Chapter 1
"And you know, the nature of the mutagen is fascinating because it quite specifically changes every DNA strand in every cell of your body uniformly, in such a way that the proteins produced fundamentally alter your structure," Donnie rambled as he added a droplet of pink goo to the green goo he was studying under a microscope.
April put her fist to her chin and considered this. "And right now you're adding-?"
"I found that the mutagen contains units which resemble retroviruses that exist in our universe, except their components aren't nucleotides as you would expect. Still, they're similar enough that I could break them down into individual units and see that they're similar enough to react with the DNA of earth creatures."
"So the molecular structure of one unit is slightly different, than say, a cytosine, but it can base pair with cytosine like a guanine?"
"Yes!" Donnie nodded. "Exactly!"
"Wow," April stood inches away from Donnie, staring at the blobs moving on his prepared slide. "So-you're trying to cure the retrovirus, so to speak?"
"Not exactly," Donnie explained. "I feel like if mutated creatures are going to return to their original states, at least some of their unaltered DNA needs to exist as a template. I'm just trying to re-engineer the retrovirus to change the DNA back to its original state."
"Right, because if it exists anywhere, it has the blueprints for everywhere."
Donnie nodded, deep in thought. "So last night I took a sample of Timothy's DNA from various tissues to try and see if any of his old DNA remained-"
"Like a chimera!" April interrupted
"Like a chimera!" Donnie beamed. "Gosh, April, you're so good at this-so smart-"
Donnie was about to ramble, but stopped himself. He promised April he was going to stop with that shtick and he intended to adhere to that promise.
"What I mean is, it's good to have someone around who understands this stuff," he coughed.
April shrugged. "What can I say? I always pay attention in biology."
"Anyway, there was plenty of Timothy's original DNA to work with-his brain had significant areas which hadn't been altered."
April winced.
"He wasn't conscious," Donnie assured her.
"So," April's voice teemed with urgency, "so you think you can-"
Donnie nodded. "Yeah. I created sRNAs based upon Timothy's original DNA to alter the extra dimensional 'retrovirus' to change his altered DNA back, like a stable mutagenesis unlike what the mutagen does. Of course, thinking such rapid changes to a normal human state would definitely kill him I tried to make it effect change in st-"
April squealed with excitement and hugged Donnie's shoulders tightly. "This means-my Dad-"
"Well, I've got to try it first," Donnie said. "I'm hopeful, of course, but it might not work."
April coughed, stepped away and calmed down. "Of course."
Donnie smiled and bowed slightly as he grabbed his test serum and moved toward the tank containing Timothy. April gave him a wide berth, and he injected the serum into the tank.
April shuffled from one foot to another, scratched her elbow, scratched her chin, paced from one end of the room to the other and began to fear for the amount of sweat she was producing as she waited to see what would happen to the unsightly amoeba in the cylindrical container once known as Timothy.
After about an hour, nothing seemed to be happening. April's face fell.
"Hey," Donnie smiled at her. "This isn't like the usual mutation process, I told you, it'll take longer."
April sat in the doorway and put her arms around her knees. "I just want this to work so much."
"I know," Donnie sat next to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm really trying, I swear."
"I know you are," April replied.
"Go get some rest," Donnie nodded towards the room where April slept. "I'll stay here. I had about six cups of coffee. Sleeping will be like a fast forward button to the results!"
April laughed. "I doubt I can sleep, but-you're right."
April stood up and paced toward the doorway. "I'm just torturing myself if I stay here."
"Yep." Donnie agreed.
"If I go to bed, and wake up in the morning, I'll know for sure what happened."
"That's what I just said!"
"I'll just-"
She froze in the doorway. Donnie made a shooing motion with his hands.
"I'll just be going now."
April walked into the main room. Leo and Mikey were watching TV.
"Ugh, it's that show," April stood behind Leo and shook her head.
"What?" Leo argued. "It's a good show!"
"I hate the one girl on this show," April pouted. "She always does stupid, whiny things-it just has terrible writing."
"Oh?" Leo smirked. "And what would you suggest we watch?"
"Girls are like that in every show," Mikey offered. "Gotta make them true to life, right?"
April bonked him on the head.
April stole the remote from Leo and scoured Youtube for the show she was thinking of.
"Bingo," she kept grinning, and the three of them watched Sailor Moon until sunrise.
