Guest: Unlikely that Dom would ever walk out and betray his family even if nobody ever agrees with him? He loves them too much to do that.
Girl Anime Club: Here's another chapter! Enjoy!
arisu freedomstrikes: I'm glad that you enjoyed reading my story.
animegamefanatic: Well, maybe we'll know a little better of Stella's character from here. And yeah, Mikey keeps chickening during of the whole fight where his brothers and sisters are getting their shells kicked, not to mention about Stella almost got killed under his watch. Even Angel joined the fray despite not being a ninja but handles well the street fighting skills.
=Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003=
=Notes From the Underground Part 2, Part 2=
The door that separated the turtles and humans from the monsters took more of the severe pounding until it couldn't take anymore, and it was flung off its hinges to the other side of the room, making the turtles and humans to dodge to avoid being hit by it.
"THAT'S IT! WE'RE BREACHED!" Mary screamed loudly.
After the door was breached, the red scorpion- and an emerald praying mantis-like monsters then entered the room and growled/shrieked at the turtles and humans.
Then the turtles and humans heard the loud sound on their left, which sounded like a loud munching behind the wall that kept coming closer and getting even louder, which awfully reminded the turtles of the time when Stockman's Mousers' munched their way into their home long ago.
Soon after, the portion of the wall began to crack after each munching sound, before the huge teeth and the massive maw breached through of it with the huge chunk of wall between of them. Then a turquoise dinosaur/dog-like monster stepped through the opening into the room and growled at the turtles and humans, while chewing on the chunk of the wall in its mouth like the dog biscuit.
Then the turtles and humans heard the thunderous burrowing sound beneath of their feet which went from the breached door to the sealed one, making them turn around just when the gray rock monster punched a hole through the floor, and then punched another one before climbing out of the hole itself, with the smaller version of it riding on its shoulder, before the bigger monster spat the rock out of its mouth.
Then the cracks began to appeared on the floor to the right of the rock monsters before the floor began to crumble, and then the star-shaped snout of a grayish-white mole-like monster emerged from the ground, before the beast dug itsellf up into the room like the mole.
And finally, a hole began to rapidly melt in the ceiling to the left of the rock monsters, through which blue, molten stone-like drool leaked onto the floor of the room. And when the hole had melted large enough while the blue drool solidified to rock-hard, a yellow dragon-like monster jumped through it down into the room and turned to the turtles and humans.
Finding themselves surrounded, the turtles drew out their weapons and went shell-to-shell against each other, with Mikey and Raph facing the rock monsters, Arcee the mole-like monster, Mary the praying mantis-like monster, Leo and Donnie the scorpion-like monster, Louie and Angel the dinosaur/dog-like monster and Dom the dragon-like monster, while Stella stood in middle of them.
The dragon-like monster unfurled its spiky frill and screech at the turtles, while the rock monsters and the mole-like monster roared, with the latter brandishing its tentacles from its snout, the praying mantis-like monster shrieked and the scorpion-like and the dinosaur/dog-like monsters growled, before the monsters prepared to attack.
The dinosaur/dog-like, scorpion-like and the praying mantis-like monsters were just about to strike, when the blue monsters stepped in front of them, with the bigger one holding up his clawed hands up to hold the bigger monsters back.
"NO! LEAVE THEM BE!" he ordered.
The smaller blue monster circled around the turtles and humans and stood in between of them and the other four monsters, holding up its own clawed hands to stop them from attacking.
"NO! NO! NO!" it hissed at them.
The other seven monsters halted and stared at the blue monsters in surprise and confusion, as the turtles and humans turned to the bigger blue one as he approached them.
"What are you doing?" the scorpion-like monster questioned the blue one.(1)
The blue monster didn't answer but stood face-to-face with the turtles and humans, as some acid leaked out of its mouth and melted the hole in the floor.
"Well, why isn't it doing anything?" Louie asked, clutching tight to his swords.
"Just say the word, bro, and I'll have him." Raph said, still eager to fight.
"EASY, GUYS!" Leo told them. "It's okay. He won't harm us. I hope."
The turtle in blue then put his swords away befoire he turned to Dom. "Dom? With me. I think it's the time for you to use that diplomacy of yours in this." he said, beckomning with his hand his brother to step forward.
Surprised, the white turtle blinked his eyes and stared at Leo in complete disbelief at his request for him to use diplomacy in this.
"Are you sure, Leo?" Dom asked unsurely. "Just a moment ago they were just about to kill us. What makes you think that they are all of the sudden in the mood to listen?"
"You can at least try. Now come on." Leo said, beckoning him to come forward once more.
With a sigh, Dom put his Tonfas away and stepped forward to Leo's side, turning to face the blue monster before the turtle in white raised his hands up in a sign of peace.
"Uhh, excuse me." he started, as the blue monster turned to him. "We come in peace. We're not here to fight you."
The blue monster quirked his eyebrow at the turtle in white before he leaned forward and took a sniff of him, as well as of Leo.
"I really hope Leo knows what he's doing." Angel whispered to Louie, who nodded in agreement.
The monster then pulled back, glancing at each turtle and human in the presence, before he pointed his claw at Leo and Dom.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"Well, we're not who you think we are." Dom answered.
"And we have no idea of whom you're even talking about." Leo added.
The scorpion-like monster then stepped forward and, glancing hatefully at Stella, pointed his claw at her. "Then why are you protecting her?! Are you from the Foot Clan?!"
The monster's harsh words made Stella to cower in fear but also in shame, while Arcee stepped protectively between of her and the monster.
"WOW!" Louie let out in disbelief of the monster's words. "WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW! That is a very harsh accusations from you!"
"We're not from the Foot Clan either." Leo answered.
"Yeah! We don't even like the Foot Clan! We hate the Foot! We loath the Foot! We despise the Foot! We hold a deep contempt for the Foot!" Raph snarled, shaking his fists.
"And don't you even dare to compare us to that jerk Shredder!" Mikey snapped.
"And if we didn't hate that monster and the Foot enough already," Mary started before gesturing the monsters. "After seeing what they DID TO YOU, we hate them even more now."
"And as for her." Arcee said, pointing her thumb at Stella. "We're protecting her because she's MY PATIENT! Even if it remains to be seen where her allegiances are."
"Hmm..." the blue monster muttered, pondering over their words. "If you're not from the Foot Clan, and not the ones who thought, then why do you carry those?" he asked, pointing his claw at Donnie's duffel bag.
Donnie opened his duffel bag slightly to reveal the glowing crystals inside.
"You mean these?" Donnie asked.
"Yes!" the monster confirmed, staring at the crystals like they were highly contagious plague and kept his distance from them.
The smaller blue monster, the rock monsters and the dragon-like and the mole-like monsters then joined up the others, and they all growled warily at the sight of the crystals.
"WOWOWOW! WAIT A MINUTE!" Leo shouted, holding his hands up. "We didn't steal these crystals if that's what you mean."
"Yeah. We only found these crystals in a cavern were we are living. That is all." Dom swore.
