Leonardo slowly woke up, his entire body throbbing painfully. As he opened his eyes, he was surprised to find himself laying down on the ground in the living area of the lair. There were clean bandages around his various wounds, and an ice-pack resting on his forehead. As he laid there, his thoughts drifted back to the battle, and a gut wrenching fear suddenly coursed through his veins. He sat up violently, then immediately regretted it as both his head and his ribs screamed at him.

"Oww..." He moaned.

Hisako, who was currently bent over Raphael, turned towards Leo. Her face did not even attempt to hide the relief she felt upon seeing her brother awake.

"Leo..." She sighed, walking over to him and picking up the fallen ice pack. "Thank God you're okay."

"What happened?" he asked as Hisako eased him back onto the ground. "How did we get here?"

"I went and got Splinter." Hisako explained, putting the ice pack back on her brother's head. "We dragged you all back here."

Leo turned his head slowly, happily noting Mikey and Donny in their own make-shift futons being tended to by Master Splinter. They turtles were all banged up and slowly coming to, but they were alive. Leo sighed, turning his head away. That's when he noticed a fourth unconscious form. Blinking in confusion, Leo tried to focus on the form, then his eyes went wide.

It was the creature from the tunnels, the very creature that had nearly killed him and his brothers. Suddenly wide awake, Leo struggled to his feet, instinctively grabbing his katanas, which were lying beside him. Hisako's eyes widened as she tried to get between her brother and the creature.

"What is THAT doing here?!" he demanded, attempting to push past her and draw his katanas at the same time.

Hisako maintained her ground, planting her feet and keeping both of her hands on his plastron.

"I brought him here too." she hastily explained. "Please Leo, let me explain-"

"That thing tried to kill us Hisako!" Leo exclaimed, finally managing to get past her. "If it wakes up, who knows what it will do."

Leo raised his katana, only for Hisako to once more stand in the way. Leo barely had time to stop his swing before he struck down his sister. They met each other's eyes, Leo's cold, hard gaze meeting her desperate, pleading one.

"Move." Leo ordered.

"I won't." Hisako told him, not moving an inch. "Not until you calm down and listen to me."

Leo gritted his teeth, his grip on his katana tight enough for the wood to creak. Before the situation could escalate further, Splinter's paw came to rest on the blue turtle's shoulder.

"My son, while I sympathize with your fears surrounding this creature, I believe it would be in your best interest to hear your sister out before make such a decision." He remarked.

Leo looked back at his sensei, then at the beast, then finally back at Hisako. With a sigh, he lowered his sword, putting it back in its sheath.

"Alright Hisako, talk." He told her curtly.

Hisako let out a visible sigh of relief, then looked back at the creature. Leo watched his sister, surprised to see a look of remembrance, as well as a strong sadness that seemed to penetrate deep.

"His name is Leatherhead." she said softly, her eyes never leaving the creature. "He's my friend, the first one I ever had. He's the one who-"

Her breath hitched and her fists clenched, a sign Leo recognized all too well. She did that every time she tried to talk about her past.

"He saved my life." she finally continued. "It's thanks to him that you guys found me when you did... I thought he was dead... part of me hoped he was."

"If he's your friend, why did you hope he was dead?" Leo wondered.

Hisako looked at Leo with that same soul-crushing sadness.

"There are some fates worse than death." she told him.

Leo looked at all the scars that practically covered Leatherhead's body, then he looked at Hisako. Even after four years, her arms and wrists still bore the scars from the time before they found her.

"What I'm trying to say is this." Hisako continued, pulling Leo's thoughts back to the present. "He's not a threat. Not anymore."

From his futon, Donny let out a groan as he struggled to sit up, clutching an ice pack to the side of his head.

"I have a bump on my head the size of a grapefruit that proves otherwise." He mumbled. "He may not be a threat to you, but he sure as shell is one to us."

"He destroyed our weapons..." Mikey moaned, holding the broken bits of his Nunchucks. "He nearly killed us."

"He was being forced to do it." Hisako explained. "That collar around his neck, it would have hurt him if he didn't behave. It was newer then the ones I saw before, but if it's anything like those, then you'd be willing to do anything to prevent the pain it could inflict."

An uneasy silence filled the lair, then Raph spoke up.

"If what Hisako says is true, and Leatherhead here is just another victim, I say we hear him out."

"Seriously Raph?" Donny questioned. "I figured you'd be the first turtle to suggest we lock him up somewhere."

