Chapter 9

Leonardo

Eugene Grantshaven walked into the underground lair more than mildly awed. He had been shocked when Mike had called him twelve hours ago demanding a full field base, medical outfit and a cleaning crew. The hidden 'Lair", as Michela called it, was cavernous. The size of the space made him suddenly struck by the magnitude and age of the New York City sewer system. He had chosen to leave Company one's headquarters and check on things himself out of concern for Michela. Something had gone terribly wrong, he gathered, but she had been unwilling to elaborate over the coms. All things considered he had expected her to want out of the city as soon as possible, instead it looked like Mike was setting up shop with gusto.

As he descended into what he thought of as the great room he noted that Sonya was standing by a sectioned off portion of the room in which much of the damaged tech had been piled.

"Hey Genie" she said without looking up from the electronic box she had pulled apart. "Welcome to the twilight zone, there is some freaky weird shit going on."

"What is this place?" He said looking around, it was at least two stories high and there were rooms going off in several directions on both floors.

"According to Mike- This was home or apparently what's left of it. It was a total wreck when we got here the cleaning squad outdid themselves" Sonya answered still tinkering, fascinated by the box in front of her. The box was roughly the size of a shoebox and displayed finely crafted wires and circuitry. "What is that?" he asked. Curiosity growing.

"No Idea- it was pretty badly damaged when the tunnels flooded a few years ago, buuuttt, it looks like a piece of…well…. an antimatter transporter, according to Mike her brother Donnie built one before the shit hit the fan- Guess we know who Uri's Daddy is. Mikes over that way" She said pointing behind an area that had been sectioned off. "They've set up the med bay, full scanners, three bacta tanks, and a full complement of equipment. One of her brothers is already in a tank. He is fuuucccked up. She's with him".

Eugene walked quickly toward the partitioned off area. Uri's father indeed… the objects Sonya was going thru looked like they had been built out of salvage, recycled metal and out dated computer-ware and this 'Donnie' managed to create technology of that caliber. What could a mind like that have done with the kind of knowledge company one had available? Is he the brother that's already been captured? Not that it mattered -Eugene intended to have these men tried for their crimes against Michela and thrown into the vilest prison in the galaxy. The Brig.

Or at least that was the plan until he saw Michaela standing beside the tank filled with a Turtle damn near twice the terrapin woman's size. This massive male had forced himself on Mike? The behemoth suddenly started shaking and, to his surprise, Mike softly placed her hand on the glass whispering to her brother, A soft golden glow encased her hand and spread to her brother causing him to settle. The expression on her face as she looked at the male in the tank wasn't revulsion but, deep concern and more than a little anger but, not at him. There was something about the way they looked that made the moment seem so intimate to Eugene.

"Michela" Eugene spoke alerting her to his presence. She turned her large blue grey eyes toward him slightly startled. That alone told him how emotional and distracted the lovely turtle was. "Hi, Eugene-The Kids?"

"They're safe Mike, Maryanne's watching them, she has strict orders not to let them out of her sight" he assured his dear friend. "What's going on? Is this Gabe's father?"

"No-At least I'm pretty sure no- It's not like I've had paternity test done but, I'm almost certain that Leo is Gabe's father- Leo is my eldest brother…This is Raphie…umm Raphael, he's the second oldest." Eugene looked at the small female turtle as her eyes turned back to her brother. The change was very dramatic. A few days ago, she had been determined to find Gabe's father but, it was obvious that she held no warmth toward her brothers-that had changed. She spoke of them with an ease she didn't before, and Eugene realized that the situation needed re-evaluation.

" What's changed Mike" he whispered as he mentally tried to clear his mind of any preconceived notions. "Everything" she started, " I don't know exactly how but, everything" and Eugene sat there in awe and distress as Michela told him of all the developments that she and her crew had discovered. Casey's testimony and of saving Raphael from a blow that would certainly have killed him. Mike turned toward the terrapin male and whispered "He always had a hell of a temper and we fought all the time when we were kids but, he was our protector-when we were tots, I was prone to nightmares and I would run to him if I was scared of monsters and he'd ….be my safe haven. When ...it …happened part of what destroyed me was they were always so protective of me-to my annoyance at times- for them to hurt me never entered my mind"

"It wasn't in their nature" Eugene spoke softly, understanding. "What changed them?"

"Brain control, some kind of sonic manipulation and I'm pretty sure black magic" Nelle announced from the medical scanners. "WHAT?!" Eugene and Mike shouted in stereo. Mike rushed to her side. Nelle's feline like ears were flattened and she had a frown on her lovely face that he was unaccustomed to seeing. The screen Nelle had been studying was alive with readouts about the male…Raphael.

