Before the Beginning

“Kraang, are the creatures that are the creatures Kraang is experimenting on in those which are known as cages?”

“Yes, Kraang. All the creatures that Kraang is experimenting on are in separate containers and are ready for that which is known as mutation. In five units known as time, that which Kraang will administer will be administered.”

From the shadows, a single man emerged. He wore a black tuxedo and black slacks. His expression was stoic, almost inhumanly expressionless. His hair formed a widow’s peak on his forehead around empty eyes and a small, thin layer of black hair covered his head. He stood completely erect, like his spine was a metal rod, and he did not swing his arms as he walked, instead keeping them down at his sides. After he emerged into the light and approached the first cage, examining the creature, a second man, who looked identical to the first one, all the way down to the empty eyes and rod-like posture, followed and sat down at a computer-like device.

The first twin raised a device to the creature in the cage, which in turn began to squirm and wiggle. Apparently it had been woken up. A second or two later, the hissing sound of the mutagen doing its work could be heard. But the animal made no sound, instead writhing and jerking in obvious pain.

When the hiss began to quiet down, the man peered in. The creature did not seem to be moving anymore. The man turned around the band on the creature’s ankle to read the number. “Kraang, experiment A-0-9-2-9-2-0-1-2 has not survived that which is known as mutation. Effect of mutation is death.” The man at the computer began typing quickly while the first twin picked up the creature by its ankle and dropped it into a furnace on the other side of the room, which then began to roar and snap with the sudden fuel of skin and bones.

Neither man even blinked.

Instead, the first man then approached the second container and repeated the process of spraying it, and then taking note of the changes. Thankfully, this one was still alive after the first dose of the mutagen. Down at the end of the lineup, however, the smallest creature began to squirm. He was only a baby—a baby turtle—after all, and he could no longer feel the warmth and dark comfort of the eggshell that had housed him for the past few months. And that scared him. He was alone in a scary, bright place, with no warmth or food. He began to drag himself around his new, larger environment. His back leg slipped through the bars along the bottom of the cage, making him falter. His front legs gave out and he landed hard on his plastron, tensing and wincing at the pain. But it was short-lived. He pulled his foot from the rectangular prison and continued to crawl around, exploring despite his fear.

The inspector man eventually marched up to the last turtle’s cage. Unlocking and opening the door in a fluid motion, he easily reached in and gripped the tiny tail between his fingers. Pain shot up the turtle’s body and he tried to turn and snap at the offending fingers, but he was instead dragged to the center of his cage, bumping along the barred bottom, when the fingers released him. The turtle’s tail throbbed painfully and he wished he could comfort it in some way, to make the pain go away. But he didn’t know how. The man held a small piece of an apple to the turtle’s beak. His eyes widened and he eagerly snapped a bite. He hadn’t had food after that one piece of carrot after he hatched, and he was starving. But as he was finishing his little slice of apple, the man aimed the machine at the baby. It had a showerhead-like end with a thin tube running out of it to a cylindrically shaped container filled with glowing, bluish-green goo—the mutagen. The device looked like a cross between a fire extinguisher, a stethoscope, and a watering can. Not that the turtle knew what any of those were anyway.

The turtle looked up, wondering what this strange thing was and what it would do, when the man pressed a button on the device and some of the mutagen traveled up the tube and sprayed out the end, covering the tiny turtle. The telltale sound of the mutagenic hiss was heard. Pain immediately erupted all over his tiny body. If he had a voice box, he would have cried, would have screamed, but instead, because it was all he could do, he began wiping desperately at his face with his small arms; his eyes were burning horribly. His shell felt like it had been filled with water, like he was a water balloon, and was expanding to make room. His skin suddenly felt too tight as well and his bones ached as if he had Arthritis in every joint. Without warning, a small sound escaped his beak; a whimper.

