't make up for my part in the crimes they've done…But still…I don't want any more innocent people to get hurt…" Luis told them sincerely.
"In that case, you better get serious if you want to make amends…" Leo advised firmly.
"Heh, harsh words for a squire…or, should I say, ninja turtle…" Luis joked as he looked up at Leo with a smirk whilst shaking his head.