A Little Deeper in Donatello's World

Chapter 18 of *Mutant Ninja Turtles Gaiden*.

* **Previous:** Chapter 17: *Between Cops and Ninjas*
* **Next:** Chapter 19: *Fragments of Truth Inside His Mind*

## Synopsis

New York Police Department officer Tony Howard has been given Christmas Day off, but he is determined to locate the mutant turtles in the sewers and apprehend them. He is stunned to discover a cutting-edge laboratory that is actually the home of Donatello Hamato, and continues to explore the lab on his own. On the rooftops of the city, Leonardo Hamato is heading to their old family lair, but his brothers inform him that now only Donnie lives there, and Raphael and Renoir live in a new lair of their own. Leo worries about his reclusive brother Donnie, but Michelangelo promises to check in on him. Renoir wants to take a detour of his own, but Raph instructs his pupil to guide the still-injured Mikey down to the sewers. Meanwhile, the turtles are discreetly observed from afar by Karai, the Foot Clan leader who has also been keeping in contact with Leonardo. Shadow's newly exuberant Uncle Mikey is a very different person from the serious and morose novelist Renoir first met. In a spirit of new-found trust, Mikey offers a hand of friendship to the young mutant, grateful for all the help Renoir has given Mikey's brother Raph. Down in the sewers, Officer Howard is horrified to discover a giant jar of skeletalized mutant rat remains, and nearby a grunting mutant turtle chained to the wall. The officer hides from the arrival of Donatello, who has just returned from the Jones-Hamato family Christmas party. New depths of the Donnie's insanity are revealed as he addresses the chained mutant as his brother Leo and the rat skeleton as his Master Splinter, both of whom have been secretly cloned in this laboratory. As Donatello starts to viciously beat "Leo," Officer Howard tries to slip away, only to be discovered, attacked and horrifically blinded by the turtle scientist's broken and splintered bō staff. Renoir observes the home of Davianna Wallace from a nearby rooftop and hopes to pay her a visit, but is himself discovered by the vigilante known as Nobody, whom Renoir mistakes for a Foot Ninja even as the masked vigilante confuses the young turtle for one of the four Hamato brothers. When it becomes clear that Renoir is actually the wild mutant recently blamed for killing the human Augustus Amherst, Renoir promises proof that he is Augustus himself, and is allowed to visit the Amherst family home as Nobody watches and waits. Renoir happily revisits his sister Carole, but is discovered and attacked by their father Maxwell Amherst. Renoir deeply unnerves Maxwell with unique proof of his identity, pacifying his father enough for the turtle to collect a personal document.

## Characters

* Augustus Amherst / Renoir
* Carole Amherst
* Maxwell Amherst
* Eva Campbell (title only)
* Donatello Hamato
* Leonardo Hamato
* "Leo" ***(Debut)***
* Michelangelo Hamato
* Raphael Hamato
* Tony Howard
* Karai
* Nobody

## Pages

Title.Page 2.Page 3.Page 4.Page 5.Page 6.Page 7.Page 8.Page 9.Page 10.Page 11.Page 12.Page 13.Page 14.Page 15.Page 16.Page 17.Page 18.Page 19.Page 20.
Edited for explicit content. See the original here.Page 21.
Edited for explicit content. See the original here.Page 22.Page 23.Page 24.Page 25.Page 26.Page 27.Page 28.Page 29.Page 30.Page 31.Page 32.
## Transcript

* A Little Deeper in Donatello's World/Transcript

## Trivia

* Chapter 18 was originally part of Chapter 17: *Between Cops and Ninjas*, which was a massive 112 pages long when it was completed. Tigerfog decided to separate its later pages into different chapters, creating both Chapter 18 and Chapter 19: *Fragments of Truth Inside His Mind*.
* Eva Campbell appears in the chapter's title, but does not actually appear in chapter's pages.
* When the pages of chapter 18 were first gradually being published, it wasn't clear to readers whether the turtle Donatello had cloned was meant to be a clone of himself or a clone of Leonardo. This appeared to be confirmed later in the chapter when Donnie started calling the clone "Leo." But Chapter 19: *Fragments of Truth Inside His Mind* actually reveals that "Leo" is actually a clone of Donatello himself.
* Donatello secretly cloning Splinter after he died is also part of a Mirage TMNT volume 4 plot development published years after the publication of this chapter of *MNT Gaiden*; see Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles#Splinter's clone.