FicWad

Chapter Twenty Two: Good Genes Part Two:

Back in the lab in Area 51, the robotic shell containing the brain of Baxter Stockman took a few tentative steps forward, surrounded by test tubes along with a captured specimen, the giant roach mutant that gave an impression that the human being sticking out of its head. Stockman sat himself down, going over all the notes he had on failed figures of components, he had come close on several instances, but nothing close enough that would even reverse the mutations. At this point, Stockman doubted very much that a cure could be formulated at all, but with Bishop breathing down his neck every second, Stockman found himself pressured to work to the very end. Sure enough, at that moment, Bishop walked up, peering at Stockman, an impatient look appearing on the shady government agent’s face as he turned to Stockman.

“Stockman, need I remind you that even more cases of the outbreak are coming in from New York, my men are pushed to their utter limits to even partially contain it, so a cure needs to formulated soon,” said Bishop. “Let us not forget that it was your genetic miscalculation and careless disposal of the fake alien waste that kick started this outbreak in the first place, so you have to formulate a solution now, as this outbreak is keeping me away from my work.”

“Your work! As you should know by now, the outbreak is an unintended side effect of the alien accelerates, it was impossible to predict, the odds of finding the correct variables and isolating them to completely establish a cure will take time, several more days perhaps even weeks, worst case scenario months, perhaps never,” commented Stockman, as he tested another chemical component against infected blood cells but it was no good.

“Time is luxury we do not have any longer Stockman, you will work until a cure is found, no breaks,” said Bishop coldly and at that moment, another government agent walked in, looking rather befuddled as he approached his agent. “Yes.”

“Sir, we’re having an unexpected communication, I’ve never seen anything like it before, it’s coming in through our dedicated frequencies,” explained the agent and Bishop looked at his fellow agent over his sunglasses, with slight interest. “They want to talk to you.”

“Patch me through, I’ll be in the communications room in about a minute,” said Bishop shortly and the agent nodded, before Bishop walked forward through two hallways, before he walked across into a third room that resembled a large silvery dome. Stepping forward, Bishop looked up toward the ceiling. “Open secure channels, authorization code, Bishop Three Omega.”

At that time, a communication link opened, revealing a spectral form of a medium sized faceless figure, cloaked in grey robes, its blacken face looking at Bishop.

“Welcome Agent Bishop, I’ve been wishing to speak to you for quite some time,” commented the figure but Bishop looked at it with distrust.

“How did you get this frequency?” demanded Bishop.

“We have our ways of getting this frequency and also have the means to assist you with your crusade,” answered the spectral figure mysteriously. “Yes, we know about your mission John Bishop, how you search the skies every night, searching for your little green men.”

“Little grey men actually,” corrected Bishop, as he looked at the faceless figure. “I fail to understand what exactly you have to do with my life’s work.”

“What if I were to tell you that the answer to all your problems is right here on Earth?” suggested the faceless figure and Bishop looked up with interest. “Right here on this planet, there’s an ancient gemstone containing secrets of hundreds upon hundreds of alien races, etched within it, that will give you unbelievable power to create means to dispense with any threats that come your way.”

“Very well, than give it to me,” said Bishop shortly but the faceless figure just paused, before leaning forward as far as possible towards Bishop.

“That it is impossible, but I can give you information where it is located,” commented the figure and Bishop remained quiet, awaiting the information. “As a matter of fact, I am under the assumption you are quite familiar with the organization who holds this powerful artifact, they call themselves the Foot.”

Back in the lair, Harry was over in the side of the head, working with a sample of infected outbreak blood, using a duplication charm whenever necessary, going through several modifications through several potions that dealt with side effects of being injured by dangerous magical creatures. It was hoped that something would offer a clue on how to formulate a cure, but so far, absolutely nothing, despite all of the variables. He watched as Leatherhead was also feverishly working on a cure through Muggle methods. Hopefully, Harry picked up the mirror, it had been a few hours and he checked in with his mother, who had been also attempting to work against the clock to find a cure.

“Mum, anything,” said Harry in a tired voice.