Chapter 2
"April!" Donnie shouted as if he needed help extinguishing a fire. "Guys! Come quick! Come on! Come on come on come-"
April roused from Tuxedo-Mask-Monologue drenched slumber and lumbered to her feet. "Donnie, what's-"
"It worked," Donnie put his fists to his face and squeaked. "Timothy is back!"
Donnie's screaming had also roused Raphael and Splinter.
"Donatello," Splinter walked towards him. "You've created a cure?"
Donnie nodded while grinning. "Yes! I've done it, finally."
April put her hands over her mouth and began crying. "I can have my dad back!"
Raph walked over to April and embraced her. "April! This is great news!"
Everyone dog piled her in a hug.
They then walked into Donnie's lab where Timothy was still groggy and unable to engage them.
"Gross," Mikey remarked upon seeing Timothy's nude figure.
"Get a grip Mikey," April chastised, "you're all naked!"
"Yeah but-" Mikey began to argue, but Donnie grabbed a blanket and covered Timothy with it.
"His family will be so happy," April remarked.
"You think if he had a family sad to lose him he would have volunteered to do this?" Splinter's voice surprised everyone.
April furrowed her brow. "I mean, maybe? Maybe he just got picked on a lot at school."
Splinter left the room before she could finish her sentence.
"That was weird," Mikey looked at Leo.
"Yeah," Leo said, nearly inaudibly.
"Well!" Raph interrupted. "What are we waiting for? Let's get this bag of meat home and then get Mr. O'Neil here!"
Raph, Mikey and Donnie were exuberant as they pretty much swaddled Timothy in a blanket and carried him overhead to the Shellraiser.
Leo lingered behind.
April stepped towards him and put her hand on his elbow.
"Are you all right?" She asked softly.
"Of course!" Leo forced himself to laugh. "Of course. I'm fine. This-this is really your moment. This is great. This is great! Everything is great."
April looked backwards, to where Splinter had walked off.
"What?" Leo said in a tight voice. "He always goes off to meditate like that. It's not weird. I don't know why Mikey thought it was weird."
They continued walking toward the vehicle, but April could sense the growing tension in Leo with each of his steps as she walked behind him. He was about to step onto the Shellraiser with the others, but she touched his elbow and pulled him back to speak with him privately.
"What's the matter?" April asked.
"Nothing's-"
"Leo," April put a hand to his chin. "Something's wrong-I can tell."
He looked to the ground, then looked back at April, narrowing his eyes.
"Did Splinter ever tell you that Karai is actually his daugher, Miwa?" He said in a cheery tone. He pried away April's hand.
April gawked. "Oh man, I almost forgot he was human before-Karai? Really? She's your sister?"
"No," Leo choked. "She's his daughter." He turned to walk into the van.
April stood behind. Her body went numb.
Mikey poked his head out from behind the van door. "April! Get in here!"
April forced herself to move and took a seat in the van. Leo still looked as if a giant wasp had inserted eggs in his stomach and he was waiting for them to burst out.
Chapter 3
"Everything I knew is gone-my wife, my daughter, my clan-"
Leo made a sharp turn and everyone nearly fell out of their seats. Your daughter isn't gone, he thought.
"Uh," Mikey chuckled, "maybe we shouldn't have let him drive today?"
"Even my humanity!"
Leo didn't respond to Mikey's concern. You can have that back now.
"You four are all I have left!"
Everyone screamed as Leo turned straight into a brick wall. Is that the only thing keeping you with us?
Raphael grabbed the steering wheel from Leo and banked the Shellraiser sharply, avoiding the wall.
"Leo!" Everyone shouted at once, although they sounded like soundwaves traveling through water, reaching his ears and dissipating into soft, muffled tones.
The vehicle stopped completely and Raphael pulled Leo from his seat, wrapping his arms around him. "Come back to me bro, what's going on?"
April grabbed Leo's face and tried to make him look at her. "Leo!" She shouted. "It's going to be all right. You're not going to lose him."
"Lose him?" Donnie looked at April askance. "Lose who?"
April looked away. "I'll explain later."
"You don't know that," Leo whispered to April, ignoring Donnie. "We're not all he has left anymore."
Raphael let his brother go after hearing him speak. He put a hand on his shoulder instead.