"Yeah. And just what business it is of yours, anyway?!" Raph demanded.
"For you to know, those crystals are the embodiment of evil!" the blue monster snapped. "Why have you come down here?"
"'Cause one of you ogres came sniffing round our place looking for trouble!" Mikey said, holding up his Nunchucks. "So we're here to..."
Before he could say anything inappropriate, however, Donnie and Angel were quick to put their hands over the turtle in orange's mouth to shut him up.
"Don't mind about him. He's been watching too much monster movies of late." Angel told the monsters.
"Yeah. We're down here just looking for some answers... to solve both the mystery of these crystals and the mess you left in the sewers." Donnie assured. "That is all."
"My name is Leonardo. And these are my brothers and sisters." Leo said, introducing himself and then gestured his siblings one at the time. "Domenico, Lorenzo, Raphael, Marietta, Artemisia, Donatello and Michelangelo. Including our friend, Angel Bridge."
"Hi." Angel said, raising her hand as a greeting. "And I bet you're already familiar with Stella here."
"Of course." said the praying mantis-like monster, whose voice was betweem of masculine and feminine. "She's one of those people who cruelly turned us into what we are."(1)
The accusations made Stella look down to his feet in shame, knowing that the monster was speaking the truth.
"We'll get to that later." Dom said before he turned back to the monsters. "But first of all, can you explain to us why you attacked us? If the reason was that we were trespassing on what you consider your territory, it was not our intention to invade, because we did not know. Or did those crystals have something to do with it?"
"Yes. We were drawn to your habitat when your crystals were activated." the blue monster explained. "So we burrowed closer to the surface to investigate its source."
"So you followed the echoes of the crystals to the sewer level." Donnie deduced. "Geez! Wonder who coulda done that." the turtle in purple wondered sarcastically, turning accusingly to Mikey.
"So, what exactly in these crystals interests you?" Dom asked.
"Their energy spike, no matter how small and distant it is, is a sign of danger to us." the blue monster explained. "So when we realized the crystals were in your hands, we considered you dangerous."
"Just like we originally considered you to be danger to us." Dom deduced.
"Yes. And I have to apologize for that." the blue monster said. "Usually we sense the danger coming from deeper below."
"Deeper below? You mean there are more of these crystals down there?" Donnie asked, surprised.
"Yes. Plenty of them." the blue monster said before turning around and walking away.
"We'd just like to find out where the ycome from, that's all." Donnie said as he walked up to the blue monster. "And maybe... is it too much to ask if you would...?"
"NOOOO!" the blue monster snapped as he turned abruptly to Donnie, making the brainy turtle back away in alarm. "IT'S THE FORBIDDEN PLACE!"
"Forbidden... forbidden place?" Dom repeated, before he caught something really surprising thing in the monster's voice: fear. "Wow! Wait! Wait a minute! You're actually afraid of these crystals? Or the ones down below? Why? What is in down there?"
"Something unspeakable that dwells there amidst the crystals." the blue monster said fearfully. "You should know there are some things man is never meant to tamper with."
Mikey was about to say something about that, but was cut off when both Donnie and Angel put their hands over his mouth, making the monsters to look at him.
"Hmm. This one is the odd one." the blue monster said.
"See, Mikey? Even the monsters agree with that." Raph joked, earning a frown from Mikey.
The monsters, humans and turtles then walked together down the tunnel and back to the Foot genetics laboratory.
Once in there, Leo, Dom and the blue monsters walked ahead next to the smashed tank tubes, followed by the other turtles and humans and lastly the rest of the monsters.
"I can't believe it?" Stella finally said, catching the turtles' attentions.
"You can't believe what?" Arcee asked.
"Two years since they broke free, I've been thinking that they've succumbed into these monstrous forms and animalistic behaviors. And yet, they're still capable of the human-like thinking, intelligence, capability of speech and the emotions. They have never demonstrated these traits during of my time being trapped down here." Stella explained.(2)
"Well, maybe they weren't comfortable around you to show it." Louie deduced.
"And for the reason." Raph pointed out, before he glanced up at the monster with the sympathetic look on his face. "Though I must admit it that I feel kinda sorry for these guys. It sure can't be fun to be trapped in a form of the monster and thus being unable to return to the surface."
"You said it, brother." Donnie agreed.
"Speak for yourself, guys!" Mikey said in whisper as he glanced warily up at the monsters. "I don't trust them at all."
"And why's that, Mikey?" Raph asked with the low voice.
"Well, first of, they were trying to kill us like so many times. And secondly, they're ugly, horrifying monsters." Mikey replied quietly.
"Mikey! You're not getting racist with them, aren't ya?!" Angel scolded with the frown. "These guys ain't monsters! They're humans! Human beings like me and Stella here, who have been turned into the monsters against their will in the name of the man who is from inside 100 times a monster than what they are from outside.
"Angel is right, Mikey." Mary said. "And don't forget that to some people, we're kinda monsters too."
Mikey rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, not having thought about that, while Mikey gritted his teeth at him while Angel still glared at the turtle in Mikey for his racist words disapprovingly.
Leo and Dom then turned to the blue monsters.
"I can't believe the Shredder had you genetically altered as diggers, just to search down here for some enemy." Leo told him, though he knew that by this "enemy" the Foot Geneticist from the video log must have meant that mysterious guardian he met during their first battle with the Shredder.
"Yes. And he did so without the slightest of remorse!" the blue monster growled in anger, shaking his claws. "We were forced against our will to do his bidding through of torturous and inhuman methods!"
"So you mean that he just snatched you out of random?" Dom asked, shock and disgust in his voice. "From were exactly?"
"From the streets, from our offices, even from our homes." the blue monster explained. "Anywhere the shadow could conseal the Foot Soldier... or the agent working for the Foot Some of us were told we were hired for a special project we could get well paid of, but we were never revealed of its dark nature before it was too late. We don't even know why we were chosen."(3)
"Well, nobody deserved something like this. Not you, not anyone. No one." Dom said with sympathy.
"By the way, what is your name?" Leo asked.
"I am Quarry, from the tunnel squad 3. Or Quarry Alpha, while he is Quarry Beta." the blue monster, named Quarry Alpha, said as he gestured down to the smaller version of himself, named Quarry Beta.
"And those are my friends and companions." he said as he gestured to the rock monsters first. "Stonebiter A and B."
Then he gestured to the mole-like monster. "Molemoth."
Then he gestured the dinosaur/dog-like monster. "Dogpound."(4)
Then he gestured the dragon-like monster. "Scalebreath."
Then he gestured the praying mantis-like monster. "Pickaxe."
And finally he gestured the scorpion-like monster. "And Razorfist."
"Uhh, no! No! No! I didn't meant the names the Foot called you, because they're not your names." Leo corrected, shaking his head. "I meant your real names."
"Yeah." Mary said as she stepped in. "You are not an animals or objects the Foot could just breed or create and then throw away. You're the human beings with the names of your own." the turtle in turquoise said as she looked Quarry A in the eyes. "So, what is your real name?"
