The doors to Galactic Enterprises let out a pneumatic hiss as they opened up, revealing Mr. Mortu to April. He gave a smile and offered her his hand.
"Miss O'Neil." He greeted. "I'm Mr. Mortu. Welcome to Galactic Enterprises."
"Thanks for meeting with me on such short notice." April replied, taking his hand to shake. "Whoa… That's quite a grip you got."
Mortu coughed, releasing April's hand.
"Sorry." he told her. "I sometimes forget my own strength."
"It's alright." April assured him.
"Shall we go on inside?" He asked.
April nodded, following Mortu into the building. From an adjacent rooftop, the turtles watched her go in, Mikey smiling widely.
"The clam is on the escalator." Mikey whispered. "I repeat, the clam is on the escalator."
His brothers all glared at him in a mixture of annoyance and confusion.
"What the shell is that supposed to mean?" Leo demanded.
"April's in the building." Mikey explained.
"Then why didn't you just say that?" Donny asked.
"Because code words are way cooler." Mikey explained.
The other three turtles looked at each other, then shook their heads. Mikey sighed.
"Fine. April's in the building." he groaned. "Party poopers."
…
Inside, Mortu and April made their way deeper into the building. As they walked, April noted a few bandages on Mortu's face, as well as his hands.
"Are you okay?" She asked.
Mortu glanced at her in confusion, then seemed to remember his bandages.
"Oh, these." He said softly, coughing a bit. "There was a bit of an accident earlier this morning."
April had a feeling what the 'accident' really was, but didn't feel the need to comment. Instead, she simply let out a cough of her own.
"I see." she muttered. "Umm, I hate to ask this so soon into the interview, but where's your little girl's room?"
Mortu pointed down an adjoining hallway.
"Down that hallway, third door on the right."
April smiled, giving a small bow of thanks before making her way down the hall. Once she was out of sight of Mortu, she quickly leaned up against the wall, fishing for the small little shell Donny had given her.
"Okay, what do I do with this, Don?" she asked.
"Just place it on the floor, and I'll handle the rest." Don answered through the earpiece.
April gently placed the small shell on the ground, then made her way back to Mortu, trusting the guys to know what they were doing.
…
Donny fished into his pockets, pulling out what looked like an old handheld Nintendo. However, it was covered in duct tape and there was clear evidence of tampering on the purple turtle's part.
"Don, is this really the time to be playing video games?" Mikey questioned.
"This isn't a video game, Mikey." Don told him, powering it on. "It's the controller for the new and improved turtle hacker."
The screen came alive, showing the inside of the building from a worm's eye point of view. Pressing a few buttons, the camera began to shift as the turtle hacker sprouted legs and a small camera head as it skittered across the floor.
"I figured this would allow us to get a look inside the facility, as well as keep April out of any real danger." Donny explained.
"Nice thinking." Leo complimented.
"A-thank you." Donny replied. "Now let's find that security room."
Tapping away on the controller, Donny maneuvered the Turtle Hacker down the long hallway. The little device was even able to crawl up the walls, allowing for a better vantage point of the doors and their labels. After a few more minutes of searching, they were able to locate their desired targets.
"Bingo." Don declared.
"Great job, but now we need to get inside." Raph reminded him.
About that time, the door to the security room opened up as a guard walked out, most likely to use the bathroom or something. Donny took the opportunity, launching the turtle hacker off of the wall and through the door frame seconds before the door closed again.
"Alright, we're in." Donny announced. "Now it's time to see if it lives up to the hacker part of its name."
He sent the turtle hacker up the sides of the security terminal, careful to remain out of sight of the remaining guard. The back of the hacker's shell opened, releasing a USB drive that inserted itself into the terminal, allowing Donny access. Tapping the side of the controller, the bottom screen became a keyboard, from which Donny began working his magic.
"Accessing outer security, disabling roof sensors… Got it."
Donny put the controller away as Leo brought out a grapple gun, aiming it at the building. He fired, shooting a line of rope at the roof where it hooked onto the side. After securing it to the building they were on, they began to walk across the rope. After making it about halfway across, Mikey began to whisper to himself.
"A hush falls over the crowd as the Hamato Brothers make their way across the tightrope."
