Creeping through the shadows, the turtles, Abby, Sam, and Dalilah hurried to reach their destination. Abby led the way, with Sam by her side. She knew the way to Kenzie's apartment by heart, and Sam had been there to pick up Kayla enough times to figure out the route. It was a bit more tedious when they had to stay out of sight, but they made it to Kenzie's home nonetheless.
Sam, with a hat over her ears and her fox tail tucked down her pant leg, walked with Dalilah to get in Kenzie's room. They normally would've called up to Kenzie's room through the intercom so she could unlock the door that led upstairs, but no one was in the apartment, so that was out of the question. Instead, Sam used the key Kenzie had left in the lair's guest room to unlock the door manually. Once the two girls made it inside Kenzie's room, they opened the window so the turtles could climb in from the fire escape outside.
They were in search of the machine Kenzie used, years ago, to erase Sarah's memory of being captured by the Kraang. It had belonged to her dad's friend, Leo had reminded them when they discussed it at the lair, so it might not even be at her house. Even so, they didn't know who the friend was, or where he lived, so they decided to look around Kenzie's home just in case.
"She may have kept it, for an emergency," Abby pointed out. "If Sarah needed those memories back, she would have to reverse the effects of the machine."
"I'm fascinated to figure out how it works," Donnie commented. "I'm also suspicious of this 'friend.' Don't you think a memory machine would be all over the news? What if he worked for the Kraang?"
"It's possible," Leo agreed. "But we can focus on that later. Right now, we need to see if Kenzie has the machine."
The group of seven split off, covering each room. The apartment wasn't very big, but it was large enough to hold a kitchen, two bedrooms, a living room, and a bathroom. The kitchen was tiny, and attached to the living room. A short hallway led to the bedrooms, one being Kenzie's and the other, her parents. Leo, Mikey, and Sam searched the kitchen and living room while Abby and Dalilah headed for Kenzie's room. Raph and Donnie wandered around everywhere, looking for potential hiding spots.
Dalilah spotted something as soon as she entered Kenzie's bedroom. Her nightstand drawer was open slightly, and something that looked like a large TV remote sat inside. Abby's mouth curled upward in a grin as she, too, spotted the contraption, which was likely just what they were looking for.
"Kenzie isn't very good at hiding stuff, is she?" Abby laughed to no one in particular. She and Dalilah swiftly made their way over to the desk, pulling out the "remote." It was similar in design to a TV remote, but it was wider and longer, had one button, and an antenna sticking out the top. A small screen and keypad seemed to allow you to set a date, and even a time, presumably so you could specify exactly what memories you wanted erased.
"Guys! We found it!" Dalilah called. In moments, everyone was in the room. "I guess she did keep in for an emergency."
"Look," Sam spoke up as she examined the remote. "There's a switch on the side!"
She was right. What looked to be an on-off switch was actually a remember-forget switch. It was set to erase memories at the moment, but with one flick, it could give those memories back.
"This thing looks simultaneously too advanced for a human and exactly the kind of style a human would use. It's too casual for Kraang tech," Donnie observed. "I would test it out, but if it doesn't work, there could be disastrous effects."
"Maybe we can try it with one of Shredder's minions, to make them forget we were there," Sam suggested.
"Or, we could just try it with or friends. They have no memories to loose," Raph pointed out, his voice teetering on the line between speaking and growling towards the end.
"What will we do if it doesn't work?" Sam asked nervously. It was something everyone was wondering. No one wanted to think about the possibility that the machine wouldn't function properly.
"It has to," Abby said finally. There was another beat of silence before Donnie spoke up.
"Either way, I need to alter the way it works. Right now, it seems like it can only give back memories it took. We need it to be able to make Kenzie, Sarah, and Kayla remember things the MGE erased," he explained. "It needs to not only make sure Shredder isn't controlling them, but also revive the memories."
"Can you do that?" Dalilah questioned.
"We'll find out," Donnie replied.
~•~
When they arrived back at the lair, Donnie immediately entered his lab to alter the remote. As he unscrewed the cover, he discovered pieces of equipment that screamed "Kraang." While this raised suspicions about the identity of the man who made the machine, they couldn't worry about that right now. For all they knew, the man himself could've been a Kraang in disguise.