"I'm doing a full biometric scrub of his skin, bones, tendons and central nervous system" She started, "He has more breaks and fractures than he has bones and his skin is so scarred its reduced his range of motion at least twenty percent" She said matter of factly. The tall aquatic cat like woman made a swiping motion with her fingertips and the image appeared on the largest monitor. She then spread her fingers to enlarge the image. " This is your brothers brain activity"

Eugene stared at the image on the screen horrified, as Nelle explained; " These dark spots in the amygdala and frontal lobe are just riddled with heavy scar tissue-it's severe enough that its impairing neural activity in these areas severely", Nelle ground her teethe for a second and seemed to be thinking out loud… "Raphael's ability to control his emotions has been destroyed, but, more importantly, this kind of damage is caused by insanely high activity- I'm amazed he wasn't having seizures-his aggression, rage, fear, paranoia, and complete lack of impulse control would have been consuming him. His bone scans indicate that seven years ago his blood was swimming in testosterone- he was effectively forced into full musk". A thoughtful but, angry look flitted across Nelle's face. "I want to see if your friend Casey would allow me to scan him-see if the damage correlates- and I want to scan you, Mike, you were down here with them before the incident, I want to know if whatever did this to them affected you too."

Mike didn't answer verbally, instead she simply turned on her heel and hopped onto the diagnostic bed "Now Nelle" she said in a tone of voice that booked no arguments. Nelle quickly typed into a panel in front of the bed and pressed a large square button with a flourish. The bed beneath Mike glowed for a moment and an image flickered up to the screen behind Mike. Nelle studies the streaming information nodding to herself, " Similar damage but, not nearly so extensive...annnd here's what makes me think were looking at black magic" Nell says indicating a section of writing that she had highlighted with a touch. Mike sat up to look at the words Nelle indicated but, they meant little to her so she looked back at Nelle and waited for her friend to elaborate.

" Your pituitary gland was affected-If I were a betting girl my money would be on reproductive hormones- you were forced into heat, in the dead of winter...while your brothers were in an induced musk, also out of season...none of you stood a chance" Nelle said with a gut wrenching sadness in her eyes. She seemed to fall into her own world as Sonya walked up with a purposeful angry stride, " You were right about one thing Mike. This was an attack and if what Nelle said is true then, I can't help but think that his was meant to hurt your clan as a whole-any Idea who would want that?"

"That list is fairly damn long" Mikey started.

" This was Nashun" Nelle spoke the woman's name like a curse word, It had to be. " She was waiting for you Mike. I have no doubt this was her doing" Nelle said. Mike seemed to consider it for a moment, " It wouldn't surprise me but, I don't know how or why" she said exasperated. "I didn't know Nashun before she picked me up that night -our family never had dealings with her".

For a moment Mike looked lost in thought as she hopped off the diagnostic bed and walked to the tank that held her brother. Eugene thought that if it were possible she would be wrapping him in her embrace -not only to give comfort but also to receive it.

"It wasn't our fault Raphie, It wasn't our fault" she whispered to her unconscious brother. Her voice suddenly hitched and she gasped for air with eyes that shone with grief and fury. "Someone did this to us... you and Donnie and Leo- you'd never hurt me. You were stuck in this hellish trap for years and I'm sorry I didn't know. When you woke up from whatever spell had you oh, your hearts must have broken. I'm so sorry Ni-san.They wanted to break us and they almost did...but, were going to fix it. I'm going to find Donnie and Leo and bring them home. Were going to get you guys and Gabey all healed up. Then we are going to break shell all over the sick bastards that did this to our family, to our city"

Eugene watched as Mike seemed to be shaken out of her stupor by some unseen being pouring molten iron back into her. She took two steps and then sprung like a Gazelle up over the second floor railing and disappeared into a room from which there seemed to be candlelight emanating.

It was the last thing he saw for a while.

Mike looked at the alter in her old bedroom. Michelangelo's nunchucks...HER nunchucks were displayed with reverence. She hadn't touched the wooden chain sticks, these or any other set, since that night seven years ago.She looked at the old wooden nunchucks placed so lovingly on the altar and reached for them for the first time in nearly eight years. Her fingers trembled to her instant irritation, " They're yours Mike! They've always been yours" she scolded herself and felt her hand close around the familiar wood with the authority they always had. These were her weapons-as natural to her as breathing, an extension of her person that no other weapon had ever been and as she started to spin them around her in a blur of sound and motion she felt a piece of herself fall back into place. The feeling was liberating. Like suddenly finding out an old friend had simply been waiting.

"Put them down" A horse voice lined with iron said with finality.

Mike turned slowly and looked into tortured hazel eyes and felt devastated. His eyes were the only part of Leonardo that was recognizable.