Something in the Midst Chapter 6

Title:  Something in the Midst Chapter 6
Author: becky016
Warnings: Mild violence at the end (Don’t read if you don’t like!)
Note: I will be using these (---) to divide my story as some scenes, may, jump back and forth to one another.
Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT

There the group were, in the middle of the desert, using only the skeleton of a dead animal for cover, as well as the neighbouring sand hills. They had just found the entrance leading to their foe’s secret base and it may have taken some major stealth, but thanks to Don memorizing the numbers that the previous guy had punched in, each of the mutants were able to make it inside.

As quickly as they entered the door had closed, leaving them in complete darkness.
“Ahh! I can’t see, I can’t see! Robyn? Leo? Mia? Are you there?”
“Mikey be quiet!” Leo hushed as this was far from being subtle.
“Hey who’s hand am I holding?” Mikey questioned.
“Mine shellforbrains!” Raph bellowed giving the youngest a firm punch to the arm after he had pulled out of his brother grip.
“OW!”

Within seconds all the lights appeared, revealing the entire level to be a garage of some sort, as it held a number of vehicles. SUVs, Rolls Royce, even tanks. It was then that they had also noticed the various security cameras placed around the room as they observed the area more clearly.

They each leapt behind some boxes and crates which would keep them hidden for now. Luckily for them, there were also a number of crates for them to hide behind, as a number of armed guards patrolled the area.
“What do you see Donnie?” Leo asked, his brother drew back into their hiding hole, but his expression said it all.
“A lot of obstacles, it’s clear that Bishops really topped this new lair up a notch…”
“Heh, that sayin’ somthin’” Raph grunted as he folded his arms.

“Just by the mere size of this first level, it could take us forever before we could even come close to finding Renet” Don said.
“So what do we do now?” they were all open for suggestions, but it seemed there was only one answer.
“We gotta split up”
“You sure? I mean you know what’ll happen if they catch us” the girls were reminded all too well from their past memories and they didn’t want to go through it again.
“Leo’s right Robyn, we’ll cover more ground if we split into teams” Don said as he began jotting out a plan for them all.

“Me, Leo and Mia will scout out the next level, which should be through that door” he pointed to the one just below the rails which sat on the opposite side of the room.
“Should be?” Mia questioned.
“Alright maybe, but it’s a chance we have to take” he replied, getting back to the rest of the plan.

“Charlotte and Raph I want you to follow those scientists see if you can get anything that’ll give us a lead” he reached into his bag and pulled out a number of earpieces for each of them to take.
“There’s no way I’m going with him” Charlotte rebelled.
“Pfft like your any better for company” Raph muttered.
“What was that!”
“SHH! guys be quiet!” Leo hushed a couple of guards passed them, and for now it looked as though the coast was clear.

“You still haven’t apologized, or even made an attempt to amend for your actions, so forgive me Raphael if I’m still mad at you” the red head growled as she prodded the turtle in the chest.
“GRRR!”
“Alright then, I’ll go with Raph and Robyn and Charlotte you stay here with Mikey” Mia suggested, which surprised everyone, both Charlotte and Raph looked at one another but quickly turned away with a huff.

Leo leaned in close to his wife as he wondered what she was up to.
“You sure that’s a good idea, I mean having one hot head on a team is enough, but two”
“This is just so Charlotte is safe, you know with the condition she’s in and all” Mia whispered back.
“What’s that?” the pair grunted.
“N-nothing!” Mia panicked; the two of them were defiantly scary when they were mad.

The others all wondered if the pair would ever put aside their petty problems and focus on the mission at hand.
“Now that that, that’s settled, we’ll keep in touch with our headpieces, but just in case something does go wrong, we’ll meet back here in one hour” Leo ordered the others understood as they prepared themselves.
“Okay let’s go”

Leo and Don were the first to head out, once the guards had passed them; they used their ninja skills to avoid being seen. The security camera’s turned and twisted which made it even more difficult, but after a few near hit and misses the brothers reached the door and they disappeared inside.
“Alright everyone, be careful” said Leo’s voice through the ear piece.