“Sorry Harry, I thought I had something for a minute, but while it did partially cure the outbreak mutation, however it also completely killed all the living cells in the blood as a result,” commented Lily. “I’m beginning to think this is one problem that magic can’t solve, but I keep working to the very end.”

“Okay, thanks Mum,” said Harry in a tired, resigned voice, as he turned over, no matter how tired he felt, he had to keep up, his brother’s life hung in the balance.

“Harry, I think it would be a good idea if you get some sleep, I mean you look terrible,” commented Ginny, as she returned to the lair with Hailey, the two girls having left to get some sleep and returned shortly.

“Can’t, important, cure, Don” said Harry in a tired voice, as he wiped sweat from his forehead as he looked forward, before he flipped through the Potions Book, from a large stack that he had, trying to see if he could find something that he might have overlooked the first time through. Unfortunately, he was running out of options, other than his really advanced Potions text that were located in the Slytherin library at Hogwarts that might have held a hint to anything that can help Harry formulate a cure to help with his ailing brother’s predicament.

On the other side of the lair, Leo looked out in the distance, sighing as he stood, deep in thought. He heard Master Splinter walk over to him, deep in thought, before the wizened rat spoke.

“You seem rather troubled, Leonardo,” said Master Splinter and Leo paused, before he turned to his sensei, unable to completely articulate what he wanted to say, but nevertheless attempted to do his best to do so.

“It’s just that, when finding this cure, I keep turning to Don, to ask for his opinion but then I remember, he’s the one that we are helping and thus he will be unable to help us, I’ve never felt so helpless in my entire life,” said Leo and Master Splinter nodded knowingly, as he looked forward, seeing Leatherhead continue to work on the cure.

“I too wish to speak with Donatello, as he did do most of the work on the project to find a cure for this plague, and while his notes have given me hints on what he has found, only a certain amount of insight can be gathered from them,” said Leatherhead with a sigh as he looked on. “Unfortunately, his condition only worsens by the moment, in his case is a bit different than the others due to the Utrom mutagen lingering in his blood stream, as he loses a bit more of his humanity by the passing it, it will only be a matter of time before the disease becomes permanent and then…

Leatherhead’s words were left hanging and there was really not any need for the large mutant crocodile to finish his statement, but Splinter looked towards Leatherhead.

“Now, remember, since Agent Bishop created the outbreak in the first place, perhaps he has access to the means to create a cure,” remarked Master Splinter. “It is not an avenue that I wish to go down granted, but at this point, time is running out for Donatello and thus a drastic solution may be needed to solve this problem.”

Mikey began putting the finishing touches on a plate of food to take to Don, who was getting rather irritated so perhaps the newly deformed mutant would require food to pacify him. Quickly, Mikey moved forward, before he slid open a panel on the side, that allowed him to slip the food inside the door. Don looked at Mikey with an ill tempered look.

“Look Don it’s your favorite when you…” stated Mikey, but Don looked to be not interested in all in eating the food, but rather he grabbed a hold of Mikey’s ankle. Mikey gave a surprised scream, as Don attempted to pull Mikey’s leg off, viciously yanking at it, while snapping at it.

“Hang on Mikey!” shouted Raph in a panicked voice, as he rushed over, to grab his brother by the arms, but Don refused to let go, as discolored yellow drool dripped from the ground. Leo, Leatherhead, Master Splinter, Harry, Ginny, and Hailey all rushed other as well, with Leo, Harry, Ginny, and Hailey attempting to help Raph in prying Mikey’s leg loose from Don’s grasp.

“Donatello, listen to my son, this is Master Splinter, your sensei, your father, you do not wish to harm your brother,” said Splinter calmly, as he looked at Don, a pleading look in the old rat’s eyes. “Resist this impulse to hurt, let him go, do not give into the monster that has been created in you…”

Something that Splinter said had barely registered in Don’s degrading mind, as the beast managed to loosen his grip on his brother’s leg, allowing Raph, Leo, Harry, Hailey, and Ginny to yank Mikey to safety as Leatherhead cranked a valve on the containment unit. At that instant, tranquilizer gas began to pump inside, but it did not drop Don how it had previously, rather banging on the glass, causing it to rattle. It took almost two full minutes before Don backed off, slumping against the side, but still offering some feeble growls of resistance.

