Chapter 44-Exterminate The Parasites

It didn't take the turtles long for them to reach the door to the sanctuary at the summit.

After they had opened the door and entered inside, they immediately spotted Mikey lying unconscious on a stone communion table.

"Mikey!" The turtle brothers cried out before they dashed towards him.

But just as they were getting closer to him…

"Ngh!" Leo grunted in pain and paused when he suddenly felt himself being prevented from moving.

"Leo! Whoa!" Donnie cried out before a large tentacle wrapped around him and lifted him into the air.

"What da-? Get da shell off me!" Raph shouted when he too was wrapped and lifted into the air by a large tentacle.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha…You have come, my child…" Lord Saddler greeted as he walked out of hiding.

"W-What...do you want?" Leo questioned as he continued his struggle to break free from Saddler's control.

"I simply wish to share this gift with as many as possible…A humble wish, don't you think?" Lord Saddler told him casually.

"Shell, no! It's insane! Ngh!" Raph denied before grunting when the tentacle tightened its grip on him.

"You see, we are all connected through the Holy Body…And now your flesh and bones, your very thoughts…are already one with us…" Lord Saddler continued.

"T-There may be…spells and magic…that exist in this world…but yours…is nothing but…evil…!" Leo denied.

"Why do you reject serenity? When you need only accept this sacred gift?" Saddler questioned as he walked over to Mikey.

"…Like he did…" He then said whilst he touched and turned Mikey's head slightly towards his brothers, revealing the black veins underneath his orange mask.

"Saddler!" Leo shouted before he used whatever strength he had to push himself towards the table, but he collapsed near the edge as he grabbed it.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha…Ah, yes! The time has come…for this lamb to join our covenant!" Lord Saddler exclaimed as Leo writhed in agony due to the parasite moving and causing more black veins to appear on his body.

"Oh, blessings unto him and the sweet mercy they bring. Exult all – and let it be so!" He then praised manically.

"AAAAAARRRGGGHHH!" Leo screamed in excruciating pain.

"LEO!" "NOO!" Raph and Donnie cried out in horror.

Then, suddenly…

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

The sound of bullets being fired were heard, and the bullets had struck Lord Saddler's body. This made the tentacles lose their grip on Raph and Donnie, and cause Lord Saddler to lose his control over Leo.

"Turtles! Get moving!" Karai's voice cried out before she reloaded her gun.

"Leo!" "Mikey!" Raph and Donnie called as they hurried over to their brothers' sides.

"Raph, take Mikey! I'll help Leo!" Donnie commanded as he helped Leo to slowly stand up.

"Already on it!" Raph replied as he lifted Mikey off the table and carried him bridal-style, causing the youngest turtle to grunt and wince in discomfort.

"Easy, bro…I gotcha…" He soothed as he adjusted his hold on his little brother and started moving towards the exit nearby.

"Come on, Leo! We're getting you and Mikey out of here!" Donnie told Leo.

"Ngh…" Leo grunted weakly as he and his brothers hurried towards the doorway out.

After removing all the bullets from his body, Lord Saddler saw the turtle brothers escaping and attempted to chase after them, but Karai was one step ahead of him and started shooting the large statue near the doorway, causing it to fall and crumble in front of it to block Lord Saddler's way.

As soon as they knew they were safe for now, Raph and Donnie took a moment to catch their breaths and check on their oldest and youngest brothers, both of whom were not looking too well at all.

"Leo, are you alright? Talk to me!" Donnie pleaded as he lightly shook Leo's shoulder to get his attention.

"Ngh…M'still here, Don…" Leo managed to say, though both his body and mind were now weakened from Saddler's attack.

"Mikey…? Mikey…!? Shell!" Raph was heard calling to Mikey to try and get him to respond, but the poor turtle was now unconscious and barely reacting to Raph's voice.

"W-What's wrong?" Leo questioned.

"He's not respondin'!" Raph answered in a panic.