Taken aback by this, Quarry A tried to think. "Sy... S... S..." he muttered, before he clutched to his head in pain and closed his eyes. "My memory is..."
He groaned as he opened his eyes.
"The experiments performed on us! They have stripped us of who we really are." he explained.
"Even if we know we have a name, we cannot remember what they were." Quarry B said. "So we have adopted the names the Foot called us as our own."
"Amnesia." Arcee deduced. "And not even natural but artificial."
"Like they say: A mind is a terrible thing to lose." Donnie quoted.
"Yes. We understand, Quarry A." Leo nodded sympathetically.
"Indeed. We saw the video log entrees and all the horrors you went through." Dom added.
"Well, maybe you could help us here, Stella?" Louie suggested as he turned to Stella. "You were working with the Foot Guys on these poor souls. So surely you know what their names were before they were mutated into this."
"Yeah." Arcee agreed, before she turned to Stella. "Go on, Stella. Tell us. What each of them were called before?"
However, becoming really troubled when being asked such of question, all Stella could do was to lower her eyes to the ground and stand there in the moment of silence while everybody, even the monsters, were expecting her to say something.
"I... I don't actually know." she finally stuttered honestly.
The turtles and Angel looked at her blankly, not expecting such an answer from the scientist and Foot employee who worked on creating Quarry A and the others.
"What do you mean you don't know?" Angel asked.
"I was among the scientists who joined this project after it had already begun as a latecomers." Stella explained to them. "And when we saw these monsters, I mean, these guys, for the first time, the Foot Geneticist, the lead scientist of this facility, told us that the specimen were just genetically altered animals. And he was very convincing in his claim because, well, they... they do look like bugs and lizards, whom they refered as: Project Quarry A and B, Project Stonebiter A and B, Project Scalebreath, Project Razorfist, Project Molemoth, Project Dogpound and Project Pickaxe. That's all I know. I only came to realize the truth of your creation's true after seeing the video log entrees myself shortly before the project was shut down."
"That still doesn't erase of what you did to us along with many others in the name of the Shredder." Quarry A spat harshly, making Stella look down in shame again.
"Well, speaking of the Shredder." Raph said as he cut in. "You don't need to worry about him anymore. He got what he deserved 100 times over."
"What do you mean?" Pickaxe asked.
"He means..." Louie said as he turned to Pickaxe. "That the Shredder has been shredded. Dead as a stone."
"Wait! What?!" Stella gasped upon hearing these news. "The Shredder is dead? How? How do you even know this?"
"Because we were the ones who killed him half a year ago." Mary confirmed darkly.
"Yeah. He made a big mistake of messing with the Ninja Turtles." Mikey said proudly, touching his chest. "There's a lesson to be learned of that. Hee-hee-hee! If any of you guys know what I mean."
"Oh, brother." Dom groaned as he facepalmed himself.
"Is this odd one always like this?" Quarry B asked, pointing his claws at Mikey.
"Most of the time." Mary answered truthfully. "Though sometimes even we wonder when he's gonna shut his mouth for a while."
Suddenly...
BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP!
The turtles and Angel gasped when the alarm suddenly went off, which caused the monsters and Stella to panic.
"NOW WHAT IT IS?!" Raph groaned.
Stella, without saying the word, made a mad dash to the control panel behind of the turtles and looked down at the screen, which was still intact and still working. The screen showed the map readout of the facility and the tunnels linking the sections together, with one of them beeping red. She was soon joined by Quarry A, who looked down the screen as well.
"Oh, no! Not again!" Quarry A gasped with dread. "The Fallen! They're coming!"(5)
"They've already tripped an alarm in the East Delta Tunnel!" Stella informed anxiously.
"Then hurry! We got no moment to loose!" Quarry A said as he and Stella made the mad dash to the control center, followed by the turtles and Angel. "We must activate the energy shield!"
"Wait! The energy shield?" Mary repeated.
"A force field designed to protect the center of the facility from external threats." Stella described to them. "Such as this one!"
The turtles and Angel cringed with the troubled looks as they glanced at each other, realizing of what Stella was speaking of.
Once inside the control center, Quarry A and Stella began frantically pressing buttons to activate the force field, but to their dismay, the crystal didn't power up.
"Something is wrong! The crystal isn't activating!" Stella said and began to frantically search for the problem's source.
"Oh, no!" Quarry A said panickedly and began to press the buttons madly, but nothing happened. "No! No! Not now!"
"Will you please stop doing "No, no"." Mikey asked. "I really hate "No, no's"."
Quarry A growled with worry and frustration as he turned to his fellow monsters. "It's no good!" he told them. "The shield will not activate! We have no power, no force field, and they're heading this way!"
His fellow monsters looked alarmed before they turned to look down the tunnel.
"Uh, yeah. We kinda met your force field already." Louie admitted guiltly, knowing that it was he and Raph who had busted the machine.
"And Louie, along with Raph, kinda broke it." Mikey added teasingly.
"You did WHAT?!" Quarry A roared as he turned to Louie and Raph in rage. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU HAVE DONE?!"
"It was actually my idea!" Donnie stepped in, taking the blame. "But to our defense we did not have choice. We had to shut it down otherwise we'd been crushed by it against the wall.
"And speaking of crushing." Raph said as he turned to glare at Mikey threateningly. "You really wanna know, Mikey, what I'm gonna break if you don't shut your trap!"
Mikey backed away from Raph.
RRRRROOOOOAAAAARRRRR!
The growling noise that came out from the tunnel caught the turtles, humans and the monsters' attentions, making them gasp as they turned to the tunnel.
"Guys! It doesn't really matter now who broke the force field! What really matters right now is that we get it working in time before "the Fallen" arrive!" Stella reasoned. "We just need to bypass the damages and the malfunctions somehow! Let's try to hot-wiring!"
"I'm on it!" Quarry A said without hesitation or the second thought, given their dire situation, and ran with Stella to another control panel.
RRRRROOOOOAAAAARRRRR!
The turtles and Angel gasped when another growl entered from the tunnel.
"What... exactly... is coming from there?" Leo asked.
"The Fallen." Quarry A answered as he looked around the pannel to see where to start hot-wiring.
"The Fallen?" Dom repeated, confused. "Who are these you call "the Fallen"."
"He means the others." Stella clarified. "The other test subjects. Like Quarry A and the others."
The turtles and Angel were taken aback by the revelation that there were even more of underground monsters/the Foot's genetic test subjects than just Quarry A's group.
"Wait? There's even more of you guys down here?!" Angel questioned with surprise.
"Yes. There used to be over two hundred of us. Most of us were killed in the genetic experimentations gone wrong, other in the various accidents underground, and the others..." Quarry A quickly stopped himself, finding himself unable to finish his sentence, before he quickly skipped it. "We and the Fallen are the only ones that remain of the two hundred test subjects. And the Fallen, they're endlessly prowling the tunnels."(6)
"If they're just like you, why is it that you want to keep them out then?" Mary asked.
