Journey's end

Ch 22. They're Coming!

Raph looked from Donnie to Rockwell as Leatherhead drove the Shellraiser. "Who is this Dr. Victor Falco?" He demanded. "What does he want with Leo?"

"Falco was an old colleague of mine."Rockwell began. "We were trying to find cures for certain diseases and at one point Falco decided to try using mutant DNA. As you know, we mutants don't get sick very easily and we heal much faster then humans. At first I was all for it, thinking we'd just advertise for mutants to donate if we paid them but Falco didn't want to pay nor did he want to ask mutants to come forward and donate. He wanted to use DNA from...children."

"Just like Saki did." Raph mused.

"Yes, just like Saki did." Rockwell confirmed. "I told him I would never go along with that. Children are innocent and I do not believe in experimenting on them. At first I thought he agreed with me. I then later found out he was going from orphanage to orphanage giving free exams and taking blood samples from children."

"What's wrong with that?" Raph wondered, his eyes roamed from Rockwell to Donnie. "Couldn't he use their blood to help them if they were sick?"

"If he had decent intentions, The problem was he would only take mutant DNA while also giving them injections with various steroids to see if the blood from the mutant children could be manipulated." Rockwell told him. "While the blood from the human children were disposed of the mutant children were becoming sick." Rockwell's voice suddenly dropped down to a whisper. "Some even died." He took a deep breath. "When I realized what he was doing, I went to the research facility that was giving us the funding and they put a stop to him; had him arrested and kicked him out of the scientific community."

"But Falco continued experimenting by working with the mob and other underworld criminals." Donnie now took up the explanation. "We believe it was through them he found out about Saki's experiments and we're thinking he found about Leo through them as well." Donnie looked at Raph expectantly. "After all, Saki was an underworld criminal himself. "

Raph nodded as he listened. "That makes sense I guess." His eyes narrowed in consternation as a thought came to him. "But the drug isn't working in Leo like Saki wanted it to." He mused. "What's going to happen to Leo when they realize he can't give them what they want?"

Now Donnie, Rockwell and Leatherhead all seemed to look at each other with a growing concern on their faces. "What?" Raph watched them closely. "What is it?" He looked from one to the other. "What are you not telling me?!" He demanded.

"Uh Raph." Donnie suddenly refused to look at his bother. "We don't think he's after Leo."

Raph's stared at his brother with a look of growing anger. "What do mean Donnie!?" His voice began to grow in irritation. "What's he after?"

"We think he wants the eggs." Rockwell told him

Raph's mouth slacked open, he began to take deep breath and put his hands to his head as a multitude of harrowing thoughts ran through his head. "He wants our babies?" Raph's green eyes were filled with fear. "What will he do with them?" He wondered out loud. Suddenly he looked up at the others and his face twisted in anger. "Wait a minute." He whispered. "How would you know all this."

"Because we think we have a spy in our facility." Leatherhead told him. "And we believe we know who it is."

"Well who is it?!" Raph yelled.

"One of our interns who was passed over after Stockman was arrested." Rockwell told him. "A Dr. Chaplin." He explained. "Chaplin was furious with me and did not hesitate to let me know. I managed to calm him down but I could tell he still harbored a lot of resent toward being passed over. Later, I saw him at a restaurant speaking with someone who I am sure is associated with Falco."