"Mikey, if we weren't a hundred feet in the air, I'd bap you one." Raph hissed.
"What? I joke when I'm under stress." Mikey argued. "You know that."
"Both of you cut it out!" Leo snapped. "We can't afford to get caught."
Silent once more, they made it onto the roof, where Don quickly spotted the security camera.
"No time for the hacker now." He mused. "Gotta act fast."
"Oooooh!" Mikey cheered. "I have an idea. We'll need a pigeon puppet, a polaroid camera, and a way to attach the picture to the camera."
Both Raph and Leo looked at Mikey like he was crazy while Donny slunk behind the camera.
"Or I could simply rewire the camera to feed back a continuous loop." He suggested, doing just that.
Mikey let out a sigh as Raph clapped him on the shell.
"Don't sweat it, little bro." Raph told him. "Maybe in some alternate reality, another set of turtles will try your idea."
"You really think so?" Mikey asked.
"Of course I do." Raph replied.
Donny closed the back panel of the camera with a smile.
"Got it." He declared. "We are clear to move about the rooftop."
Raph then turned towards a large air vent, delivering a powerful kick to it, knocking it free.
"And here's our way down." he declared, then he paused as he stared in shock. "Or maybe not."
The vent didn't lead to anywhere. In fact, aside from the studs that held the vent in place, there wasn't any sign that there ever was a vent.
"What the shell?" Leo whispered in surprise.
"A fake vent?" Mikey asked. "Who puts in a fake vent?!"
"Someone who's trying to make the building appear normal." Donny surmised.
"Okay, this place is starting to skyrocket on the not-what-it-seems scale." Mikey commented.
Donny grabbed the remote to the turtle hacker, reactivating it.
"Even if this one is fake, there has to be a real one around here somewhere." Don noted, going through the security terminal again. "It'll just take a second to find it."
Going through the terminal again, it didn't take long for him to find one.
"Alright, there appears to be a ventilation shaft on the ninth floor, third window over on the left."
The turtles went to the edge, pulling the lines out of their grapple guns and setting them on the edge of the building. Peering over the edge, they made sure nobody was watching, then began rappelling down.
"12..." Mikey counted. "11… 10… Ni-"
As his foot connected with the ninth story window, he passed right through it, as if there was nothing there. For a second, the other three panicked, until Mikey came back through the window, phasing through it as if he was swinging on a swing.
"Hey guys!" he hissed before passing back through, "You've gotta-... Try this for-... Yourselves! ... It's really-"
Raph shoved Mikey hard through the fake window, the rope going slack as Mikey finally landed inside. One by one, they all passed through, entering a large air shaft. Mikey picked himself up off the ground as Raph let out a chuckle.
"Fun..." Mikey grunted.
"Indeed it is, Mikey." Raph replied, yanking Mikey to his feet.
Donny put a finger to his earpiece, whispering into it.
"April, we're in the building. You're clear to leave. We'll take it from here."
…
Mortu escorted April to the door, giving her a kind smile.
"Are you sure I can't change your mind?" Mortu asked. "Galactic Enterprises could greatly benefit from someone as clever as you."
"While I appreciate the compliment, I'm afraid I must decline." April replied. "To be honest, the only reason I tried this was because some friends of mine wanted me to give science another shot."
Mortu gave a nod of understanding.
"Well, if you do not plan on pursuing science, what will you do?"
"Journalism." April replied. "That way monsters like Baxter Stockman will finally be exposed and get the justice they deserve."
Mortu smiled at that.
"A warrior for the truth." he mused. "The world needs more of those. I wish you luck."
"Thank you Mr. Mortu."
April walked out of the building, her smiling fading as she glanced up at the building.
"And good luck guys." she whispered.
Once April vanished down the street, Mortu returned inside as a security guard came up to him.
"Sir, I went over the security system like you ordered, and you were right. I found something off."
"I assumed you would." Mortu replied, walking with the guard. "Seems Miss O'Neil was a distraction after all. What did you find?"
"The roof sensors had been disabled, the camera had been tampered with, and our security schematics had been searched through multiple times." the guard explained, then he handed Mortu the turtle hacker. "This appears to be the source of the leak in our system."
