~Two Months Later~
POV Dannie:
Typing into the system, I looked at each specimen's health and status, each one of the specimens was growing at its respected incubation rate, however, something was strange about 004 growth, compared to the rest, 004 seemed to be growing at quite a rapid rate, regardless of its initial size, it's not even close to its hatching date, regardless, the specimen will choose when it is its time to come out of the egg. I began adding some nutrients to the egg and some DNA, giving the specimens more of a chance to become something great, something powerful. I was so excited at the thought, 'Ah! Me creator and lead worker on this project, one spoken for years, and I, Dannie, could be the leading cause to their greatness', I smiled widely and looked back at Mikey, only to frown a second letter.
Since the beginning, Mikey has been keeping his distance from the eggs, asking no questions as to why the facility has chosen turtles, he just...goes with the flow...just like all the people of New York City. I watched Mikey as he continued his work, all of the work he completed always seemed average, like he put in the needed work, however never succeeded passed that, he just did what was needed. Turning back to my chart, I continued my work, even did some more, looking at each one of their biologies, I felt a sort of guilt as I stared at the screan, that was until Mikey tapped my shoulder, scaring that shit out of me.
"Jeez! Mikey, what the heck are you doing we have work to do-", Mikey waved and turned around making his way to leave the lab, only for me to run towards him grabbing him by the shoulder, "Mikey, what are you doing we still have tons of time to work, you know if we leave early then-", waving to get my attention, Mikey pointed at the time, I squicked my eyes, trying my best to see, I was shocked, 'Shoot Three o'clock already', pointing in the direction, I waved Mikey off and continued my work, only to get lost in thought, why was Mikey always so quiet.
'That was something that terrified me about Mikey, the kid never made a sound, his bare feet tapping against the ground were always silent, his breathing was always low and not audible, and the device over his nape, only made it worse. Mikey's footsteps over time became quieter until you never heard them, even running down the hallways whether that was here or when I was in school, his steps never made any sounds! And now...heh he's silent and you never feel his presence no matter what his mood is, this kid's a threat...and I don't know, why the kraang decided to kidnap this one'.
Turning around, I walked towards the eggs, and pulled up their projection, looking over their physical structure, "Entry 356, looking at each fetus, all are completely healthy, showing no signs of error, or odd mutation, i.e. third eye, holes in the shell, or elongated tail bone...", spin the projection, I looked at 003's, "Regardless it seems 003 is nearing the end of its germinal stage, almost ready to transform into the next stage, while the rest of the specimens have moved onto the Embryonic stage, the second stage...", pulling up 003's file I looked closely, looking at it's hatch day, "This could be due to its species late hatching date, compared to the rest, this species, takes around two to almost nines months when it's a normal turtle, and looking at its structure I'm guess this one will take the longest".
"013-02012, the one known as Bishop, would like to speak with you, immediately", nodding my head, typing into the computer, I ended the entry, and turned around, watching as the eggs lowered down into a more protected enclosure. Turning around, I followed after the droid as it held open the door, and walked down the stairs.
Walking down the hall, my stride continued its normal pace, my posture proper and upright, my arms placed over my chest, crossing my arms, and keeping my patagium out of others' way. I wasn't nervous, my expression was collected, there was no reason for me to be nervous, I was a obedient worker, and I knew that. Walking down the corridor, I looked straight ahead, and felt curious, questioning why Bishop needed to talk to me. I thought over all possibilities, but before I could get to the conclusion, I was already standing at his door, taking a few deep breaths as the droid knocked on Bishop's door.
*Buzzz* *Click*
The door clicked, signaling that it was unlocked, pushing open the door, both the droid and I stayed silent, and I noticed that he was speaking with someone, talking in a different tone, wearing some strange sunglasses. "Yes Donatello, me as well as the other Utroms, still have found no evidence as to where your brother, Michelangelo is, however, we will continue looking for your brother, have you looked into the others?"
