TMNT-Maybe it Could Be Love

Chapter 35

Chapter 35

 

Raph sat on the couch in a waiting room by himself. He and the group that had gone to rescue Moonlight had been staying at the abandoned building that Bishop called his headquarters. They had been there for five days, with no word about Moonlight’s condition. Raph leaned forward and took in a deep breath and let it out. His elbow rested on his knees and his head was hanging low. He wanted to see Moonlight, but Bishop would not allow. He said that there were “complications that needed to be resolved,” and that was all he would say. Raph had grown restless and his nerves were on end. He couldn’t take it anymore. He needed to see her.

“Raphael?” Bishop’s voice made him jump. He looked up to see Bishop standing in the doorway looking right at him. “I’m sorry for taking a while.” He said. “But if you wish to see Moonlight....” He said and then trailed off and looked into the hallway, then back at him. “You may. But I must warn you,” He said with a stern look.”She isn’t fully here yet.” He voice was a little saddened.

 

After walking through a few hallways and corridors, they reached a small room. The light was dim and the sound of a heart monitor sounded of in the room. “I will leave alone with her. But I must speak to everyone else. Their questions need to be answered.” With that, Bishop walked away without another word. Raph took in another deep breath and held it for a few seconds before letting it out. He couldn’t believe that he was going to see her.

Stepping through the doorway, his heart skipped a beat. Laying in a small bed, hair fanned out and eyes closed, was Moonlight. Her chest rose and fell at a steady pace and the heart monitor beeped at a steady pace as well. A chair was placed by her bed side and Raph walked over to it. Before sitting down, he looked at Moonlight. She looked the same as she did at the funeral. Her skin was pale, but she looked peaceful. He took a seat, and suddenly Bishop’s words rang out in his mind. “She is not fully here yet… You are the first person (other than a nurse or doctor) to see her… We do not know if she remembers you. Or anyone.”

Raph swallowed hard and looked down at her hand that laid on the bed sheet. He reached out and took it in his. He held her hand and felt that it was shaking a little. He squeezed and looked back at her face.

Slowly, her eyelids opened to reveal watery, bloodshot eyes. Her lids hung low as she looked up at the ceiling. Her eyes trailed the ceiling till they reached Raph. Confusion flashed before them and then pain. “She may not remember you.” Bishop’s words rang out in Raph’s mind once more. “She may not remember…”

“Hey girl.” He said. He didn’t realize that his voice was a little high pitched, his throat had tightened up. He squeezed her hand but there was no response. “I missed ya.” But Moonlight only stared at him. He looked away and let a tear escape his eye. She didn’t remember him. “I guess ya don’t remember me, huh?”  He sat with his face turned away for sometime. He pulled his hand away and heard her let out a little cry. Raph turned to look back at her, tears were streaming down her face as she looked at him.

“R-” She began, “ph.”

“Moonlight?” Raph asked with joy. Tears began to fall from his eyes. “Yeah. It’s me.” He pushed the chair away and kneeled by her bed. “I-It’s Raph.” His voice was shaking.

“Ra…” She tried to say but the words wouldn’t come out. With a slow, sluggish movement, her hand brushed over the bed sheet and touched his hand. It moved up his arm to his shoulder. Raph watched Moonlight’s eyes as joy came across them, but tears kept flowing. Her hand finally reached his cheek and cupped it. It trembled slightly, but stayed where it was. Raph placed his hand over her’s and held it in place. She was warm.

“Raph.” She finally let out in a shaky breath. “Raph.” She said again.

“Moonlight…” He said. He let go of her hand stood up. He leaned over the bed, and wrapped his arms around her back, lifting up the top half of her body in an embrace. “Moonlight.” He whispered. Slowly her arms made their way to the back of his neck and held him. “My Moonlight…” He whispered.

Leo was sitting in an office room only an hour after being summoned by Bishop. Mikey and Donny sat across a long table from him. Splinter was at one end, and April and Casey as on the same side as Leo. They had had been asking questions and wanted to answers, but they had only been pushed away. Why was everyone here? The Justice Force had been called away for a mission so the group had grown smaller.  

“Where’s Raph?” Mikey asked Leo and Donny.

“He’s with Moonlight.” Bishop said as he entered the room. He took a seat at the other end of the table and looked over the group. “He will not be joining us. But on another note, I have been planning on telling you what has happened and explaining everything in a little more depth.” The lights in the room turned off and the black table in front of everyone lite up. “Where to start?” Bishop said as he looked at the table. Several files appeared and he moved his hand across the table to look through them.

“We’ll start with Dr.Savig first.” Bishop said. He touched the table and a picture lite up in front of everyone of a man that they all had seen before in a picture. “For almost half of his life, Dr.Savig was obsessed with creating something that would change the world. As a young boy, he had lost both his older brother and father to war. After that, he began working on a “Secret Project.” A weapon that could destroy the world or save it.”

Moonlight told us about the weapon… Leo said.

“This weapon would be known as the perfect soldier.” Bishop said. He opened a new file to show everyone what this meant. “This soldier would be able to withstand anything. Its body would regenerate if a limb was lost or if the body were to die. Dr.Savig was on the road to changing the world. Billions of lives could be saved if this soldier existed. Families wouldn’t be torn apart. “Bishop leaned back in his chair. “Shang could only find funding with a man named Orok Usagi, but this man wanted everything for himself. Shang then moved on to the military and showed them how this could actually work. After testing it on animal subjects, they had found that a few things were still unsorted with this project.When Shang had found the last piece, he was killed along with his wife. Moonlight was the only one who knew what the missing piece was for this project. She took it to another Doctor in the military and they tried to finish it.” Bishop touched the table and different videos of Moonlight showed up. Different fight scenes from when she was little. Training scenes, were mixed. “Moonlight was abnormal. She was much stronger than anyone else and graduated before her class by two years. No one knew how she could do it, until a few years ago. I found out that Shang had started human testing before he was given the green light by the military. The only subject that he had was Moonlight. You-” Bishop pointed to Donny, “Have asked how it was possible for Moonlight to be waken up from the dead. Because of all the testing that her father did on her, it rearranged her DNA and made her stronger. She died because of a stab wound the abdomen. But with our tests that we ran, she was actually alive ten minutes after that wound was inflicted. A normal human would have been killed immediately. Due to the testing on her as a young child, with the testing that we did on her, we were able to find a way to bring her back. But that’s not all.” Bishop said as he tapped the table again and a few pictures showed up. The same men that Moonlight had introduced the turtles too at the funeral for her friend. “This group of people you see, were the first testing group for Dr.Savig’s work. Moonlight was one of them.” A video appeared of Moonlight in what looked like a testing lab. She looked smaller than what she did when the turtles had met her and last seen her. In the video she laid down on the table and laid while wires and tubes were being attached to her arms, legs, and body. A nurse placed a mouth guard in Moonlight’s mouth and then Moonlight closed her eyes. The video cut out to show Moonlight standing with her team. Her muscles were much more pronounced than before. Suddenly it changed to a new video, one of a fight at night. A bomb went off right where a man was standing along with another group of people that had him at gunpoint. Then it went blank. The camera then faded out. “ That was the last mission Moonlight’s team went on. When we found out that we were wrong about the soldiers not dieing, we stopped the missions and told them to go home. After that, I lost track of where Moonlight was. Then that’s when you all came into the picture.” Bishop finished. He stood up from his chair and walked over to the door. “If you wish to see Moonlight, follow me.”