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phoebepheebsphibs · 5 months

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Double-Mutated Mikey

Chapter 16: Genetics

Continued from the short story written by @boots-with-the-fur-club

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Mikey is in the Interaction Room again. He's waiting for something to happen. There is a staticy feeling in the air, the lights keep flickering. Mikey can sense unease from the evil humans. Instinct has been taking charge more often than not. Mikey's head is getting worse... It doesn't remember things. Mikey can't remember how he became like this very well. Mikey can't remember what he did the other day. Instinct was in charge all of yesterday, so he probably knows. But Mikey can't recall anything. Mikey's not even sure if 'Mikey' is his name. The only reason he thinks it could be is because the evil humans in white will sometimes call him that. But when they say it, it almost sounds like a joke.

Mikey sits patiently, waiting. Wondering. He's never been made to wait this long. At least, as much as he can recall.

There is a buzzing noise, mechanical whirr. A soft rumble through the building. The lights flicker again. A panel opens and a robotic arm with a pellet gun descends from the ceiling. It points at Mikey --

He prepares himself, getting into a quick stance.

-- and the gun turns around and points at a corner in the room. It swivels and points at another. It shoots a pellet. The shot is lazy and the pellet weakly flicks off the wall.

Mikey tilts his head in confusion. What is happening?

The gun swivels round and round, shooting randomly before being forcefully retracted into the ceiling, snapping and shortcuirting as it disappears. Not one second after, another panel opens, and another machine lowers, but it stops halfway and starts shooting out sparks before it snaps off and crashes to the ground, almost crushing Mikey.

He yelps in surprise before jumping away at the last moment.

There is a crispy static sound and speakers in the room start going off.

'*CCCCCRRRSSSSHHHHH* -- Wha-- *CCKKKKHHSSPH* -- last time we mutate an electric eel -- *FFFFFSSHH* -- stupid EMP powers -- *KRRRAACKLE*'

Mikey is very confused.

A panel opens from the wall, and a wolf mutated with a rat walks in, sees Mikey, and charges.

Instinct doesn't ask to take over. He just does.

He dodges the wolf and studies its attacks and looks for any weaknesses it has. Underbelly is weak. Strike there. Instinct's tail sharpens and he --

Another panel by the floor opens up. After a second, a curious new mutant saunters in.

What? They've never sent in two at a time before!

The wolf takes advantage of the fact that Instinct/Mikey is distracted and bites the tail. Instinct roars, wraps the tail around his mouth, and whips him into the wall. Instinct turns to this new mutant, an armadillo. The shell looks somewhat similar to his with its jutting scutes and scales that fold over each other. But it smells bad. Not just nasty, but VILE. There's something wrong with it. It smells like disease.

'*KKKRSHSHSH* What are you doing?! -- I thought we were putting the armadillo in quarantine! -- has leprosy -- idiot -- I didn't do it -- something's wrong with the controls! *CCCXSHRSH*'

Instinct stays away from the diseased creature, but the wolf sees it and attacks. The armadillo balls itself up into its protective casing, a green ooze beginning to penetrate the outer shell. The wolf snaps its jaw on the armour, ingesting the poisonous ooze. It growls and begins to play with the round thing, scratching it and kicking it like a ball... He kicks it towards Instinct!

Instinct hisses and dashes away from it, clambering up the wall. He watches as the wolf starts to cough and turn a sickly green colour. The armadillo uncovers itself and watches. It saunters over to the wolf, who is getting greener and more sickly by the second. The dasypodidae glares at the canis lupis and shoots out the ooze at him. It sizzles against the wolf, who howls in agony before toppling over and decaying at a rapid pace. Instinct watches in disgusted horror as the wolf becomes nothing more than putrid acid-drenched roadkill.

Instinct needs to kill it. Fast. He dashes down to the smashed machine and grabs the whole thing -- heavy as it is -- and throws it on top of the mutant armadillo. The creature balls itself up just before the heap of heavy scrap can crush it.

Instinct wonders if that did the trick. The armour looked pretty tough...

Before the question can be answered, the lights go off. Then on. Then off again. Instinct hears three wall panels open, and sees three-- no, FOUR pairs of eyes glowing at him. This is going to be a long day...