"He must've passed out shortly after Saddler's attack…He'll be ok once we find and get into Luis' lab…" Donnie theorised calmly, despite worrying and panicking for his little brother's life on the inside.

"Well then, let's hurry up and get a move on! They're gettin' worse by da second…!" Raph urged worriedly.

"Right…Come on, Leo, I'll help you walk…" Donnie agreed before helping Leo to stand and walk.

Even though Lord Saddler wasn't controlling him, Leo still found it hard to walk because of the physical strain put onto him by the plaga which had grown stronger within him. This made Donnie work a bit harder to keep him from collapsing by using almost all of his physical strength to ensure that the blue-banded turtle was standing and walking on his feet.

Soon, the turtle brothers came across a map on a wall ahead of them, so they decided to pause for a moment and check it out.

"Laboratory B…That must be Luis' lab, and it's pointing this way…" Donnie read aloud before he and Raph continued their walk with their ailing brothers in tow.

As they walked down a long corridor, Leo's view of what was in front of him suddenly changed to a dark and rainy scene for a moment before returning to normal.

"W-What…the shell…?" Leo questioned in confusion as he shook his head to clear it better.

"Leo? What's wrong?" He then heard Donnie's voice call out to him.

"I-I…don't know…" Leo answered shakily.

Then, Leo began to hallucinate again. This time, he was standing in a dark corridor with a door glowing with a warm light ahead of him.

"Shell, I must be…losing it…" Leo rasped to himself as he started walking again.

"Leo!? What's happening!? Tell me what you're seeing…!" Donnie cried out worriedly, desperate to know what his brother was experiencing.

"I-I…really don't…know…there's a door…light shining from it…" Leo breathed out, struggling to keep his mind straight.

"Leo, snap out of it! Dat freakshow's makin' ya go crazy…!" Raph cried out.

Soon, the turtles had finally reached a double metal door, but when they pushed it to open it, they felt something blocking the door from the other side. Raph and Donnie peeked through the small gap in between the two doors and saw that there was a pile of wooden and metal-based materials blocking the other side of it.

"Oh, give us a break already!" Raph cursed as he looked at the door angrily.

"We'll have to force it open…" Donnie told him before he looked at Leo.

"Leo, can you stand on your own for a minute?" He asked.

"Y-Yeah…I'm fine…" Leo answered shakily before he was released from Donnie's hold and leaned himself against the wall near the door.

Shortly after doing that, Raph sat Mikey against a wall on the right side of the door, so that he could help Donnie to force the doors open.

"Ok, on the count of three…One…Two…Three!" Donnie commanded before he and Raph charged and slammed against the double doors, but it only caused the junk behind the doors to shift a small amount.

"Again! One, two, three!" He then said before he and Raph repeated the same actions, but again, the junk hardly budged.

Unbeknownst to them, Leo was going through an internal struggle as he fought hard to stay standing up.

"Still you resist, child…" Lord Saddler's eery voice was heard echoing in Leo's mind.

"Shut. Up!" Leo cried out before he joined his brothers as they charged at the door one more time.

Then…

BANG!

The items behind the door finally fell, and the door was opened. However, shortly after entering it, Leo's body gave out and collapsed onto the floor once again.

"Leo!" Raph and Donnie cried out in horror before they hurried to his side.

"Come on, Leo, get up!" "We're nearly there, bro!" They then pleaded as they helped Leo stand up again.

Just as he stood back up with Donnie's help, however, Leo saw another hallucination. This time, he saw that the corridor was filled with black silhouettes which were chanting in an unknown language. He also couldn't hear his brothers near him or even see Raph carry Mikey again and walk slightly further ahead of him.

"Enough!" Leo cried, now getting tired of seeing illusions, as he walked past the silhouettes before he collapsed on his knees.

Then…

"L-Leo…"

The blue-banded turtle gasped when he heard a familiar voice echo in the distance.

"M-Mikey…?" He said, identifying the voice as Mikey's.

"Leo…C-Come on, bro…" Mikey's voice responded, much to his astonishment.