"Because the Fallen are about to attack us!" Quarry A grunted as he ripped the panel off. "And they're nothing like us! They used to be our allies when we broke free from the Foot's control, but now they've become mad, violent, savage, uncontrollable, and their minds have deteriorated to the primal level."
"As the result of the genetic mutations." Dom assumed.
"Yes." Quarry A answered as he pulled out some wires.
"Then what about you nine?" Angel inquired. "You at least still maintain your sentience and your humanity." she said, although she was afraid of what Quarry A's answer might most likely be.
Quarry A thought it for a moment before he turned to them again, worry and fear in his eyes. "But the question is how long we'll maintain what humanity we have left, until we too succumb to the complete madness."
Angel gasped, because this answer was exactly what she was afraid of. "You mean...?"
"Yes." Quarry A answered grimly. "The Fallen's fate is what looms in our future, as well."
RRRRROOOOOAAAAARRRRR!
Another growl echoed from the tunnel, this time louder than before, telling everyone in the lab that the Fallen were getting closer.
Quarry A then put two wires together, creating the sparkle from them, which lit up the computers.
"Good! Let's try again." Stella said and began to press the buttons to activate the crystal and the force field. And after she was done, she, Quarry A, turtles and Angel turned around to the crystal.
The crystal in the top of the panel did lit up slightly, until it faded out.
"Uhh... is it supposed to do that?" Angel asked, not liking what she was seeing. "Because that wasn't how it acted when we first faced the force field."
"The crystal!" Stella gasped as she and Quarry A stared at it in shock as the realization dawned to them. "It has... completely burned out!"
"That's it then. That crystal was our only chance and now its gone! It's hopeless." Quarry A sighed, resigning to their fate.
RRRRROOOOOAAAAARRRRR!
The turtles and Angel, along with Stonebiters, Quarry B, Molemoth, Dogpound, Scalebreath, Pickaxe and Razorfist turned to the tunnel, with the turtles brought out their weapons and preparing themselves to another monster-sized death match.
"Weapons will do no good. The fight with us was merely a taste which is nothing compared to the Fallen. Without the working crystal and the force field, we don't stand a chance against them." Quarry A explained frantically, shocking them all.
"Then what are we going to do?! Angel asked frantically.
Unable to answer to Angel's question, the humans, turtles and monsters could only stare down in the tunnel as the growling got louder.
RRRRROOOOOAAAAARRRRR!
And as the growling grew even louder and louder, the turtles and Angel held their weapons ready while Stonebiters, Quarry B, Molemoth, Dogpound, Scalebreath, Pickaxe and Razorfist moved back away from the door in fear, as the large and monstrous shadows of the Fallen began to appear around the corner.
"Here they come!" Louie alerted, pointing at the shadows.
"They'll be on us in minutes!" Quarry A exclaimed.
"You wanna know what, Quarry A? You're kinda starting to freak me out here?" Mikey said, annoyed, as he turned to Quarry A. "Are you always such of Nay-sayer."
"Well, let's see what I can do here." Donnie said and jumped onto the platform holding the crystal before the turtle in purple picked it up.
However, he gasped in surprise when the crystal shattered into tiny pieces. "Hey, Stella and Quarry A? Is this what these crystals are: somekind of power sources?"
"Yes." Quarry A. "But that one was the only one."
"Where did you found this one?" Mary asked as she jumped onto the platform next to Donnie.
"Quarry A and his digging squad found that one from the mysterious underground habitat they discovered." Stella explained. "They found many more crystals from there, but that was the only one still intact. And just after couple weeks before the project was shut down, we discovered its powers and developed it into the protective force field."
"And for you to know," Quarry A snarled as he turned to her. "When we found that one from those catacombs, we paid dearly from it."
Leo and Dom were meanwhile digging Donnie's duffel bag, before the turtle in blue picked up one of their crystals.
"Well, what about this one of ours?" Leo suggested and held the crystal up for Stella and Quarry A to see. "Won't this do any good?"
Both Stella and Quarry A took a quick glance at the crystal in Leo's hand, and neither of them looked any less hopeless than they were now.
"No good at all, Leonardo. These crystals are too small, just barely half of the previous one's size." Stella argued hopelessly. "We need the bigger crystal to power up the force field and even then the force fields eats too much of power."
"She's right." Quarry A confirmed. "They won't last."
"Well, excuse me, you two." Dom said as he snatched the crystal from Louie's hands. "But we're not in the mood of offering ourselves as the monster chow just yet. All we can do is just use it now or not at all." the turtle in white said before he tossed the crystal to Donnie.
"Dom is right." Donnie said and caught the crystal from the air before putting it in the middle of the stands where the previous one had been. "Our crystal has to last until the Fallen give up and move on."
The turtles in purple and turquoise stared down at the crystal, expecting it to lit up and power up the force field, but nothing happened.
"Uh, Donnie? Why isn't anything happening?" Mary asked
"I don't know." Donnie said before he touched the crystal to readjust it to make it work, but nothing happened, much to his frustration. "C'mon! C'mon!"
RRRRROOOOOAAAAARRRRR!
The growling outside got even louder.
"They're getting closer, Donnie!" Raph called impatiently as he turned to Donnie. "Can't you guys work any faster in there?!"
"Hey! You wanna switch the places to make it go any faster! Be my quest!" Donnie snapped back sarcastically. "But if you guys out there wanna be anything useful here, try to buy us a little more time to get this thing to work, will you?"
"Alright! Me, Mary, Dom and Mikey will keep the control center fortified and guard Donnie, Stella and Quarry A as they do their thing!" Leo instructed. "Raph, Louie, Arcee and Angel! You and the rest try to buy us some time!"
"Aye-aye, fearless leader!" Louie said, before the turtle in black put away his swords and ran past the monsters and towards the door. "C'MON! BUDDIES! WE HAVE TO BUY THEM SOME TIME BY BARRICADING THE DOOR!"
Angel then turned to the monsters. "You heard him, guys! Stonebiters, Molemoth, Pickaxe and Razorfist! Go help Louie to seal up the doors! Dogpound and Scalebreath! You and Quarry B help me to find something we can barricade the door! MOVE IT, GUYS!" she shouted and ran off to find something heavy that can hold up the door.
The monsters glanced at each other, before nodding in agreement. Stonebiters, Molemoth, Pickaxe and Razorfist ran to help Louie with the doors, with Raph joining them, and the monsters and the turtles in red and black pulled them shut, while Dogpound, Scalebreath, Quarry B and Arcee ran after Angel to help her to push some heavy objects in front of the door.
Dogpound bit into the lab wall and tore off a large crude rectangular-shaped boulder, before he used his snout to push it towards the door, with Arcee helping to push it.
Scalebreath ripped another control panel off the floor and used his snout to push it to the door, with Angel and Quarry B helping him to push it.
At the control center, Quarry A and Stella pressed a few more buttons on the control panels while the turtles looked at the crystal. Still, the crystal didn't lit up.