"What's going on here that we don't get?" Raphael demanded.
Leo shook his head and tried to make his way back to the drivers seat.
"Whoa," Raphael stopped him. "No way, I'll take over for now dude."
"I'll man the weapons!" Mikey shouted with glee.
"We don't need weapons right now," Donnie shot him down. "Let's just get April's dad and get back home-get on task, guys."
Mikey grumbled and went back to navigating.
They traveled to the warehouse where April's dad was caged. She tended to him every day, talking to him, trying to get him to come back to reality. She was never sure why Splinter had control of his faculties but her dad didn't. Thinking back to Donnie's cure-she wondered if much more of his brain had been affected by the mutagen. How much of him was even left?
Donnie put a hand on April's shoulder and handed her a tranquilizer gun.
"I think you should be the one to do this," he said.
"Yeah," April nodded. She pointed the gun toward the bat which housed that which was once her dad.
"Just think," Donnie said as April hesitated to pull the trigger. "Tomorrow morning he'll be his old self again."
April closed her eyes and in moments her dad fell to the floor. Donnie, Mikey and Raph moved to carry him onto the Shellraiser and get him back to the lair before he could wake up.
"Oh, a fourth turtle might be helpful about now," Mikey whined.
"Shut up, you big weenie," Raphael ordered.
"Hey," Mikey did not shut up, "does this mean we all get to be human now?"
Donnie put his palm over his face. "No, Mikey, we were never human. If we did this we'd be mindless aquarium turtles again."
"Whoa," Mikey's eyes widened. "Hopefully we get a good owner."
Raph slapped Mikey upside the head. "We're not taking the serum, you idiot."
"But what if we did," Mikey went on as Raph got behind the wheel, "and then we got flushed down the toilet, and then we got mutated again, like Leatherhead, except this time the Krang raised us, and we became evil and instead of curing mutants, turned everyone else into mutants?"
"Shut up, Mikey," Leo growled. This time Mikey actually listened.
April held her dad's hand the whole way back, knowing he couldn't feel it. She was hopeful since he still always knew who she was. He still always loved her, no matter what changes he went through.
Back in Donnie's lab, April's dad was strapped to a table. She hated seeing him like that, but Donnie went to work immediately to find his original DNA.
Donnie looked contemplative as he scanned Mr. O'Neil.
"Wow," he remarked. "I guess this makes sense-his brain was changed by the mutagen a lot more than Timothy's."
April nodded. "Yeah, I mean, he doesn't exactly act like himself anymore."
"I-I'm worried that changing him back he won't have his old memories," Donnie said. "I mean, there's a lot about this I don't completely understand, about this reverse mutagen, but what if he wakes up and-" Donnie stumbled backwards a little bit.
April grabbed the serum from Donnie's hands. "What choice do we have? Living in a cage is no sort of life for him. He'll be killed, or worse, if he keeps flying around New York like this."
"I love you, dad," she said, then injected him herself.
She then turned to Donnie.
"You need sleep," April said.
Donnie shook his head and waved his hand. "Nah, I can sleep when I'm dead."
"Go," April shooed him out of the room, then turned to stay up with her father.
Chapter 4
Leo ignored Raphael's pleas. He'd explain what was wrong soon enough, but he couldn't just yet.
He walked into Splinter's meditation chamber and sat on his feet. He bowed to the ground and picked himself back up.
"I'm sorry to interrupt," he began. "Sensei." His last word was a faint whisper.
"It is fine, my son," Splinter replied and turned to face Leonardo. "What is it you wanted to speak to me about?"
Leo smiled a little bit and warmth came to his cheeks upon hearing Splinter's voice say "my son." He moved closer to Splinter on his knees.
"We brought back Mr. O'Neil," Leo announced. "Hopefully he'll be back to his old self by morning."
"She'll have her father back," Splinter mused.
Leo's face fell. "Well, I mean, she always had him, he'll just be human again."
"If she always had him, why was she so eager for him to change back?"
Leo stammered and scratched the back of his head. "Well, I mean, he wasn't like you. It's like he became an animal, if he still acted like himself maybe she wouldn't have cared as much."
"She still wouldn't have been able to live in a house," Splinter countered. "They couldn't go to the store, they couldn't go to the movies."
"Well I mean, we can't do those things and we do all right?"