Startled by the sound, the turtle opened his eyes and looked up at the man. The man began to look him over. Mechanically, he pushed some machines and tools against the baby to check its vitals and, once he was assured that the turtle was not going to die, he gripped the tiny ankle and twisted it to get a better angle before reading the orange band there. “Kraang, experiment M-0-9-2-9-2-0-1-2 is that which is healthy; no abnormalities detected upon first inspection. This creature was given that which is known as mutation strand B, and Kraang believes that which is the first treatment has been successful. Although that which is experiment M-0-9-2-9-2-0-1-2 does not resemble that of a human yet, the creature is that which is larger. Kraang, experiment M-0-9-2-9-2-0-1-2 is ready to receive that which is the second dose when it is time.” The computer man began typing once more. The examiner poked and prodded the slightly-larger turtle a few times, testing his skin for dehydration or soft shell. Then the examiner pulled out a large needle and stuck it none too gently into the little creature’s leg. He whimpered and tried to scoot away from the painful device, but the man did not even seem to notice, simply placing his hand roughly over his carapace and holding the baby down while he squirmed. When he let the turtle up a few seconds later, the examiner had a needle full of blood to test.

The cage was closed and locked before the examiner left. The turtle whimpered again louder this time, and a few of the animals in the other cages responded to his call. Soon the room was filled with a chorus of cries and whimpers from at least three of the babies, maybe four.

Not long after, the turtle felt tired and groaned one last time in his throat before falling into a deep sleep, curled up in his cage.

*****

After what felt like seconds later, the turtle was rudely awakened by a Kraang dragging him by his tail once more. This time, because he could, the turtle began to cry to convey his discomfort and pain. Since he was a little larger as well, he tried to fight, tugging with his legs along the bottom of the cage to try to pull his tail from the iron grip. It didn’t work. The man did not seem to care and instead injected something into the turtle’s leg. The substance burned and tingled. After the man released his leg, the turtle curled up, trying to comfort his leg, the look on his face nothing but hurt. His leg hurt, his tail hurt, his heart hurt. But the effects of the substance went away after a few seconds, relief washing through him and settling in his leg. Then the cage door was closed once more.

The man began to speak to another. “Kraang, that which is known as the medicine that will aid the experiments to breathe the air in that which is known as Dimension X has been administered to all experiments. Kraang may now begin to transfer the experiments to the place that is known as TCRI.”

The other man replied, “Kraang, Kraang has told Kraang that Kraang cannot begin to transfer those which are the experiments to the place which is TCRI—where they will eventually be taken to the place known as Dimension X—because Kraang requires the experiments to have had more mutagen while in their native dimension so that when Kraang takes the experiments to that which is Dimension X, those which are the experiments will have already started their mutations.”

“Kraang, Kraang’s logic does not make sense to Kraang.”

“That is because Kraang is that which the humans call ‘idiotic’. Kraang must listen to Kraang because Kraang knows what Kraang is speaking of.”

The first man was silent. The second man began to speak once more.

“Kraang, it is time for those which are the experiments to have their second dose of that which is mutagen.” The first man grabbed his device and approached the cage at the start of the lineup, as before, and began to administer the ooze before relaying the results of the second dose to the other man.

At the end of the line of cages, the turtle had a revelation. He could understand what these men were saying! At least, a few of the words they spoke often, like “Kraang” or “experiments.” But now that they were quiet, the turtle became lonely. He wanted to start crying again. But ever since the man had begun to examine the others, the room had become eerily silent, and the turtle did not want to break the spell.

He did not have to be lonely for long, because in a few short minutes, the man was at his cage. The turtle saw the fire extinguisher, stethoscope, watering can thing and shrunk back, knowing pain was coming. He curled his tail tightly around his body to hide it, but the man easily reached behind him and dragged him out, pinching the slightly larger tail harder than he should have. A small snap was heard and the baby screamed in agony, his body trembling, his eyes filling with a strange substance—tears. The man immediately let go of the tail and quickly sprayed the turtle with the ooze. The turtle began to moan and whimper again as the substance burned his already-aching skin. And again, his body felt like it was expanding unnaturally. But this time, he could feel something different too, like his bones themselves were rearranging themselves instead of just aching. They ground against themselves as they moved to be more like that of a human’s skeletal structure. His cries also became more human-like and less animalistic. The man waited until the cries quieted down before examining him and speaking to the other, who was already at the computer, ready to hear the results of the second dose.

