Chapter 1: Resurrection and Mace.
-
“Thank you for allowing us to try and treat your son Mrs. Harris,” Vorst said into his mobile while he and Mistress Lucy rode towards the hospital in his mistress’s limo towards County. “We will try everything in our power to bring him back.”
The evening had taken on an interesting turn for Vorst and his mistress. Usually after dinner Vorst would go and enjoy a good book or play the piano while his mistress would go over the notes of the mission, or just watch some TV. Then once the sun had set and a fire made the two of them would enjoy their evening drink, tea for him and coffee for her, along with either a slice of cake or some biscuits.
Tonight things were different. They had a call from one of their servants that there was a suitable vessel at County hospital. They had to act quick. The friends and family of the vessel should be at the end of their ropes with traditional scientific medicine and were looking for a higher power to bring their loved one back.
“These people who hold on to hope despite all the facts are ridiculous fools,” Mistress Lucy said. She had put on the most ridiculous ensemble that she owned. Instead of one of the more tasteful designer dresses she usually wore she had donned a dress in the colors of sunset with fringe on the sleeves and the bottom. She wore large bracelets that clacked against each other whenever she moved. She wore large wooden hoop earrings in her ears. She was originally going to wear a necklace made out of wooden beads but decided to go for a single crystal on a string.
“It’s all they have left,” Vorst said. He was dressed from head to toe in black with a white collar. On his lap he had a single gold cross and a copy of the bible.
“An idiotic feeling,” Mistress Lucy said as she ran her fingers through her hair. She kept her bangs out of her eyes with the large brightly colored headband. “Wouldn’t you agree?”
“When the odds are stacked against them a hundred percent,” Vorst answered.
“Ah my Jay bird I wasn’t talking to you.” Mistress Lucy had removed the cloth from her lap, exposing the crystal and the alien spirit inside. “I was speaking to our guest.” She tapped the crystal. “Wouldn’t you agree, Pumpkin?”
The spirit within tapped back with a single tentacle, or he would have tapped if he was capable of making any sound. He was able to smile and nod.
“You still have to admire them for having this determination,” Mistress Lucy said. “We will have to crush that. Can’t have anyone hope for a miracle or a rebellion.”
“When you have succeeded then there will be no hope for any of them,” Vorst said. “Although we have to succeed first. The prophecy is still full of ciphers.”
“We have figured out most of it,” Mistress Lucy said. “The four shall ride. The seven shall feed and the destroyer shall return to flesh.” She ran her fingers of the crystal. “That would be you.”
“And don’t forget about the opposition,” Vorst reminded her. While the prophecy gave them some advantages there was also some disadvantages.
“Ah yes,” Mistress Lucy said in a bored tone. “Seven carriers of virtue to wipe away the sin. Twenty turtles will be the downfall. Four times four are the same.”
The alien spirit snarled at the mention of turtles.
“I know all about you,” Mistress Lucy said. “And your dislike of the turtles. I want you to help me get rid of these turtles. Would you like that Sweetie?”
The pink spirit smiled and nodded.
-
The thrill of a nice motorcycle ride, there was nothing quite like it, at least according to Raphael. His hands gripped onto the handlebars and the sound of the motorcycle’s engine was music to his ear slits. He loved cruising down the streets of the city without a care in the world, along side his good friend Casey. Raph was almost envious of his friend for having hair for the wind to ride through.
This was not his original plan for the evening; neither were Casey’s plans. Raph wanted to spend the evening at Casey and April’s apartment. Especially since Urielle was there. Unfortunately the ladies had an idea for the evening entertainment. They were going to watch Hello Dolly, followed by The Sound of Music. In addition to being a monster truck fan, Urielle was a nut for musicals. April also loved them.
Raph wasn’t a fan of them. He knew he should try to like at least one or two, but those two classics weren’t the place for him to start. He thought about watching Mikey’s copy of Rocky Horror to start things off. Then he would check out Tommy. Rock musicals seemed like a good place to start.