Splinter turned back around to face the wall opposite Leo.
Leo swallowed hard. "If you became human again, I guess-I guess we couldn't live in a house, or go to the store, or go to the movies."
Splinter said nothing.
"Please tell me you're not-"
"I've been meditating," Splinter interrupted. "That is all. Do not worry, my son."
"We're your sons, remember," Leo said. "When you had nothing else, you still had us. You always had us."
"Yes, of course," Splinter agreed.
"You said yourself you belong here with us."
Splinter nodded.
"Karai-"
"Miwa," Splinter corrected.
"Miwa," Leo let the name linger on his tongue for far too long. "You think it'll make a difference to her if you're a human?"
"I don't know," Splinter replied.
"I don't think it will," Leo offered. "She thinks the Shredder is her father. She's already friends with me-sort of-we can convince her. Eventually. You'll see."
"Thank you for letting me know about Mr. O'Neil," Splinter said. "Please let me know what happens with him by morning."
"Yes, Sensei," Leo squeaked, bowed, stood and left the room.
Splinter turned back to his meditation and bowed his head. He just couldn't clear his mind. He imagined Miwa standing in front of him, as she had not so long ago when he couldn't stop himself and confronted her in her home, telling her the truth about everything.
She laughed.
"You're trying to tell me you were once a human," she smirked, although her tone betrayed her anger. "You? A giant rat, were once my mom's husband? And I'm your daughter?"
"Yes," Splinter replied. "I was-I am Hamato Yoshi, I was affected by the mutagen."
Karai laughed even harder. "My dad is right, you're a rat in every sense of the word-sneaky, sewer dwelling slime, coming here, trying to convince me of this ridiculous nonsense."
"Miwa!"
"It's Karai!" She withdrew her weapon and made to strike Splinter.
He sat, unmoving, as he currently did in the meditation room. She stopped her weapon inches from his face.
"Fight me," she ordered.
Splinter refused.
Karai lifted her weapon and poised it to strike an executing blow.
"I'll be sure to let Leo know what a coward you were," she said, then dropped the sword.
Splinter's eyes widened, and he rolled out of the way. He turned to go home, not looking back at his daughter, trying not to listen to her pleas to return and fight.
As Leo walked out of the meditation room, he was accosted by Raphael.
"Leo!" He asked. "Tell me what's going on!"
Leo shook his head. "Sorry Raph, I just want to be alone."
He shrugged Raph off and left for the surface.
Raph growled, grabbed a pillow from the sofa and spiked it to the ground. He walked into Donnie's lab to interrogate April.
"What's going on with Leo?" He shouted.
April startled from where she sat, next to the table her dad was strapped to, holding his hand.
"He didn't tell you?" She asked, although it sounded more like a statement.
"If he did I wouldn't be asking you!"
April sighed. "He's-he's worried about this cure, since Splinter might want to be human again."
Raph's face soured. "Well? What if he does? He'll still be our dad, right? Except it'll be easier to get pizza?" The squeak at the end of Raphael's statement betrayed his concern.
"It's complicated," April took a deep breath, "because-well-Karai is his daughter. You know, Miwa."
"She's the Shredder's daughter!" Raph shouted in disbelief.
"So she thinks," April bit her lip.
"This is too much," Raph laughed. "Even if that's true, so what? Leo thinks he's going to turn human, get a job in middle management, be Karai's dad instead and never see us again?"
April shrugged. "He knows Splinter better than anyone, and this is really getting to him."
Raphael's laugh developed a nervous twinge. "Ridiculous."
April let go of her father's hand for a moment. "You mind watching him for a sec while I go do something? I'll be right back."
"Sure," Raph agreed. "Wouldn't want you to pee on the floor."
April made sure Raph got a full view of her rolling her eyes before leaving the room.
Chapter 5
"Just great," Leo grumbled, holding out his hand and watching spots upon it darken and dampen as the first sputtering of a storm began.
He stood and drew his sword.
"What do you want?" He asked.
"I was about to ask you the same thing," Karai leaned against a water tower support. "Really, do you ever come stand on this roof unless you're trying to summon me?"
Leo spun around and lunged at Karai. She wasn't expecting this attack and barely dodged it.
"Hey!" She shouted, drawing her own weapon. "Since when is that your style?"
