Leonardo led his family into the Foot compound. They met no opposition as they entered and the one Foot soldier who appeared wordlessly took up the lead to guide them to where they were keeping Donatello. Once they reached their destination, the Foot soldier opened the door and stepped aside as the Turtles entered.
Donatello was in bed with monitoring devices attached to him. Leo’s heart sank at the sight of it. How many times was he going to have to see one of his brothers clinging to life?
Whatever was wrong with him, it was obvious that Donatello was in pain.
Leatherhead was sitting next to the bed, holding Donny’s hand. He looked up as they entered and he did a double take when his eyes fell on Donny’s counterpart. He glanced up at Leonardo then back to the counterpart.
Leo looked back at Donnie then turned once again to Leatherhead. “We will explain how he got here later. Right now our biggest concern is what’s going on with Donny.”
Leatherhead sighed and looked down at his love. “Doctor Chaplin ran some tests…. Donatello’s cells are breaking down.”
“Why?” Raph asked as Donnie stepped forward.
Leatherhead eyed the counterpart suspiciously. “It appears that in order to implant Donatello with the alien uterus, Bishop had to clone him. And, like with Bishop, the clone has a shelf life.”
Mikey took a few deep breaths as he found the courage to ask, “That’s not really Donny?”
Leatherhead tore his eyes from Donatello’s counterpart and looked up at Michelangelo. “He is Donatello. He has just been placed in a different body.”
“Can Chaplin clone Donny a new body?” Leo asked.
Leatherhead shook his head. “He does not know the process and even if he did, he would need the DNA from Donatello’s original body in order to do it.”
“So,” Mikey choked back a sob. “We’re gonna lose him. He’s gonna start to fall apart like Stockman did.”
Leatherhead looked down at Donatello and squeezed his hand. “Chaplin is trying to find a way to stop the deterioration. So far he has only succeeded in slowing it down.”
As Leatherhead spoke the words, Leonardo didn’t hear any kind of hope in them. He doubted that there was anything that could be done.
“We need to find Bishop and make him fix this,” Raph said, slamming his fist into his hand.
Leatherhead shook his head. “Donatello has already decided on that. He doesn’t want to risk being captured again. He knows that Bishop’s original goal was to use him for breeding. There is no way he will risk having his children raised by that man.”
Tears streamed down Mikey’s cheeks. “So we’re just gonna let him die?”
Leatherhead closed his eyes, unable to answer.
“Where is Doctor Chaplin,” Donnie asked, looking around the room. “Maybe I can help with the research.”
Leatherhead looked up at him then over at Leo.
Shrugging, Leo said, “If anyone can find a way to save Donatello, it will be Donatello. There’s no one smarter.”
“I remember where the lab is,” Mikey announced, lunging forward to grab hold of Donnie. The look of surprise on Donnie’s face as Mikey pulled him from the room was almost comical. If it weren’t for the dire situation, it would have been enough to make Leo laugh.
“How did he get in our world?” Donny asked after they had left. His voice was strained and his chest heaved as he turned his head to look up at Leo. “I need to know the answer.”
Leo sat down on the other side of the bed and took Donny’s hand. “Mikey was messing with your portal device. He figured out how to flip through the stations, so to speak. He saw Donnie lying on the floor. He had lost his family and had given up on life. And you know Mikey, he had to help. So he ran through. All it took to bring him back was for Raph to stick his hand in and pull Mikey through.”
Donny stared up at Leo in silence. His eyes darted back and forth as he processed what Leo had said. After a while, Donny sighed and said, “That’s it? That’s all it took? It was that simple?”
Leo nodded, “It was that simple.”
Donny let out a slight chuckle that visibly caused him pain. “Leave it to Mikey to find a simple solution to a problem I had been over thanking.”
“Yeah, he’s good at that.” Raph said, trying his best to sound upbeat.
Leo looked back at the other dimension’s Karai. She was standing back, out of the way, looking out of place. In all honesty, she was. This wasn’t her world and she hadn’t had the chance to get to know any of them. Leo sighed inwardly. There wasn’t much he could do about it now.
Splinter walked up next to Leonardo and placed his hand on Donatello’s head. His black eyes shone with tears and the fur under his eyes was soaked. There were no words of comfort that could be offered. Nothing could be said to ease the pain.
Time passed and the situation felt hopeless. What chance was there for them to find a way to stabilize the clone’s structure when Bishop couldn’t find it? The government agent had had decades to figure it out.
Raph joined them by the bed and Leatherhead moved back to give him some room. As Leatherhead let go of Donny’s hand, Raph reached out to grab it.
Donny opened his eyes and looked up at Raph. “You and Leatherhead be good to Snow, okay. You two need to stop fighting over her care. You need to work together, for her.”
Raph nodded in response, doing his best to hold back his tears. “Okay.”
“You know I love you, Raph,” Donny whispered.
Choking on a sob, Raph leaned forward to place a chaste kiss on Donny’s lips. “If I was into dudes, you would have been mine a long time ago.”