"No good! Something else is missing!" Stella told them as she turned to the turtles.
"Mary?" Dom asked.
"Spark! There's no spark!" Quarry A told them as he turned around.
Dom hurriedly dug out of Donnie's bag the other crystal and ran up to the platform, where he handed the crystal to Donnie. "Donnie! Try to lit it up with the contact!" the turtle in white said.
Donnie took the crystal from his brother and tapped it against the crystal on the stands, but it still refused to lit up.
"For some reason it just won't power up!" the brainy turtle groaned, before he looked down at the crystal's stands. "Maybe if the connections to these contact nodes were charred."
"It can't be because of that." Stella argued. "For the two years, I've been keeping an eye on the condition of the equipment and making repairs here and there to keep everything in function. The problem gotta be something else."
Quarry A ripped out more of the panel and looked inside at the circuitry to see if there was anything wrong, but to his frustration, there was none.
"She's right. Everything seems to be alright in here." he snarled in frustration. "So why it won't power up?!"
"Well, maybe one of them isn't just holding the crystal in place sturdily." Donnie theorized, remembering that one of them got hit by Louie's Butterfly swords which slightly nudged the crystal off its place. "Let's see if I can fix it a bit."
"Donnie?" Mikey said as he joined his brothers and sister on the crystal's platform. "Any chance the problem is that you've just got that thing upside down." the turtle in orange suggested innocently.
"Mikey, with the both ends of the crystal being identically the same shape, it's impossible to tell which end is the top and the bottom. "Donnie said sternly. "And I assure you, it's NOT upside down!"
At the door, after Louie, Raph, Arcee, Angel, Quarry B, Stonebiters, Molemoth, Pickaxe, Razorfist, Dogpound and Scalebreath had put the control panel on top of the boulder in front of the door to support it, Louie jumped onto the panel and peeked through the gap between the doors.
The turtle in black gasped when he saw the shadowy figures appearing from around the corner and walking towards the door.
"Brace yourself! There they come!" he warned as he jumped down. "Donnie! You better hurry! Our guests just arrived!"
"Okay! Okay!" Donnie called and beckoned Mary to remove the crystal from its place, which she did, before the brainy turtle went to fix the crystal's slightly damaged contact node, and he thanked the luck that the damage wasn't that bad.
Meanwhile, Louie, Raph, Arcee, Angel and Quarry A's monsters pressed themselves against the barricaded doors to keep them shut, and to keep the fallen out of the lab as long as they could until the others can get the force field powered up.
And then, the Fallen outside began pounding on the door, which force felt like ten giant wrecking balls of the demolition crane.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Louie looked up and gulped, because the Fallen's pounding on the doors was forcibly pushing the already damaged doors backwards despite their and Quarry A's monsters' combined strength and efforts to keep them shut, not to mention about the wall around the door frames starting to crack at the threateningly fast rate.
"DONNIE! HURRY UP!" Louie urged upon seeing that the barricade wasn't holding up.
The muzzle of one of the monsters then tried to force its way in through the gap at the top of the doors, bending the door's thick metal out of its way as it growled savagely at everyone inside, prompting Pickaxe to use one of his huge claws to strike the monster in its snout, making it roar in pain and pull back for a moment.
And in the turtles' eye-level, a huge clawed hand dug its way through of the doors and the control panel's bottom, surprising and shocking Raph and Angel who were standing right next to it as it emerged out.
"WOW!/AHH!" the two gasped as the hand swung its claws at them and very nearly scrapped their heads if the two hadn't dodged down, before Stonebiter A smashed the gap shut to prevent the monster from doing that again.
At the crystal's platform, Donnie had finally managed to fix the damaged contact node while Mary was holding the crystal in her hands beside him.
"Alright! Let's try it again." Donnie said and took the crystal from his sister.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
The Fallen's pounding on the door became even more heavier which forced the turtles and Quarry A's monsters back, ripping the doors off their hinges and causing the wall around the door frames to collapse.
"IT'S NOT GOING TO HOLD!" Louie let out in wide-eyed shock. "PULL BACK! EVERYBODY TO THE CONTROL CENTER!"
The turtles, Angel and Quarry A's monsters hastily retreated from the door back to the control center as the doors were smashed down and the barricades flung out of the way, while at the same time the portion of the wall around the door frames collapsed.
Donnie was just about to put the crystal back in its place, till he stopped and looked up at the door.
Inside of the lab stepped at least thirteen monsters, all of them way more bigger, badder and uglier than Quarry A's monsters, and Stonebiter A, Molemoth, Pickaxe, Dogpound and Scalebreath were the group's largest monsters already.
First in the lab stepped in three grayish-purple roughly rhino-sized or slightly bigger dromaeosaurid-like monsters that appeared to be physically part flesh and part stone: that is, their skin was fused with both lumpy and spiky rock-like hard armor that resembled a sharp-toothed skull at the head. In the "eye-sockets" they had a glowing yellow eyes.
"Oh, no!" Stella gasped, recognizing each of the monster that stepped in the lab one at the time. "It's the Project Earth Raptors!"(7)
After the "Earth Raptors" came a huge gray and rock-skinned bulking monster, with the horns like the bull, rock-like spikes emerging from its shoulders, large teeth and only one glowing yellow eye like the Cyclops.
"Project Cyclopsis!"(8)
Then came in a large purplish and armored ankylosaurus-like monster with a huge forward-pointing dark-purple rhino-like horn, two lines of spikes in its armored back and two curved and serrated blade-like edges on both sides, and a huge flat tail with a round shaped portion at the end that resembled cobra's hood.
"Project Richterosaurus!"(9)
Then came out a big blue part-insectoid and part-dragon-like monster with the glowing yellow eyes, resembling Quarry, only with the longer horns and pinchers and two pairs of arms, two smaller and two bigger ones.
"Project Insector!"(8)
Then came out a huge monster resembling Insector, only brown and more cockroach-like with two forward pointing sensory horns, two pairs of glowing yellow eyes, upward pointing pinchers, two much smaller one-clawed arms and two much more larger two-clawed arms, which resembled the excavator buckets.(7)
"Project Groundroach Rex, or "G-Rex"!"
Then came a massive green monster with a scaly lizard-like body, sand-brown head with glowing yellow eyes, large pinchers, a huge scorpion-like claws used in a knuckle-walking manner and a huge scorpion-like tail with twin stingers at the end.(7)
"Project King Scorpio!"
Then came a giant spider-like brown monster with eight hairy legs, orange back resembling the beetle's and upside down face, multiple small green eyes and a huge gaping mouth full of sharp teeth.
"Project Spidernock!"(8)
Then came a giant greenish-gray armored subterranean crab-like monster with eight two-clawed legs, long arms with huge claws, insectoid head with glowing read eyes and fanged mouth and long antennaes.
"Project Earth Crab!"