“Kraang, that which is the second round of that which is the experiment of mutation strand B to experiment M-0-9-2-9-2-0-1-2 has been a success. That which is experiment M-0-9-2-9-2-0-1-2 now appears more human. However, experiment M-0-9-2-9-2-0-1-2 is still very small and Kraang thinks experiment M-0-9-2-9-2-0-1-2 will need more of that which is mutagen.” He turned to the man who was typing quickly on his computer. “Kraang, before the experimentation on those which Kraang is experimenting on at the present, the past subjects of that which is mutation had died. Why do these creatures suddenly live and respond positively to that which Kraang administers?”

“Kraang, when Kraang had captured those which are the Turtles, Kraang took some of that which is DNA from the Turtles. Now that Kraang has the DNA, Kraang remade that which is the mutagen for the experiments, and Kraang used that which is the DNA. Kraang’s experiments should be surviving. According to those which are results from the experiments, Kraang believes Kraang was correct. Now, Kraang will…”

The turtle in the cage was trying to block out the annoying mechanical voices. The pain was ricocheting across his small skull, giving him a major migraine, and his limbs felt like Jell-O. His tail hurt the worst, probably, and he reached a three-fingered hand behind him, vaguely noticing that his arm could bend that way, and began to tenderly rub the appendage. He was quickly becoming very scared of these people and what they were doing to him.

*****

When he was awakened by a touch to his tail, the turtle tried to suck into his shell to hide from what he knew would be more pain, a small hiss escaping his beak as he tried to retreat quickly. It did not work, and the man—which the turtle now recognized to be called Kraang—still found the tail and dragged the turtle towards him with it. The turtle began to cry, as the tiny limb was still possibly broken from the last roughhousing. The Kraang did not care and instead injected the turtle once more with the substance that burned but went away quickly.

“Kraang, Kraang has a problem. There was not enough medicine to give experiment M-0-9-2-9-2-0-1-2 the full dose to make it breathe in that which is Dimension X.”

“Kraang, experiment M-0-9-2-9-2-0-1-2 received the proper amount the first time Kraang administered. That which is experiment M-0-9-2-9-2-0-1-2 will be fine. Take those which are the experiments to the top of that which is TCRI. Kraang will try to make Kraang’s portal work so that Kraang may take those which are the experiments to Dimension X where Kraang will finish the experimentation.”

The first Kraang began to load up the cages onto a hand trolley, three at a time, and take them out and up the elevator to the penthouse. The turtle at the end had some time to kill. He began to explore his new body. He had three large fingers on his green arms, and his shell and plastron covered his entire midsection. His legs were short and stubby and he had an orange band around one ankle, and he had three little toes at the end of his leg. Giggling, the baby rolled back onto his carapace and began to suck on the interesting little toes. His beak was not as hard as it was before, as he did not hurt his toes when he clamped down on them. He still had a little tail, even though it was tender. His skin was much softer than it had been. When he was a full turtle, he had been covered in scaly skin, somewhat rough to the touch. Now he was in a very smooth and human-baby-soft skin. He no longer had tiny claws on his fingers and toes, but fingernails, like a human. He cooed, enjoying the feeling of something in his mouth; he was very hungry, and his stomach grumbled in agreement.

After a while, his toes and fingers got boring. He yawned deeply and rubbed his eyes with a small, green fist. He was very tired. He curled into a small ball and stuck his rump into the air, finally giving up and letting the Kraang grab his tail if they needed to, even if it hurt.

Before the baby could fall asleep, however, he felt his cage begin to shake as he was transferred from the counter his cage was on to on top of two other cages. The turtle whimpered and gripped the bars on the bottom of the cage to avoid being thrown around during the trip. He felt a small, warm pressure touch his hand gently, startling him. There was another mutant turtle under him who had apparently been given the same type of mutagen, for it looked like it was part human as well. The turtle on top could not see the last creature in the bottom cage, but it was green, possibly another turtle as well. The one in the cage just below him seemed older, almost one or two years old in human years, even though they had all been born the same day. The mutagen had apparently affected this one slightly differently.

The small turtle looked at the darker hand that rested on his, then glanced at the turtle under him. It flashed a small, reassuring smile up at him before letting go and sitting on the bottom of its cage once more. The turtle on top began to whimper and whine, wanting to touch his friend again. It was the first time he had contact with something other than the Kraang, other than something that wanted to hurt him. And now it was gone. He whined louder, trying to catch his friend’s attention, but it did not respond.

