Leonardo was startled when two of the walls started to move. They lifted up to reveal four other rooms, quadrupling the size of his small cell.
Each segment contained the others, paired off, with the exception of Leatherhead, who had been alone in the cell next to Leo. He looked to be enraged and Leonardo couldn’t help but worry. If Leatherhead went into a rampage, someone was going to end up hurt.
In the other cell, that had once shared a wall with his, Leah was with Tello, who was still tucked in his shell. She was laying over him, doing her best to offer him comfort. This situation was too similar to how he had lost his family. The fear of this playing out the same way must have been suffocating for him.
The adjacent cell held Mikey and Michelle. They were curled up together, both looking confused and a little frightened. Michelle had been crying and, like Rachael, Mikey was injured from the fight.
“Leo,” Mikey called out as he untangled himself from Michelle and ran over. “What’s going on?”
“Bishop,” Leo answered as he checked Mikey’s injuries. “Looks like you put up a good fight, little brother.”
“Not to brag but I held on the longest,” Mikey said with a grin. It was a relief to see that he was still in good humor. “Rachael fought like a mad woman.” He looked at her. “She doing okay?”
“I think so,” Leo said, looking over his shoulder. “Her injuries don’t seem to be life threatening. She just appears to be sedated at the moment.”
“They hit her with, like, three darts,” Mikey said. “I don’t think she’ll be waking up for a while.”
“If that’s the case, Leah,” Leonardo turned to his counterpart, “I know you want to stay with Tello at the moment but would you mind sitting with Rachael for a while? If she’s had too much sedative, someone needs to watch her breathing and… I can’t do that at the moment.”
“I understand,” Leah replied with a nod and then leaned in close to Tello. “I’m not going far.”
“Where’s Donatello and my children,” Leatherhead demanded in a low growl.
“Bishop told me that he will bring them,” Leo replied. “I don’t know how long that will take.”
“They’re right outside the door,” Bishop answered over the speakers. “Behave or we won’t let him inside.”
“Kroki,” Donny said through the door. “Stay calm so we can be with you. If you try anything, he’ll hurt us. Do you understand? You have to stay calm.”
“You have my word,” Leatherhead growled and his body tensed as he fought to maintain control. “I will not attack.”
The door that was part of Leo’s cell opened and an agent pushed Donny through in a wheelchair. The baby was bundled and in Donny’s arms. Donatello looked exhausted but well.
Another agent who was struggling to keep a hold of an enraged Snow, followed. They had tied her snout closed with a ribbon, most likely to keep her from biting. There were bandages around the agent’s hand suggesting that she already had.
Snow was placed on the ground and both agents backed out of the room, securing the door once they were through.
“It’s a boy,” Donny said as Leatherhead rushed to them.
“Are you alright, my love,” Leatherhead asked and removed the ribbon from Snow’s snout.
“I’ll be alright,” Donny said, offering a soft smile, “as long as I don’t overdo anything. I won’t be any good in a fight and I will slow all of you down.”
“Hopefully it won’t come to fighting,” Leo said as he walked closer to them. He looked down at the baby in Don’s arms. “No wonder he was giving you troubles.”
The baby looked like a snapping turtle with massive underbite. His shell was visibly solid, even though the blanket. Like his sister, he had four fingers, three toes, and a long tail.
“Have you thought of a name,” Mikey asked, coming up behind Leo.
“I’ve considered a few,” Donny said as he ran his hand over the baby’s head. “I think… I like Galileo.”
Leo smiled. “Studding the Renaissance again I see.”
“I’ve actually been studying astronomy,” Donny admitted as a slight blush spread across his beak.
“It’s a wonderful name,” Leo said.
Donny held Galileo a little closer and looked up at Leo. His eyes were pleading and full of fear. “The way Bishop spoke to me, he didn’t out right say it, but he implied that he will take my children from me. Please…, don’t let that happen.”
It wasn’t the first time Donny had reached out to Leo in a desperate need for him to make things better. Donny relied on the team’s strength to keep him safe as much as they relied on his intellect.
It wasn’t that Donatello was weak, on the contrary he was physically stronger than all of them due to all the lifting he had to do with his projects. Fighting simply wasn’t in his nature. He was a thinker and if he had been given the choice in life, he probably would have never chosen to be a ninja.