Leo didn't answer. He lunged at her again. They began sparring, and Karai easily dodged each of Leo's erratic, rage-fueled attacks.
"Sloppy sloppy," Karai chastised, leaping backwards to dodge being stabbed. "You know, if you're going to attack me like this, you might as well be good and make it entertaining for me."
"Shut up!" Leo sliced through the air, missing Karai by a mile. "This is all your fault!"
"Oh boy," Karai rolled her eyes. "I get it. You're talking out some personal issue on me."
"You're an idiot," Leo growled. "You don't deserve him for a father, yet for some reason he wants you back anyway."
"Oh god, you're talking about the rat," Karai's strikes at Leo were now in earnest. "You're trying to convince me he's really my dad too, now, really?"
"I don't care what you think," Leo stumbled backwards as Karai's katana sliced through the surface layer of the skin of his arm. "You're an idiot, too, believing everything the Shredder says. Are you kidding me?"
"You're the idiot," Karai stated. "Why do you believe everything your sensei tells you?"
"Uh," Leo laughed, "which one of them is evil? Controlling? Tries to kill us? Works with Krang? Mistreats his minions? And his d-"
Karai knocked Leo down before he could finish his sentence, and snapped her fingers. A group of foot robots descended upon Leo and tied him with a chain.
"You made this way too easy," Karai sneered.
Chapter 6
"Ahem." April folded her arms against her chest and leaned against the damp, brick wall a few feet away from the meditating giant rat.
"I am meditating," Splinter replied with annoyance.
"I am interrupting you," April replied with equal annoyance.
Splinter whipped around to face his kunoichi student. "You of all people shouldn't feel angry with me right now."
April stepped forward to sit next to her sensei, now that she had his attention. He was intimidating, and actively trying to intimidate her, but she stared straight at him.
"Why, because I-"
"Exactly," Splinter huffed. "Because you don't want a giant mutant bat for a father, because this cure has been your number one desire for months, and because if you're really going to sit here and tell me why I should remain a rat right now, I'm going to have to not listen to you."
April gritted her teeth. "Honestly? I don't care if you stay a rat. I don't care if you turn into a human or a giant cat-person. Really! That's not what matters here. You could be a human and still be a father to the guys, and yet somehow you're sitting here, angsting, acting like it's either them or Karai-"
"Miwa," Splinter interrupted.
"A girl who thinks her father is the Shredder and has, on numerous occasions, tried to kill your sons."
Splinter turned away from April and seethed. "If I weren't a monster-"
April softened and put a hand on Splinter's arm. "You aren't a monster."
"If I weren't a monster," Splinter reiterated and continued, "she might see the truth."
"She's-she's completely brainwashed-she'd think you were a monster even if you were still human, right?"
April thought about this statement for a moment. "I mean, look, you really are still human, right? You just look different. If my dad didn't act like a giant bat-"
Splinter rose to his feet. "Do humans live in sewers? Do they hide from the light? Do they remain in the shadows?"
April stood as well. "Are you describing monsters, or ninjas?"
Splinter sighed.
"So that's really it, isn't it?" April's voice cracked. "If you're a human, you'd still be a monster if you had monsters for sons, right?"
Splinter turned to April in shock. "No, I never think of them as monsters-"
"If you are they are, right?"
Splinter paused. "I'm not considering abandoning them," Splinter sounded astonished. "Is that what Leo thinks?"
"I think so, he said the guys aren't all you have left anymore."
"Maybe a poor choice of words on my part," Splinter shook his head. "April, my dilemma is that I'm not sure I can be a good father to them if we don't have this common bond, how could you think I'd just abandon my sons?"
April pursed her lips. "I wasn't the one who thought that, actually. You really need to talk to Leo."
"Let's go."
The two of them walked into the main room. Donnie was still asleep, April presumed anyway, Raph was still in the lab probably wondering why April had taken so long to use the restroom, and Mikey was mindlessly playing a video game.
"Michelangelo," Splinter asked, "where is Leonardo?"
"Went topside," Mikey answered, his gaze never leaving his game. "Had to blow off some steam-he's been acting totally weird lately-I think you might wanna check him for brain-controlling bugs."
Splinter shook his head. "Send him to talk to me when he returns, Michaelangelo."
"Will do!" Mikey said.