Then came a huge and spiky sand-brown worm-like monster with the large round maw with five triangle-shaped flap-like fanged jaws shaped into star when opened, and when closed, they look like a huge drill. Inside of its mouth was two-three sets of sharp teeth. It slithered inside like a snake and moved in spiraling manner like a worm.
"Project Driller Worm!"
Then came a huge red scorpion-like monster with the devil-like horns, glowing yellow eyes, bing-fanged teeth, long arms with a huge claw at the end of each, which he used to walking, since its lower body and legs were noticeably small, and a scorpion-like tail with which it maintained its balance to the ground like the third leg.
"Project King Nail!"
And finally came a tall-standing and bulky green monster with glowing yellow eyes, a huge purplish demon-like horns and forked pinchers in the sides of its mouth, spikes in its back and a huge arms with one big claw in each, fitting to be used like scythes.(7)
"And the Project Omega!"
The thirteen "Fallen" monsters growled and roared savagely as they approached the turtles, humans and the Quarry A's group with the feral malice.
"Donnie?" Mary gulped, turning to her brother. "Usually I don't agree with Mikey about anything when its about his antics, but maybe... at least for once..."
Donnie pondered it over for a moment and, deciding to give it a shot, turned the crystal around and put it into the holder - something that didn't go unnoticed by Mikey.
Once the crystal was in the holder, it suddenly lit up, glowing brightly and quickly turning from blue into bright white, causing the control center to power up.
"It's working!" Donnie cheered.
Just as the Fallen were about to reach the control center, with the snarling Earth Raptors about to pounce on them, the crystal created the force field which covered the entire control center with the turtles, humans and Quarry A's group safely within, while the Fallen crashed into the field's blue impenetrable wall.
Then the force field expanded itself slowly, which forced the Fallen back towards the wall and into the tunnel where they came from. Cyclopsis and Richterosaurus began banging their fists and flat tail against the shield, but they couldn't penetrable it, least to leave even a dent in it.
At the control center, as everybody were looking the glowing crystal, Mikey couldn't help but smirk as he turned to Donnie, relishing on the fast that he was right.
"Don't think I didn't see that, Donnie." he said proudly. "It was upside down!"
Cyclopsis and Richterosaurus kept banging against the door, until they were joined by Insector and Omega, who slashed their claws at the shield to break through, but they neither had any luck. Richterosaurus then stepped back, allowing Groundroach Rex to take its place in banging the shield with its huge excavator claws, before Richterosaurus curled up into a balloon-like cocoon like armadillo and rammed into the shield with the massive force, which shook the shield and let out in the air the thunderous boom.
Inside the control center, the crystal began to lit up like the warning beacon.
"Now what it is doing?!" Angel asked, not liking the sight of it.
"It's overloading! It cannot hold much longer!" Quarry A exclaimed.
"I calculate that it can last no more than twenty seconds!" Stella informed, worrying everybody. "Starting now! 19... 18... 17..." Stella counted.
The Fallen kept banging and slashing the shield outside the lab, still persistent to get inside the lab to get their prey.
"15... 14... 13..." Stella kept counting, sweat flowing down her forehead and temples.
The turtles cringed with worry that the crystal wasn't going to hold up till the Fallen would give up trying. Breathing anxiously from worry and fear that the Fallen would break through once the crystal burns, Angel ran into Louie's arms and the turtle in black wrapped his own arms around her protectively. Quarry B climbed onto Quarry A's shoulder like a monkey, trembling with fear, while Stonebiter B climbed up to Stonebiter A's shoulder, who along with Razorfist, Pickaxe, Molemoth, Dogpound and Scalebreath backed away from the crystal in fear.
"11... 10..." Stella counted.
The Fallen kept pounding on the force field as the crystal was very nearly getting burned out.
"8... 7..." Stella counted.
"Look!" Quarry A gasped as he turned to the doorway. Everybody else turned to the doorway too and saw what Quarry A saw. "It worked! The Fallen! They're leaving!"
One by one, the Fallen, starting from King Nail, then Driller Worm, then Earth Crab, then Spidernock, then King Scorpio, then Earth Raptors, then Cyclopsis, then Richterosaurus, then Omega, then Groundroach Rex and finally Insector turned away from the force field and retreated back into the tunnel.
And not a moment too soon, for as soon as the Fallen were gone, the force field disappeared.
"Will they not bother you anymore?" Arcee asked as she, her family, Angel and Stella turned to Quarry A's group.
"No." Pickaxe said, shaking his head. "As long as they know we're here, they never stay gone for long than a day or two."
"He's right. Tomorrow they will be back." Quarry A explained. "They will always come back for us."
"Well, then this crystal is no longer any use to you." Dom pointed out, as the crystal in the platform burned out and stopped glowing, completely useless now.
"So now what" Louie asked.
"Leo?" Angel called, making the turtle in blue to turn to her. "We cannot leave them on their own. Not like this. Not while they're utterly defenseless against those beasts out there." she reasoned.
"And taking them with us to the surface won't do us any good either." Mary pointed out. "The Fallen would only follow us there."
"Then you guys better have another, bigger and more powerful crystal to keep them out." Leo said hopefully as he turned to Quarry A. "You said that you found the previous one deep in the catacombs. Maybe you can go fetch a new one or several others from there."
Quarry A, however, looked down with hesitation and reluctance. "There is a possibility we will not survive another perilous journey to the forbidden zone." he lamented, shaking his head.
"What exactly makes that place so forbidden?" Mikey inquired.
"The ancient catacombs stretch for miles and miles deeper. We were forced by the Foot to explore them against our will." Quarry A explained, before he looked down. "And as a result, many of us never returned. Claimed by the various natural incidents such as cave ins and falls in the endless ravines and so on."
"And the rest?" Dom inquired, knowing that there was more than what Quarry A was letting them to know.
"Uh... maybe they just got lost." Mikey suggested.
"They were TAKEN!" Quarry A snapped, shaking his claws.
"Taken?" Dom repeated. "By what or whom?"
"We do not exactly know what? Somekind of ghostly entity that dwells amongst the crystal down there. He's the one who has been taking us. There is never any sign of the struggle. They were just... gone. Vanished." Quarry A said with the trempling voice.
"Look, Quarry A!" Leo said. "We understand why you guys don't want to go back down there, but you got not a lot of options. If you want to survive against the Fallen up here, you need a more crystal to power up the force field. And fast." the turtle in blue reasoned.
"And since we, uhh..." Raph said, rubbing the back of his head nervously. "... we're the one who kinda fried your security system we'll go with ya, Right guys?"
"Absolutely." Leo agreed, punching his palm.
"We're there." Donnie nodded.
"Of course." Mary nodded.
"Sure." Dom said.
"Say no more." Arcee said.
"Count me in!" Louie said, hitting his chest with his fist.
"Til the end." Angel nodded.
"I'm coming with you too." Stella volunteered, making the turtles and Angel to turn to look at her.
This earned her both the distrustful and disapproval glares from Quarry A and the other monsters of his group, to which also Raph and Dom joined with their arms crossed as they casted their own distrustful glares at her.