Mortu couldn't help but smirk as he took the hacker, turning it over in his fingers.
"The turtles are in the building." He said to himself. "I'm assuming everyone has been made aware of the situation by now."
"Yes sir." The guard replied. "The entire facility is on high alert and everyone has been instructed to have weapons set to stun."
"Excellent." Mortu said with a nod. "Tell Samson to keep an eye on our two guests. Make sure the girl is still calm and that our first guest is still in good condition."
"Yes sir." the guard said with a salute.
…
The turtles were army crawling through the air vent, trying to find out where Hisako was. So far, every time they peered through an open grate, they just saw a seemingly endless hallway.
"Find anything yet?" Mikey asked. "I don't wanna stare at Leo's butt any longer than I have to."
"Not so much as a person, or a sign indicating where anything is." Donny replied.
"Well, can you check the hacker thingy for a way to where Hisako is?" Mikey suggested.
"I can try." The purple turtle answered.
Donny got out the remote again, but when he turned it on, all he got was static and a disconnected message. His eyes widened at that and he gulped hard.
"Um, guys?" he said, barely suppressing a whimper. "I think someone found my hacker."
"What?!" The other turtles exclaimed, nearly forgetting the stealth part of their mission.
"You mean we've been busted already?!" Mikey squeaked.
"I don't know." Donny replied. "You'd think there'd be alarms or something."
While they spoke, there was the sound of footsteps coming towards them. The turtles all fell silent as a pair of what looked like doctors began to walk underneath them.
"Man, I can't believe we finally got the infirmary cleaned up." One of the doctors commented.
"Tell me about it." the other replied. "I'm surprised that girl caused as much damage as she did."
The pair walked down the hallway, continuing their conversation as the turtles followed them from the vent.
"Yeah, and I would hate to be the Guardians that had to pull her off of Mortu." the first doctor remarked.
"I don't know about that." the second one countered. "I mean, did you see Samson's face?"
"True." The first one agreed. "I mean, he seemed genuinely happy to be getting the slime kicked out of him."
They approached an elevator, pressing the button and waiting for it to come up to them.
"Thankfully he was able to get her subdued and put somewhere that she won't cause any more trouble." The second one said with obvious relief.
"Very true." The first one "Let's just hope it stays that way."
The elevator opened, allowing the two doctors to enter. The second the doors closed behind them, the turtles climbed out of the vent, landing in front of the elevator.
"Did you hear what those guys said?" Raph asked.
"A messy infirmary caused by a girl, who had to be pulled off of a guy as she kicked the slime out of him?" Donny repeated. "That's got to be Hisako."
"They said they had subdued her and put her somewhere where she 'won't cause any more trouble'." Leo added. "I don't like the way that sounds."
"We need to find her fast!" Mikey exclaimed.
"And now we finally have an idea of where to go." Raph declared, spinning his sai in his fingers.
The turtles parted as the red one approached the doors of the elevator. Using his weapons as a set of levers, he pried the doors open, revealing the descending elevator to the brothers.
"Going down?" Mikey asked with a smile.
They all jumped into the elevator shaft, bouncing off the walls before catching hold of the cable, allowing them to descend silently on top of the car. They rode it to the bottom, and once the two doctors had emerged, Raph pried loose the panel on the roof of the elevator. One by one, they all dropped into the elevator, emerging out onto the floor.
"Alright, now we can… can..." Leo began before his voice trailed away.
The plain white hallways from before were completely gone. Instead, there was a large, dark pink room that seemed to expand far beyond the borders of the floor's size. Structures that appeared almost organic in nature were sprawled throughout the place, and everything just looked like the set of a Star Trek movie.
"Holy chalupa..." Mikey gasped.
"Guys, are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Donny questioned.
"I'm seeing, but I'm still working on the believing part." Raph replied in complete awe.
The two doctors from the elevator seemed to be headed for the edge of a large platform. Without any real idea of what was going on, or even where to begin, the turtles quickly followed after them, hiding behind a wall.
"At least there's one good thing about that girl's attack," one of the doctors commented. "We get to get out of these suits."
"Agreed." the other one replied. "I can't remember the last time I was out of it."
