| Archie Earth (Dimension D); Jerusalem, October 18TH, 1993 A.D. |
Donatello’s mind had gone nearly blank from the shock
of the abrupt temporal distortion that had enveloped him and his brothers.
“Where did that freak send us, guys? Uh, guys?” Shaking the uneasiness out of his head, Don quickly performed a long-range remote scan with his cybernetic left eye. Via his built-in GPS, with enough time he reckoned he could hone in on and locate his brothers and, for the moment, he could at least figure out where he was.
This… this is Jerusalem, he thought to himself as he walked through an empty street corner. But why on earth would he send me here?
Cluttered debris and busted up chunks of bricks were strewn about all over the place. Whatever party had gone on there he figured he was showing up a little bit late for. “What the bloody hell happened here?!”
Before he could even fathom the reasoning behind it there was a semi-distant loud explosion sounding much like a “car bomb.” Don took off running towards the ensuing chaos... when he caught sight of what appeared to be a giant green and purple monster in the sky.
“Hear me, children of many faiths!” a thunderous voice droned. “Hear the words of the Animus! Hear the words that herald your final days!”
“Final days? Crap, this must be that Shogun guy’s doing,” Don figured as he readied and morphed his cybernetic arm into an automatic, slug-throwing arm cannon as the beast continued his rant,
“The moment prophesized by the Dead Sea Cult in the holy days of old is at hand. THE WAR OF THE CHILDREN OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS SHALL NOW BEGIN! The end of time is here!”
“All right, that’s just about enough out of you, you goddamned freak! Get ready to meet your friggin’ maker!” Donatello shouted as he attempted to blast the monster in the face, only to be quickly subdued and thrown into the crowd of civilians, all Middle Eastern—assumedly many Israeli—who did a good job of holding him down tight. The blank look in their eyes indicated that the Animus creature had somehow hypnotized them. “Oh great, I’m being overtaken by a bunch of zombies!” He knew they were innocents—he dared not risk killing them in an attempt to break free.
“Long have I waited for this moment,” the foul creature continued. “Long have I waited from the dark, watched as man killed man in the name of religion, in the name of love and light, for the sake of GODS and PROPHETS long since vanished from this realm.
“For two thousand years, this madness has continued, spreading forth like the shadows that joined together to form the night… Tonight it ends! Tonight I have come to quicken the pace of your destruction, to set all of you against one another… to end it once and for all… for if light cannot join with light, then only darkness shall prevail.
“My darkness. ME. My children of darkness, my Hashasheem, have called me forth… AND NONE SHALL STAND IN OUR WAY!”
Don just about had all he could take. Innocents or not, he knew what had to be done. Before he could even make such a bold move though, a blue-skinned female-looking creature came flying through the sky. “I, creature of darkness, shall stand in your way! I, Golani, defender of the state of Israel, protector of this most promised land!” she stated as she brought forth a burst of energy from her hands.
“Eh?” the creature drew back a bit. “What is this; a creature that dares wield its power against me; against the Animus? No matter, my growing army of darkness shall deal with you!”
Donatello, though getting used to expecting the unexpected at this point, was at a loss for words at the next sight he saw, that of two more strange creatures.
“Al’ Falqa shall smite her from the heavens...” a large, white-feathered falcon with wings and human appendages boomed.
“... And Katmandu shall give her the gift of everlasting darkness!” came the voice of a humanoid tiger with four arms.
“We hear, and obey, O Animus!”
Wasting no time, Al’ Falqua slammed himself into Golani. Likewise, Katmandu did his best to claw into her with all his might and brute animal strength.
Not far from the ruckus, a purple-bandannaed Donatello
awoke after being briefly knocked unconscious. “Oooh, my head; that explosion.
Hey, what do you think you’re doing?” before he could react, a cloaked
marketplace worker punched this Don in the jaw just as he got up and thrust the
man aside. “I really wish you dudes would five it a rest!” He rejoined
his brothers from this dimension, Leonardo and Raphael, along with Raph’s
fox-like girlfriend Ninjara.
“Hey, who’s the babe?” Raph asked as they witnessed what had become of Golani.
“C’mon, we gotta save her!” Leonardo shouted as they sprang into action.
“By the Gods!” Ninjara shrieked at the sight of the monster as she and Don subdued Al’ Falqua.
“No, there are no Gods here! There is only me, the Animus!”
At that same moment, Leo and Raph leaped onto Katmandu, releasing his hold on Golani.
“Thank you,” she spoke. With that, she flew gracefully back into the air. “ANIMUS! I’m coming for you!”
“I
think not, and neither do my children. TAKE HER!” he commanded the
Hashasheem to hold her down.
“BEAST!”
April and her young assistant Oyuki stood in a nearby alleyway, Oyuki standing poised with her video camera. Since April had lost her job in New York she had become a freelance reporter, and Oyuki had been more or less her assistant since they’d met in Japan.