"You remember how Hisako was when she first came here." Raph reminded his brother. "She was scared, didn't know who to trust, and lashed out on pure instinct. This Leatherhead is probably just like her."

"Only bigger, scarier, and with sharp teeth and claws that could tear us into tiny little bite-sized turtle chunks." Mikey added.

Raph picked up his pillow and threw it at Mikey's head since he was too far to smack the orange turtle.

"Look, all I'm sayin' in the guy's probably messed up in the head, and he needs help, not a poundin'." Raph said as he crossed his arms. "So maybe we should talk."

"Wow, that's... rather mature of you Raph." Leo complimented.

"Hey, if we were talkin about a Motorhead or one of those purple dragon deadbeats, I be all for beatin' the snot outta them. But this guy's a mutant like us, and one who's probably been hurt enough."

"Raphael is right." Splinter agreed. "However, I feel it may be prudent to take precautions and chain him to one of the support beams."

Hisako gulped a bit, but understood her Sensei's reasoning. She knew what Leatherhead was capable of when he was threatened, and she also knew how he would most likely react when he came to.

"Hisako." Splinter called, pulling her from her thoughts.

"Yes Sensei?" she replied.

"Once he awakens, he will no doubt be disoriented and confused. It may be best if you are the first face he sees."

Hisako nodded.

"I couldn't agree more sensei."

With no more words to be said, Splinter got to work on restraining Leatherhead before the croc came to.

...

Leatherhead struggled to regain consciousness, his entire body battered and sore. The spot on his neck still tingled slightly from where Hisako had jabbed him.

As the memory of his long lost friend returned to him, his eyes snapped open and his initial fatigue left him.

"Oracle!" he shouted, attempting to rise to his feet.

His efforts to stand we cut off almost as quickly as they began. Several chains bisected his chest, keeping him pinned to a think concrete column. A few more were around his neck, not allowing him to bend it so he could bite through the chains. To make matters worse, he has chains binding his legs together at the ankles, as well as his arms behind the column. He was effectively immobilized, and it both terrified him and pissed him off.

Leatherhead's eyes began to glow a bright red as he thrashed in his bindings, trying to find any slack or give in them so he could break free.

The sound of Leatherhead's shout had already drawn the attention of the Hamato clan and they had been going to check on their guest/prisoner when he started fighting. While the turtles and Splinter maintained a safe distance from the wild mutant, Hisako dove right in, trying to calm him as best she could.

"Leatherhead!" she called over his furious protests. "Leatherhead, it's alright! Calm down!"

Her hand came up to try and grab his face, only for his jaws to sink into her hand with an audible crack. She nearly screamed, but quickly covered her mouth with her free hand, trying to keep herself calm so Leatherhead wouldn't completely tear her hand off. The turtles acted quickly, Leo hitting a pressure point on Leatherhead's jaw. This one didn't knock him out, instead it just loosened the muscles in his jaw. Donny dislodged Hisako's hand from Leatherheads jaw and quickly saw to it as Hisako kept trying to reach the mad mutant.

"Leatherhead, it's me!" she cried. "It's Oracle!"

That word seemed to do the trick. Leatherhead's frantic attempts to break his bindings stopped. His eyes lost their angry glow as his snarling subsided. Hisako let out a sigh of relief, wiping tears from her eyes with her one free hand.

"Oracle...?" Leatherhead repeated, his eyes meeting hers.

"I'm here, big guy." she told him softly, reaching out for him and gently caressing his face.

Raph instinctively moved to try and pull his sister's hand away, seeing the blood soaked cloth Donny was using to try and save her other one. However, his efforts proved unnecessary, for rather than bite her hand again, Leatherhead nuzzled it, letting out a soft churr as he did.

"Sis your hands bleeding bad, and I'm pretty sure he snapped several of your metacarpals and phalanxes." Donny interjected.

"Dude, we all heard that snapping noise." Mikey reminded him. "Her hand is broken bad."

Leatherhead heard this and his head came up.

"Sis...?" he repeated, confused.

"Short for sister." Hisako explained as Donny continued his efforts to stop the bleeding. "These are my brothers. The one in blue is Leonardo, the red one is Raphael, the orange one is Michelangelo, and the one currently trying to save my hand is Donatello."

Leatherheads gaze fell on Hisako's injured hand and his face fell. His muscles went completely slack as tears came to his eyes.

"I... did it again... didn't I?" he asked rhetorically, already knowing the answer.