The two doctors pulled at their lab coats, but instead of just pulling the coats off, there was the sound of something sticky being pulled off. The coat, the shirt, and even the skin of the doctors began to pull away, revealing a robotic skeleton underneath. Mikey nearly squealed in shock, but three green hands, one from each of his brothers, came up to cover his mouth and silence the sound.
The two doctors dropped the skin suits as a strange creature was revealed in each of their stomachs.
"Don, what are those things?" Leo whispered.
"They look similar to Opisthoteuthis californiana." Donny replied.
"Less science, more English." Raph hissed.
"Flapjack Octopus." Donny clarified.
Mikey said something barely intelligible through the three hands covering his mouth, but it was obvious he was still confused. Donny groaned in annoyance.
"The little pink octopus from Finding Nemo." Donny clarified again, much slower.
"Well obviously these things ain't your usual sushi platter." Raph commented.
Mikey pulled his face free of his brothers' hands.
"Guys... you're missing the obvious answer." He told them. "Those octopus dudes are aliens."
The turtles looked back at the octopus guys, which were beginning to float away on small little hover pads, leaving their robotic bodies and gross skin suits behind. The floor opened up beneath it all, swallowing it and sending it who knows where.
"Aliens..." Donny repeated. "As if our lives weren't freaky enough."
With the aliens long gone, the turtles went to the edge of the platform to look over the edge. Down below, they could see several more of the alien creatures flying around the place, as well as a few in just plain metal skeletons without the skins. Many were marching around wielding large guns in their hands, no doubt some sort of guard force.
"Dudes, they have laser rifles." Mikey said in fear.
"We can see that, Mikey." Raph told him.
"But I don't see any sign of Hisako anywhere." Donny added.
Leo continued looking, then his eyes locked on a figure walking around below them. His fists clenched as he recognized the Guardian from before.
"I think I do." He whispered. "Look who just showed up."
He pointed towards the Guardian as he walked up to one of the floating aliens, intercepting him from wherever he was heading.
"Dr. Xeinos," the Guardian greeted. "Mortu wants you to check on the rat. Considering everything that has happened, it may not be a bad idea to ensure that he's still in good condition."
"But I just got done with the clean-up efforts in the infirmary, and I'm in need of a decontamination session." the alien replied in a voice that almost seemed feminine.
"The rat's life is crucial to gaining the girl's trust." Samson reminded her. "Please Dr. Xeinos."
The alien doctor sighed.
"Oh alright." she told him. "But after that, I am done for the day."
"Fair enough." the Guardian replied.
The two parted ways, leaving the turtles stunned.
"Guys, please tell me I'm not the only one who heard that." Mikey practically begged.
"Check on the rat?" Donny repeated. "It can't be..."
"We have to see for ourselves." Leo insisted, almost desperately.
"Couldn't agree more, Leo." Raph told him.
The four jumped off of the ledge, carefully avoiding the aliens around them as they landed silently on the floor below. Channeling every lesson in stealth and sticking to the shadows, the four followed the alien doctor down towards a long hallway.
"Go and check on the rat, he says." The doctor mocked as she floated deeper down the hallway. "It's crucial to gaining the girl's trust he says. He's the one that brought those two here, he should be the one to check on them, but no..."
At the end of the hallway, a strange door that shared the seemingly organic nature of the entire place opened up, allowing the doctor and the turtles into a large room full of floor to ceiling columns. Each column was made up of strange mechanical pods that were filled to the brim with a strange blue-green liquid, and a few of these pods were occupied by either an alien or a human. However, the alien doctor floated passed all of them, approaching a pod on one of the upper parts of a nearby column.
"Good afternoon." The doctor said to the patient inside the pod. "You missed out on the action again. Our other guest made quite a mess of the recovery ward. Thankfully, her little outburst didn't get to the Intensive Care unit, so you and your fellow patience should be alright."
The turtles began climbing up the column as the doctor brought up a holographic screen on the glass of the pod.
"Looks like the mutagenic medicine is nearly done healing your lower abdominal regions, and without and adverse effects to your mutated cells." The doctor continued, unaware of the turtles' approach. "I'm sure your family will be happy to hear about that."