“This... this is a pretty heavy scene, boss,” Oyuki spoke,
more than a little nervous. “Like, maybe we oughta come back later, ya know?”
April shared her sentiment. “I know, Oyuki. I’m scared, too. Let’s just get the
monster on video and then we’ll get outta here. I’ll shine the spotlight on him
while you get the footage.” Carefully but hastily, she prepared the spotlight.
“Ready? On my word... now!”
The Animus recoiled. “EH? Light? THE ACCURSED LIGHT!”
“Light?” Goloni thought aloud. All of a sudden it seemed so clear. “Of course! April, the light! Keep shining the light!”
“What?” April asked. “Who are you? How did you know my name?!”
“It worked! He’s vanishing!” Golani spoke. The Animus was nearly gone.
“For now, yes. But I’ll be back… tonight!”
“Leo, what’s going on?” April asked her friend.
Leonardo shook his head. “I dunno, but it seems to be over now.”
“Hey, where’re Master Splinter and Mike?” Ninjara asked.
“We
are here, my sons,” the wizened rat spoke as he aided his orange masked pupil.
“Michaelangelo… has been blinded in the explosion that happened earlier.”
“What?!” Raph screamed as he drew out his sais. “Those bastards! Those limey bastards!”
“It will do us no good now, Raphael. We must remain calm. Help me with your brother.”
“M-Master? Is that you? Everything’s so dark,” the orange-clad Turtle spoke weakly.
Meanwhile, purple-bandannaed Donatello had wandered over to the spot where the Goloni had been standing as she helped up the cybernetic being she had seen trying to intervene just before they managed to step in and dispense with Animus. “Is that… guy okay?” He harrumphed, watching the half-robotic figure with due caution. “Dude looks like Vid Vicious... what gives?”
“I believe he is all right.... he was merely frazzled in the skirmish.” Goloni bent down to offer a helping hand. “Here, my metallic friend. Let me help you take that armor off.”
The visitor Donatello gave a smile. “I’m afraid you can’t. This um, isn’t armor. I’m what you might call a cyborg,” he tried to explain. “It’s a long story, but suffice it to say I was once an ordinary mutant Turtle much like these other guys.”
“Oh. I’m, uh, very sorry to hear that,” the native Donatello with the purple bandanna replied. “Listen, it’s probably wise that you come with us. It isn’t safe out here with all these people roaming about.”
On the way back to the hotel where April had booked herself and Oyuki (as well as stashing Splinter, Ninjara and the Turtles), the cyborg Donatello explained how, after asking the year and date, he came from an alternate dimension in the past where he and his brothers of his world were sent by their friend Renet to battle the Shogun who was apparently bent on tampering with time and reality, and how in the skirmish he and his brothers were separated and sent to—apparently—various other dimensions. He still held the hope that at least one of his brothers was in the same dimension as he.
“I’m certain you will find your brothers again soon, Don,” his purple-clad counterpart spoke. “But for now, perhaps it would be wise if you allowed yourself to recharge your power cells. You... do need to recharge, right?”
“Nah, my components are living metal. I’m like the Energizer Bunny,” he laughed. He morphed his arm cannon back into a normal arm, extended his hand, and opened and closed a silver fist. “I do think I could do with a bit of down time, though... usually that seems to keep everything running okay after times when I see a lot of activity.”
“I’m very sorry about what happened to your friend,” Goloni spoke as she returned to her human form—Private Ariella Yahuda. “Molotov cocktails can be as deadly as they are crude.”
“He’s my brother, and he’s gonna be fine. No explosion’s gonna keep Mikey down for very long!” Raphael replied as he put his arm around Michaelangelo. April also sat behind the now blind Turtle, holding his hand. The cyborg Donatello couldn’t help but smirk at the irony of the situation. In his world, Mikey was now the only member of his kin who had not been drastically mutilated or transformed into a bat.
Leonardo decided to break the silence and ask Ariella exactly what was on everyone else’s mind. “Now how about telling us what in the world is going on around here? We thought this Interfaith Conference was gonna be a peaceful affair!”
Ariella paused, took a deep breath, and began. “It was a peaceful affair, that is before the Animus showed up, took over peoples’ minds, making them fight among one another. Honestly, I only know about as much as you do: The Animus is evil! It thrives in darkness. and seems powerless in the light. It is trying to bring about the end of time by igniting some sort of religious war... a war prophesied in one of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Animus mentioned the Hashahasheem, who called it his children of darkness. They are the ones responsible for having summoned the Animus from whatever dark realm it once inhabited. They Hashasheem is an obscure sect of religious assassins that supposedly died out several centuries ago. Obviously they haven’t.”
The cyborg Donatello scratched at his domed head. Was it only coincidence? “Say, so this Animus... he doesn’t have a boss, does he... a guy about yay high with a penchant for noh masks, horns, and heavy cloaks?”
“Forgive me, what was that?” Ariella asked.
Donatello shook his head. “Nah, probably nothing. Go on.”