"Leo, what is it?" Donnie voice was then heard.

"I-It's Mikey…I hear him…calling to me…" Leo breathed out.

"Dat can't be; he's out cold…!" Raph denied as he looked from Leo to Mikey, who was still unconscious.

"No, Raph, I think I get it…This is happening spiritually; Mikey must've sensed Leo's struggle for control over his body and mind, and since they're both infected with plagas, he's using them to his advantage by strengthening his spiritual bond between him and Leo through them to try and keep him from losing the fight…" Donnie speculated in realisation before he looked over at his immediate little brother in Raph's arms.

"Mikey, if you can hear me, keep talking to Leo!" Donnie commanded.

"L-Leo…" Leo heard Mikey call out to him again a moment later, meaning that he had heard Donnie's command.

Just then, an orange-coloured light appeared and glowed up ahead. Leo immediately saw it within the gaps between the dark figures, and he both sensed and recognised it as Mikey's spirit.

"M-Mikey!?" Leo cried out with wide eyes.

"H-Hurry, bro…" Mikey's voice was heard, and it was slightly louder this time.

"I-I'm coming…I-It just hurts to move…" Leo called back whilst struggling to get back up.

"Y-You got this…Y-You've been…through worse, remember?" Mikey reminded.

Leo gasped when he realised that Mikey was right; he had survived a horrific ambush by the Shredder and the Foot Clan, and he had escaped a near-death experience with his father and brothers after their final battle with the Shredder in his spaceship. He also remembered his and his family's intense fight against the Tengu Shredder after their training as Acolytes with the Ninja Tribunal before remembering the final showdown with the Shredder whilst teamed up with the turtle brothers' 1987 counterparts.

"Y-You're right…I-I can't give up now…" Leo replied shakily, his eyes narrowing in determination.

Using whatever strength he had left in him, Leo stood back up and slowly started walking towards another wall where Mikey was located, whilst still being supported by Donnie.

Finally, Leo reached Raph and Mikey's side before placing a hand on his youngest brother's head whilst wearing a tired smile.

"This is it; Luis' lab!" Donnie suddenly announced when he looked at the words 'Lab B' on the door next to his brothers.

"Well hurry up and open it, then!" Raph snapped.

Donnie immediately took out the key Luis gave him, inserted it into the keyhole, and turned it. After hearing a click, the door was unlocked and the turtles rushed straight into the lab, where they saw old-fashioned computer equipment and a chair that looked similar to that of an advanced dentist's chair.

"Hurry, Raph, lay Mikey on the chair!" Donnie commanded urgently.

Raph immediately did just that and gently laid Mikey on the chair, whilst Donnie guided Leo to stand next to the orange-banded turtle before walking over to the computer where he spotted a notebook next to the keyboard. When he picked it up and read through it, his eyes widened.

"Hey, guys, this notebook explains about the different ways of removing the plagas!" Donnie announced.

"W-What does it say?" Leo questioned as he fought hard to stay standing.

"It says here that there are a couple of treatment options; an antigen injection or surgery…" Donnie answered, reading out the first sentence.

"Ok, so which one is da best option?" Raph questioned curiously.

"Well, the injection option is no good, because the notes say that it won't be effective after the plaga egg has hatched. The surgery option involves using a certain wavelength of radiation…" Donnie explained whilst reading through the notes.

"Alright, surgery it is then…!" Raph said eagerly.

"Wait a minute, Raph, there are risks to this; the notes say that if the parasite has attached itself to the host's nervous system, the host will experience excruciating pain during the procedure. There is no effective anaesthesia for it either…It also says that, once the plaga is fully grown, it would be too late to remove it as this will kill the host…" Donnie warned when he saw the risks near the end of the notes.

A stunned and anxious silence instantly fell in the lab. The turtles were now facing a complicated decision on how they would proceed with the eradication of the parasites within Leo and Mikey, and the last thing Raph and Donnie wanted was for their oldest and youngest brothers to experience something that could potentially kill them.