“Sweet now it’s our turn” Robyn smirked, as they got ready, but when herself Mia and Raph left they were instantly spotted by an armed guard. Before he could raise the alarm, Raph had already pummelled him to the ground and then went about hiding the body after.
“Pfft real great idea you big ape” Charlotte muttered from behind the crates.

She then felt something tap her shoulder; she turned round to see Mikey knelt behind her.
“So… um… what are we supposed to do again?” Mikey asked, the red head’s face fell into her palm as she truly wondered how this mutant made it this far in life.

------

Four hours had passed, and the remaining family members were becoming restless. The children were sleeping amongst the futon that Splinter had laid out for them and while the rat was meditating Julie was getting more anxious as the minutes went by. Leatherhead had just gotten word about the guys’ whereabouts, and he wasn’t really able to do much more for them at the lair, so he decided to head home, not forgetting to say his goodbyes.

Julie huffed and fidgeted, as she tried to remain seated on the sofa, but it was proving to be difficult. By now she had, had enough?
“That’s it; I’m going to look for them” The pregnant turtle shot up and aimed for the door.
“Julie it would be wise for you to stay here, you are in no position to go traipsing around on the surface, particularly if it leads you to the likes of your father” his eyes remained closed but Splinters other senses were fully alert.

“But we can’t just sit here and do nothing! I know my father better than anyone if he finds them there’s no way he’s letting them escape”
“Though you have a point, have faith that your family will return safely in the appropriate manor, they have faced far more difficult tasks in the past, and I do not see how they could fail this one…” Julie just huffed at that remark and slumped her backside on the couch once more.

“If you’d like you are welcome to join me” he understood that his daughter in law was going through some changes, particularly in her recent mood swings. But it wasn’t anything he had not come across before and he was willing to help in any way he could to make it easier.
“Maybe later… I’m gonna go see if I can get in touch with Donnie” she picked herself up once more and made her way towards the lab.

------

Time was ticking and although Leo and Don had made it to the second level, they were still finding it hard to search through every corner in hopes of a lead.
“So after we find Renet, and get her back to the lair, then what?”
“We’ll just have to see what she’s doing here I guess, that is to say if we find her”

Both turtles turned a corner, where they quickly realised that they had walked into one of the main dissection labs. Six scientists all in white in lab coat were surrounding an alien, who was strapped to the table. Above the creature sat various tools of sorts, most of which looked as if they had been used.
“Well, well, well look who’s decided to drop by… I warned Bishop of your arrival, and we nearly had this place finalized too” a voice said.

The individual appeared in the light, only to reveal himself as Baxter stockman. The man had a new mechanical body which held his brain and one eye amidst the central part of the stomach area; of course this meant a holographic projection for his head, though neither turtle knew which one to focus on. As Leo and Don went to reach for their weapons, Baxter clicked his fingers, and a number of armed guards showed up, forcing them to surrender, and the pair held their hands up, willingly.

But not before Don was able to switch his earpiece from receiving to dispatching.

------

Meanwhile Raph, Robyn and Mia were having a much better time as both the hot heads had taken out a dozen or more guards.
“Hey don’t beat up to many, we don’t want them becoming suspicious!”
“Relax Ms fearless, the more we beat up the less hassle we have ta face” the male threw a final punch before the human collapsed to the floor.
“I thought our task was to get information out of them” Mia frowned she did not like her new nickname, courtesy of her brother in law. Lucky for him she let this one slide.

“Don’t get cocky Raph, we’re lucky not to have set an alarm off so far” though she herself enjoyed throwing a punch or two, Robyn knew to quit while she was ahead.
“Hey when ya wiv me, you’ve got nuffin’ ta worry ‘bout” Raph smirked as he leaned himself up against the wall.

He must have missed a spot, because the surface on which he placed his palm suddenly fell inward, which opened up another secret door.
“W-Woah!” the turtle dropped to the ground face first much to the girl’s amusement, they then peered inside as it appeared to be a long tunnel of some sort.
“Bishop sure is milking this whole passage way business” Robyn said with Mia nodding in agreement, as they each made their way inside.