Hisako went to caress him again, only for him to move his head away from her as best he could.

"No..." he told her, his voice broken. "I have... hurt you enough..."

"Leatherhead, don't say that." she chastised him softly. "You and I both know you never mean to hurt me. My hand will heal, just like all the other scars did."

Leo leaned over to Don, whispering in his ear.

"Her hand will heal, right?" he hissed.

"I'll need to set up a cast, as well as put several stitches in it, but yeah." Donny replied. "Think you can grab the stuff I need?"

Leo disappeared in an instant, the distant sound of Donny's lab door being thrown open echoing through the lair. With Leo handling that part of the situation, the rest of the family was able to deal with the emotionally distraught crocodile.

Splinter approached Leatherhead, sitting down in front of him and gently moving Hisako's hand away. Leatherhead met his gaze, the croc's eyes narrowing in confusion.

"I do not... remember you..." he said quietly.

"I am Splinter, Hisako's father." the rat introduced. "I have been watching over her these past four years."

"You... saved her..." Leatherhead simplified, turning his gaze towards Hisako. "You... healed her..."

"We have done what we could for her." Splinter replied. "Though from what little she has told us about you, you are the one who made it possible for us to do so."

Leatherhead growled a bit, though it seemed to be directed more at himself then at Splinter. As he did this, Leo returned with Donny's requested equipment. As the purple turtle sifted through the supplies to get started, Leo turned his attention to the croc. Leatherhead felt the turtle's eyes on him and met his gaze.

"Staring at the monster..." Leatherhead grumbled.

Leo quickly held up his hands.

"No, no." Leo insisted. "It's just... we've never seen another mutant before."

"Yeah, if we're honest, we thought we were the only ones." Donny added, grabbing the needle and thread he needed. "Sensei, hold her please?"

Splinter moved towards Hisako, easing her into his lap and wrapping his arms around her. Even his tail curled around her as Donny began stitching her hand. She winced visibly, but Donny kept a tight grip on her wrist.

"I had always had my suspicions that we were not the only mutants." Splinter continued, hoping their discussion would distract both his daughter and Leatherhead. "Hisako's reaction to us and your presence confirm this."

Leatherhead growled slightly.

"There are... dozens of us..." he said, his fists clenching behind the column. "Innocent animals... taken from their homes... twisted... warped into monsters... Then, he breaks us... tortures us... until we beg for death..."

The croc looked at the turtles and Splinter, seeing them all visibly sickened by what they heard. Hisako was whimpering in Splinter's grasp, though whether that was from physical or emotional pain was anyone's guess.

"It is a fate... I would not wish... on anyone... that is why... I tried to... to..."

"To kill us." Mikey finished, his voice quiet.

Leatherhead nodded, then shifted his hips as best he could. Mikey spotted something tucked into the waistband of his pants and grabbed it. Once he took a look, he was surprised to see it was a photograph of the four turtles.

"Dudes, check this out." he called out as he held up the photo. "This is from that fight the other day."

Leo snatched it, looking at the photo in confusion.

"Donny, I thought you scrubbed all the cameras in the area." he remarked.

"I did." Donny replied, finally finishing with the stitches and beginning with the bandages.

"The van..." Hisako whispered. "It was a setup..."

"Shell!" Raph swore.

"Raphael, calm yourself." Splinter ordered.

"Sensei, don't you know what this means?" Raph asked, getting to his feet. "The motorheads we've been dealing with are in cahoots with the whack job that hurt Hisako!"

The turtles were all stunned. Mikey let out a choked gasp, Donny stopped working, and Leo's jaw just dropped. Splinter pulled Hisako closer as she whimpered.

"He... He knows where I am..." she cried softly, burying her face in Splinter's shoulder.

"No." Leatherhead said, shaking his head as best he could. "I told him... I killed you..."

Hisako looked up.

"What...?"

"After..." his voice caught, but he continued. "After what happened... I let myself... be caught again... He... punished me... badly..."

He shivered violently, and Hisako pulled herself from Splinter's grasp. Donny scrambled to follow her, still trying to bandage her hand as Hisako threw her arm around him.

"You did that for me?" she choked.

"I thought... you were dead..." he told her, his eyes closed as he leaned into her. "I thought... I deserved it."

"Nobody deserves that." Hisako told him, not releasing her hug.

Splinter let out a gentle cough, drawing their attention.

"Leatherhead." he said softly. "Hisako has said very little about her time before we found her, and we have respected her desire to forget that part of her life. However, I fear that is a luxury we can no longer afford. We must know all we can about the place where you two escaped from."