'*KKKKKRCK* Oh, sh--SHHHHKK*'

Instinct activates the heat vision and sees that there are three creatures coming into the room... One is small and slithering. One is taller, a long snout and tail, but walking on its hind legs. The last one is a two-headed beast. Well, this should be fun...

The lights come back on, and several panels from above open, turret guns descending and misfiring in dozens of directions. Instinct reactivates the normal vision. There is a snake, an anthropomorphic crocodile, and a fox with two heads. Instinct challenges them to come closer.

They make the mistake of accepting the challenge.

Instinct dances around them, dodging the pellets and bullets as they all simultaneously charge. The two-headed fox is fastest, but clumsy; its vision impaired by the extra set of eyes that throw its depth perception and placement off. It misses Instinct by a mile, running straight past him. The crocodile runs on his stubby little legs with a gurgling snarl. He goes for Instinct, but is shot in the face and a pellet strikes his eye. The snake is swift, slithering straight for him and lunging. Instinct jumps over the serpent and lands atop the bigger reptile. He grabs onto the crocodile's mouth, gripping the jaw and pulling hard, making the mouth go wider and wider and --

SNAP! CRACK!

The croc falls to the floor, Instinct having broken its jaw.

The fox(es) lunge at Instinct again, snarling and yapping and barking. It misses yet again and runs into the wall.

The snake curls back and goes to attack, jumping up and snapping at him, fangs dripping with venom. Instinct grabs it by the neck, but it slithers out and coils around his throat, choking him. He grips it as tightly as he can, but it keeps slipping out of his grip... The fox returns and jumps once more at Instinct.

Instinct holds the snake's body out and the fox rams into it, snapping his teeth into the serpent's slim body and clamping down hard.

The reptile hisses in anger and throbbing pain, releasing its hold on Instinct's throat and wriggling around to get free. While the two mutants are distracted, Instinct turns his tail into a spiked mace and rams it into the chest of the fox. The poor, pathetic animal is struck down.

The serpent manages to wriggle itself free, bleeding profusely and incredibly infuriated. It turns back to Instinct.

From behind him, the pile of scrap metal starts to move. The armadillo emerges, the armour having protected it.

From ahead, the snake.

From behind, the armadillo.

They both leap forwards.

Instinct must act fast.

He ducks quickly and barely manages to miss the serpent, grabbing it by the tail and swinging it round, throwing it straight at the diseased armadillo.

The snake bites the armadillo on the neck, filling it with venom while ingesting the victim's poison. Both miserable creatures fall to the floor. The turrets start to deactivate and slide back into the ceiling.

Instinct exhales deeply, hoping that no more monsters will come in --

Another panel opens. Of course.

But the eyes are different. The smell is, too. It smells like...

Human.

A large, lumbering figure makes its way into the room, groaning miserably. Instinct's eyes go wide.

Human...

The human stares at Instinct. It growls low and angrily.

'*SCCSRRRSH* -- Wait, what is this?! -- test subject -- meant to take them down to the basement for surgery -- storage room -- Get them out of there before he kills it!! *KKKSHKSH*'

Instinct growls low. There is something different about this creature... it is susceptible. It doesn't think for itself. It takes orders...

Instinct/Mikey can feel some strange connection between themselves and this odd malformed human. He recognizes a smell. It matches one of his own... the biggest smell. Krang smell. Mikey doesn't know what that smell means yet. But Instinct knows. Instinct knows all.

Instinct knows that this human smells like krang.

Instinct clicks at the creature. He growls a command at it, testing something...

The human turns its head. It peers at Instinct carefully. Instinct clicks again. The human sits down.

'*KRRSH* ...What the...?'

Instinct/Mikey commands the krangified human to follow his bidding, ordering it to slink back into the hole from whence it came. The creature does. Instinct/Mikey watches as it sits in the dark, waiting. When it tries to come back out, he snarls at it, and the krangified human slinks back into its room.

Soon enough, the panel slips closed, and the door opens behind Instinct. Three scientists rush in, followed by practically an armada of guards.