"Why don't you ask them?" Raph snapped.
The doctor turned around just in time to see Raph's foot connect with her face, sending her flying off of her little floating platform. Mikey caught her as she flew, then slammed her into the ground, knocking her out cold. With the doctor out of the way, the turtles turned to the pod, and the patient inside. All four of them went wide-eyed when they saw who it was.
"Master Splinter!" they all exclaimed.
Their master and father was floating in the strange blue-green ooze, his eyes closed and his body still. The holographic screen was still on and Donny quickly began going over it. Though all the information was in a languages he couldn't even begin to understand, the charts and readouts were relatively easy to make out.
"Don, how is he?" Leo asked, his voice laced with no small amount of fear.
"If I'm reading these right, Sensei's vital signs are stable." He replied.
"No wonder we couldn't find him." Raph remarked. "That guardian guy must have snagged him after Hisako turned her back and brought him here."
"Can you get him out?" Mikey pleaded.
"I don't think so." Donny replied. "Whatever this thing is, I can't even begin to understand how it works. One false move, and I could hurt him real bad… or worse."
Mikey shivered.
"I don't want to think about worse." he muttered.
"So what, we're just gonna leave him there?!" Raph exclaimed.
"We don't have a choice, Raph." Leo argued. "Our best bet right now is to find Hisako, get the shell out of here, then come up with a plan to help Splinter without hurting him anymore than he already is."
Raph glared at his brother, then glanced over his shoulder at Splinter. His hard gazed softened somewhat, then he let out a snarl of anger and frustration.
"Fine." he said reluctantly. "So where do you suggest we start looking for her?"
The alien doctor began to groan, obviously coming to. The turtles exchanged glances, then looked down at the doctor. Leo bent down and picked her up, all four of them putting on their most sinister and monstrous looks. The doctor saw this and let out a terrified squeak.
"The turtles!" she stammered. "H-how did you find this place?!"
"Sorry doc, but you ain't the one asking questions here." Mikey quipped.
"You see, my brothers and I have had a very rough few days, and none of us are in the best of moods." Leo explained, pulling a sword from its sheath. "So it would be in your best interest to do exactly what we say."
The alien doctor gulped as Donny tapped his Bo staff against his palm.
"Lucky for you, there's only one thing we want you to do." He assured the alien. "Answer one simple question for us."
Raph the squeezed the alien's head as hard as he could, causing it to squeal in pain.
"Where. Is. Hisako?" he snarled.
…
Hisako sat in a simple meeting room in the center of a large table, meditating in order to calm down. There was an empty pizza box beside her, as well as an empty bottle of coke, peace offerings to get her to calm down that had succeeded. With her stomach full and the shock worn off, she was able to rationalize everything that was going on. While she meditated, the door to the meeting room opened, allowing Samson entrance. Hisako cracked an eye open, then smiled before jumping off the table.
"Samson." she greeted, grabbing her garbage and tossing it into a large can by the door. "I'm guessing the infirmary is clean now."
"Indeed." Samson told her, taking one of the seats. "Feeling better?"
Hisako nodded, sitting on the edge of the table and looking sheepish.
"Yeah." she admitted. "Sorry about freaking out the way I did."
Samson chuckled.
"You woke up in a strange place, in the infirmary, and you learned aliens exist." he listed off. "I think you were entitled to freak out."
Hisako shared in Samson's chuckle, rubbing the back of her head.
"I guess." she said after a moment. "Though considering the weird stuff my family and I deal with on a daily basis, you'd think that aliens wouldn't be so shocking."
Once again, the two chuckled, then Hisako looked at Samson with a small smile.
"Thank you."
Samson looked at her in confusion as she continued.
"Thank you for helping me, and my dad." She told him. "I don't know how things would have turned out had you not done what you did… though next time you do, drop a note or something."
Samson have an understanding nod.
"I will be sure to do so in the future." He promised.
They sat there for a bit, then Hisako spoke again.
"Why did you save us?" she wondered. "I remember you saying that you had been searching for me these past 14 years, but I still don't get why."
Samson's smile became somewhat sad as his eyes seemed to glaze over. Hisako could feel an old sadness, much like the way Splinter was when he thought of Tang Shen.