“He is becoming resistant to the gas, I will have to work on stronger tranquilizers,” said Leatherhead as he watched as Don was only partially put out due to the heavy dose of gas. “Time is running out.”

“Yes, it is, Bishop is the only choice, we’ll have to hope we can find some way to get him to help Don,” said Harry, who seemed rather irritated about the whole idea of his brother’s life hinging on one of Harry’s most dangerous enemies. “Find him, and we find the cure, but he could be anywhere…”

“I can help there, I know where Bishop’s main research facility is, remember he held me there for several months, now sounds like as good of a time as any to gain revenge,” growled Leatherhead, the croc remembering the tortures he had at the hands of Agent Bishop. “The only problem is Bishop’s headquarters are on the other side of the country, in Nevada, so it will take some time to get there, time that Donatello may not have.”

“Actually not that hard at all to get there within an hour or so, all we need is some super speedy transformation and I think Don will be able to help us on that front,” commented Leo and the others crowded around, as Leo lead the way from the lair, towards another tunnel that lead to a launching pad, with the modified helicopter that Stockman brought to the city during his ill fated attempt to transfer his mind into Harry’s body. “This is the last thing that Don was working on…before…well you know, it’s a launch pad that will allow us to fly this helicopter from the seat, straight to Bishop’s lab in little time.”

“Perfect, all we need to do is load on Don and we’ll make Bishop give us the cure,” said Raph, as he cracked his knuckles menacingly, as Leatherhead walked off, to retrieve the containment unit and than it was off to track down Bishop. Time was in fact running out quickly.

Meanwhile, in the Foot Headquarters, the five mystic Foot Ninjas stood in a temple, as the doors smashed open, revealing Karai, dressed in full Shredder armor, before she stared down the mystics.

“Mystics, I have need of your services, Harry Potter must be destroyed now, I am your Master and you will obliterate him, he has been allowed to live for way too long,” ordered Karai, as she held up her Shredder gauntlets, but the Mystics just responded by high cold laughter, nearly mocking Karai for her very existence, before they looked down at the one who currently wore the armor of the Shredder with distaste.

“Our Master is the Shredder, not you little girl,” taunted the water mystic coldly.

“You are nothing but a pretender, much like the Utrom abomination that wore that armor before you,” added the fire mystic. “You are a disgrace to the legacy of the Shredder and you will pay for your insolence by continuing to pass yourself off as the genuine article.”

“You forget your place, mystics, I am the daughter of Oroku Saki, I am the Shredder, and your so called talk of ancient power does little to impress me. In fact, I can control what power you have as I see fit,” responded Karai as she raised her gauntlet once again, as she glared at the mystics through her helmet. “Now, find Harry Potter, his crimes will be punished, track him down and make him pay for my father’s death with his life. Do you hear me? Find him!”

Karai stormed off in a huff, but the Foot Mystics did not flinch at her threats and in fact looked at her retreating back with absolute irritation at having to put up being forced to work with someone that obviously did not have any respect for whatsoever.

“Perhaps Harry Potter will be the one that finds you,” remarked the metal foot mystic cryptically when Karai was long gone.

A short time later, the packed helicopter was flying through the sky at high speeds towards Bishop’s base, as Harry, who was piloting the craft, turned over his shoulder to the others.

“Here we are Groom Lake in Nevada, Bishop’s base should be somewhere close by,” commented Harry but at the news of where they were, Mikey became all panicky, as he realized where they were.

“Wait a minute, Groom Lake, as in Area Fifty One!” shrieked Mikey in a panicked tone of voice but Raph thumped Mikey on the back of the shell to come him down.

“Take it easy, Mikey,” commented Raph in a warning voice.

“This can’t be right, no this can’t be Bishop’s base, maybe we took a wrong turn, at Albuquerque?” suggested Mikey feebly, but the hope not all that strong.

“This is Bishop’s base, I know it anywhere,” commented Leatherhead in a confident voice, as the helicopter touched down right outside the gate, as Leo turned to the group.