"Well," April turned to Splinter. "Raph is watching my dad for me, I've got to get back to him."
April turned to walk back into Donnie's lab, and Splinter followed.
"Sensei!" Raph stood at attention as April and Splinter walked in. "Hey! You should come see this."
April and Splinter walked over to where Mr. O'Neil was undergoing transformation. He was already looking less bat-like and more human, although the changes were so slow and subtle it was difficult to pinpoint exactly how, like watching a plant grow.
Raph shook his head. "Humans, man," he kept shaking his head, "weird, pink, blob-like creatures-sorry April. I don't know why anyone would want to be one, I mean, just look at them-hideous! No offense, April."
April rolled her eyes and threw up her hands. She went back to holding her father's hand.
Splinter walked over to Raph and put his hands on his shoulders. "Come, Raphael, let's all go watch a movie, anything you suggest."
Raph boggled. "Uh, sure, that could be fun."
The two of them walked out of the room. Mikey made some surprisingly drinkable milkshake concoction for them while they all watched The Mummy, which for some reason Mikey really thought should be the one movie Splinter had to watch if he was only ever going to watch one movie.
They watched movies as a family, April watched her dad, Donnie slept, all waiting for Leo until dawn.
Chapter 7
"Red!" The very embodiment of excitement shouted from the entrance of the lair. Mikey and Raph woke up from where they were leaning against their father on the sofa and groaned.
"Casey," Raphael rubbed his eyes, "just fair warning, if it's before nine am, you'd better get a running start because I'm going to kill you."
"Casey!" April shouted, walking out of Donnie's lab, holding her now-fully-human father's hand. Casey ran up to her and pulled her into a bear hug.
"Mr. O'Neil," Casey let go of April and nodded towards the beleaguered older man. "It's nice to finally meet you, you know, the real you, not angry bat you."
April shook her head. "Oh, Casey."
The trio snoozing on the sofa walked over to admire how effectively Donnie's cure had worked.
"Wow, Mr. O'Neil," Mikey began, "what was it like being a mutant? That must have been weird."
Raph rolled his eyes and put his palm over his face.
Mr. O'Neil coughed, and then responded with a weak laugh. "It all feels like a dream, almost."
Donnie woke up, stretched, and walked over to meet everyone else.
"See, Donnie?" Mikey began, "our whole life is like, just a dream."
"It's too early for this, Mikey," Donnie grumbled, then turned to April.
"He's great," April smiled at Donnie, hugging her dad's arm and rubbing his back.
"Yes!" Donnie shouted excitedly, pumping his fists into the air. "I knew I could do it! I told you I would, April, I told you I wouldn't let you down!"
April hugged Donnie. "Yes! Thank you." She began to tear up.
"Although, remember Don," Mikey admonished, "if it wasn't for us this wouldn't have happened in the first place and you wouldn't have make a cure, remember?"
Donnie sucked in a deep breath and held it for a moment. He released it slowly. "Yes, Mikey, thank you for always, always reminding me of that," he said through gritted teeth.
April brought her dad to the sofa so he could rest.
"I can't wait for us to go home and be a family again," her voice trembled.
Donnie looked around for a moment. "Hey guys, where's-"
As he spoke, a Mouser leapt into the room. Everyone drew their weapons, and Casey was moving in on it, hockey stick held high, when April leapt up and stopped him with a touch to the chest.
The Mouser opened its mouth and projected a hologram of Karai.
"She's no Princess Leia," Mikey shook his head.
"Hi," the projection of Karai smiled. "As you may have noticed, you're missing something." The image panned to Leo hanging from a chain adhered to the roof. "If you want it back, all of you are going to meet me here," the image panned to an address written on paper "as soon as you get this message. Because if you're not here in an hour-" the image panned to a large canister of mutagen looming over Leo's head, "we'll see what a double mutated mutant turtle looks like! And he might not end up as pretty as Dog Breath did."
The message stopped, and the Mouser fell over in a heap.
Splinter looked to the ground. "This is my fault."
"We've got to stop her!" Mikey yelled. "I'll never think of a name as cool for Leo as Rahzar!"
Raph was about to let Mikey have it, but Splinter interrupted. "Yes, we must stop this. Let's go."
"You're going to come with us, Sensei?" Donnie was puzzled.
"Of course, she said all of you, didn't she? And we are a family. All of us."