The turtle slumped in defeat and began to cry softly.

The elevator door opened and the Kraang pushed the trolley into a room filled with brown, smog-like air. The Kraang did not seem to notice, and neither did the turtles in the bottom two cages. But the one on top began to cough, his head felt like someone had puffed it full of air and he was getting dizzy from it. The coughs became more ragged and desperate. He could not breathe! The Kraang looked down at the disturbance. None of the other 11 experiments had done this. The Kraang put the other two into their new cages while he dragged the last one towards him by his tail. The baby did not even moan. It was passed out on the bottom of its cage, not breathing. The Kraang did not know what was wrong.

He filled a container with a special liquid and attached some wires, tubes, and a breathing mask to the unconscious turtle before placing it into the container. Immediately, the creature began to breathe again, as he was being given oxygen. But the Kraang did not know what made the experiment react in such a way. It was stable now, and that was all he wanted for the moment. The other experiments seemed fine, so he gave each of them more of the mutagen, then recorded their results.

After a couple hours, one of the Kraang working on trying to make the portal function approached the first Kraang. “Kraang, without that which is the power cell, Kraang cannot make the portal to the place known as Dimension X. The experiments Kraang planned to take to this place will need to be relocated.”

“…alright Kraang.” The first one said, a bit reluctantly. But who was he to argue? He quickly loaded up the experiments and was about to take them down when the worker stopped him.

“What about the experiment that is in that which is the isolation chamber?”

The first Kraang had almost forgotten the last experiment. “Kraang, tell Kraang that experiment M-0-9-2-9-2-0-1-2 had obtained a sickness, possibly from that which is the mutation. As Kraang leaves this place to go to another place, Kraang will leave experiment M-0-9-2-9-2-0-1-2. The mutation of experiment M-0-9-2-9-2-0-1-2 has been terminated, as will the life of the experiment itself.” The worker nodded and walked off to tell someone of the news.

The first Kraang detached the turtle from his wires and tubes, then removed him from the liquid. Immediately, the baby began to cough and cry in his sleep, bringing his hands close to his face as his eyes scrunched up, his face flushing a light shade of blue beneath the light green skin. The Kraang did not seem to notice, or at least did not care, as he tossed it carelessly into its cage and brought it to the others. After the quick trip down the elevator, the air began to clear again, and the turtle started to regain consciousness. Looking hazily around, he realized the Kraang were moving them again. But as one Kraang was loading his friends into the back of a van, another Kraang approached, opened, and tilted the cage, dumping the turtle onto his carapace on the street.

“Kraang, those which are the Turtles are approaching! Kraang must hurry.” The cages were loaded as quickly as possible and the doors to the van were closed and locked in record time. But just as they were getting into the front of the van, a sai appeared out of nowhere and struck one of the Kraang in the side of the head, sparks flying out of the injury as he crumpled to the ground. A flash of green streaked by the downed Kraang, and the sai was gone, leaving the Kraang sparking and short-circuiting on the floor. The other Kraang barely noticed as he climbed into the driver’s seat and punched the gas, leaving the baby turtle they had abandoned lost, cold, and disoriented on the street. He kicked and wriggled until he was on his hands and knees. He had not tried to move ever since he had been mutated because he never had anywhere to go; he was raised in a cage—a cage that had quickly become too small for his mutated, growing body—and tortured by the Kraang.

But somehow, he figured out how to crawl, and even though exhaustion was taking him over, he stumbled around on all fours, searching for something, anything, that would help him. He heard voices. And they didn’t sound metallic or robotic like the Kraang; no, they sounded…normal. There was no other way to describe them. The baby found himself drawn to these voices, and he dragged himself, despite his tiredness, towards the sounds. Once he was close to them, he felt his small hand touch something warm and strong. He looked hazily at it and realized it was dark green, like his friend from the cage below him when he was taken to TCRI. Maybe this creature would be nice to him like his friend had been.

The turtle pulled himself up closer to it and wrapped his tiny arms around the tall green pillar, his hands not even making it all the way around, and snuggled up against it, not even realizing the two bright green eyes that glanced down and widened at his presence…