Ariella shrugged. “Very well. The Hashasheem’s stronghold from long ago was Nimrod’s Fortress. It lies half in ruins in the northern part of the country. I suggest we all go there in search for clues... before nightfall when the Animus will be at its full strength!”
“Then
what’re we waiting around here for?” Leo responded, drawing out his katana.
“Let’s take the dude down before it’s too late!”
“Kick some shell out there, dudes!” Mike said, his voice melancholy at this point. “Give him one for me!”
“Whatever are you saying, Mikey? We’re not gonna leave you all by yourself,” April assured him with a pat on the back.
“Actually, we have to leave him here,” Don replied. “But not alone, of course! Oyuki can stay with Mike until we get back.”
“But we can’t have a fight without Mikey!” Raph complained as he pounded the wall. “Damn it, this totally sucks! When I get my hands on that Animus, I’m gonna throttle the shi—”
“Raphael,
enough! Donatello is right. A battlefield is no place for one in Michaelangelo’s
condition.”
“It’s all right, Sensei. I understand,” Mike said, sounding slightly more at ease as his friend held him in her arms. ”Oyuki and I can just hang out here… in the dark.”
“What about the um, robot Turtle?” Ninjara asked. By her expression, she seemed worried if calling him such would be taken as an offense.
“I’m a cyborg, and as much as I’d like to join you... it’s probably for the best that I stay out of your personal affairs. I wouldn’t want to jeopardize changing the course of your timeline, to say nothing of your dimension, anymore than it already has. Temporal paradoxes, time and anti-time anomalies, extra-dimensional coalescence...” Donatello paused to give an almost comical whooo sound, “there’s really only theory as to what could happen, but who is to say, really?”
The native Donatello nodded to his cyborg likeness. They spoke the same lingo, apparently. “Word, Brother.”
The cyborg Don gave a shrug. “I figure I’ll just stick around here with Oyuki and Mike until I’m rested up if it’s all right with you guys.”
“It was very fascinating to meet you, Donatello of another dimension,” Splinter spoke as he bowed. “May I wish you safe journey back to your respective world.”
“Thank you, sensei of this dimension. Good luck on your fight with the Animus.”
“And hey...” His purple-bandannaed counterpart then stepped forward, offering a hand to Don. “Good luck finding your brothers, Donatello.”
The two Donatellos shook hands. “Thank you.”
With that, April, Ariella, Leonardo, Raphael, Ninjara, Splinter, and the native Donatello left the room and headed to defeat and vanquish Animus.
“Hey, Don, did you say you’re from the past...?” Oyuki asked.
“Yeah, two years and... ten months to be exact. But keep in mind that I’m also from another dimension... one where things are very different from here. For one thing, April was never a television reporter and I don’t believe we’ve even met you so you might not even exist.”
Oyuki bit her lip, then gave a short laugh. “Wow, I guess that does make things awfully different!”
”Well, that and then there’s our old attire. Before I became, shall we say... cybernetic, my brothers and I always wore red masks and blank belt buckles, not different-colored masks with our initials on the buckles. Plus our arm and kneepads were brown, so they wouldn’t even match our bandanas if we were to wear the multi-colored these guys have on.”
“You seem to be describing what my bros and I in this world used to wear back when we were, um, Pre-School Mutant Ninja Turtles,” Mike spoke. “That was a really long time ago! I don’t think our personalities and voices were fully developed yet so we all had squeaky-type voices which made it tough for Master Splinter to tell us apart.”
“I guess my Master Splinter had a better sixth sense,” the cyborg Turtle mentioned.
“Well, hey they’re only human. I mean, your Splinter was a human named Hamato Yoshi before the mutation, too, right?”
Donatello shook his head. “No, actually he was the pet rat of a man named Hamato Yoshi... who was murdered by the Shredder.”
“Holy spit! Now that really changed things!” Mike remarked, half-amazed to hear such a thing.
“I’m certain there’s a lot we could tell each other about our different worlds had we met under different circumstances,” Don spoke as he nodded. “But now listen, I really should be going... what’s happening to my dimension, I got the strong impression time is pretty critical. I’ll need to find my brothers.” He gave a heavy sigh. “You guys just take it easy, okay?”
“We will, Don. Thanks for the well wishes!” Oyuki said as she and Mike shook hands with him.
Donatello snuck through the back hallways of the building and headed towards the fire escape he and the Turtles used earlier to get in. Once he was outside, he found his way to the rooftops downtown. He popped open a makeshift propulsion device on his back, equipped with a giant propeller, and proceeded to take off and head out over the ocean.
Utilizing his mechanical arm’s built-in subroutines, Don continued the long-range search for his brothers. With some work, he managed to isolate and narrow the band down to just particles of the Utrom mutagen, using the mutagen in his own bloodstream as a reference.
“Hmmm... hey, I seem to be getting a fix on a location... yes, in South America!” he said as he changed course to the direction the beacon honed in on. “With any luck, maybe I’ll find my brothers there!”
Or at least a tan, he mused.