Master Splinter reflects on how he and his children survived the first few years as a family.
Chapter One: Turtle Ears and Human Trust
It was late at night and in an abandoned subway station slept a family of five; four young mutant turtles and their wise mutated rat father. Granted, the father wasn't sleeping as much as he was meditating. Meditation always helped Splinter calm his mind and reflect on the day. How could he do things better for his children in the future, and any other pressing matters could be easily looked upon and reflected while in a meditative state. When first falling into meditation this night, Splinter had hoped it would be relaxing and tire him for bed. What he is now experiencing is anything but.
Tomorrow was his sons seventh birthday. He does not know his son's true age but he never fails to celebrate their "mutation day", as his sons so affectionally call it, on the day that the terrible accident happened.
*Sigh*
Terrible accident, or amazing divine intervention. Splinter could never truly tell which explained the occurrence better. Either way, his meditation session this day has been filled with remembering the events that have led him to the life he now lives.
Seven years to the day:
Splinter was a once man, his name was Hamato Yosi. Not a year prior, he had lost his beautiful wife Tang Shen and his daughter Miwa. In his anguish he fled to New York City and changed his name to Hamato Splinter. In New York he gained a steady job as an instructor at a respected Dojo down the street from his too small apartment, and yet as the days past he was always just as sad and lonely as the day the man, named the Oroku Saki, killed his beloved wife and daughter. On this day Splinter had decided to lift his spirits and to do this he should attain a pet to take care of. His thoughts where that the pet would allow him to focus on his future instead of dwelling in his past.
Tang Shen, had always begged him to get a cat, she loved the adorable creatures. He was always told her one day he would get her one, but he never got around to it in time. Thus, a year after the death and destruction of his family he finally stood inside a pet store looking for a cat. In the end this was not to be, for the pet store that he went into also had another patron that day that would unknowingly change his life.
A stout older man was was at the counter when Splinter entered the store, he was yelling and screaming at the man behind the counter. Something about the man selling him a defective product.
"Look! Look! You see that! This one has a gash on it shell! What am I supposed to do with that! Do you think I can just go to the vet?!" The man yelled holding up what Splinter could now tell was a turtle. The poor thing had a gash above, what Splinter a surmised was, the poor things left shoulder. The man waved the young turtle around, trying to emphasize his point.
"Umm, sir I'm sorry, I don't know what to tell you. … A vet yes I'm sure… But, sir if I may-" the man behind the counter was cringing away from the enraged man, half whispering to the man in fright.
"Are you stupid! I just told you I can't go to the vet, dumbass! I just bought these stupid things for my little girl and look what I got! One's broken, and this one! Look! This one here is sick! He wont move or eat or nothin'!" The man yelled even more as he held up a new turtle. Splinter having wondered how many turtles this man had, slowly counted four.
"Sir, I'm sorry I don't know what to tell you. We-" The man behind the counter whimpered looking like he was about to have a heart attack from fright.
"Oh, ya! Well I know what you can tell me! Tell me you are going to give me my money back for these stupid things!" the man yelled slamming his hands on the counter after dropping the two turtles back into the aquarium.
"Of-of course, sir. So sorry, sir. Her-here you go, sir." The man behind the counter held out the money with a quivering hand. The previous owner of the four turtle snatched the money away from the man behind the counter, counted it out, before huffing and walking out the door.
Splinter watched them man leave, who had a large smile on his face, before looking back at the man behind the counter. Slowly, Splinter walked up to the counter noticing the man was looking dejectedly at the aquarium that held the four returned turtles. Splinter looked into the aquarium himself to find the turtles moving toward each other. They seemed to be comforting each other, probably scared of the angry man's outburst themselves. While studying the turtles, Splinter heard the man behind the counter mumbling to himself.
"But we never sold any turtles here. What am I going to do with four turtles? And I gave him forty. What is that ten dollars per turtle? How much can I even charge for turtles? What a mess." The man behind the counter whispered.
"You never sold these turtles?" Splinter asked the man surprised.
"Well, no," The man said "but you heard that guy. He was in here for fifteen minutes, yelling and raving. I just wanted him out. I figured I would have better luck selling them. But like I've said, I've never sold turtles before. So I don't know how fast I can get rid of them," sighing the man placed his head in his hands, "What am I going to do?"
"I'll take them," Splinter said as he stroked the turtles on the back. He slowly turned the one that had the gash on it shoulder to look at it more closely. He will defiantly need to get this one attended to. Even still, he thought it would be very nice to have a few turtles to live with, and they all seemed to be attached to each other.
"You-you will?" exclaimed the man behind the counter.
"Yes, how does fifty dollars for the turtles and the aquarium sound?" Splinter asked digging out his wallet to pay the man.
"Oh, oh yes that would work perfectly. Thank you, sir. Thank you very much." the man said enthusiastically throwing the fifty Splinter gave him in the counter. Splinter grabbed the aquarium and walked out of the pet store. Happy with his purchase and hoping to get the little ones looked at by a vet soon.
Splinter turned a corner into an ally that would quickly get him to his apartment. Unfortunately, he did not notice until too late that he should have probably taken the longer way home that evening. There where three men in the ally talking till they noticed that Splinter was there. Immediately the men stopped and aimed guns at him. A tad freaked that the men looked like triplets and had guns pointed at him, Splinter tried to carefully yet quickly put down the aquarium, knowing that with it he could never effectively fight.