"Yes. Me and my brothers are continuing our search, looking into each villain, but we still haven't found anything...*sigh* that will be all, thanks for the help"
"Anytime, and remember, me and the Utroms are here for you guys, farewell", Bishop ended the call and moved the communication sphere off to the side, turning his gaze to the droids as he pulled off his glasses, "You may leave", there it was his normal voice. Turning his gaze to me, he motioned to the chair in front of his desk, to which I walked over and sat in, pulling out my tablet, ready for the meeting, "013-020112, what is the status on the specimens, please tell me some good news. All I've been dealing with is 013-202012's irritating kin...", and with that the droids left the room, locking it behind them, leaving us alone. Taking in a deep breath, I looked straight at Bishop and turned on my tablet, pressing a special button that placed everything on the screen into a 3-dimensional projection, I placed the tablet on the edge of the table, and left the tablet alone, putting it closer to me, "Starting with Specimen 001, the specimen has been growing at a respective rate, staying within the theoretical hatching date, as well as the other's each one is growing perfectly, however-", pulling up the fourth specimen to the projection, making it larger than the rest, "Specimen 004 is growing in size at a rapid rate, however, seems to be still not even close to the hatch date, I suspect 004 will be a strong one, compared to the others! Regardless this could be due to the fact that unlike the other specimens, 004 is a tortoise instead of a turtle or sea turt-"
"Will they all hatch at the same time?", I knew that tone, he was impatient. Pulling up the year's calendar, I walked to the side and showed him, growing nervous as I continued to talk, "Well sir, the eggs you gave to me, well... each one has their own incubation period, each taking different lengths of time, which is why if you look at 001, this one's the most developed compared to the rest, while 003 is still in its germinal stage, I suspect that it would start changing for another few weeks. Regardless, the rest are all growing just perfectly, surprisingly-"
"What do you mean...Surprisingly? Did you suspect that the eggs wouldn't turn out how I intended?!", I kept a calm composure as I continued with our meeting, and pulled up their genetic structure, "What I mean sir, is that the mutagen injected into their eggs, and the chances of the specimens becoming what they are now, was a one in a thousand chance! I understand that the mutagen has been perfected, but that was only to mutate creatures into Kraang, the previous mutagen was unstable, so you can understand where I'm coming from, but so far they have not shown any defects in their biology, they're not fusing with the eggs, not growing an extra limb. They're just growing like normal human children, just inside eggs, compared to Mikey-, sorry 013-202012, who's also a mutant turtle, mutated from a human-",
"Human?!", the flow of my words stopped, I was confused and turned my gaze to Bishop, watching as he chuckled, leaning back in his chair, "013-202012 was never human. That thing has been a mutant since he was young!", I just stood there, staring at Bishop as he laughed, time past by and his laugh finally quieted down, my mouth still hung open, "But?!- No I went to school with him-, he was human?!", he reached off to the side and pulled out a glass container, holding the original Transformation Cell, "Did you ever see him wear this?-", I shook my head, staring at the bright gem, taking in it bright colors, "Well, he did wear the gem on a piece of human jewelry, one that wrapped around his neck, but just so you know the mutant used one identical to this, so 013-202012 was never really a human, just a mutant in disguise", he smiled the smuggest one I've seen in so long, leaning his elbow on his desk as he tapped the glass case that held the gem.
'Mikey...was never...human', the pitched tapping filled the room as I looked down at the ground, 'He lied...Mikey', I felt so betrayed, even though in school we met only during P.E...I felt like I should be angry but I wasn't, it made sense, this kid wanted to live a normal life and go to school, but the only way to stay safe, was to tell no one. Everything made sense, but still, I stayed silent staring at the carpeted floor.
"Hehhh humans are such weird little things...Now! Continue on with your previous point...", clearing my throat I looked back at Bishop, resting my arms beside me. "L-Like I was saying, compared to...Mikey...who is also a...turtle, he instead has completely unstable mutagen that runs through his body, based on that, they were both mutated when they were young, it is odd that they're stable, and he isn't, it's very peculiar...".
"So would you like to tell me how you know that, you currently have no access to his file, and the only way you would know is if you did, meaning you took this heart drive or you spoke to the mutant...",
"Uhhh well I noticed just now when you had his file on the screen...", I scratched my arm as I stared at him, only for Bishop's smile to flatten out, his once joy-filled face changed back into annoyance, loudly pushing himself up to his feet, "I want to know...", walking around the desk he stood right in front of me, gazing down at me, "do you think I'm stupid.", slamming his desk on the edge of the desk, causing some things to fall over, "No! Sir, I would never-"
"Then you should know I see everything inside this facility, inside every facility within a thousand-mile radius", he placed the glass case back in the drawer, continuing to glare at me, "I have studied the human race for over a century, DID YOU HEAR ME?! A!!! CENTURY!!! I have learned all that's been taught on this disgusting waste of a planet...cultures, dialects, food, war techniques, even the communication you use between that mutant and yourself...", fear filled my gut, as I shifted my gaze down to the ground, my hands gripping the side of the chair, "What have I told you, I told you just a few things to follow before 013-202012 was administered here, and you directly disobey those rules! Tell me?! What rules did you break", my gaze continued to stare at the ground, but my voice stayed clear as ever, "No Communication, unless needed during given tasks-"
"Communicating! Did you think I wouldn't know about Morse code, which brings up the next topic I noticed recently, is there a reason the mutant calls me shi-shin, Ugh! What is it?!"