Hisako visibly flinched, but didn't say a word. Instead, she reluctantly released Leatherhead and returned to her father's embrace. Donny finally finished bandaging Hisako's hand, and took a spot not far from his father and sister. The other turtles were not far behind, gathering in front of the croc.

"My tale... is not a pleasant one." Leatherhead warned.

"We've been dealing with nightmare inducing red images produced by Hisako's psyche for the past four years." Donny informed him. "Trust me, we have no illusions of what you're about to tell us."

"When you are ready, so are we." Leo assured him.

Leatherhead gave a single nod, then began his tale.

...

Leatherhead's first memory of That Place is one of pain. Every fiber of his being felt as if it was on fire. It went on for what felt like hours before subsiding. Even before it faded, he knew something was different about him. He felt bigger, stronger, and smarter. At first, he was happy to discover what new changes awaited him, but after he opened his eyes, he realized the terrible truth.

The newly transformed crocodile was in a cage, much too small for his newly enlarged form, surrounded by men and women in white lab coats. Many of these strangers held pens and paper, recording even the slightest movement he made. Others were congratulating themselves on 'another successful transmutation.' Others were chuckling to themselves, looking at Leatherhead like a predator does injured prey.

However, one doctor stood out among them. He approached the bars of the cage without fear, an almost maniacal gleam in his eye. When he spoke, his voice was laced with pride, and something that can only be described as vindictive or cruel.

"My name is Doctor Baxter Stockman," he said in a smug and twisted tone. "I am the one who gave you new life."

Leatherhead looked at Stockman, every instinct in his new body telling him that this man was evil in every sense of the word.

"Now that we're acquainted with one another, I want you to understand something." He leaned in close until Leatherhead could smell what the man had for lunch on his breath. "You. Belong. To me. So I suggest you make yourself at home, if you want to stay alive."

Leatherhead snarled at him, attempting to swipe through the bars. Stockman just backed away, then nodded towards a pair of men in thick body armor. One of them produced a cattle prod, nearly electrocuting Leatherhead. His screams of pain seemed to amuse Dr. Stockman, as well as the other doctors. Once he stopped convulsing, Stockman chuckled.

"That was only a taste of what is to come should you continue to resist me." Stockman promised. "If you wish to avoid further punishment, you will accept your fate."

The doctors and armored men then left him alone, giving him one last poke with the cattle prod before leaving him in the dark. Panting heavily from the pain, Leatherhead knew that he would have to escape from That Place, but it would take time. He would need to wait for them to let their guard down if he was to escape with his life.

...

After months of torture and humiliation, Leatherhead's patience grew thin as his lust for freedom became exponential. He was forced to allow the doctors to conduct experiments on him. Some were mundane, like basic exercise. Others were more painful, like seeing how much pain he could withstand or how much punishment his armor-like skin could take. He lost count of how many times he nearly died in that lab. There were times where he hoped that they would go too far and end his suffering. However, Stockman was much too careful with him to allow him to die.

On the 'anniversary' of his creation, Leatherhead finally snapped. His bottled up hatred and swallowed pride came back to him in spades. He broke free of his restraints, tearing through the bars of his cage as if they were plastic. Stockman did not know this, but he had been holding himself back during the physical examinations. He had only revealed a fraction of his strength. Now, he intended to show him everything he had when he tore the man limb from limb.

He broke through the door of the lab they had kept him in, only to find himself staring at a hallway of labs similar to his own. Quite a few held the bodies of failed experiments. Others seemed to have been converted into some semblance of living quarters. Then there were cells that seemed to be welded shut, with withered creatures attached to machines that seemed to extract all that made them unique.

Leatherheads anger flared at these sites. These creatures had been like him, transformed into monsters against their will and forced to endure the same tortures he had.

His vision clouded as he tore through these different cells. On some impulsive and destructive instinct, he charged towards the cells, tearing the doors open as if they were nothing, and destroying the failed experiments inside. One by one the creatures were dismembered and torn apart until they didn't even resemble their original form. No more would innocent lives be subject to Stockman and his delusional science experiments.

The more Leatherhead brought Stockman's work to ruin however, the more the feral beast that had been dwelling inside him all this time took over his mind. That anger all but dissipated when he came to one more cell.