“Master Splinter and Leatherhead can stay and keep an eye on Don, the rest of us can go inside to the main lab and track down Bishop, but remember be careful,” warned Leo with a word of caution, as Raph, Mikey, Hailey, Harry, and Ginny followed Leo carefully. “This is special ops territory, Bishop’s turf, be ready for anything.”

“I’m telling you right now, this Area Fifty One is UFO central, the nexus of weirdness,” muttered Mikey, but Raph turned to him with a grin.

“Then you’d fit right in,” commented Raph, as the group scaled over the fences, before they walked forward towards the main lab, careful not to trip up any traps as they moved forward.

“It’s too quiet for my liking really,” muttered Hailey, as she looked around. “Plus, it almost feels like someone’s watching us.”

“Well if you’ve heard the outlandish theories about this place…” stated Harry but Mikey had cut him off.

“Well, there could very well be a UFO watching us from the sky for all we know, I’m telling you, this place is bad news, aliens check in, but they don’t check out,” said Mikey nervously, as he watched Leo and Raph pry open a door, wisely not allowing Harry, Ginny, or Hailey to use magic, as it would most certainly tip off Bishop that someone was here, as Raph and Leo managed to get the door open, allowing them to enter, walking into a cavernous hanger bay, as they walked forward, before they heard footsteps, before lights came on, shining on the group.

“Great, they spotted us,” grumbled Raph.

“The question is what spotted us?” asked Mikey.

“And more importantly, exactly how could they have found out we gotten here so soon?” asked Ginny as the footsteps grew louder.

“The fact that you used a helicopter that belongs to me, coupled with the fact that I have a tracking device implemented into each copter that tells me when it both leaves and arrives tipped me off to your arrival,” commented the cool voice of Agent Bishop as he stepped forward, looking at the group over his sunglasses.

“Bishop,” said Harry calmly, as the others just looked at the shady government agent with absolute distrust and at that instant, a thin, robotic shell made its way forward, its lone eyeball fixed upon the group.

“Great, look who decided to show up,” said Stockman and Harry was caught off guard for a few seconds, but not completely surprised as Stockman had managed to cheat death many times before.

“Stockman, I had hoped you would have died the last time we met,” commented Harry coolly.

“Believe me Potter, that makes two of us,” remarked Stockman in a slightly depressed tone of voice. “But Agent Bishop would not let me expire and thus, I’m here, imprisoned in this robotic form, forced to slave away…”

“Stockman, enough,” warned Bishop. “I suspect this is not a social visit, so why are you here?”

“As much as it pains us to admit this, we need your help, the outbreak has spread to uncontrollable levels,” started Leo, but Bishop raised his hand calmly.

“I assure you that I am more than aware of the outbreak and I am taking all the necessary steps to neutralize at as we speak,” remarked Bishop.

“It’s not just that, it’s that Don, he’s really sick, he’s been infected by the plague, he’s getting worse, and we need help to cure him, before it’s too late, he’s been transferred into a mindless, savage beast” said Leo desperately and Stockman began to laugh, obviously rather amused at Don’s current predicament.

“Well, isn’t that ironic, so much for the smart one,” commented Stockman snidely and this prompted Raph, Hailey, Harry, and Ginny to take steps forwards towards Stockman, but Leo and Mikey stepped in front of them, blocking their attempts to get at what remained of the once great Baxter Stockman.

“Pay Stockman no mind, he’s just obviously attempting to bait you because of his current situation,” remarked Bishop casually. “Still perhaps we can be of help to each other after all.”

“What do you mean?” asked Harry in a distrustful voice, as he looked at Bishop, the time that Bishop attempted to dissect his brothers and subjected him to an experiment that duplicated magic was fresh in his mind, not to mention Bishop’s staged alien invasion to get more funding from the President for the Earth Protection Force.

“I mean that I can cure your brother, but for a price,” stated Bishop calmly. “However, first, I will need to see your brother to get a clue on how feasible this is, so I would suggest you go retrieve him and we’ll work out a deal.”

Leo nodded in response, as they group moved off, with Bishop signaling for some commandos to follow them from the shadows. Harry turned to Leo, before speaking to his oldest brother in an undertone.

