Oh, yeah- once again- TMNT and references to the show are the property of Mirage and 4Kids Entertainment. Please do not sue me, I have no money.

Missed Opportunities Number 2: Splinter (part B)

They awoke to the fact that they were alive.

They were below ground, safe and confused- and alive.

Standing over them- their friend Leatherhead. He told them how he'd found them just as the men with guns were about to kill them.

"They won't be a future problem," he assured them, and judging from the little bit of blood that he hadn't wiped away from his mouth, the guys could guess why. "But I wasn't able to save Master Splinter."

Professor Honeycutt, in his new robot body ("We did the best we could", he had sighed at Mikey's observation on its look, since it was quite different from his old one) confirmed that the plan must have been to capture Splinter alive. That's why the gas hadn't killed them.

"At least we know who has him," Raph had growled, as they all groggily got up.

The big question: how to find Bishop.

The answer: the train car.

Don had never had a chance to really examine the train car, since the Ultimate Drako incident had pulled them all away. Since their return, he'd had other things to do as well. But now he, Leatherhead, and Professor Honeycutt had little time- they had to examine what they could quickly. Every second was precious.

It was a shock to discover that a lot of alien technology was involved in this machine- Honeycutt said some of it was unfamiliar to him.

"Your Agent Bishop seems to get around for an Earthling," he had observed.

Leatherhead found the recall program, and between the three of them, they got it ready to return to- well, hopefully, Bishop's base of operations.

"Okay, here's the plan," Leo said, and issued quick orders. Once there, Leatherhead was to insure they got entrance, and cover their backs. Honeycutt was to accompany them. Object: retrieve Splinter.

"I wish we had some backup," Mike muttered. "Maybe Casey-"

"No time," Leo insisted. "Besides, this is our fight."

He didn't add that there was more to this plan- but as Raph was the only one involved, he didn't need to.

The plan was set; the guys were ready.

The recall signal was activated. The train moved out.

Each Turtle thought his own dark thoughts. There was little talk. There was little need for talk.

Each Turtle had tried to touch his father's mind somehow, but something was preventing this. Nerves, perhaps; or something worse...

"We're gonna get him back," Raph said in Leo's ear, sensing Leo's mood.

"We're going to end this today," Leo replied, and the two exchanged brief shoulder pats.

There were men at the station on high alert- they had known something was wrong. The train coming in should have been destroyed, and yet here it was, slowing stopping in the station. The men were arrayed in front of the doors, weapons aimed, ready for anything.

Well, anything except what they got- smoke and a truly gigantic crocodile, roaring, snatching up guards right left and center as if he were playing football. Turtles with weapons that sliced, smashed, and cut both men and machinery. It was happening so quickly that there was no time to prevent them from entering the facility. The Turtles and the robot gained entry. The crocodile was left to the survivors.

Weapons aimed at this creature's back. Orders to surrender crudely barked out.

Screams of panic as the crocodile rose up and attacked- men dropped their guns, tried to run for their lives.

They didn't run fast enough.

Inside, they had little chance to take in the scenery. Their goal was in sight- Master Splinter, strapped to a table being lowered into a tank that was filling with some kind of fluid!

"Professor! Free Master Splinter!" Leo ordered, as he and his brothers launched themselves straight at Bishop- and were met with a masked monstrosity.

It was quick, powerful, skilled.

And it could heal.

Raph pierced it with both of his weapons, and the wounds healed in front of his eyes.

Then the mask dropped from the face, and they could see- it looked like Bishop.

"My super soldier!" he gloated. "Handsome devil if I do say so myself."

The guys were now targeted by this clone of Bishop.

This deadly clone of Bishop.

Honeycutt was doing his best to free Splinter, while the guys engaged in a deadly game of hide and seek with the clone.

Mikey was the first one taken out.

Don was a close second.

Raph was having the most luck fighting it, and even he was getting his clock cleaned.

Raph discovered in the process that the hundreds of containers surrounding them had clones- of Bishop!

"What an egomaniac!" Raph gasped, as he struggled to get out from under one such container that had pinned him to the floor.

Leo saw the clone- watching a battle between Bishop and Splinter! Splinter, freed from his container, was making Bishop wreck his own lab in his attempts to stop the rat. Bishop kept swinging that long fighting chain with the clawed end, Splinter kept moving at the last minute, making sure to stand where the clawed end would do the most damage to the machinery.

The clone gathered itself to attack Splinter; it leaped through the air, straight at their father- Leo, also leaping, intercepted it with a kick, knocking it into the container that had previously held Splinter. Before the clone could escape, Honeycutt sealed it in, and the preserving fluid immobilized it.

Bishop was livid! He renewed his attack on Splinter. Leo rushed desperately to interfere, but before he could, Splinter had managed to get Bishop's weapon tangled in the machinery. Even the electric shock didn't stop Bishop-

But the explosion did!

He was sent flying by the blast- straight onto a hanging hook!

He hung there, limp, blood dripping. Leo barely had time to shout "Yes!" in his brain as he quickly made his way to Master Splinter. Raph emerged from the smoke, Mike right behind supporting Don. The Professor, minus an arm, joined them as more explosions began to rock the place. Water- probably from a pipe, probably from the river- they had no way of knowing, but given that his last base of operations had an underwater entrance, it made sense-water was flooding the place quickly, causing more and more explosions.