“You would’ve had to share me with Leatherhead,” Donny smiled.
Raph laughed through the tears. “I’m glad he was able to give you what I couldn’t.”
The door opened and Donnie came running in, followed by Chaplin and Mikey. Donnie held a syringe in his hand and headed straight for Donny. “I hope this works.”
Before anyone had time to react or ask any questions, Donnie started to inject a dark glowing substance in to Donny through the IV tube. Once the syringe was empty Donnie stepped back, keeping his eyes on Donny.
At first nothing happened. But then Donny grunted in pain. Whatever was happening then turned agonizing for him. His body trashed as he cried out, every muscle tense and he gripped the sheets in a white knuckle grasp.
“What did you do?” Leatherhead roared, turning to glare at Donnie.
“I’m sorry,” Donnie sobbed, crumpling to the floor.
The screams were hard to listen to and Leo was sure that it was his brother’s final moments. Eventually, Donny stopped screaming and he went limp. His body was drenched in sweat and all motion had stopped. Leo held his breath as he looked down at his brother. Then Donny’s chest started to move with steady breaths and Leo was able to heave a sigh of relief.
Chaplin moved forward and started to examine Donny. “Everything seems to be stabilizing. But I will need a blood sample to make sure.” He reached into his lab coat and pulled out the items he would need to draw some blood.
As Chaplin worked on collecting the sample, Leo walked over to Donnie. “What did you inject into him?” As he spoke, Leo looked up and noticed that there were several people standing in the door way, looking into the room. The screams must have drawn their attention.
“I… m…modified the mutagen from my world,” Donnie answered meekly from the floor. “I tested it on his blood. I had no idea that it would do that to him. I’m so sorry.”
“It might have caused him pain,” Chaplin said as he pulled the needle from Donny’s arm. “But it looks like it might have saved him. I’ll run some test to make sure but I’m hopeful.”
Raph turned to look at Donnie. “You brought mutagen over from your world?”
Donnie nodded in response.
Leatherhead stood up and walked over to Donnie. With wide eyes, Donnie followed his movements and then cringed when he realized that the large croc was approaching. “Please don’t grab my face,” he said, bringing his arms up to shield himself.
Leatherhead paused, taken back by Donnie’s words. “Why would I grab you by the face?”
Bringing his arms down to look up at Leatherhead, Donnie replied, “That’s what Leatherhead in my world did to me all the time whenever he was mad. And I don’t know why. He just kept going after my face. He was huge, larger than you, and his hand covered my whole face. Then he would fling his arms around, whipping me back and forth like a rag doll.”
Donnie became animated as he spoke and his frustration could be heard in the way he spoke. He realized what he was doing and blushed, closing his mouth as he stood up. Taking a deep breath he looked up at Leatherhead. “You are different from him in a lot of ways but, like him, I can tell that you are a friend.”
Leatherhead reached out and grabbed hold of Donnie, pulling him into a warm embrace. “Thank you for saving my love.”
At first Donnie was surprised by the gesture but then his features softened as his eyes filled with sorrow. “We’re not sure if it worked yet.”
“I think it did,” Donny mumbled, drawing their attention back to him. “It doesn’t feel like my skin is crawling anymore. But, then again, I feel like I was hit by a bus. It’s a completely different kind of pain than before.”
Leatherhead rushed back over to Donny and nuzzled him. “I was so frightened.”
Donny reached up and caressed Leatherhead’s long jaw.
“It is so strange to see them together,” Donnie mumbled. “I never felt that way for Leatherhead. Mikey was closer to him.”
Leo laughed. “I guess there are quite a few differences between our two worlds. Just wait until you see their baby.” Reaching out, Leo pulled Donnie into a warm hug. “Thank you for saving my brother.”
“No problem,” Donnie hugged him back. “I couldn’t sit back and do nothing. I know the pain of watching your brother die.”
Splinter, who had remained silent through the whole ordeal, walked up and grabbed Donnie’s hand. “Thank you,” was all he managed to say before his words were choked off with a sob. Splinter then walked back over to the bed and sat down next to Donny.
“We owe you a great deal,” Raph added, patting Donnie on the back before heading back over to Donny. “I’m glad Mikey found you.”
Karai walked into the room carrying Snow. She looked down at her counterpart, he eyes narrowing slightly out of curiosity then she saw Donnie and paused. “I’m sure there is an interesting story that explains who you are but by the look of you, I am going to guess that you are not another clone.”
“That is correct,” Donnie nodded. His eyes drifted down to look at the baby in Karai’s arms. “That must be Snow.”
Karai smiled. “She woke up from her nap and I figured that since Donatello is no longer in critical condition that he might want to see her.”
“I’m a little too tired to hold her now,” Donny replied. “But, I’m sure Raph will be more than happy to take her off your hands.”
“Absolutely.” Raph stood and relieved Snow from Karai. Snow cooed in delight as Raph leaned down to nuzzle her. “I missed your smell,” he whispered and then kissed her head.
Feeling a great swell of relief, Leo moved back over to Donny’s side. Once more, death was avoided.