Why did he have to be such a guy about it? Correction, why did he have to be a stereotypical macho guy about it? He tried to avoid anything and everything that might have been deemed to be too girly. He avoided the color pink, even refusing to eat cookies and cupcakes that were frosted in pink. He would go and work out when Master Splinter turned on the soaps. The only love songs he would listen to were rock and roll power ballads.
The only thing he accepted were poems, and those were the ones that either Urielle pointed out to him or written herself. Urielle was to prose what Gabby was to baking. She was good at it; from sonnets to limericks to Haiku she was skilled. Sometimes she would write dirty poems that were dripping in the double entendre. Raphael loved to listen to them all.
“Uh oh,” Casey shouted and sped up.
“What do you mean by uh oh?” Raph asked as he gunned the motor to keep up with his friend.
Casey was following a dark van down the streets and didn’t stop until the vehicle pulled up next to a jewelry store.
“What is it?” Raphael asked in a soft voice as soon as he pulled up next to his friend
Casey only held up his hand for silence and pointed at the van.
Five Purple Dragons climbed out along with a young boy about fourteen years old. The boy looked around in uncertainty for a few seconds before his expression turned to one of pure determination.
“You know what to do,” One of the Purple Dragons said to the boy.
“No sweat,” the kid said and pulled a rock out of his pocket and threw it through the display window.
“That kid has no idea what he is getting in to,” Raph said.
“Someone has to save him,” Casey said as he pulled down his mask. He removed two hockey sticks from his bag. “Goongalah.” He cried out.
“Crap,” one of the Dragons said. “It’s that vigilante. Get him.”
“Don’t these guys come up with new things to say?” Raph asked. He unsheathed his sais and ran into the crowd. He kicked a gun out of one of their hands before he ducked from being hit by a crowbar.
“He’s not alone,” another Dragon said. “He’s got one of those fre—turtle ninjas with him.”
Raphael tried not to smirk at that response. The Dragons either can’t or don’t want to address Raph or his brothers as freaks anymore now that their boss was a turtle.
“Watch your back,” Casey shouted and conked out another Dragon that was about to get Raph from behind.
“Thanks,” Raph said before he took care of the last Dragon.
The teenager was the only one who was left. He had his back pressed against the van while he trembled. He breathed in deep gasps.
“Don’t be afraid of us,” Casey said as he lifted his mask up. “We only go after full fledged Dragons.”
“You still have a chance,” Raph said to the kid. “You can walk away and not try to join them again. Being in the Purple Dragons is not as fun as it looks. You could get killed or go to jail.”
“Or beat up by us,” Casey added. “We tend to fight Purple Dragons all the time and when we are done we give em to the cops.”
“You could even be changed into a creature like me,” Raph said as he pointed to himself. “Just like the leader of the Purple Dragons.”
“The gang leader is a green reptile freak?” The kid asked.
“Yup.” Raph nodded. He allowed the usual insult to roll of his shell if it meant this kid was going to walk away from the Dragons and not look back.
“And you don’t want to be like that,” Hun shouted from up the street.
“Hun?” Casey asked as he turned towards the direction the voice came from.
“You don’t want to be a Purple Dragon,” Hun said while straddling a motorcycle. He was in the shadows and appeared somewhat smaller and his accent was different, but there was no mistaking that voice. “And I don’t want you to be a member.”
“What the shell?” Raph stared at his enemy in disbelief. Why was Hun doing this? Perhaps his protector told him to do that and she was the only person he listened to.
“Now run home,” Hun ordered. “Run home before the cops come. I want you to think long and hard about tonight.”
“Yes sir,” the teen said and ran off towards the nearest subway entrance.
Raph stared at the kid, then turned to Casey who just shrugged, and then turned towards Hun. “I’m not knocking on what you just did, but I am curious as why.”
“And where did you steal that bike from?” Casey asked.