Despite the foreign technology, it wasn't very difficult to figure out. It resembled Earth's hardware closely enough for him to know what he was doing. He just needed to reconfigure the connections between the Kraang-wires. Though they served as a conductor of memories rather than energy, the concept was the same. Donnie was pretty confident he managed to make it work, allowing it to renew memories as long as there was some trace of them left in the person's mind. It wouldn't be perfect, but it was the best he was be able to do.
His work didn't take too long, but it was enough time for Splinter to teach Abby, Sam, and Dalilah some basic defense skills. Dalilah already had some training from working for Shredder for just a few days, and Abby's inner-ninja helped her to pick up on the actions quickly, if she didn't already know them subconsciously. Sam was slightly behind due to lack of experience, but her fast fox reflexes allowed her to excel in dodging attacks.
Soon, Donnie called everyone to the main living area in the lair, with the TV and couch. They were happy to hear that he succeeded in editing the machine, so it would hopefully either break their friends out of their mind-controlled state, or at least loosen Shredder's hold enough to get through to them.
Dalilah spoke up, "Test it on me."
Donnie looked at her uncertainly. "I don't know if that's a good idea...what if it fails?"
"We can't go to save your friends with a plan based only on hope. We need to be confident, but going in with something that might not even work can't really be your plan, right?"
Leo pursed his lips, agreeing, "She's right. If you're willing, Dalilah, I think Donnie should test it."
"But she might get hurt!" Sam exclaimed. Dalilah may have been a new friend, but she was their friend all the same. Dalilah smiled, glad she was earning the complete trust of at least someone.
"I'll be fine," she assured, though she wasn't positive herself. Sam sighed.
"Okay. Everyone, you might want to back up. Dalilah...I'm sorry if this hurts," he breathed, as if he still didn't approve but was doing it anyway. Everyone spread out as Donnie aimed the antenna at Dalilah, made sure the switch was on "remember," and pressed the button.
No fancy lasers shot out of the machine, but it obviously did something, because Dalilah fell to her knees and held her head. Her eyes were squeezed shut, and she looked like she was in pain, but didn't call out. After only a few moments, she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and opened her eyes.
"It worked! I remember what happened with the Kraang!" she gasped. A triumphant grin grew on her face. "They did test MGE on me. It was just a grayish color, not like the ones they have for you. I think they must have dyed them all to separate whose was whose. But also...I remember them talking about a 'general' MGE. Once they perfected the DNA mutagen for individuals, they were gonna create one for every blood type on Earth."
The color drained from Dalilah's face as she comprehended her memories. "That means they might have made this entire-world MGE already! They must have given Shredder MGE to test, and now that it's worked, who knows what they'll do!"
Everyone was silent as they let that new information sink in. Finally, Leo replied, "We'll have to worry about the Kraang after we save our friends."
"There's one more thing," Dalilah said hesitantly. "Abby, Sam...they tested it on your parents."
The two girls the statement was directed to gasped, glancing at each other. They were both thinking the same thing. Did it work?
"This time...they succeeded. But it was only for a short amount of time. I remember hearing the leader Kraang yelling at them all because the 'test subjects' didn't stay under their control forever. That was also when they were planning to hand me over to Shredder. The Kraang must have purposely gotten rid of my memories because they didn't want me to spill their secrets to anyone.
"I guess the Kraang gave a new version of MGE to Shredder to test on your friends, instead of me, because I wasn't injected with anything else before they gave me to Shredder," Dalilah finished.
"If the Kraang really did manually remove your memories, I think it's safe to say whoever this machine came from works for the Kraang, or is one. There was a bunch of parts inside that definitely were not from Earth," Donnie added.
"So, now that we know the alien robots can control my entire family and can erase memories, what do we do?" Sam murmured.
"We need to save Kenzie, Kayla, and Sarah before Shredder makes them do anything horrible," Abby decided with finality. "Let's focus on the good stuff; we have a promising solution to the MGE, whether the Kraang have one for the entire world or not."
With newfound hope, it was finally time to save their friends from Shredder's evil clutches.
~•~
A/N: AYEEE LOOK WHO UPDATED!
I'm sorry it took a gajillion years >~< but I have testing in school this week which means NO HOMEWORK! Plus, I planned everything for the next few chapters, so I know exactly what I want to happen. There's only a few chapters left!
Hope you enjoyed!
~DY