The scientist known as 'Dr. Timothy' runs to the front with 'Dr. Chaplin', and the two stare in shock and awe at all the carnage and wreckage. But Instinct feels they are more concerned with how he controlled the mutated human...

Dr. Chaplin smiles.

"Well, I think this is something we can use..."

Donnie stares at Mikey, the box turtle's tongue hanging over his lip in that silly expression he would make on occasion before the mutation happened. The 'blep', he called it.

Mikey sits in front of the giant horde with the biggest grin on his face, beaming as if he'd just shown them how he'd trained a new puppy to roll over. He is somehow oblivious to the horrific danger he was just in...

Leo steps forward nervously and starts to pull Mikey away from the krangified crowd.

Mikey is confused. Didn't he do a good job? Aren't they proud of him? Are they still mad at him?

They don't look mad. They look scared. Scared of the horde, and scared of...

Mikey?

Monster.

Mikey churrs at Leo, furrowing his brow anxiously.

"Lllleee-oh? Why Leo s-s-scared-d-d? Mikey do good?"

"Y-you did... uh, you did good, you did great," Leo stutters, not looking at him but keeping his gaze glued to the zombie mob. "April, Cass, I'm going to open a portal now. You take Mikey, drop him off and grab the formula."

Leo sounds so scared. His voice is soft and chilled and shaky. His arms wobble as he carefully drags Mikey away. Mikey doesn't want Leo to be mad at him again, so he follows his directions. Leo's hands shake as he slices the air and creates a blue portal. Mikey is led through the blue light, and instantaneously finds himself in the lair again!

Casey is pacing back and forth with a phone in his ear as he redials the guys. He yipes when the trio jump in.

"Come on, pick up, pick-- Ah!! What -- Mikey?! How, what, I was just calling Leo --"

Casey stiffens when he sees Cassandra. Mikey notices this, but the others are moving quickly and are focused on their mission and don't pay any mind to him.

Mikey sniffs around, confused. How did he get back to the lair so fast? The sensation from the portal is familiar, and Mikey's mind foggily recollects a memory of him and Leo jumping through these blue things a lot...

April and the other human Cass rush away to Donnie's lab, leaving Mikey alone in the halls with Casey, who slowly creeps to him and starts to check him over as he scolds him.

"Mikey, what were you thinking running off like that? I was worried sick, I thought you might've gotten lost, or recaptured, or hurt -- and what was I supposed to do when Leo came and saw you were gone?! They already hate me here, they're too scared of me to talk to me like I'm a normal person, and now I'm the guy who almost lost their brother --"

Casey freezes, realizing he's said too much.

"Uh... don't, please don't repeat any of that to the guys. I just... I'm struggling to fit in here, and I lost the one most important thing to this family. I'd get disowned if I wasn't already estranged to them..."

Mikey chirps at him sadly, nuzzling his beak against Casey's chest.

"S-s-sooor-r-r-ry..."

Casey sniffles and hugs him.

"It's okay, Mikey. Just... don't ever do that again?"

Mikey beeps at him with a nod.

Cass and April run past the two of them, carrying several boxes of glowing blue vials.

"We'll be right back, just gotta take care of something!" April shouts as they go through the portal again.

It stays open, and Mikey wants to see what they're going to do --

But Casey pulls hims away softly, saying something about needing to clean him up from the mud on his claws.

Mikey is taken to the bathroom, his hands and feet cleaned until they hear the clambering of feet against stone. The others have finished with whatever it was that was so important and returned. Mikey skedaddles out of the bathroom and greets them happily, if not a bit nervously. He thinks they may still be a bit sore about his escape...

But they don't look mad, they all look tired and wrung out. Donnie's hands are stained with glowing blue.

"...That giant squirt gun you made with your ninpo was perfect, Dee," Leo compliments, stretching his back out. "It got pretty much all of em at once..."

"Yes, well, I need to go and wash this toxic elixir off of my hands..."

Mikey runs up to Leo with a happy chirp and rubs his face against his fingers. Leo strokes his head gently.

"Hey, Mikey. Glad to see you're okay... we're gonna have a talk about you running out, though."