"Shinigami, sir, he hated calling you the droid or lead scientist, so he gave you the name, Shinigami...", he stayed silent waiting for me to continue, "In Japanese culture, the shinigami from what I've been told, is a God of sorts there, a god of Death...", finally after some time I looked up towards Bishop, his face blank as ever as he stood in front of me, "God of Death huh? I wonder why he gave me that name, sure I have killed a lot of my creations, but it is all just a part of population control inside this facility, he hasn't seen me kill anyone, except for himself temporarily, but he seems completely unaware of himself dying"
"You what?! You can't kill Mikey!!!-"
*Slap*
My cheek burned as the metal plate in his palm collided with my cheek, "What did I say about raised tones?", taking a deep breath I lowered my hand away from my cheek, keeping eye contact with him, "My...my apologies, but sir, you need to understand, we can't have you willingly ending that kids life, I-, you need him", he leaned against his desk, staring at me, "I know we need him, which is why I brought him back to life, and just so you know, his health is none of your concern...", I was shocked, how could he not want me to worry, we need Mikey, "Sir with all due respect, I would say it is part of my job to worry and make sure he's healthy enough to do his tasks, so if I could make a suggestion...please try not to kill him", Bishop stared at me, and just sighed, "I guess I do need to be more carefully with him than the rest, but that's not because of your statement, I mean I can't have him getting brain damage...", turning his gaze away, Bishop stared down at the communication orb he set off to the side, "Has he been waiting for his family? Trying to escape lately?", shaking my head, I put the tablet away, and sat back down the chair, "No he's been slowly giving up on the chances of his family coming to his rescue, that actually why he gave you the nickname-", Bishop curked his brow, "after the first week, he's been getting constant nightmares of his family saving him, only for you to kill one or all of them at the very end, rarily me, but yeah". Bishop turned towards his computer and signaled me to come around the desk, standing next to him, typing into his computer, he pulled up Mikey's file, the same one that was kept hidden compared to the rest.
"Has the mutant spoken anything of sorts about his brothers...", I shook my head as I read over what I could see on Mikey's file, "For the first week, he actually stayed up every single night, taking no naps, but after a while, he went straight to bed, and stopped mentioning that his mom was going to rescue him", Bishop stopped and looked at me for a second, "What about his family?"
"Kinda, he doesn't talk about his family coming to save him, he just tells me about his mom, sisters-"
"Sisters?! Whoa ho! There's more of them, did he tell you what his sisters were exactly?", Bishop turned away from his computer, and looked at me, "Not much, all he's said is they're twins, all he's talked about is their favorite things to do, and their names", he groaned as he turned back to the computer, entering information into the computer, "That's unfortunate, however, knowing that the 013-202012 has given up on his family rescuing him is perfectly what we needed, well in a way. His brother Donatello has been hacking into our system for years, he was actually capable of stealing one of our major files, we have been looking into ways to shut him out, he even found a way to change our dialect into English, but nothing we've done is working, which is why 013-202012's files, is hidden in this heart drive, keeping this file out of their sight, will make them stray away for the facility, making us the last ones to search", Bishop closed Mikey's file and ejected the heart drive, sliding the device into the farthest drawer.
Turning back towards me, "Alright, back to the reason you are here, is there a way to speed up the hatching process, the mutant's brothers are searching for him, we need them to hatch as fast as possible"
"No Sir, that is a terrible idea, forcing the specimens to grow quicker than their intended incubation period will cause drastic long-term issues, they could become underdevelopment and have health issues, disabilities, hell even death, and this will be even worse without the bonding-"
"What", Bishop spoke his tone filled with anger, and walked towards me, standing over me as the light shined behind his head, giving his face the most terrifying expression, "What did you say? I think I heard you wrong, cause if I heard you right, then I am going to SNAP-", pulling me off the ground, his fist gripped onto the fur on my chest, lifting me off the ground, "-these brittle fucking wings of yours, now repeat what you just said", though he wasn't choking me, the pain still occurs, it feels like someones pulling my hair aggressively, "W-well sir, they really haven't been bonding, this kind of thing you have to let them want to bond-", shoving me back into my chair, he stepped away, pacing back and forth behind his desk, "Oh my-...then make them bond dammit! We- I need them to bond, that is the only way they'll grow stronger!".
"We can't do that sir! Ack! This type of thing you let happen with time. Forcing them to bond will cause issues with reliability and trust, we need to let them want to bond together, but... the kid since the beginning has been distant, so that role-"
"Distant?! DISTANT?! What the-, does the kid even know why he was chosen for this assignment?!", he slammed his fist against the wall, only for me to shake my head, his eyes slimmed out as he glared at me, and slammed himself into his chair, "013-020120...I told you the first day, to explain everything to 013-202012! But of course, you didn't listen!", placing his arms on his desk, he glared at me, slowly taking in a deep breath before he spoke again, "Tomorrow, a droid with escort you and 013-202012 back to my office, I will tell him the news, since you are too incompetent to tell your own cellmate. Do not go to the laboratory after your first meal, just wait in your cell, now...GET! OUT!!!!!!"