Complete Turtle Overload (TMNT Book 5)

The Egg

Leo cried out, and Sophie gasped, getting up and hurrying to Leo. Mikey’s chain touched me as the wasp continued to fly. But it started staggering and it twisted and fell at our feet. Naomi, Raph, and Donnie came up to us as the wasp didn’t move again, staying still on its back.

“See? My plan worked; I tired it out,” Mikey grinned.

“You didn’t tire it out,” Donnie explained rather harshly, making Mikey’s spirits drop. “The wasp died because it lost its stinger.”

“Yeah,” Leo said, coming up with Sophie. “In me.”

Sophie glared at Mikey as they came up, “Thanks a lot, Mikey.”

All of us looked at the stinger in Leo. It didn’t look that long, but it left a large welt that was pink and swollen in the small area. The stinger itself was black and still had a piece of wasp stuck to the end that we could see.

Out of all of us, Sophie and Raph were the most grossed out. Raph covered his mouth to keep from hurling, and Sophie just stared at it in horror.

Mikey smiled innocently and said, “Sorry, dude.”

“Let me see that…” Donnie said, coming up to Leo. He grabbed Leo’s shoulder with one hand and took the stinger out with the other.

The length of the stinger shocked me. It looked twice as long as a finger and even had a barb to keep the stinger in someone’s skin… Luckily it came out of Leo. It looked like it would have hurt if it stayed in longer.

“Are you okay?” Donnie asked, looking at Leo.

“I’m a little sore, but I think I’ll be…” Leo cut off for a second, making me and Naomi look over curiously. Leo’s head was twitching a little and his eyes were going haywire. “Fine…” he finally finished shaking his head.

“Mutations,” Donnie said, examining the stinger. “are usually anthropomorphic. I’ve never seen Mutagen create giants like this before.”

“Yeah,” Raph suddenly snapped, crossing his arms. “Reeeal fascinating, Donnie…”

“It can be,” Naomi pointed out. “If you ever try and pay attention. Donnie’s smartness can come in handy.”

At that comment, Donnie’s face flushed and he smiled sheepishly. Raph noticed and growled lowly, glaring at both him and Naomi. Naomi just smirked and crossed her arms, looking behind her suddenly as Leo said, “Whoa, check this out…!”

Of course, we decided to come over. Leo pulled a newspaper back to reveal an egg. It looked like a yellow jelly bean… Only ten times larger.

“It’s some kind of egg,” Donnie pointed out.

“I was wondering where my second egg was hiding,” Naomi piped up. Everyone, even Raph, turned and gaped at her. She smirked and chuckled, “I’m kidding. Gosh, don’t take it seriously.”

“The sad thing is, we can,” Sophie said. “You’ve already had one.”

“But we haven’t done anything else!” Raph said quickly.

“You sure?” Naomi looked at him. Raph turned red and we all rolled our eyes and chuckled. “Kidding. Again.”

Mikey was listening this entire time before pushing Raph gently out of the way and getting a nun chuck, “Stand back, I’ll handle this.”

“I’m betting on the egg,” Raph said, looking at Mikey then the egg, then Naomi strangely enough.

As Mikey started twirling his nun chuck, Leo grabbed his wrist and made him stop, pulling him away. “Wait! We’re not hurting it… We came here to figure out what the Kraang are up to and this egg is our only clue. We should take it back to the lair and let Donnie analyze it.”

“Smart…” Naomi muttered sarcastically.

“Great!” Raph continued on. “Let’s take the mutant wasp egg to our home where we live. What’s the worst that can happen?”

“It’s not safe here. It’s fine,” Leo said somewhat assuring. “I’ll just keep an eye on it.”

“Why can’t we kill it and get it over with?” Sophie asked.

“We’re not killing it!” Leo snapped, making Sophie jump back. It shocked us all, and even Naomi took note because she growled lowly.

“Then I’ll get it.” Mikey said, leaning down.

Again, Leo growled and snapped at Mikey, “Back off!”

It shocked us all and Raph even asked, “Dude, are you okay, because unmotivated bursts of anger are kind of my thing.”

“It’s just that the egg could be fragile.” Leo explained, picking the egg up. “Michelangelo cannot be trusted with it.” He got up and pushed Mikey out of the way, making me grit my teeth. “I’ll carry it myself.”

Mikey looked down and came closer to me. “I think he likes that more than me…”

“Well the egg talks less than you, so there’s that Raph chuckled, following Leo.

“You know I don’t, Mikey,” I smiled, hugging his side.

He smiled and hugged me back, “I know.”

Naomi rolled her eyes and pushed us toward the Shell Raiser. Sophie stayed behind for a second before following, watching Leo cautiously.