"And why would YOU want to help us after everything you did to us?" Razorfist hissed, demanding to know her motivation.
"Why you all of the sudden started even care about us?!" Pickaxe hissed at her.
"Yeah! Why should we even take you with us?" Quarry B snarled at her from Quarry A's shoulder he was clinging to.
"Because..." Stella started, before she took a deep breath and thought for a quick moment of how to explain her own reasons and motivations to come along.
"Because you guys are right. I was the part of the whole project that did this to you, and I'm still responsible for all the misery you're still going through. And I know that nothing would ever make things right for you." Stella said, with her gaze guiltly down in the floor, before she looked up at them sincerely. "But at least trying to help you to find more crystals to fend off the Fallen is the least I can do for you."
The monsters didn't look too convinced by Stella's words no matter hos sincere they were.
"C'mon, Quarry A." Mary said. "In the art of deception with the smooth talk, twisted truths and false promises, the Shredder was unmatched. And Leo here has a good experience about that"
This made the turtle in blue to frown at Mary, annoyed that the turtle in turquoise was bringing that up yet again.
"And take it this way: All nine of you, including Stella, were were deceived into doing his bidding so that he could achieve his own selfish gain at the expense of your gullibility..." the turtle in turquoise said as she pointed at Stella, before turning to Quarry A and his friends. "... and your sufferings."
Quarry A and his fellow monsters then turned to at each other, pondering over Mary's words, though their resentment and distrust for Stella was still imminent on their faces. The monsters took a short time in deciding whether they should allow Stella to come along with them or not, just because she claimed wanting to help them to redeem herself for being part of all the misery and torture inflicted upon them by Foot.
And while the monsters were pondering this over, Arcee turned to Stella with the concern for her well-being after she volunteered to accompany them.
"What about your injured arm, Stella?" the turtle in pink pointed out. "You think that you're fit to travel with your arm in the sling?"
"Well, it was just a dislocation, not any severe fracture, Artemisia." Stella shrugged. "In the couple of days, I think my arm should be fine. But they just don't have a two days. And I can ill afford to keep them waiting for that long."
Arcee nodded to her in understantment, along with Leo, Louie and Angel.
"Very well." Quarry A said as he and his fellow monsters turned to Stella. "You may come along, but we will keep an eye on you the whole journey. One wrong move and it's all on you. Understand?"
"Deal." Stella agreed with the nod. "I've technically already gone through hell, both physically and conscientiously, that I don't even care what happens to myself, just as long as I can guarantee your own safety."
Quarry A responded to this with the growl in "whatever" manner.
"Alright then. I guess this is everyone." Louie said, putting his hands on his hips.
"Almost everyone, Lover-boy." Angel corrected. "Unless you guys haven't already noticed, it's seems that we're one turtle less who hasn't colunteered to come along to this mission."
Knowing exactly what she meant, all the seven turtles turned with the glares at the aforementioned odd turtle.
"MIKEY!" they all, plus Angel, said in unison.
Mikey gulped nervously, for he wasn't at all thrilled to face the upcoming underground natural dangers, let alone the bunch of into insanity fallen monsters or the ghostly entities stalking in the catacomps.
"Uh... You know, the corner hardware store has a sale on generators that would really get this force-field humming, so I'll just go up top and clip the coupon and then..." Mikey said, trying to make an excuse to leave back to the surface.
"Oh, no you don't!" Raph said as he, along with Louie, Dom and Mary grabbed on his shell.
"Oh, come on! Not again!" Mikey whined, before he was yanked backwards. "WOW!"
###
Later, after making some plans, and after fetching their previously disgarded backpacks - along with Angel's cap - Donnie lit up the remaining crystal he had - while the burned out one was still in his duffel bag - and led his siblings, humans and Quarry A's group out of the lab into the tunnels.
Donnie walked up ahead, followed by Leo, Dom, Mary, Louie, Angel, Raph, Mikey, Stella and Arcee, while Quarry A, with Quarry B still clinging to his shoulder, walked in the rear along with Stonebiters, Molemoth, Razorfist, Pickaxe, Dogpoud and Scalebreath.
His fellow monsters turned to Quarry A, showing how scared they were.
"Quarry A." Stonebiter A growled deeplyu, deep fear in his and Stonebiter B's eyes as the latter hung from the former's left shoulder.
"I don't think this was such of good idea at all." Razorfist said worriedly.
"Razorfist is right. Maybe we should've just asked them to help us to find another place to live." Pickaxe said.
Molemoth, Dogpound and Scalebreath let out the scared growls, agreeing with the Pickaxe.
Quarry A patted comfortinly his friends' shoulders as Quarry B climbed down from his shoulder.
"Be brave, my friends." Quarry A told them.
"It's going to be okay. It's going to be okay." Quarry B told to them as he comfortingly rubbed the chins of Dogpound and Scalebreath.
"You guys, okay?" Arcee called after them, seeing that Quarry A's group was lightly falling behind.
"Yes." Quarry A said and led his friends after the turtles and humans.
"So, Stella?" Arcee asked as she turned to her. "How come you ended up into the Shredder's servitude down here?
"Well..." Stella began, thinking of where she should start. "You see, Artemisia, I studied with almost obsessive passion both the physics, biology, and genetics because I hoped to enter a field of science that I had always dreamed of as a young girl. But when I grew up, I was facing some serious financial problems that I had to make several lousy small-time jobs, which were far away from my true dream, to keep my living. But it was a newer good enough. Then, when I was close to going bankrupt, an eviction notice was just around the corner due to unpaid bills from my apartment, and all hope seemed to be lost, I was all of the sudden approached by a couple guys wearing the black and gray suits, with the sign of the organization they were working for in them."
"Foot." Arcee said.
"Yes." Stella confirmed. "They claimed that they had some special project for which they were hiring both the professional scientists in physics, biology, and genetics, or the ones who had any knowledgeable about them, as well as a few wannabe rookies who at least have any idea about the whole concept. They seemed to know a lot about me and my positively high achievements in studies, hence why they tracked me down, but they never allowed me to question them about their knowledge of me. They promised me that if I agreed to participate in the project, they would take care of my billing issues for me, guarantee my livelihood, and pay me well for this job, much better than I had ever been paid for any other job before. And of course, I went to agreed, with no idea how dark nature in the aforementioned project actually had."
Stella then let out the deep sigh, taking a short break before they continued.
"Even though the project wasn't exactly what I had expected on my first day at work, and I mean: breeding an unnatural lifeform out of the living test subjects - whom I at the time didn't even realize were originally a human beings, but I kept living with the belief that they were just animals taken from nature for experimental purposes - I still did my own part by doing research on the developing mutations of Quarry A and others, and observing the subjects' vital functions while I experimented on them with other scientists. I didn't think much of them at first, not even the shock collar restraints the scientists used to keep them under control. As long as I got paid and the financial problems off my back, I just looked everything through my fingers." Stella continued.