Raph grunted as he lifted his face up, feeling that his snout had definitely take most of the fall.
“Urgh… hey don’t help me I’m fine, ain’t like any of you dames ta offer us guys any assistants or nuffin’” he moaned picked himself up and dusted off, though he was quick to see that neither girl was paying any attention to him.
“Hey wait up!”

Little did the male realise that he had lost his ear piece and that it was sitting only inches away from an alarm that he had triggered.

------

Charlotte however was having even less fun with Mikey. She was busy re-braiding her hair for the third time as she was bored out of her mind. The Duo had never spent any real time together so it felt weird for them both.
“Um… so… have you, been up to… stuff?… lately?” Mikey asked, tapping away at his knees.
“We live in the same house Mikey, surely you would know if I’d been up to stuff” she sacristy replied.
“Oh yeah”

The aura went silent as Charlotte went to take a peek around the room.
“So I spy with my little eye…” Mikey started earning a whine from the red head.
“How did I get stuck on lookout duty with you?”

It was then, their ear pieces began to react and they both pressed them to receive the message.
“Robyn is that you? I guess it’s safe to say Mikey hasn’t bored me to death… yet” Charlotte smiled.
“Hey!”

However they grasped on to the fact that it wasn’t the turtle that they were talking to.

“I see you’re still doing Bishops dirty work” this being Leo’s voice.
“It’s the price you pay, when the funding for your research is at stake, though the job does have its perks” Baxter muttered. The wailing sounds of agony, coming from the tortured alien said otherwise.
“Place the creature back in its capsule! And inform agent Bishop of our guests”

That was when the transmission died.

------

The pregnant turtle typed at the control panel for some time, as she pressed the enter key over and over hoping to hear a response. Yet all she got was static. It may have been due to another signal interference of some kind, but then again it was possible that the connection was out of range.
Either way Julie thought to take a break as it would probably calm her anxiety down.

She reached the bed and felt herself slump over the duvet, it felt nice to not be on her feet for her change. Soon her eyes closed as she felt herself drift off to sleep.

------

The trio were making their way down the passage, which was lit up all in red. There was also no cameras, which made it all the more easier for them to continue forward, yet Raph still preferred to yammer on and on about how annoying this whole mission was and the fact that he was stuck with two woman and not doing this task by himself.

“Urgh Raph would you get over it already, jeez!” Robyn cried out as it was becoming unbearable.
“No wonder you and Char can’t get along” she said, giving a nudge to Mia as she let out a laugh.
“Hey what happens between me and C is nun ya business!” he bellowed.
“Well that’s pretty hard seeing as the two of you pretty much, yell out your arguments around the lair constantly” Robyn said.

Raph just grunted as he chose to ignore her.
“Well did you ever give any thought as to why Charlotte is reacting the way she is?” Mia asked him.
“Eh?”
“You mean beside the fact that he screamed at Ashley?” Robyn said catching a glare from the hothead behind her.
“What I mean to say is that there may be another reason for her unruly attitude lately”
“Just spit it out would ya, ya starting to sound like master Splinter” he muttered.

Mia couldn’t help but smile at him, as she always did whenever she was excited.
“It doesn’t matter, you’ll find out in about… eight months or so” she winked.
“Huh?” Raph didn’t get it but Robyn did, she instantly stopped in her tracks as she understood what her friend was really on about. A flashback came to her as she remembered about not disposing of the pregnancy test after she had used it.

Panic took over her every thought, she wasn’t ready for everyone to know, she didn’t want everyone to know, least of all Mikey. She wondered how on earth Mia came to finding out, let alone think it was Charlotte’s test, she was snapped out of her phase suddenly when Raph’s voice called out to her.

“Hey Robyn hurry it up would ya! We’ve found somethin’!” both he and Mia had reached the end and found a door. But for some reason it wasn’t opening. They all searched for some sort of security device but the only thing they came across was behind a small panel in the wall. At first it looked as if it was a number code, like at the entrance, but they soon found out that it was a voice activated lock by the least likely of persons they wanted to see.

“You’ll never get inside…” they were each startled as Raph, Robyn and Mia pulled out there weapons.