“Okay, do you really think we can trust Bishop, at all?” asked Harry in a hushed voice and Leo shook his head.

“No, but what choice do we have, Don’s life hangs in the balance,” said Leo calmly, as they reached the helicopter, before Leo called out to Leatherhead and Master Splinter, who was waiting in the distance. “Bishop said he’d take a look at Don, we need to get him to the lab right now so he can take a better look.”

Splinter nodded, as Leatherhead hoisted the containment unit containing Don, who was still offering a form of resistance, as they made their way over to the lab, where the commandos lead the way through towards the main lab, as Leatherhead set down the containment unit with a grunt, before turning to the group.

“He will need to be moved to better facilities before we can properly look at his genetic structure,” commented Stockman in a bored tone of voice as he looked up and down at the containment unit. “Where did you find this containment unit anyway, a junkyard?”

Leatherhead growled in disgust, but Stockman slowly moved over, with a group of commandos, as he pressed a button on the side of the containment unit, dropping it, while a force field was erected, leading Don from the containment unit to the state of the art facilities in the lab. The commandos roughly poked Don in the side with cattle prods, pushing the horrendously mutant turtle forwards, giving him slight shocks as he moved forward, the turtle growling with each shock, and seeming to get more irritated with each shock.

“I’m not sure if this is a good idea,” commented Hailey in a worried voice, as she watched as Don got more and more angry with each passing second.

“I know what I’m doing,” said Stockman in an arrogant tone of voice, but one final shock had caused Don to smash into the force field. While the mutant did not bring it down, the rattle did knock the Earth Protection Force commandos on their back. Don moved forward, and grabbed the controls to the force field before reaching forward and ripping them from the console. The wall was dropped, and Don stormed forward, growling madly, as he knocked several commandos down, dropping them like dominos. The robot containing the remains of Stockman was grabbed and slammed down to the ground. Stockman gave a scream as the commandos rushed forward, shooting their laser blasters at Don, which caused the others to turn to Bishop.

“Are your commandos crazy, if Don gets hit, he will be taken out, splattered open?” asked Harry, as he moved forward, before Hailey and Ginny helped him use levitating charms to pull the laser blasters of the commandos out of their hands, leaving them open to be plowed straight to the ground by Don, as the turtle began tearing up the lab.

“This is Bishop, send a second squadron in here, lethal force is authorized…” stated Bishop.

“NO!” shouted Raph in an angry voice., advancing on Bishop, weapons drawn “You no good, rotten son of a…”

“If your brother cannot be contained, he will be put down,” said Bishop, as he removed his coat, revealing his battle suit, containing miniature missile wrist blasters, that he pointed at Don, as the second group of commandos moved in. Leatherhead stepped in and grabbed Bishop by the arm, crushing the missiles, before pulling up the government agent, snarling viciously in his face.

“If anyone will deal with Donatello, it will be me and not you,” growled Leatherhead, as he eyes narrowed, before he threw Bishop to the ground, and Leatherhead rushed forward, before he knocked Don back with a large punch as Leo turned to Bishop.

“Look, just give us five minutes to get Don under control before you take distract action,” pleaded Leo, as he looked at Bishop, but Bishop looked rather cold to their plight.

“You have two,” supplied Bishop coldly as Leatherhead and Don battled, Don violently rushing Leatherhead, but the croc moved out of the way, before he punched Don, knocking him backwards, before grabbing Don around the head, attempting to hold him in place, despite Don’s struggles, the large mutant violently thrashing, as Leatherhead looked up towards Leo.

“Leonardo, get the tranquilizer gun, now,” grunted Leatherhead and Leo promptly did as he told, as Don flipped Leatherhead to the ground, before he leapt up, but Leatherhead rolled out of the way. The large mutant croc swung his tail, but Don caught it, before he twisted around Leatherhead’s tail and slammed Leatherhead to the ground, before Don backed off and knocked Leatherhead to the ground. Leatherhead pulled himself to his feet and Don hoisted Leatherhead up over his head, before he launched him up to another area of the lab slightly upwards.