"Until you coincidentally stumbled upon the video log entrees that revealed you the truth of Quarry A and others' true origins." Arcee said.
"Yes." Stella said, looking down in shame. "When I saw those video log entrees, and realized that all this time the test subjects were not genetically engineered animals but a human beings, men, women, and even children, I was shocked, disgusted, and outraged down to my very gore upon seeing the fear and suffering of those poor souls on the video, as well as the Foot scientists' - with some of whom I had already even made a friendly acquaintances - immoral and inhuman disregard towards them. That discovery led me to confront the chief geneticist, my boss, who had been convincing me for two years that the test subjects were just animals, about this. He confessed everything to me, saying that it didn't matter anymore even if I knew the truth, because the project was about to be shut down because our major backer, had declared it a complete failure."
"That's because the Shredder never found what he was looking for from the underground." Arcee pointed out.
"And then, when I inquired about the fate of the test subjects, I was horrified to find out that they were ordered to be put down like animals without the slightest attempt to restore them to normal... as a means of destroying the evidence of their existence and of all the other illegal activities down here. Afterwards, I harshly chided myself for having been such a stupid, complete money-blind idiot that I had ever even agreed to participate in the torturous experiments and other inhumane methods used on these poor people. But it wasn't the least of my problems when I found out that the chief geneticist had made the contact to the Shredder and informed him about me of discovering the truth on my own before he reguested the instructions about the matter." Stella explained.
"And let me guess." Louie said as he looked over his shoulder at Stella and Arcee. "The Shred-dude ordered your assassination to shut you up about everything as a key witness."
"Exactly." Stella confirmed. "I knew I had no chance of getting back to the surface alive with everything I had discovered down here, and I knew I didn't have much time before the Shredder's death squad would arrive to take care of me. So I did something very stupid, very foolish, very desperate, even very suicidal, but deep down a right thing."
"So what did you do?" Angel asked.
"I went to where Quarry A and the others were kept in the cages, and I managed to remove the shock collar restraints from around their necks, almost losing one of my arms in the process, and I left their cages open." Stella explained.
Hearing that, the turtles turned to all look at her in surprise as the realization dawned to them.
"So it was you who set them free and unleashed them upon those Foot creeps?" Raph questioned in disbelief.
"To hit the three birds with one stone." Stella said. "One was that by setting them free, I'd save their lives from the terrible fate, And by unleashing them upon their captors and torturers, I'd manage to get out of here alive in amidst the chaos, and to report the entire organization to the authorities for its illegalities. Unfortunately, though, Quarry A and his group's rather violent, destructive and increasingly bloody rampage across the laboratory left for me too little space to get away myself without being detected by them, for I knew that they wouldn't care if they ended up killing me as well as one of their captors and torturers. And so, with the survivors sealing up any available access from here back to the surface, I ended up stranded down here for two years, forced to survive all by myself while being stalked by both Quarry A's group and the Fallen in the dark tunnels."
"But how come you even managed to survive down here all by yourself?" Dom asked. "In two years, there should be nothing left of you but a rotting corpse on that lab's floor."
"Well, I managed to survive nonetheless, thanks to the provisioned food and water supplies that were re-filled just before the facility was shut down and destroyed." Stella explained. "There are enough supplies to sustain the entire staff underground for a year or two... and for one person, even longer than that, just as long as you keep all those supplies well stored and if you live frugally.
Angel and the turtles were left very impressed that despite all the hardships and loneliness Stella had been forced to endure down here for two years, she still had managed to survive till this day.
This even forced Raph and Dom, who had previously held Stella with contempt, resentment and distrust for her part of Quarry A's and the others' torture and misery, even if she had been completely unaware of their true nature back then, to have some sympathy for her for having gone through a lot of rough times down here.
"Well, don't worry, Stella." Leo told her. "Once this is over, you'll get come with us back to the surface, and you never need to live another day down here ever again."
"Sounds pleasant, Leonardo." Stella said with the grateful smile, until it quickly vanished and she peered over her shoulder at Quarry A and the others with pity. "But what about Quarry A and the others? Should we try to do something for them?"
"We'll think about that later once we get them the crystals they need." the turtle in blue assured. "Until then, let's keep our wits about us."
"Okay, Leo. Let's keep wits about us." Angel nodded in agreement before repeating his words.
"Don't worry, Mikey. You can share my wits." Raph joked.
"Oh, so now I'm witless?" Mikey asked sarcastically.
No one didn't answer to that as the two groups walked along the spiraling pathway leading deeper underground.
"Then that must be why I'm the only one bothered by the fact were're heading into a place even MONSTERS ARE AFRAID OF!" Mikey complained.
TO BE CONTINUED.
TRIVIA
1)= Razorfist actually had a brief speaking role in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003 video game, saying "We will never forget you. Remember, you must double Shredder so no one else ever has to end up as we have", which inspired me to give him a speaking role here, as well as for the Pickaxe, Quarry B and even to Stonebiter A and maybe B as well, even if they cannot speak much aside of few words. Molemoth, Scalebreath and Dogpound have most obviously lost that ability.
2) = I made it so that for two years Stella has been unaware that Quarry and the other monsters still retained their human-like intelligence and sentience while being trapped down in the underground tunnels.
3) = I made it like that some of the test subjects weren't just randomly kidnapped but actually lured into this project by the agents of the Foot Clan with the false promises of the good payment if they agreed, likely preying on them via their financial problems, without revealing the dark details about it.
4) = The name "Dogpound" I gave to my OC dinosaur/dog-like monster is actually based on the name of the first rate mutation of the Chris Bradford from TMNT 2012 series.
5) = I decided to name the other group of monster as "The Fallen" due to them having fallen into insanity as a result of the genetic mutation, and as an inspiration how they're calledin another TMNT fanfiction story: TMNT: Turtle Power.
6) = "I decided to make it like there were more, hundreds of human test subjects than just seven (twenty-two in my story), given that there were the gap between the Day 1 and Day 345, which the Foot Geneticist claims as the day of the successful experimentation, meaning that there are several other times when the experimentation didn't go right throughout the year. Other than that, there were the skeletal remains in the whirlpool scene in the same episode, indicating that it was one of the mutants once. And Quarry (Quarry A in my story), mentioned that some were taken by the Underground City's Entity, even if only all the seven humans were shown in the end of the third part of this saga. So there might be a possibility that I introduce some monsters more in some chapter of the third part of the saga.
7) = The designs of my OC named The Fallen monsters are based on the models of the brown, green and the "Experiment Omega"-named insectoid monsters from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003 video game, from the levels of the "Notes From the Underground" and the "Oroku Saki's Tower", while the Earth Raptors are based on the velociraptor-enemies from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Battle Nexus video game.
8) = The names of the monsters, Cyclopsis, Spidernok and Insector are invented by CT311998 in his own story, who has allowed me to use them in my story.
9) = Richterosaurus design is actually based on Experiment 513 Richter from Lilo and Stitch the series, along with from some Deviantarts about him.