“First of all the bike belongs to me.” Hun’s voice softened as the bike and large turtle rolled closer until it was in the light. “Secondly I’m not Hun.” The mutant climbed down from the bike. He was not green at all. His coloring was a silvery white with a pale greenish gray plastron and a dark blue carapace. He had a single dark gray, almost black, spike on each shoulder surrounded by a ring of smaller spikes. He wore a dark purple vest and a pair of blue denim shorts.
“That ain’t Hun,” Casey said.
“Nope,” the figure said as he removed the helmet from his head. He had a Mohawk of messy black spiky hair that ended in a mullet in the back and there was only one pair of short and stubby horns on his head. He didn’t have any elbow spikes. “My name is Mace, Mace Croft and this is my baby.” He pointed at the motorcycle. “I call her Nightmare.”
The motorcycle was painted black with flames on the suspensions. The main controls between the handlebars had a metal sculpt shaped like a horse’s head in the front, on closer look the front and rear suspensions were made to resemble the legs of a horse.
“Nice bike,” Casey said after he let out a whistle.
“Thanks,” Mace said as he cradled the helmet against his side. “My dad got it for me for my fourteenth birthday. I’ve modified and worked on her for two years now.”
“You only sixteen?” Raph asked as he stared at the turtle. Whoever heard of a silver turtle before? Then again he came across a blue turtle, a red one, a purple one and a yellow one. “You’re a clone. You’re a clone of Hun.”
“Why would anyone want to clone Hun?” Casey asked.
“My parents?” Mace looked a little insulted. “I should say my human parents. My father is a great scientist and you know his grandmother.”
“We do?” Raph asked. He wasn’t sure if should trust this youth or not.
“Casey saved her the way I hopefully saved this kid,” Mace said.
“Angel?” Both Casey and Raph asked at once.
Mace nodded. “I also came with a message from your descendant, Mr. Jones.”
“You have a message from Cody?” Raph asked.
“He was the one who sent me back. He said I had to come back to this time.” He reached into a pocket and pulled out a small metallic object that resembled an Ipod but was even smaller.
“Hey guys,” A holographic image of Cody was projected from the device. “I know at first you don’t trust my friend, but you are going to have to. Something bad is about to go down and Mace was mentioned as one of the heroes who stopped it. Please you have to listen and understand. If you don’t succeed then, well, there won’t be a future.”
“Man,” Casey said as he rubbed the top of his head. “That is a lot to digest.”
“No kidding,” Mace said. “Cody and I are buds in cyberspace but we haven’t met before, mostly due to the fact I live in Colorado.”
“Raph,” Casey whispered. “What are we going to do with this kid?”
“Not sure,” Raph whispered back. “I’ll ask the others.” He called Donny on his shell cell and explained the situation.
“He’s probably nothing like Hun,” Donny said once Raph had finished explaning.. “Look how different our clones are from us.”
“I know. I’m just not sure what to do.”
“Bring him here,” Splinter said once he took the phone from Donny. “If it makes you uncomfortable then blindfold him once you enter the sewer, but remember my dream.” There was no way Raph was going to forget that dream that Splinter had described. He had hoped that it wasn’t going to really come true but if it were he was going to pay attention to every detail that his father described.
“We’ll do that, Master,” Raph said and hung up. “Well Mace, looks like you are in.”
-
“I am Madame Ragna,” Lucy introduced herself to the large crowd in the waiting room. She noticed Vorst had raised his eyebrow at her using her real last name but she did not care.
“Madam Ragna?” A woman with salt and pepper colored hair asked. Her eyes were red and puffy from either crying or not getting enough to sleep or both.
“I am the one who shall guide your Robert back to this plane,” Lucy said. “You tried using medical energy and that did not help. I will provide spiritual energy.”
“We both will,” Vorst said as he held up his bible. “I am Father Jerald.”
“Thank you for coming,” a man in gray hair and glasses said. “I was expecting a priest not one of these new age women.”
“I am sorry for the inconvenience,” Vorst said. “Madam Ragna is a good friend of mine. Sometimes she will try her healing while I pray for the souls to return. We have succeeded several times, but I believe that is due to faith in how we work.”
