#griddex

OOO

Mayor O’Neil wasn’t unaccustomed to being called to the Shell of Justice. It had been awkward and rather tense when Sliver used to run things but with him gone, she found working with the Super Turtles on their own to be quite refreshing. Young though they were, there was a reason the whole city held them in such high regard and she was no exception.

All the same, she couldn’t remember Blobboid ever being the one to extend the invite. It was usually Shellectro or Graviturtle, usually the latter.

And something about his message too—it had been quick, a bit disjointed, not at all like calm and collected communications she was used to.

After she scanned her credentials at the entrance and the doors moved to let her in, Shellitron 1000 announced her “Mayor O’Neil” and she quickly realized why things felt so off.

Blobboid all but ambushed her, wrapping his slimy arms around her with a force that took a bit of her breath away.

“Mayor O’Neil! I’m so sorry but I didn’t know what else to do! My brothers are gone. Poof! Vanished! No forwarding address! I don’t even know who attacked us or anything! Well, I brought back one of their helmets and weapons but I dunno what to do and I need an adult!”

“Whoa!” She reached out and rubbed the back of his head gingerly. While she knew he couldn’t help it, his slime often made her uneasy. But the panic and fear in his voice…

While she considered the Super Turtles allies—their strongest allies— ever since Sliver had been dealt with, they had been forming a relationship that was…something more. She really wasn’t sure what to call it yet.

What she did know was that hearing that poor boy absolutely panicked made her stomach twist and she found herself squeezing him back, slime texture be damned.

“Whoa.” She said again. “Calm down, Blobboid. We’ll figure this out. But panicking won’t help us solve anything. We need to remain, calm, alright?”

He nodded against her chest, realized that wasn’t exactly professional and pulled away. “S-sorry. I didn’t mean to…”

She brushed off the residue lightly. “I know you didn’t. It’s fine. Let’s take what we know.”

He nodded, a calm voice helping him to settle. “We were fighting this new group on the rooftops. Looks like they were snooping around the EPF buildings. Never seen them before though. We’re wearing these.”

He presented the crushed helmet and firearm. “I think Grid and Grav got their hands on it but I don’t recognize it. I mean, even if it wasn’t a pancake I wouldn’t recognize it.”

The human woman frowned. “I don’t either but something seems familiar about it. You think these things are what took your brothers?”

“Have to be. But I don’t know how they did it. If there was Utromium, I’d have felt it, too and I didn’t.”

A nod. “Can Shellitron scan and look for references?”

The turtle groaned. “I dunno. Shelle always handles that.”

April looked up, “Shellitron can you do that?”

“Affirmative. Please place the object or images for search in the main data scanner.”

Blobboid took the smashed objects from the human woman and she followed him to the main computer room. The warm light off the scanner seemed ironic.

She laid a hand on the turtle’s shoulder and gave a light squeeze.

“Range of search?” The computer asked.

Amid a cracked voice, Blobboid said, “Search everything.”

OOO

“It’s Professor Rook. It must be.”

Mayor O’Neil paced as she spoke even as they sorted through the information the computer had pumped out. It hadn’t taken too long to come to a conclusion.

“You know this Professor Rook?” Blobboid flipped through image after image of lab reports, redacted studies, photographs of such a graphic nature that he mistook them for war photos.

“Not personally. I don’t know if there’s anyone alive now that can say they knew him personally. He’s kind of a “ghost” that everyone in government talks about.”

“He did…all this?” Waving his hand over the photos, Blobboid shuddered. “Is he demented?”

“He was obsessed with superhuman abilities. Developing them, wanting to create the ultimate specimen. With technology, with genetics, with a twisted blend of the two.”

“Like that book about the monster named Shelly? Who wrote it again?” Blobboid read it a while ago but it had been a while.

“Victor Frankenstein. And it was the Doctor named Shelly not the monster. Doctor Mary Shelley.” The woman smiled though. “But yes, that would be a good comparison. No regard for ethics or for the pain involved. Professor Rook eventually lost his doctorate and his license for medicine and was exiled from the community. Took a few followers with him.”

Blobboid frowned. “And I’m guessing he’s still obsessed with superhuman abilities powers?”

“Most likely. He did some enhancements on himself apparently though no one is sure to what extent. But he’s been unheard of for years.”

Frowning, Blobboid sighed. “So, he probably took my bros because of their powers and is gonna do who knows what to them! I have to find them, Mayor O’Neil! Any clue where he might have gone or a facility or something he’d be able to get into?”

“There’s hundreds of old labs and facilities, especially after Dr. Shreddarius’ experiments. With his knowledge of our technology, he could reasonably access any of them.”

Slumping, Blob sank to the floor in a semi puddle. It was almost worse knowing the danger! And he had no way of tracking this crazy scientist!

Wait…

Reforming, the turtle called out, “Shellitron, what’s the widest range you have for scanning capacity?”

“At present, I have a limit of five miles in all directions.”

Reforming his hands into various shapes (it was his way of fidgeting), the turtle asked, “What if you divert all non essential power? Could that boost it?”