Mikey whimpers, but is relieved that Leo's anger and scoldings will be over soon. The sooner the better. He wants Leo to be happy with him again... He doesn't like the sadness that hangs around him, it reminds him too much of... of... of what?

Nevermind, it doesn't remind him of anything at all. He just doesn't like it.

Mikey then goes to Raph, asking for head pats from him, too. Raph smiles and rubs his thumb across Mikey's forehead.

"That was pretty impressive, big man," he chuckles. "I didn't know you could do that... How did he do that, Donnie?"

Mikey runs over to his third brother, circling around him and asking for head pats as the genius does his best to explain hypotheses and theories.

"Well, it seems that Mikey's... erm, 'leading genome' allows for him to sort of... control the others that also carry the same genome. My guess is that Mikey could be something like... the alpha male of the species."

"Alpha male?" Raph asks. "So, they saw him as the leader of the pack?"

Mikey whines quietly, waiting for Donnie's headpats. He lifts his head up to nuzzle against his fingers.

"I think so," Donnie says. "I'd have to do some more studies of the DNA sample, and I'd much prefer--"

"AAAAGH!"

The room is struck silent as Mikey screams in pain, pulling away from Donnie's stained hands, the glowing blue liquid sizzling against Mikey's forehead. He tries to wipe it away, but it burns his hands. Mikey screams and cries, the others screaming in chorus as they rush to help. April wipes the toxins off with her sleeve, Leo runs to his aid and inspects the injuries, Raph goes to pick him up and carry him somewhere safe, Casey goes to get water and rags, Donnie reels back and keeps his hands far away from his brother, Cass helps to direct them all and keep the calm.

Mikey sobs as his hands smoke softly, the blue liquid like acid against his skin. The burning against his head continues, the pain immense. It's searing through him, reverberating throughout himself. Casey Jr. returns and helps Leo start treating the wounds, cleaning the remaining smudges away with water as quickly as possible. The acid is gone, but the pain lingers for eternity. Mikey is lost in the deafening sound of everyone shouting orders at each other, everyone touching him at once, lifting him up and carrying him away.

Mikey squeezes his eyes shut and cries, the tears seeping through as the burning lingers...

Just stay still. Let it happen. Let it happen, and let it linger, then it will end. Just let it happen...

Mikey is laid down on a table or a bed, he's not sure. Leo commands the room, giving orders and instructions that Mikey doesn't understand. Salves and ointments are applied. A sharp stinging starts in his forehead where the burn is, the same sting pricks his hand. The sting fades, as does the burn. Mikey's head and hand go numb. His claw is swathed and a bandage pressed against his head.

As the doctoring continues, the room quiets and calms...

Mikey's wrists are locked into place. He cries and weeps. He knows it won't change anything. He knows they won't understand, or won't care...

Needles are pressed deep into his skull. Injections are made.

Tiny wires are set against his arms. They shock him, over and over and over again.

Syringes dig deep into his chest. Fluid fills him up, burning his intestines like fire.

Someone grabs a scalpel and begins to make incisions. Blood leaks from the open wound.

Something pink and wriggling is shoved onto him, into him. It integrates into his flesh, becoming one with him. It crawls under his skin, it crawls into his mouth, his eyes, his nostrils. He suffocates from it. He gags on it. He chokes from it. It won't kill him. But it sure wants to see him suffer...

Mikey hates this. Mikey hates himself. If he weren't him, maybe he wouldn't be punished like this...

Mikey lets it happen. There's no point in fighting, it will just make it worse. Mikey just lets them hurt him, slice him, change him, kill him. Mikey lets the pain etch away at his mind, scraping him away piece by piece. Destroying him.

Mikey waits for the pain to end.

It never does.

Leo wipes the tears from Mikey's face, trying to calm him down.

"I'm so sorry, bud. I know it hurts," Leo whimpers.

Leonardo wants to cry so badly. He wants to sob. He wants to scream and shout out his pain and frustrations at the universe for letting this happen to him, to Mikey, to everyone --

"This is my fault," Donnie moans. "I should have realized that the formula would hurt him. I should have been more careful. I should have --"

"I shouldn't have let him escape," Casey interjects. "If anything, it's my fault for letting my guard down..."