"W-We'll do the surgery…" Leo decided shakily in determination, breaking the silence.

"Leo, are you sure?" Donnie asked in concern.

"Y-Yes, I-Ngh, Argh!" Leo was about to answer when he suddenly cried out in pain and fell onto his knees once more.

"Leo! Here, sit on this chair next to Mikey…!" Donnie said, helping Leo stand up and guide him onto a four-wheeled stool chair, which he had moved closer to the blue-banded turtle.

"L-Leo f'rst…" Mikey slurred weakly as he came around a bit, startling the others in surprise because they thought that Mikey was still unconscious.

"N-No way, Mikey…we're going to save you first and bring you back home with us…We promised you that we would, remember?" Leo told him firmly but softly whilst stroking his head soothingly to give him some comfort.

"Yer sure dis hunk of junk is gonna get rid of da parasites in Leo and Mikey?" Raph questioned sceptically as he looked at the equipment again.

"There's only one way to find out…Let's fire it up…" Donnie answered before he started turning on and warming up the machine's controls.

A moment later, the computer was on and Donnie typed on the keyboard to select the diagnose option on the screen. The chair then moved closer to where Donnie was and the scanner hovered over Mikey before the computer screen changed to show the plaga inside of Mikey's chest.

"Urgh, so dat's what those parasites really look like…" Raph said in disgust.

"Yeah…Luckily, judging by its size, it's still in its juvenile stage…" Donnie observed.

"Then, let's get rid of it already…!" Raph snapped but in a whisper since he didn't want to frighten Mikey.

Donnie nodded before he started typing on the keyboard. He saw the yes and no options when the computer asked whether or not to purge the parasite, and he then hovered his finger over the button that would start the procedure.

"Be ready to hold him down…" Donnie told Raph quietly because he knew that, after reading the notebook, the procedure was going to be extremely painful for the youngest turtle. Raph nodded before he walked over to where Leo and Mikey were.

"Ok, here we go…" Donnie said before he pressed the button.

Seconds later, the pointers above Mikey were activated and faint beams of strong blue light were fired at his plastron.

"Aaaaaaarrrrggghhh!" Mikey instantly screamed in agony and his body struggled to stay still because of the pain.

"Mikey!" "It's ok, bro, hang in there!" Leo and Raph soothed as they held Mikey's hands and did their best to keep him still.

Donnie nervously watched the plaga on the computer screen as it wriggled and struggled to fight against the beams' radiation. This was what was causing Mikey so much pain since the plaga was partially connected to his spine, which contained the nerves that were linked to his body.

"Almost done, Mikey, just one more minute…!" He told his little brother reassuringly.

After another minute went by, the plaga disappeared from view after the beams had completely disintegrated it, and Mikey had stopped screaming and collapsed into unconsciousness on the chair.

"Mikey!?" Leo and Raph cried out with worry.

"It's alright, guys; he just passed out…The procedure's taken a lot out of him…" Donnie calmed his older brothers after hurrying over to his little brother to check on him.

"D-Did it…work, though?" Leo asked shakily, his strength now waning.

Donnie rushed back to the computer and looked at the screen before his eyes widened when he saw that the plaga was no longer inside of Mikey, meaning that the treatment was a success.

"…Yes…It worked…It really worked! Look, the plaga's gone!" He answered joyfully.

Leo and Raph looked at the screen from where they were and saw the results for themselves, making them breathe out a sigh of relief.

"T-Thank shell…" Leo rasped with a smile before his eyes rolled back and his body fell off the chair and landed on the floor.

"LEO!"

He heard Raph and Donnie cry out his name, but he became too weak to respond before he blacked out altogether.

/

Sometime later…

Leo didn't know how long he was out for, but the first thing he felt when he started to come around was soreness radiating inside of his chest. He opened his eyes slowly due to his eyelids feeling like heavy lead, and he let out a groan whilst his blurry vision cleared up.

"Leo…?"