Raph grinned and shot April a look of I told you so.
"So you-" April began.
"I've made my choice," Splinter interrupted, then gestured to April and Casey. "Stay with Mr. O'Neil, you two. We'll be back with Leonardo."
Chapter 8
Splinter and three of his four sons moved toward the warehouse they knew Leo to be at. They were all certain some manner of trap would be laid for them, but it didn't matter. Nothing mattered in the face of getting Leo back.
Moving silently through the shadows was made more difficult by rain puddles everywhere, although their occasional splashes were muted by the din of the falling droplets. They had fifteen minutes left before their hour was up when they arrived at the warehouse and stood on its roof, wondering how they should make their entrance.
"Our number one priority is to get Leonardo and leave," Splinter reiterated. "Whatever Karai says does not matter-"
"You're with us though, sensei," Raphael narrowed his eyes. "And we haven't seen the Shredder in just about forever. We should take her out once and for all."
"Absolutely not!" Splinter shouted in a whisper.
"Oh," Raphael raised an eyebrow. "So it's true. She is your daughter."
"Whaaaaaaat?" Mikey boggled.
"Sensei-" Donnie gasped.
Splinter sighed. "Yes. It is true. And I'd love to have her back, I cannot lie. But you boys are my family, and my priority. I love you boys. Getting Leonardo back is all I care about at this moment."
The three turtles all hugged Splinter at once. It was done quickly, however, and they were ready to get to work.
"You three go ahead of me," Splinter ordered.
Mikey, Donnie and Raph opened a skylight and dropped into the warehouse. It was dark, but they were spotlighted as soon as they crossed into the room midway.
They dropped to the floor as robotic foot soldiers descended upon them.
"Not these guys again!" Mikey whined.
"Remember," Donnie shouted as he tripped a robotic ninja with his bo staff, "be erratic! They learn from your moves!"
"Can do bro!" Mikey shouted back, and began running around making strange noises while skipping rope with his Kusarigama.
"Maybe not that erratic," Raph cringed.
Karai jumped into the fray and knocked Raph down as he engaged a foot soldier.
"I see your gutless rat daddy didn't have the nerve to show," she said, an inch from his face.
"Wrong," Splinter entered the room, dispatched with the foot soldiers easily, and walked toward his daughter. "I'm here for my son."
Karai cackled. "I see you felt the need to make a dramatic entrance," she smirked. "Maybe we are related? I love drama too."
She snapped her fingers and the remaining robotic soldiers flew to the sides of the building. She snapped again and a spotlight fell on Leo, chained, the canister of ooze hanging precariously above him.
"I'm going to love seeing the look on your face when I snap my fingers again," Karai grinned. "I wonder if it'll be like the look on my mom's face when she burned to death, because of you?"
"Miwa," Splinter held out his hand in exasperation.
"Still with that ridiculous lie!" Karai screeched, and drove her katana into the ground. "You never give up, do you? I'm about to ruin your child and you keep with this lie!"
"It's not a lie!" Donnie shouted. "Karai, please! Leo's your friend! Don't do this to him!"
"It is a lie!" She wiped an angry tear, "and Leo's not my friend! You've all lied to me. You're all trying to-trying to brainwash me, or something."
"Fine!" Splinter's voice rose in pitch. "It's all a lie! I've just been trying to use you to get to the Shredder, but Leonardo believed my lie! He's a good, honorable boy, he thinks I love him, he thinks I'm his father! He is innocent in this. Please, it's me you have an issue with! Release him, and I'll submit to anything you want!"
Karai's tears ended, and she smiled once again. "I knew I could get you to admit it. But, too bad, rat. I can see through all of your lies-and I know this is going to hurt you."
As Karai moved to release the mutagen, a window shattered, and two humans on a bicycle tumbled into the warehouse.
"Casey Jones versus the robot ninjas once again!" Casey shouted as he got to his feet.
"Oh Casey," April sighed. "We've got to work on your entrance lines."
"We're your family too!" Casey cried.
"Right," April shouted. "Leo's our brother too. He doesn't deserve this-he's your friend, remember? Let him go, Karai. Please."
Karai was flustered. "N-never! He totally deserves this." She gritted her teeth. "I'm glad you're here. An even bigger audience to witness the downfall of my mother's murderer, Hamato Yoshi."