“That’s not going to happen,” Leo promised and then walked over to kneel down next to Tello. “Bishop wants to know what you did to stabilize Donny. Give him that information and he will let us go.”
“Shredder made the same kind of promise,” Tello replied from inside his shell. “I can’t go through this again. If he starts killing everyone, have him kill me first.”
“He’s not going to kill us,” Leo hissed, trying not to get frustrated with the situation. He was all too familiar with what Tello was experiencing but he needed Tello to pull it together so they could go home. “He is going to keep us here and force us to breed. He will take our children and raise them to be his perfect soldiers.”
“What will he do with the ones that are reincarnated and born with defects,” Leah asked.
“If their defects are too severe he wouldn’t see any value in them,” Leo stated flatly. “But, he won’t need any of them if you stabilize his cloning process for him.”
“I’ll give him what he wants and then he will kill us,” Tello said, still not coming out of his shell.
“No, he won’t,” Leo assured him. “Bishop is a lot of things but he is not a liar. You give him what he wants and he will let us go.”
“Well, I can’t give him what he wants,” Tello said as he came out of his shell. “I don’t have what I need.”
“I will get what you need,” Bishop said over the speakers.
“You can’t do that,” Tello snapped back. “What I need is back at my lab. The only other way to get it is to open a tridimensional portal to Dimension X. But, you’d have to be a fool to do that since it would lead the Kraang right to your world.”
“Don’t tempt him,” Mikey said, crossing his arms over his plastron. “He’s already done several foolish things in the name of protecting the Earth. I’m sure, in his mind, he’s sure that he could keep the Kraang from being a threat.”
“If you have what is needed in your home, I can escort you there,” Bishop said.
“And lead you to the lair,” Tello said with a snort. “No way. You’ll just have to let me go and trust me to come back.”
“And risk you returning with the Foot instead of what you say you need,” Bishop argued.
“Well then I guess it’s option B,” Tello huffed. “We put your world at risk by opening a portal to Dimension X.”
“What is it that you need to get?” Bishop’s tone was sounding a bit agitated.
“Mutagen,” Tello answered. “The mutagen that made me to be exact. I brought some over from my dimension and it is what I used to stabilize Donatello.”
A long silence followed.
“So, what now,” Leah asked.
“He must be thinking,” Leo replied. “He’ll let us know when he’s reached a decision.”
Kneeling beside Rachel, Leo decided to take the opportunity to check on her. She was still unconscious. As he inspected her body, he could see the different wounds from the fight and Bishop’s tests.
The ones that bothered him the most were the small holes near where Rachael’s oviducts were located. Leo hoped that Bishop only extracted for his tests and did not inject anything into her.
When he heard the heavy clank of the door unlocking, Leo stood and faced the door.
“Behave,” Bishop warned Leatherhead as he entered the cell. A low rumble emanated from the large crocodile in response but he did not move.
Like Leatherhead, Leo’s defenses were up. They never knew what to expect when dealing with Bishop so they had to be ready for anything.
Of all the reasons Leo had expected Bishop to visit them in person, he was left dumbfounded when Bishop ushered in a mutant turtle child.
“This is Venus,” Bishop stated, indicating the child who was now clutching his leg. “She is a clone.”
“You created her…, using our DNA,” Leo assumed. “I thought you wanted to stabilize your own clones not ones of us.”
“That is not important,” Bishop replied.
“Yes, it is,” Mikey snapped.
“What is important,” Bishop continued, ignoring Mikey, “is that she only has a few days left, at best. Stockman and I have been trying to stabilize clones for quite some time. Your unique gifts passed down to children I raise and will be loyal to me. Sadly, the ones that were older than her have already detreated.”
He placed a hand on Venus’ carapace and looked at Tello. “I wanted you to know that it is her life I am asking you to save. If you fail to hold up your end of the bargain, she will die and there is nothing I can do to prevent it. And, there are more like her.”
“I never planned on betraying you.” Tello’s eyes were fixed on the child. “I will get you what you want but I will not lead you to the lair.”
“Fine,” Bishop replied. “Let’s go.”
