ROTTMNT OC Story - The Rise of Sophie

Part 8: The Lion, The Turtle, and The Hidden City

Timeline: The night of The Evil Leauge of Mutants

Trigger Warning: Mentions of blood

"I wonder where Lou Jitsu is right now," Mikey remarked in the middle of the group hug.

"Where ever he is, I bet he's being awesome," Leo responded and after a moment he jumped up, "we have to tell Sophie, she's gonna freak out!!"

Splinter watched his boys run to her room in excitement, yawning as he walked away to finally go to sleep. He didn't think much of Sophie, her quiet and obedient behavior made her the kind of kid he didn't have to worry about. The brothers ran to her room, disregarding the note altogether. Before they could geek out with her, they were greeted with an empty room. 

"Huh, where is Sophie? Wasn't she here this morning, before we left to fight those crab dudes?" Raph pondered as Donnie was already calling her.

"You know how she gets, she'll be a season in before she realizes she's hungry," Donnie bluntly stated as he put his ear to the phone, Leo nodding in agreement.

Suddenly a faint ring could be heard echoing throughout the lair. Each brother walked around, trying to figure out where it was coming from. They knew it was Sophie's ringtone, but she wasn't anywhere to be found.

"Hey, guys over here!" Mikey shouted, near the outskirts of the lair. He had found her phone laying on the ground, the screen slightly cracked.

"Why was it all the out here?" Leo asked, picking up the phone to examine it as Donnie had one of his robot hands turn into a flashlight.

As Donnie's flashlight illuminated the ominous darkness of the sewers,  the first thing the light caught was dried blood on the ground. The brothers looked in horror as they scattered around, shouting out Sophie's name.

Leo's mind raced, did she go out again and it went terribly wrong? He desperately wanted to think she wouldn't do anything dumb, but if she was hurt or worse...no he couldn't think like that. Raph ran at top speed, why would she leave the lair into the dangerous world, she was hurt all over again. Mikey was close behind Raph, he knew that he'd tear apart the sewers to find her, but he was hopeful that she could fight her way out of anything. Donnie stood where he was, using his device to try and track her, but anxiety filled his head when he got no trace of her. 

The brothers looked at each other after their small search ended, no one had any answers. Where did she go? She didn't just disappear, did she?

-

Meanwhile, in the Hidden City, Sophie was hiding away in her shell. How much time had passed, she didn't know. Had it been hours, was it already morning in New York? In the dead silence of the lab, footsteps could be heard coming toward the cage.

"Tonight wasn't a total loss, I have meant some new and better allies. I hope you actually thought about my offer young one," Draxum said, opening up the cage using one of the vines to lift her in the air.

Sophie wouldn't move though, it looked as if the only thing left of her was her shell.

"Insolent child, maybe in the morning you'll talk. If not, you have two options: death or another round of mutations, I wonder how much it would take to restart," Draxum threatened, throwing her shell back in the cage. 

Nothing moved, it was as if the shell was empty. He didn't give it another thought as he walked away to work. He was hoping at least one of his experiments would work with him as he envisioned all those years ago.

--NEXT DAY--

"Did she shrivel up?" Muninn asked, looking inside the shell to see if there was anything in there.