TMNT: Ricochet ▶ON HOLD (till gets more reads, votes and comments)◀

Chapter 14

Despite hardly eating anything over the last twenty-four hours, Donatello pushes his food around his plate. His mind has been consumed by speculation, trying to puzzle together the details of this meeting with Mr. Mortu. He hardly even notices when Mikey asks for his leftovers, sliding over his plate with a far-off look in his eyes.

What would Mr. Mortu have to talk to them about? He already had the chance to show them all the Shredder's background the day they broke into the TCRI building. Don remembers it all like he lived it himself- how the criminal Ch'rell had tormented the Utroms stranded on Earth for centuries. How he'd taken on the name Oroku Saki and built his evil empire based on lies and deceit. Compared to the centuries of strife the Utroms underwent at the hands of the Shredder, his family's experience seemed like the tiniest drop in the bucket. It's the entire reason why they would have sacrificed everything to stop him.

Almost did sacrifice everything.

So why hold a meeting about the Shredder when it was so obvious what damage had been done? Now the Shredder and Karai were gone, and he just wanted to leave it at that. Donatello assumed the Utrom government needed to hash out the details of what happened on that ship, but why keep the details secret? It all seemed way too fishy.

The unanswered questions are still buzzing in his mind as Glurin guides them out of the restaurant and back through the dusty streets. They take a type of hovering taxi to a nearby hospital called Q'in Korag Zenul, or "Second Home for Healing", a research and medical facility that caters to the menagerie of off-worlders found around the landing ports.

"I've been told that a colleague of mine has taken over your family's case. We were both part of the group stranded on Earth all those years," Glurin says, and Don listens, even though his eyes are glued to the bustling world zipping past them. They pass a market. A massive glass structure full of blue-white lights. Webs of membranous tissue draped like forgotten holiday decorations between shining metal buildings.

"I remember she had developed a deep interest in the biology of Earth creatures, and has done extensive research on your type of mutation. I'm sure she is quite excited to meet you."

That grabs Don's attention from the window, a knot of worry twisting his stomach. Mike fidgets nervously in the seat next to him, shooting him nervous glances.

"What kind of research?" Don asks sharply, his good hand clutching his casted arm.

"I'm not sure of the details. Dr. Xenios was always... reclusive. Very much absorbed in her work. She spent most of her time in the laboratory, and seemed to only leave to collect more specimens."

Xenios. Somehow, the name sounds familiar, but Don can't quite place it.

The rest of the ride passes in anxious silence until their ride stops near the hospital's visitor entrance. They all clumsily pile into the parking lot with a wary type of urgency.

As Don awkwardly helps his brother stand with his crutches, Mike whispers in his ear: "They wouldn't like... try to dissect them, right? I mean, they're supposed to be helping us. Right?"

"Not the Utroms," Don murmurs. Though as they approach the front doors, his heart is beating faster than it should be.

The hospital's entrance sat in stark contrast to the cramped restaurant, and reminded Don more of the intricate, lofty buildings he had seen in his travels to Y'Lintia. The atmosphere was clean but welcoming, and the space was bathed in the familiar warm orange glow that seemed to come standard with Utrom architecture. In the main lobby, two towering, spiral columns held up the yawning glass arch of the ceiling, offering glances of the dusty red sky peppered with traveling ships.