"No!" Splinter shouted, and Karai moved to snap her fingers. He crouched on all fours and dug his hind claws into the ground, ready to leap and use his body to cover that of his son. As he did so, April leapt onto a box, jumped onto the suspended ooze canister and swung it away from Leo. It broke on Karai's command, and instead covered her entirely.
"April!" Casey shouted.
The canister was still spilling as it moved back towards Leo, but Splinter could at least grab his son and move him out of the way of the spillage.
"You-" Karai was stunned.
April fell to the ground and ran to a corner, taking the mutagen far from everyone else. Casey ran towards her anyway.
"April!" He shouted.
"Keep back," April warned. Some ooze dripped into her mouth. "Oh god, it tastes like-it tastes like fermented ass."
"I know there's a cure but, why would you do this?" Casey tried to keep himself from crying.
April shook her head. "This stuff has never affected me."
Donnie stood next to Casey and put a hand on his shoulder. "It's true. I can't figure it out-but she's immune to everything the Krang throws at us."
"My little genetic freak," Casey sniffed.
Donnie pouted for a moment, then ran over to his family as they released Leo from his chains.
"Foot soldiers!" Karai shouted in desperation.
Ooze-saturated April walked over to her. "Give it a rest!" She shouted. "Before I shake this gunk off like a wet dog."
Karai stepped backwards, but backed down. The thought of mutation stopped her in her tracks.
She watched as Splinter and the four turtles reunited, hugging and expressing their relief at being together again.
"Sensei," Leo looked to the floor as Splinter gnawed through his bonds, freeing him.
"My son," Splinter smiled, and embraced Leo. "I love you, always. I will never abandon you."
"I-I was stupid for thinking-" Leo began.
"No," Splinter interrupted. "I've been, so I've been told, 'angsting' so much I could not see the forest for the trees. You boys are my family. I never forgot that, but it must be in the center of my mind, and my heart."
They hugged again.
"Foot-" Karai began, then stopped herself. She pointed at the turtles and Splinter and shouted at the top of her lungs. "Get out! All of you!"
"Don't gotta tell me twice," Casey smirked, ran to his bike and motioned for April to join him.
"I can't ride a bike like this!" April shouted.
Splinter looked at Karai, and slightly bowed his head. "Come, my family. We will walk home, and hose April off as soon as we get the chance."
Chapter 9
"You sure every molecule of that stuff is gone," Casey curled his fingers in front of him as April walked into the room.
"I think every molecule of my skin is gone," she frowned as she walked into the room in an unfamiliar set of clothes.
Casey ran up and hugged April. She let him go after a moment and went to hug her father on the sofa.
In the meditation room, the four turtles dropped to their knees and sat on their feet, awaiting the word of their sensei before them.
"You all know, now, the truth about Karai," Splinter began. "That she is my daughter, Miwa."
"Yeah," Mikey rolled his eyes. "That news is so like, three hours ago."
Splinter sighed and shook his head. "Thank you, Michelangelo."
"I can get to work finding your human DNA," Donnie offered. "I mean, you can be human again by tomorrow morning."
Splinter shook his head. "This is my identity now. I'm still Hamato Yoshi, but I am also Splinter, your sensei and father. Leonardo-you were right. Being human again isn't going to change Karai's opinion of me. She didn't even know of-my new appearance-the entire time she's hated me."
"She'll come around, Sensei," Leo nodded. "I know she has to doubt the Shredder by now. She's just in denial."
"I agree," Splinter stroked his beard. "It's a matter of time. And when she realizes it-if she chooses to join us-it will be a difficult time for our family."
The boys nodded in concurrence.
"Well hey!" Mikey broke the silence. "Leo's back, Splinter's a rat forever, things are great-let's celebrate! I'm making strawberry shortcake!"
"Strawberry shortcake?" His brothers said at once.
"Not some kind of pizza milkshake?" Donnie asked.
"Not a worm funnel cake?" Raph questioned.
"Not ramen noodles with sardines, black licorice and peanut sauce?" Leo marveled.
"Nope!" Mikey said. "Just good old sponge cake, strawberries, whipped cream and bacon bits!"
Everyone groaned.
Raphael shrugged. "I dunno. I'll take it."
Everyone laughed, and followed Mikey to the kitchen, as a family.