They turned to go and saw the hook empty!

They saw Bishop, trailing blood, climbing the latter out of the lab.

They followed as quickly as they could, and were surprised when they emerged street-side. Bishop was no where to be seen.

"Come, let us go home," Splintered ordered, and they wasted no time in following.

Home.

Splinter, his injuries treated by Donatello, was resting in his room. The experience of having so much fluid drained from him, not to mention the other things Bishop had done to him while unconscious- on top of the fight he'd engaged in, had worn him out, and he was sleeping peacefully.

Don and Mikey were in bed.

Leo and Raph were drinking hot chocolate and planning.

"Well, that's one more of his bases that's been taken care of," Raph sighed. "But damn! What's it gonna take to stop Bishop?"

Leo shook his head. The image of that bastard hanging from that hook was still fresh in his mind- along with the image of the empty hook, and the brief glimpse of a wounded Bishop climbing that ladder quickly.

"I can't get over that whole thing," Leo said. "You saw it, right? He was hanging there like a piece of meat. I saw him hit the hook, I heard his scream- I was sure I heard his last breath. Then he was gone!"

"How could he survive? How could he get off that hook?" Raph wondered. "You don't suppose he's- well, an Utrom?"

Leo shook his head.

"No, Don is sure he's human- or, rather, was born human. Don thinks perhaps he's been playing with his own DNA, but his theory was full of so many terms and words I can't even pronounce, much less spell, that I can't explain it any better than that."

They both laughed at Don's way of talking to them as if they can understand everything he's saying.

"Man, I was so sure our job had been done for us," Leo continued, getting himself another cup of hot chocolate. "I thought we were free and could concentrate on good old, dependable Shredder. At least I understand his brand of evil. Bishop-" and Leo shook his head in perplexity.

Raph started to answer when a scream from upstairs startled them both. Rushing out to the living area, they knew almost at once that Mikey was having that nightmare again- the one where Raph had abandoned him.

"I want to personally kill Bishop!" Raph growled, as he entered Mikey's room first. His brother was thrashing around in his bed, screaming and pleading with Raph to not leave him.

"Mikey!" Raph shouted, as Don and then Master Splinter joined them. As Mikey slept in a top bunk, it was hard for the injured rat to easily reach his son, but Don supported him as he climbed up onto a chair, trying to soothe his son, while Raph, also standing on a chair, was attempting to wake Mikey up.

The pain! The pain! The blood the pain the pain the blood the fear the begging Raph Raph please please don't leave me oh Raph...

"MIKEY!" the shout finally got through the horror- finally got through the horror, and he opened his eyes forcefully, finding himself being shaken by Raph, hearing his brother shouting at him to "wake up! Mikey wake up, it's a nightmare wake up!" while hearing Splinter also begging him to "Calm yourself, my son! Calm yourself! No one is hurting you! Your brother has not abandoned you! Calm yourself!"

He couldn't quit sobbing- he couldn't quit breathing in gasps or sobbing.

He couldn't quite believe that he was awake for a few minutes- perhaps this was a delusion brought on by the torturous death being performed on him by Bishop.

He stared desperately into his brother's eyes, his own so spilling with tears it made it hard to see.

"Mikey!" he heard Raph say again, this time more forcefully yet more quietly. "Mikey, it's just a nightmare. We've been over this time and time again. I would never leave you! How could you think such a thing?"

"Raph?"

Raph grinned at this recognition.

"Yeah, you chucklehead?"

Mikey cried as he hadn't cried in years- and Raph was stunned even more at this than at the extent of the apparent nightmare.

He somehow got up on the bed, and lifted his brother into a sitting position, and just held him as tightly as he could, not saying anything.

Between Raph and the soothing words of Splinter, Mikey finally was able to draw a clean breath without gasping or sobbing.

But as Raph held his brother, he himself grew angrier and angrier, thinking of that bastard Bishop- Mikey had been better, hadn't had one of these "Bishop-mares", as he called them, in months.

Now they were back- thanks to that egomaniac, that filth, that crazy psycho, that evil mother- and as he thought these things, he realized with horror that Mikey was picking up on his emotions, and beginning to react again- tense, gulping breaths, unable to stop crying- fear-

FEAR-

Raph had known Mikey to be afraid, but never to FEAR!

"Aww, Mikey, what did he do to you?" Raph barely whispered, kissing his brother's head as he cradled him as if he were an infant.

So Raph did something that he normally didn't do without making a scene about it- he began to meditate- he began to meditate and restore calm to himself- and to transfer that calm to his brother.

The change was almost instantaneous. Mikey's breathing slowed with Raph's; Mikey's body relaxed as quickly as Raph's did; and Mikey fell asleep against his brother, his mind calm and peaceful- and feeling the safety that his brother was providing.

Splinter quietly left the room, and just as quietly returned, with Leo and Don in tow, bringing Raph blankets, a pillow, and a mat to sleep on.

Raph was grateful.

Then Don made sure that Master Splinter made it safely back to bed, while Leo finished setting up the temporary bed for Raph.

Once he had settled Mikey back, he got down and looked sourly at the bed. He hated sleeping on the floor.

"Well, we could always hang an extra hammock in here," Leo managed to smile, and Raph managed to laugh. Then they both looked serious, gazing at their baby brother.

"We have got to end this, Leo."

"I know, Raph. We will. I promise."