It was as they feared; they had been caught out by their enemy. As well as his army of agents stood behind him. Equipped with their guns, the turtles were cornered and outnumbered by the lot.
“As you can see, you can’t get inside without me… not that I’ve ever had any of my experiments come crawling back before” he smirked while adjusting the glasses on his face.

Bishop hadn’t changed at all. He still wore a fine suit, not to mention his large overcoat, with his neatly trimmed hair.
“So why don’t you all enlighten me on what business you have doing here?” he asked.

------

“ ^{Ngh… no don’t…}”
The sound of somebodies laughter was scary.
“ ^{It hurts…} ”
Two red eyes were all that she could see through the clouds as she tossed and turned in her bed.
“ ^{Donnie help me…} ”
The symbol of the foot caught her eye as did the sudden cries of a new born baby.

“NOO!” Julie screamed as she shot up, out of her slumber. Her forehead was soaked with sweat as she felt her heart rate calm itself back down. That nightmare was… just horrible, it almost felt like it was real. She cringed as she rubbed the underside of her stomach which caused her great pain.

She then felt something touching her other hand, she glanced over her shoulder and spotted Kotaro holding his toy turtle beside her. His brown eyes looked upright as it appeared that he had woken up from his nap.
“An Juuwee, you ‘kay?” the youngster had definitely gotten better with pronouncing some of his words.

Thinking it was just a nightmare she just smiled as she rubbed his head gently.
“No Taro, everything’s fine, can you not sleep?”
“Mmm… thirsty…” he mumbled rubbing his eyes.
“Alright then… let get you some juice” in an awkward attempt she managed to roll herself upright and place her feet on the floor. She counted down, while rocking back on her shell to give enough leverage over her body to stand upright. Getting out of bed had become a tiresome effort, thanks to her bulge.

Eventually she took the toddlers hand in hers, as they went to head to the kitchen. But the sudden sound of a blast alarmed the pair. Kotaro hid behind his aunt’s legs, clinging onto his toy for dear life.
“Get out! You are not welcome here!”
“OUT OF MY WAY RODENT!”

The sound of Splinters voice and that belonging to another, echoed passed the door. Julie instantly went to investigate, with Kotaro still behind her. She opened the door up but all she could see was clouds of dust that had filled the area.
“Where is Leonardo?!”
“He is not here!” the rat’s voice yelled again.

Without a second thought, Julie enclosed herself and her nephew behind a pillar, as she attempted to get a peek at the intruders.
“I shall not ask again” the voice spoke as the sound of blades being withdrawn from their sheaths could be heard. Before she knew it, Julie noticed two red eyes glaring past the smoke, as well as a bunch of shadows. One of them defiantly belonging to Splinter, and it looked like he was being held high up by something, or rather someone.

The master remained composed and silent, for everyone’s sake. But this still scared the turtle tot as he clung even closer to his aunt’s leg.
“If you will not tell me I shall take it from you by force!” this voice belonged to that of a woman, but from what she was saying it reminded Julie of her father too well.
“Don’t hurt him!” now that voice was Ashley’s.

The four year old had been told to hide, but she was scared for her grandfather’s sake.
"What is this?!” the mutant was thrown aside; as he crashed into the balance poles he had set up earlier. The dust eventually cleared as the little red head was faced off against the intruder. Whoever they were, the individual was dressed head to toe in thick armour, that was decorated with sharp blades across the shoulders and arms. They had brought along their own ninja army, who carried a bunch of weapons.

Julie had never come across this person before, but she had been told about it numerous times by the guys, either way she was not about to let this trespasser slaughter her niece.
“A-Ashley run! Get away from her!”
“Silence him!” she ordered, and he was, as one of the soldiers gave Splinter a firm kick across the face. It was then that the woman removed her helmet, revealing her face.

Julie was left stunned as she recalled seeing this Japanese woman at the foot’s headquarters, it never brought to mind that she would actually find the lair. She approached Ashley, holding her claws high as to make it known that she meant business, yet she smiled towards the mutant, which seemed all too strange.
“Do not worry little one I shall not harm you…” Ashley’s eyes filled with tears as she didn’t know what to do.

“And if you value your sensei’s life, I shall not hurt him either…” she then knelt down to the child’s level.

“All you have to do is tell me where Leonardo is”

TBC…