The large mutant croc crashed with a loud thud, and Leatherhead pulled himself up, before he saw a miniature buzz saw, as memories of this very area of the lab began flowing back towards the croc’s brain.

“No, not this place again, no!” growled Leatherhead, as his eyes widened, as flashes of the croc being on an operating table, with a large saw and other dissection tools come down towards him, with a smug looking Agent Bishop watching, as they worked on Leatherhead, in an attempt unlock the secrets of his mutation. Memory after memory replayed in Leatherhead’s head, as he was forced to relive these rather traumatic experiences.

Don sprung up, raising his hands up in the air, before he pulled Leatherhead up by the head and flung him viciously into an operating table. Don tipped over the operating table, with Leatherhead on it, causing it to crash to the ground with a large impact. With a primal growl, Don raised his hands into the air, but Master Splinter pulled himself up, raising his hand up.

“Listen to your sensei Donatello, you need to use your inner strength and fight off these impulses, you are not a monster, you need to find a way to fight this off,” said Splinter in a soothing voice in an attempt to pacify his degenerating son once again but Don took a step forward, growling, before a loud bang echoed, as Don was wrapped in thick cords, trapped, as Harry climbed up, before pulling Master Splinter out reach, before Don could recover from the attack.

“Something tells me that won’t work again, sorry Master Splinter,” said Harry, as his sensei climbed down, as Don broke from his containment, before he stepped forward towards Harry, who stood his ground, as Don raised his hands up into the air. Harry prepared himself for a fight with Don, but at that moment, Don was impacted right in the back with a tranquilizer dart. Don turned around to see the source, growling and stepping forward to enrage his newest threat in battle.

“I’m really sorry about this,” said Leo calmly as he moved forward, shooting his brother with dart after dart, impacting him with several doses of paralyzing potion, Don’s knees buckling more with each dose, but he moved forward, with Leo forcing to load the tranquilizer dart with several more darts. Finally, after about twelve doses of the potion, Don collapsed to the ground, unable to move any longer, as Harry climbed down, to allow the commandos to hoist Don over, before they moved him towards the containment tank, as Stockman began to pull himself together, so he could study the mutated subject in further detail.

Several minutes later, Don was submerged in a stasis chamber, with Bishop looking over Stockman’s shoulder, as Stockman studied a full report on Don’s cellar structure with scientific interest, before he turned around to give the group his report on what he found.

“Very interesting, it appears with the introduction of the outbreak accelerants in his blood stream, Donatello’s cell structure is degenerating at an accelerating rate, he only has mere hours left,” commented Stockman calmly, before he added snidely, as he turned to Leatherhead, looking at the croc through his eyeball. “The animal was right.”

Leatherhead just responded with a loud snarl, before he turned towards Leo.

“Leonardo, this is wrong, we cannot leave Donatello’s fate to these devils, Stockman especially cannot be trusted and as for him…” stated Leatherhead as he turned to Bishop, who calmly looked back, not bothered back the fact that a large mutant crocodile was quite enraged him. “If you had any idea what he was capable of, it would sicken you.”

“Leatherhead’s right Leo, Bishop’s the enemy,” said Raph.

“Not to mention that if it wasn’t for Bishop, we wouldn’t have this outbreak problem in the first place,” added Harry in a logical voice tone of voice, as the entire group turned their back on Stockman, to focus on Bishop, who took a deep breath, before he partially explained the entire situation to them.

“Stockman created the alien accelerants on my orders,” explained Bishop calmly. “What you call the outbreak is an unintended and unexpected side effect of one of my projects.”

“Still you say you can cure Don, right?” asked Leo and behind their backs, Stockman shook his robotic head from side to side, as he was still quite some time away from establishing the cure, but this gesture from Stockman went rather unnoticed by the others.

“Yes,” replied Bishop shortly. “However, for the cure, I need you to retrieve something for me.”

“What is it?” asked Harry calmly, not taking his eyes off of Bishop for one second.

“It’s quite a simple errand really, I require a relic that will proved to be invaluable to my research, in fact, it’s located right in New York and I believe you may also be very familiar with the person who currently holds onto it,” remarked Bishop as he paused, as the group waited for the final piece of information. “Her name is Karai.”