Quiet a moment. “That would expand my range to ten miles. But I would be unable to answer inquiries or run any external equipment until manual reset.”

“Fine. Do that and scan for any abnormal gravitational fields and cross reference it with a small population size and isolation.”

“Computing.”

Mayor O’Neil smiled. “You’re scanning for Graviturtle.”

“His powers are pretty unique. Not a high likelihood of finding weird fields like that by chance.” It was something they’d all known since childhood. While Shellectro and Grid’s abilities could be mimicked—at least on a basic scale—faking a gravitational field wasn’t something one could find just anywhere.

The waiting was torture. Blob’s imagination was running overtime. If this guy was as sadistic as he sounded and he had found some way to subdue his brothers…who knew what he would do to them? Their powers were rare, valued. This man might just take them apart…

“Search completed. One entry found matching criteria.”

Blob immediately called up the information, Mayor O’Neil looking over his shoulder.

What popped up was an old, decimated looking laboratory. All by itself in the middle of what used to be one of their ponds. Mirage Pond if he remembered right. Used to be a part of an old park called Four Kids. But most of it was plugged up now, leaving behind mostly mud and a trickle of a water. Still enough to serve as a moat. Fencing surrounded it though definitely worn and broken.

But that just it. It looked broken down, abandoned, like there was nothing left in there that could possibly work.

“Why do I get the feeling it’s a lot nicer once you go inside a bit?” The turtle frowned and he heard the mayor give a “hmm” of agreement.

“I think you’re right. That place was condemned years ago. But we were so fixated on dealing with…other things—“

“You can say his name.” Blobboid said it but inwardly he was glad she didn’t. As much as he had come to terms with Sliver’s death—at least as much as he ever could, putting up the face still ached.

It didn't matter that he'd been cruel. It didn't matter that probably ninety percent of their self-confidence issues came directly from him. He'd still been their father.

And Blobboid was well aware that while it hadn't been his plan--they owed that to the strange mystery turtle--he still played a strong piece in it. His shape shifting had allowed the whole thing to work.

Murderer…

“Anyway,” the mayor went on, “it just fell off our radar. I’d forgotten about it, actually.”

Anything to help him refocus.

“So, he must have taken the others there.” Blobboid stood, looking over the images he had available. There weren't a lot of close-up images but what he did have indicated pretty strong doors, no windows and a ventilation system that was self contained.

“I can have the EPF follow you there. As many as you need.”

Blobboid’s first inclination was to say ‘yes! Let’s raid the place and get my brothers!’ But years of being a hero had implanted many a thought about caution into his mind. As much as taking Fa-Sliver’s advice made him cringe (don’t let me turn into him, please!), it made sense in this case.

“I don’t want him to panic and hurt them. I…I gotta get to them first. Make sure they’re safe.” That was a requirement, something he had to do. If his brothers weren’t okay…

Well, he just wasn’t willing to engage with that scenario.

“Alright, then we just need to secure them first before I send in the troops,” Mayor O’Neil looked over the photos again. “You could probably squeeze in some of these entrances. Looks like Professor Rook underestimated you coming after them.”

Squeeze in? What was she talking about? “Uh…Mayor O’Neil, my powers don’t work that way. I can let weapons pass through me or shoot out out streams of goo but flattening myself and stuff? I can’t do that.”

“Why not?” Her tone wasn’t accusatory. More…confused. “When you let weapons pass through you or use your body offensively, you are dismissing any bones or organs in it temporarily, aren’t you?”

“Well…I guess.”

“So couldn’t you do the same to slip in somewhere undetected?” She raised a brow.

He used to think like that. To imagine the wildest use for their powers, to consider the oddest approach.

Sliver beat it out of him. The way he would emerge unscathed from a training session and with a chance of getting his father’s approval was to do everything by the book, like his father wanted. After all, his father had all their powers and he’d know how best to use them, right?

Right?

Except…he’d see Grav do things to an extent Father never did. Shelle too. And Grid. More so now after….after Sliver was gone.

Has there been a trade off? In exchange for having all their powers had Father not been able to take them as far? Had Father not wanted them to take them that far?

He’d been pretty shocked to see how perfect a replica of the Turtle Titan Blob had made to free them.

How did you control people if they discovered they were stronger than you?

Staring at his hand, Blob focused. It blubbered and shifted, and it took so much effort but it stretched. Stretched, spread out, flattened. Flattened until it was almost invisible to the naked eye.

And with deep breath, Blob focused on the area around it. Closing his eyes, he pictured it. What you might see if he was transparent. It was a different way of thinking than taking a deliberate shape.

When he opened his eyes, it looked like his hand just stopped at the wrist. But when he flexed his fingers, he could feel it.

He just couldn’t see it.

Lifting stunned eyes to Mayor O’Neil, Blobboid stammered, “I..I’ve never done that before.”

Warmth in her eyes. The kind of warmth he only dreamed about from his father. “And I know you can do so much more.”

An odd tickling feeling in his chest. A sense of…well, he wasn’t sure. But it felt good and gave him hope.