The familiar and gentle voice of his purple-banded brother was heard from his left side. Leo turned his head slightly to his left and saw Donnie standing there with Raph standing next to him, and they were both looking at him worriedly.

"D-Donnie…? R-Raph…?" Leo rasped.

"Oh, thank shell you're ok…!" Donnie replied in relief as he gave him a gentle hug.

"Welcome back from da land of dreams, bro…!" Raph greeted softly with a relieved smirk.

Leo smiled in response after being released from the hug before he noticed that there was a brother missing.

"W-Where's Mikey…?" He asked anxiously as he slowly sat himself up a bit.

"Don't worry, Leo, he's-"

"Leo?" Mikey's voice was heard on Leo's right side, cutting off Donnie's sentence, before the orange-banded turtle himself appeared in his field of vision whilst looking at him with both worry and relief.

"Mikey…" Leo responded before he felt Mikey engulf him in a hug, which he greatly accepted despite feeling a bit physically weak.

"I-I thought you weren't gonna make it, bro…" Mikey said shakily whilst trying his best not to cry.

"Hey…It's gonna take more than some radiation to finish me off, little brother…" Leo soothed tiredly, patting Mikey's shell-covered back softly.

Mikey released Leo from the hug before he helped him sit up more, with some help from Donnie too. It was then that Leo had just noticed that he was laying on the very same treatment bed that Mikey was on earlier.

"Wait, what happened? The parasites…!" Leo questioned in confusion.

"It's alright, Leo…When you collapsed and lost consciousness, we immediately moved you onto the bed after Mikey was treated, and then we turned the machine on to repeat the extermination process on the plaga inside you…We were really worried when you didn't react as much as Mikey did throughout the whole procedure…" Donnie explained everything.

"Yeah, and ya were out cold fer over 20 minutes after dat, bro…" Raph told him.

"I was…?" Leo questioned in surprise.

"Yeah, but we're both ok now, Leo…! The parasites are finally gone!" Mikey answered in a more cheerful tone.

After letting those words sink in for a moment, Leo breathed out a sigh of relief. Both he and Mikey were now finally free from the plagas' grip and Lord Saddler's control over them.

"So, all of this? Removing the parasites…This was Luis?" Mikey asked after a moment of silence.

"Yeah…You and I are alive, thanks to him…" Leo answered before he watched Mikey sadden and lower his head.

"You ok?" He asked.

"Yeah…I just wish that he was here, so that I could thank him for helping us…" Mikey answered sadly.

"I'm sure he's still with us in spirit, Mikey, so he'll be watching us and hearing every word we say…" Donnie assured him, placing a comforting hand on his little brother's shoulder.

"Yeah, you're right…" Mikey replied with a sad smile.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I think it's time dat we get da shell outta here and head home…" Raph said after letting the sad moment pass.

"Yeah, but where do we go to get out of this place?" Leo questioned as he looked around the lab for an exit.

"Oh, hang on, bros! I've found something that might help…!" Mikey suddenly said before hurrying over to the computer desk.

"What is it, Mikey?" Leo asked.

"Here…I found this map whilst we were waiting for you to wake up, Leo…!" Mikey answered as he picked a big piece of paper with drawings on it and walked back to his brothers to show them.

"I think these arrows are pointing towards a corridor and then to a door further up from the lab we're in now. If we follow them, we should be able to get out of here…!" He then explained, pointing at the drawn arrows and circles.

"This is a great find, Mikey…! Way to go!" Leo praised, patting his brother's shoulder.

"See, Mikey? You're smarter and more reliable to us than you think…!" Donnie told his immediate little brother proudly, giving him a sideways hug and making him blush with a bashful laugh.

"Well, what are we waitin' for? Let's get outta here already!" Raph said impatiently.

The others agreed and, after helping Leo stand up from the bed, they began making their way out through the corridor that was shown on the map. Before leaving himself, however, Mikey stopped by the doorway and looked back at Luis's lab one more time.

"Thank you, Luis…Rest in peace…" He said quietly before he turned away and rushed off to go and catch up with his brothers.