“I have faith,” the grieving woman said. “Please bring back my Robert.” She was eating up Vorst’s words. It was true that those who were desperate enough would end up believing everything.
“We will do everything we can,” Vorst said. “You must pray and believe in miracles.”
“We are hoping for a miracle,” the older man said. “That is why you are here.”
Vorst nodded. “May we see the patient?”
“You may come in.” One of the nurses said as she led them to the room that held the coma victim.
Lucy was struck by the scent of alcohol, pure disinfecting alcohol. Various beeps were playing, caused by the hundreds of machines in the room.
The vessel was lying in bed. His frail body was hooked up to various machines that fed him, helped him breath, and various other activities that kept it alive. Skin that looked as dry and thin as paper clung to the bony limbs. Light brown hair was limp and dry and both the eyelids and underneath they eyes were purplish gray.
“Jay dear,” Lucy whispered to her servant. “Get rid of everyone please.”
“As you wish,” Vorst said before he turned around to the medical staff. “We wish to be alone.”
The tallest nurse crossed her arms and shook her head. “We cannot allow anyone to be here alone with a patient.”
Lucy gritted her teeth. She should had figured it would be something like that.
“How many does their have to be?” Vorst asked.
“One.” The nurse turned to her team. “I’ll stay here.”
“Thank you dear,” Lucy said. “I hope you don’t mind standing in the back a bit? Too close can mess up my chi.”
“I will do that,” the nurse said as she stepped back.
“Thank you,” Lucy said. She folded her hands and held them out in front of her face. “Robert Harris, do not lose hope of returning.”
Next to her, Vorst had opened the bible and began to read a passage.
“He is gone,” Lucy said softly. She removed the cloth-covered crystal from her purse. “They go through all this trouble to just keep a corpse alive when the spirit has left. It’s pathetic but kind of sweet.”
The spirit in the crystal just stared up at her.
“I know, I know,” Lucy said. She took a deep breath a spoke softly *”One I have trapped within prepare for your journey, accept this empty vessel to be your shell and home.”
“And now for a prayer,” Vorst said.
“Yes a prayer,” Lucy said. She waved her hands around. “There is a thread, Robert. There is a thread tethering your soul to your body. Use it to climb down. This tether is made from love. Return to us. Return to those who love you.”
The nurse did not seem to be watching too closely. In fact she seemed bored. Good she was not going to be a bother.
Lucy placed the crystal on the vessel’s stomach. *”One I have trapped within, prepare for your journey, accept this empty vessel to be your shell and home. Transfer from crystal to flesh. Take a firm hold of life once again. This body is now yours.”
The ghostly image of the pink alien vanished from the crystal. The sound of the vessel’s heart race increased.
“Did it work?” Vorst whispered.
Lucy looked down at the empty crystal and at the man.
The man’s eyelids twitched seconds before they flew open. Brown eyes narrowed at Lucy before both hands shot up and grabbed her by the throat.
“Oh my god,” the nurse gasped before she left the room.
“Let go,” Lucy gagged before she grabbed onto the man’s wrists. She pried his hands off her throat and set them down on the bed. “I don’t think you want to try that again.”
The man had his mouth twisted up into a snarl. His mouth opened but only dry gasping and choking sounds came out.
“Here,” Vorst helped the man to drink some water. “Your mouth and throat is too dry to try and form words.”
After a few gulps the man spoke again. “My name is Ch’rell, Torrinon, Kako Naso, Duke Acureds, Oroko Saki and the one true Shredder.”
“And now your name is Robert Harris,” Lucy said as she stroked his hair. “You’re a system’s analyst, thirty one years old with a wife of three years who’s been waiting for you. You like Green Day and fried potatoes. I know the transference may be a bit disorienting but you are here now. Welcome to the human race.”
“Robert,” the crying woman from outside cried out as she ran in. “Your awake. Praise the lord you are awake.”
“We must give thanks to him,” Vorst said.
Several more relatives nearly bowled both Lucy and Vorst over as they crowded around the former alien’s bed.