This cell did not hold some monstrous creature, nor did it contain a desecrated mutated corpse. Instead, there was a small child inside. A girl, no older than 12, strapped to a wheelchair. She was so frail, her limbs her like brittle twigs. Her hair had been cut away and electrodes were attached all across her head. Monitors along the wall recorded every heartbeat and brain wave coming from this poor child.

Leatherhead entered her cell, determined to end her suffering. As he pulled the doors to the lab open, the girl looked up at him. Her grey eyes seemed to pierce his soul, and as he got closer, he felt something slip through the cloud of anger. A child's voice, telling him everything was going to be alright.

He didn't know how, but he instinctively knew it was her. She was communicating telepathically.

She wasn't scared of him, even though she probably knew why he was there. In fact, she seemed almost apathetic, unable to feel anything. It was this lack of emotion that stayed Leatherhead's hand.

In the end, he could not go through with it. He couldn't kill this girl.

At that moment, an image entered his mind. It was that of a guard coming up behind him with a gun. Leatherhead instinctively spun around, his tail knocking the guard off his feet, and his claws making short work of him.

He turned back to the girl, and still, she did not seem afraid of him. Despite the fact that he had just murdered someone in front of her, she continued to remain unaffected. She simply spoke to him mentally, telling me to run, to get as far away from That Place as possible. So he did just that, but not before tearing through her restraints and taking her with him.

...

All four of the turtles were listening intently to Leatherhead's story. Mikey had nearly begun crying with Donny comforting him. Raph and Leo were both just sitting their dumbstruck. Hisako was understandably upset, clutching onto Splinter desperately. Splinter held his daughter close, even his tail wrapping around her protectively.

"For days... all we did... was run..." he continued. "I didn't know... where to go... just that we... we weren't going back..."

"I still don't get why you took Hisako." Raph commented. "Believe me, I'm glad you did, but why?"

"I... don't know." Leatherhead admitted. "I couldn't... bring myself... to kill her... as I did... the others."

"But you thought you did at one point." Leo remembered.

Leatherhead's entire body tensed. Hisako's hands drifted to her stomach, caressing the deep scars that decorated it. Donny put two and two together, and felt a sudden tightness in his chest.

"When we found her... she was bleeding out in a dumpster." he recalled, his voice low. "Did you... did you hurt her?"

Leatherhead looked down, his eyes closed.

"Yes..." he replied.

"It wasn't his fault." Hisako said quickly. "He can't control himself when he gets angry."

"Hey, kinda like Raph." Mikey commented.

Raph went to hit him, but from the smug look on Mikey's face, it would only prove the orange turtle right. Splinter held no such reservations, and his tail quickly whacked his son upside the head.

"This is a serious matter Michelangelo." he chastised before turning back to Leatherhead. "Please, continue."

Leatherhead nodded again as he began his story again.

...

Leatherhead peered through the lid of the trash can he was using as cover, searching for his pursuers. For now, it seemed as though he had lost them. With a sigh of relief, he pulled himself out of the trash can, then gently removed Oracle from it as well.

"Oracle... Safe..." he told his young companion.

Oracle weakly wrapped her arms around Leatherhead's neck, shivering from a combination of cold and fear.

"How long?" she asked, her weak voice barely loud enough for Leatherhead to hear. "Find us... Always find us..."

Leatherhead cradled his friend, trying to help her preserve warmth. As he held her, he felt her tears begin to run down her face.

"Why...?" she sobbed. "Why hunt us... what did we do...?"

He honestly could not answer her question, but wished he could. He held her for a moment, then caught the scent of their pursuers. They were returning.

"I heard something over here!" a voice called.

"Check it out!" another ordered.

Leatherhead snarled, his eyes glowing red as Oracle tensed in his grip.

"Run." She whispered.

"No." Leatherhead replied.

Before Oracle could question why, He placed her back in the dumpster, closing the lid.

"Won't run..." he snarled. "Not anymore."

With one massive roar, Leatherhead charged towards the squad of men that were coming around the corner. He jumped on top of one, about to bite into him when the other three started opening fire on him. Enraged, Leatherhead swiped his tail at one, knocking him off his feet and to the ground. Before he could get up Leatherhead brought his tail down on him, crushing him into the pavement. He then threw his fist at another squad member, sending him hurtling into a wall. His head rebounded off the bricks with a painful thud, and he slid to the ground unconscious.

The third one Leatherhead grabbed using his mouth. After swinging him around for a bit, the unfortunate soldier screaming all the way, Leatherhead threw him aside like a piece of garbage where he bled out on the ground.

