I must give props to @side-shuffling-hyperfixations for all their awesome Super Turtles content. It made me write my own!
When Blobboid got his senses back, he was alone. And that was a very bad thing.
The Super Turtles always worked as a unit. They were stronger as a unit. They knew one another’s fighting styles, powers, weaknesses. Where one faltered, the other stepped in. They were a well oiled machine.
Blobboid should not have been alone. Grav and Shelle should have been fussing, checking for any injuries. Grid should have been laughing, making a remark about how he’d “totally gummed up” their attackers.
Except they weren’t. Because they weren’t here. The last thing Blob could recall was Grid cursing and pushing him over the side of the rooftop, telling him to “catch yourself!”
He must have, though he didn’t remember how. Because he was cradled in the remains of a fire escape, the roof a good six feet away.
“Grid? Shelle? Grav?”
His voice shook a little and his body followed. No voice responded. No thundering of feet. No shouting about “get up here, you goof!”
This wasn’t right.
“Grid! Mind giving me a lift?”
Nothing. No complaints about “I ain’t an elevator,” or a snort of amusement from Shelle.
Fine. Fine. One final try. If this didn’t work, nothing would.
“Grav! I think I’m hurt!”
Graviturtle should have all but teleported down to his side, ready to ground him to med bay until every possible injury had been evaluated.
But no one came.
Stiffening his limbs—not an easy or natural feat when one was pretty much made of gelatin—the youngest Super Turtle made his way back up to the roof.
When he arrived, it was deserted. Bits of scorched concrete where Shellelectro had aimed some attacks, impacted craters where Griddex had stomped, and broken pieces of stone that Graviturtle had turned into projectiles.
Aside from that, there were a few broken helmets—black with red face masks—and…
“Oh, shell, no.”
Hands quivering, Blob reached down and pulled up the frayed remains of a red whip. It was burned, sliced. Abandoned.
The whip was so much a part of Grav it was almost like finding a severed arm. If the whip was here, it was because Grav hadn’t been able to fight off whatever had separated him from it.
Trembling, Blob’s foot sank, half melting until it touched something cold and metal.
Attention diverted, the turtle looked down, finding a crushed helmet near his feet. Looked like a weapon had been all but fused into the remains. Melted and burned.
Definitely a mix of Grav and Shelle’s work.
He lifted the mangled mess up into his hands. If Shelle was here, he would have led the charge at analyzing. At finding the source. Grav and Grid would have been determining fighting styles, weapons.
But they weren’t here. And the reason they weren’t here was because of whomever’s helmet Blob now held.
Fear quaked through his body. What was he without his brothers? What could he do? They were the real heroes. They had the real powers. They would know what to do.
But they weren’t here.
Clutching Grav’s whip tight to his chest, Blobboid made his way back to the Shell of Justice.
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.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality
Anya is LIVE right now
FREE
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Hi! I'm so sorry for bothering you, such a long ask and my grammatical mistakes!
You mentioned how traumatising "Reality Check" must be for Mikey due to him planning and carrying out the murder of his alternative father. And I fully agree! I just want to add that for me, and I probably just reaching and wrong, the way Super Turtles presented and their literal existence could be overwhelming for Mikey! I probably interpret the family's and friends' dynamic wrongly, but this is how the episode feels to me. ^^;
For Mikey that dimension was everything he ever wanted - he and his brothers are Superheroes, they can help as many people as possible. But he learns this universe's Splinter is "gone". For me the established family bond we see with Michelangelo's univers is fractured by Splinter being gone. The family dynamics are not probably the same/they don't feel the same.
For me the counterparts of his family's closest friends are no longer act as ones. April and Casey came only to transfer information without any trace of family behind these interactions. Of course they're too little on screen to determine this, but I feel like this is leaving a cold aftertaste.
Then there's Sliver. The father who was lost. The Sensei who turned against humanity he trained his students to fight for. The dad who asked his sons to reunite after he exterminate everything he deemes as a threat to his sons. The Supervillain who possessed and turned the powers of his enemies on themselves. The person who has almost the same name as Silver Centry.
(And the fact that Mikey's fear incarnated in «The darkness within» was Leo being corrupted by evil. Here it's Splinter, and I think this bit of information can carry at least some amount of trauma as Mikey's greatest fear)
And the confusing thing for me is why Sliver's name is so similar to Silver Centry? Does it mean Silver has even an atom of same thoughts as Sliver? Or is it just something that happened in an accident? Will Mikey feel uneasy near Silver Century after "Reality Check"? Or near Splinter?
In my vision this world showed Mikey the things he considered his dream - the perfect world where he and his family are accepted and helping in the light. And yet with everything piled up, for me it seems to be far worse than Michelangel's own dimension.
I can't stop thinking about that probable burning disappointment and fear he felt. He was shown his happiest dream brought peace to people, but took away said peace from his family.
I greatly love "Reality Check" for making me explore the ideas of what if the thing I desire the most will bring peace to everyone but my closest family and me
Thank you so, so much for reading this!
No worries at all! I love this kind of stuff.
I think it’s a really good point that the entire world would be disorienting to Mikey. The SuperTurtles are versions of his brothers but they aren’t his brothers. They were raised by a much crueler father, in a more accepting world and without the close friendships of Casey and April. That’s going to have a lot of impact on personality.
I think the idea it’s a dream world but he loses his family is a great way to sum it up. And if given the choice, Mikey would never make that trade. So having to see it probably made him all the happier his family is the way they are.
April might have a lot of her traits but it’s in a much more distant way. (I like to think she grows closer to the Super Turtles over time). Casey is a lot of different. Makes me wonder if his father is still alive in that universe.
Funny what seemingly small changes will do!
I don’t personally think there’s any connection between Sliver and Silver Sentry aside from a similar sound. I always got the impression Sliver’s name was more a reference to you can get a sliver of a splinter but it’s not the same and it can fester,
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality
Anya is LIVE right now
FREE
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Just rewatched Reality Check, and came to the conclusion that the Super Turtles need more love! They were only there for one episode, but there’s a lot of neat little details to play with and build on. I don’t know why more people don’t talk about them (well I do... these guys kind of got blown out of the water by sainw)(every other episode in that arc got overshadowed by sainw)
The Hidden Reef Super Turtles to the rescue. #turtles #superturtles #totherescue #thehiddenreef (at The Hidden Reef, Inc) https://www.instagram.com/p/BoWtEbRBV2Q/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=uac4dkjvnkoa