“Make way,” a handful of doctors and other nurses filled the room.
“Mother,” Ch’rell asked and looked at the older woman. “Mom?”
“It’s me honey,” Mrs. Harris said as she placed a kiss on her son’s head. “Your father is here and your brother and sister and your wife.”
“This is nothing short of a medical miracle,” one of the doctors said. “It looked like he was never going to wake up.”
“Thank you,” Mrs. Harris said as she stared at Lucy and Vorst. “Thank you so much.”
“I hope you don’t mind if I see your son before each physical rehabilitation visit,” Lucy said. “I want to continue help him in his healing.”
“Mom, Dad, will that be all right?” Robert asked. He was really playing up the role. Lucy figured him to be insane, but not stupid.
“Yes,” Mr. Harris said. “She did save you.”
“There is only one other thing that I want,” Robert said. His eyes met with Lucy’s. “I could really go for some fries.”
-
Raphael slowly chewed his food as he kept his eyes on Mace. He had given the turtle clone a bandana to wear over his eyes as a blindfold while he and Casey took him home. He did not trust this guy, even though he carried a message from Cody, even though Splinter said he was okay, and even though he may be one of the other turtles from Splinter’s dream, he still did not trust him. Raph chalked it up to the fact the kid came from Hun’s genetic makeup. That had to be the only reason.
There was also the fact that Mace was making him look bad. The mutant from the future always used his napkin. He chewed slowly and tried not to belch and always excused himself when he did. He also used pleases and thank you’s and May I when he asked for something.
Mikey was also staring at Mace, but his eyes were on Mace’s right shoulder. “Nice tattoo.”
“Thanks,” Mace said. He had a white hockey mask over two blue lighting bolts crisscrossing each other marked in ink.
“You like Hockey?” Mikey asked.
The silver turtle shook his head. “It’s the album art for Stranger Than Fiction’s latest disk. I just thought it was a cool design.”
“So uh you like rock music?” Raph asked.
“Love it,” Mace said. “And STF is one of the best bands around, at least until we get signed.”
“Signed?” Donny blinked. “You’re in a band?”
Mace nodded. “I play lead guitar for the Mighty Mutanimals.”
“I wish I could be in a band,” Mikey sighed.
“Mace, did Cody tell you anything about what we might face?” Leo had decided to change the subject.
The silver turtle shrugged. “He mentioned something about me being part of the twenty. He also told me to watch out for the numbers four and seven.”
“Four and seven,” Splinter repeated and frowned.
“He also told me I will be working with my father,” Mace added before he took a sip from his drink. “My genetic father. I know you are not fond of him, but I would like to meet him.”
“Kid you are going to be disappointed,” Raph said. He already knew Hun would reject Mace on sight.
“He’s not too bad,” Mikey said. “He’s good at video games.”
“Cool, so am I,” Macy said. “Well I like to play. I don’t know if what you say is good.”
“That would be the only thing you have in common with him,” Leo said. “Your genetic father is a greedy, rude bully. You are a good person.”
“They have something else in common,” Splinter said. “They both have much better table manners than you.”
“That’s not fair,” Raph said. “Hun barely ate at the table.”
“He still kept from making rude noises,” Splinter said. “And he knew how to use a napkin. Now if you may I need to be excused to meditate.” He got up from his chair and left the room.
“Did I do something wrong?” Mace asked.
Donny shook his head. “We did.”
“Master Splinter also hasn’t been sleeping well,” Leo added. “He has been suffering from bad night mares and he doesn’t want to talk about it. It took him a while before he spoke with us about it.”
“I hope my being here doesn’t dredge up any of those dreams,” Mace said.
“I think it might have,” Raph said.
“But it’s not your fault,” Leo said. “We have no idea what the dream means.”
“We still have to figure out the clues,” Donny said.
Raph didn’t say anything further. He hoped Mace’s presence was not true indication of bad things to come and he hoped that he could grow to trust and respect the futuristic turtle.