Thinking all his enemies were defeated, Leatherhead stopped for a moment to catch his breathe. Unbeknownst to him, the first man he tackled earlier got out a taser stick and struck Leatherhead with it. The shock made Leatherhead scream in pain as he swatted away the weapon. Slowly, Leatherhead approached the man who was slowly backing away, realizing just how poor of a choice he just made.

"P-please..." He begged. "I have a family... I beg you..."

"I begged too... You didn't care."

He lunged at the man, his terrified screams being cut short.

Throughout the fight, Oracle had been desperately trying to lift the lid of the trashcan. Unfortunately, she had no strength to call her own. Luckily for her, one of the men Leatherhead had tossed aside had knocked over the can, sending the unfortunate girl sliding out onto the alley. As she watched Leatherhead decimate the final man, she could feel her friend slowly slipping away, replaced with a monster made of pure rage.

"Leatherhead!" She cried, her voice cracking from her weakness.

Leatherhead turned to her, the red in his eyes not seeing his friend, but another enemy he had missed. Roaring again, he ran towards her on all fours and slashes at her with his claws. She lets out a scream of pain as she makes contact with the alley floor. Her blood mixes with the rain that began to fall. Luckily for her, it was these precious water droplets that pulled Leatherhead from his anger induced haze.

As his senses slowly returned to him, Leatherhead was horrified by what he had done. Oracle was covered in long gashes, blood covering her slim frame as laid curled in a protective ball on the ground. He stumbled back, looking down at his claws in horror.

"What... have I done...?"

...

"She... was so still..." he continued, tears pouring from his eyes. "Her blood... was all over me..."

"That's awful dude." Mikey whispered.

"I hated myself... I believed I had... had killed... my only friend."

"No wonder you let whackjob city take you back." Raph mused.

Leatherhead looked down at himself and sighed.

"A monster... like me... deserves... to suffer."

"No." Hisako insisted, placing a hand on his leg. "You're not a monster."

Leatherhead shifted in his chains, the sound of them clinking together ringing through the lair.

"Look at me..." He told her. "Look at... what I've done... to your family... to you..."

Hisako looked down at her bandaged hand, then over at her brothers.

"Guys... He's not a monster... Please let me-"

Before she'd even finished her sentence, the turtles were already in motion. They all moved behind the pillar, unlocking the various chains keeping the croc bound. They fell away from him, much to his surprise.

"You're... letting me go?" He asked, looking at his now freed wrists,

"You ain't no monster, just like Hisako keeps tellin' ya." Raph told him. "You're the victim, that's it."

"You only think you're a monster because that's how people have been treating you." Mikey explained, releasing Leatherhead's legs.

"Besides, a true monster wouldn't feel remorse for his actions." Donny rationalized. "You feel bad for what you've done, and you recognize when you've done something wrong."

"And more then that, any being that's willing to lay down their life for our sister is good in my book." Leo concluded.

The other three turtles nodded and Splinter smiled. Leatherhead looked over at Hisako, who was smiling at him brightly. He had never seen her so happy.

"Thank you." He said with a smile of his own. It looked a bit weird with his razor sharp teeth, but the turtles got the true intent.

Hisako jumped up and hugged her old friend, her arms wrapped around his neck. He caught her and held her, and for a moment, they forgot about their past, the ever dangerous future, and the enemy currently hunting them all.

...

In Baxter Stockman's Lab, Hun stared at the screens that had been broadcasting the footage of the fight between Stockman's pet and the turtles. The screens were now black with the words NO SIGNAL flashing in red. Stockman had disappeared a while back, searching through the old archives. When he returned, he had a thick file in his hands.

"I didn't think it was possible... but if what I saw was right..."

Hun went to tell him about the end of the fight, but Stockman merely brushed him to the side, bringing up the recorded footage. He brought it up to where the girl appeared, then paused when it showed her face. He zoomed in, and he gasped.

"I knew it..."

He flipped open the file, sifting through the different papers until he came across what he wanted.

A photograph.

He held it up to the screen, comparing the faces. She was older and had filled out some, not to mention grew out her hair, but there was no denying it.

"Hun, my boy, today is a good day!"

Hun stared at the doctor, thinking he had gone insane.

"Perhaps I should tell you that your pet failed to destroy the turtles."

"To hell with that overgrown lummox and those shelled freaks." Stockman exclaimed. "What we have here is far more important."

He looked up at the screen and grinned evilly.

"Project Oracle is still alive."