"Because… I made a promise to someone very important to me that I would be keep you safe." He answered eventually.
"Who?" Hisako questioned.
Samson looked at Hisako, running his hand along her hair.
"Your parents."
Before Hisako even had time to properly register what Samson had said, the door was kicked inward, causing both her and Samson to jump. From the hallway, the four turtles walked in, weapons drawn and serious expressions on their faces.
"Guys!" Hisako called out in surprise.
Samson's eyes locked onto the alien in Raph's hand.
"Dr. Xeinos!" he exclaimed.
"I-I'm sorry Samson…" The alien squeaked. "They threatened to skewer me."
Raph tossed the alien at Samson, forcing him to catch her. While he focused on saving his extra-terrestrial friend, Mikey leapt into the air with his foot primed to attack.
"Cowabunga!" he exclaimed, kicking Samson into the wall.
With those two out of the way, the turtles ran to Hisako, checking her up and down.
"Hisako, you okay?" Donny asked.
Hisako nodded enthusiastically.
"I'm okay guys." she assured them. "I'm more than okay. I found Sensei!"
"We know." Leo told her. "We found him too. Unfortunately, we're gonna have to come back for him later, but right now we just need to get you out of here."
Hisako shook her head.
"Guys, you got it all wrong." she attempted to explain to them. "I'm not in trouble. Not this time. These guys are-"
Her words were cut off by the sound of laser fire coming their direction. They all hit the deck as a bolt of pink energy connected with the wall, leaving a fair-sized scorch mark on it.
"You idiots!" A shout came from down the hallway. "I said set the weapons to stun!"
"Mortu?" Hisako wondered.
"We've been made!" Mikey exclaimed.
"Come on guys, no time for stealth now." Leo declared.
Raph grabbed Hisako's arm, pulling her down the hallway as they attempted to make their escape. They ran up to about a dozen of the alien creatures, all of them aiming laser rifles at the group. Hisako's eyes widened at the sight, already know what was about to happen.
"Guys wait-!" she tried to say.
Donny ran up to the group, extending the two blades on his staff.
"Gangway!" he shouted, spinning the staff
He knocked away the metal exoskeletons that were not fast enough to move out of the way. With a path now clear, Raph threw Hisako over his shoulder and the three bolted out of the room.
"Donny, which way did we come from?" Leo asked.
"The elevator should be-" Donny began.
As they made it towards the elevator, several floating aliens and ones in metal exo-suits came to block their path.
"Uh oh!" Mikey squeaked.
The aliens began to open fire, forcing the turtles to begin evasive maneuvers,
"Looks like we need an alternate route." Raph observed.
"Where?" Leo asked deflecting a laser blast with his sword.
Their options were slowly beginning to dwindle, Donny noticed an open hallway that seemed to be devoid of their alien pursuers.
"Down there!" He exclaimed.
They all took off down the hallway, much to the horror of Mr. Mortu.
"Stop them!" he shouted desperately.
The fire power increased dramatically as the aliens attempted to stop the turtles from getting any farther. They managed to make it to the end of the hallway, where it opened up to a large room dominated by a strange looking platform. The turtles barely had time to look at it before a stray laser blast caught Raph in the back, sending both him and Hisako falling onto the platform. They tried getting up, but something kept them from moving.
"Hey!" Raph called, trying to move his legs. "I can't move!"
"Me neither!" Hisako said in a panic.
The others jumped onto the platform to try and help them up, but it just resulted in them getting stuck themselves. The platform then began to glow a bright pink color as the aliens came running in. When Mortu saw what was happening, he ran to the controls in an attempt to stop the process.
"Mr. Mortu!" Hisako screamed. "What is going on?!"
He didn't answer her question, too focused on trying to turn off the machine. Unfortunately, it was too late.
"I am sorry Hisako, I cannot shut it down." he told her. "When it is over, seek out an Utrom Outpost! It is your only chance of coming home!"
"What are you-?!"
Before she could finish her question, balls of pink light began to swirl around the five of them, reducing their bodies to large masses of light before they vanished all together. The platform's lights died away, leaving the aliens alone in the now empty room.