"No," Leo corrects. "if I'd just stayed behind, or had Raph or Donnie stay behind, then he would have been okay, he wouldn't have run off. If I'd -- if I'd been better, smarter, s-stronger... I..."

"It's no one's fault but mine," Raph weeps quietly. "I took him to the TCRI building in the first place. I did this. It's my fault."

"Oh please," Cass scoffs. "All this blame game is getting ridiculous! You all did the best you could! You made mistakes, sure, so WHAT?! It's not like you intentionally tried to hurt him! You're all so focused on what you did wrong that you can't focus on how to make it right or how to move past it!"

The three turtle boys stare wide-eyed at Cassandra Jones.

"If you want things to get better, act like they will! And soon enough they will! Half of this whole thing is a mind game you play with yourself! Do you want to lose?! No! Do you think that after I quit the Foot, I moped around like a pathetic weakling?! NO!! I knew that my mistakes were big, but I could work past them and make up for everything! I could do something amazing if I put my mind to it, and I am! So stop acting like there's nothing you can do to change things, and start actually changing things! Starting with your perspective!"

The boys hang their heads sheepishly. Casey stares at his future mother in amazement.

"Yeah... Cassie's right," Raph mumbles. "We can't keep focusing on what we did wrong. We need to move forwards, not backwards."

"Darn right, I'm right!" Cass whoops. "I'm always right! HAH!"

Raph smiles and chuckles softly. Leo sighs and sits besides Mikey, rubbing his face as the baby brother finally relaxes.

"Okay. Move forward. Got it."

Donnie's gazes diverts to an empty corner of the room as he ponders a few things. He ponders how this mutation is far beyond what he expected. He ponders how everyone -- his brothers, Splinter, April, Mikey, everyone -- is counting on him to reverse the process.

He ponders how he's been pondering all night, every night.

He ponders how this is not his area of expertise; he's the tech guy! Sure, he know some science facts, he knows a few trivia tidbits about animals and stuff, but not enough to reverse engineer a cure all by himself! He ponders how he has no idea what to do or where to start.

He ponders about going backwards... back to the beginning. To the first mutation.

Donnie leaves the room and pulls out his phone...

Draxum is in the process of remodeling his home lab. After the events of the invasion, Draxum managed to help protect the Yokai from the krang dogs that made their way down into the Hidden City, and in doing so cleared his name and reputation. As a reward, his criminal record has been expunged.

He directs several Yokai on how to repair his ancestral home and build four additions for his surrogate sons. He is secretly eager to see Michelangelo's reaction to the room he has planned for him... whenever he gets back, that is. They told him about the mission gone awry. Draxum had offered to 'take care of' the humans in the building, but they'd declined. Ah well. Some other time, then. But it has been a little over a week or so since then, and Draxum has received no word...

Draxum's human communication device known as a 'cell phone' begins to buzz. It is Donatello. Draxum answers.

"Yes? What do you need?" Draxum asks plainly.

Donatello only ever calls him if he needs something.

"Hey," he mumbles through the speakers. "What are you doing now?"

"Rebuilding my lab from the last time it was blown up," Draxum grumbles. "By, who was it -- oh yes... you and your family."

"Draxum--"

"Of course, I'm willing to let that slide, since my goals at the time were less than cordial or moral. By some standards."

"Drax."

"Although, I'm sure it weighs on you and your brothers that you single-handedly destroyed the home and livelihood of one whom you might consider a mentor, or creator. So, if you wanted to repay old debts, you could always come and help --"

"DRAXUM!" Donnie yells, then sighs with deep exhaustion. "Would you... like to come and see Mikey?"

Draxum pauses.

"...He is home?"

"Yeah, we got him back two nights ago. He's recovering. I texted you about this."

"I have no idea what a text is," Draxum groans. "But yes, I would like to greet him."

"Okay. But before you come, I need to let you in on a few things," Donnie says quickly. "Mikey has gone through a tremendous amount of trauma, and will most likely not recognize you. And you will probably not recognise him at first, either. Be careful, be gentle, speak softly. Secondly..."

Donnie pauses.

"...I need you to bring everything you have on genetic studies and mutations."

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