"You have walked into a meeting meant only for Krang, you shall die for interrupting Krang's meeting." One of the three men with a gun said. Confused Splinter got into a ready stance.
"I mean you no harm," Splinter said calmly, "I only wish to get home and take care of my new turtles. Please let me leave with no quarrel."
Splinter did not get an answer, instead the triplets started shooting at him. Easily Splinter dodged the shots and was able to get close to one of the men. He went to throw a punch at one of the mans faces, but instead yelled in pain from the impact as he noticed that the man was no man at all, but a robot. Splinter's hand felt as if it was damaged, the extent he could not tell. Now that he knew these men were robots he doubted that there was anything he could say that would allow him to leave with out a decent fight. He only wondered how long he could last against robots with guns.
Splinter went for a different strategy, trying for more of a defense. This seemed to work more in his favor. Soon the robot men decided that he was more trouble than it was worth, and decided that leaving was the best plan of action. They quickly got into the van behind them, and that is when things became complicated. Splinter remembers that there was a canister of green ooze that fell out of the back of the van when one of the triplets climbed through. The canister bounced once before smashing against the aquarium that housed the turtles. The green ooze spilled everywhere, Splinter scrambled over to the aquarium to check on the baby turtles, not caring that the green ooze was getting on him, a mistake that he immediately regretted. Instantly, as he touched the ooze to his skin there was a searing pain that engulfed his body. He remembers crying out in pain for a moment, before darkness.
Latter in life, as Splinter goes over the events in his head he realizes that there must have been some sort of rat that was in the ally that he over looked, as he later learns with his sons that the mutation combines the DNA of one being with the DNA of the last thing he touched. Seeing as he remembers the turtles being the last thing he touched, and him turning into a humanoid rat, one can only assume that the DNA of rats that probably lived in the ally got on him and that is why he turned out as he did. What ever the case the end result was that he was no longer human. He was awoken in the ally by the cries of babies, which turned out to be his young mutant turtles.
The first year was the worst for them all. Taking the children with him was never a question. With no where to go Splinter stayed in his small apartment for as long as he could but the cries of small infants quickly drew attention. He had to flee with his small charges after a week, giving Splinter a few days notice before he had to leave as the owner of his apartment unit came down to investigate the commotion. Before he left he was able to pack a small duffel bag with a few preserves and necessities he thought they would need and a blanket that he had brought from Japan.
Outside and on the street as a rat and no longer a man, Splinter had a difficult time finding supplies for him and his children. It took him a little more time to learn to trust some of those that were homeless. Most that he ran across were sufficiently crazy and mentally unstable, thus if one went off yelling about a giant rat with four turtle children there was little to no real investigation. Some of those that where more sane and less afraid of him and his children would help out if they could. Usually telling him where he can clean his young ones, and to find the best supplies to ready for the winter. One lady was even kind enough for a while to help him get free dippers and baby food from the local salvation army, or other welfare facility. On desperate occasions, Splinter would even grab coupons and the little bit of cash he could before breaking into a store and grabbing what he needed, always leaving behind the cash and coupons as payment.
With all the hardships Splinter and his sons encountered through their lives, nothing was as frightening as the first few months with his new charges. The angry man at the store was not wrong about two things, two of his boys needed a vet, there was little he could do for the two. While they were still in Splinter's original small apartment, he was able to help the small turtle with the crack in his shell, because of the large gash he had attained he started to gain a fever. Splinter did everything he could for the young one, and after a few days, before they were forced to leave the apartment, his fever broke and seemed to get better. The gash took a total of three weeks to fully heal only leaving a chip on his shell. But it was the smallest who had a terrible cough that seemed to give Splinter the most fright. He was sick, really sick. He would barley eat, or move, he just cried, loudly. It was because of him that the family had to move out of Splinters small apartment rather quickly.
It was the fourth week out on the streets that Splinter met a woman by the name of Angelica, who unbeknownst to Splinter was getting her veterinary license at New York University.
Splinter was outside her apartment the night she found the family. The other three children where asleep on the small blanket Splinter had brought from his apartment. While the smallest turtle was crying something fierce, that night his fever was quite high. Splinter was doing all he could too keep the young one warm and try to hush him. The past four days were especially hard on Splinter as he has been running on little to no sleep. So its with little surprise that when Angelica came into the ally looking for the crying baby Splinter was just as startled as she when she found them. Splinter was ready to grab all his children and run when he heard Angelica start speaking.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. No! Wait don't leave! Your baby, maybe I can help. I'm sorry. I wont tell anyone. Please let me help." Looking back Splinter saw that Angelica looked truly concerned. To this day Splinter doesn't know what exactly it was that made him believe this girl. She was young, too young, he should have known that youth makes people do stupid things. But for now he will blame it on how tired he was, like he said, he was functioning on four days of little sleep. He followed the young girl to her apartment, his children tucked securely in his arms.
"Tell me, what seems to be wrong with the little one?" she asked as they made their way into her apartment. She was on the first floor, last apartment, so they were able to enter in the back with no interaction with others.
"I do not know. He seems to have run a fever, but I do not know what is wrong with him." Splinter sighed as he entered the apartment with his sons held close to his chest.
Angelica frowned as she looked at the small children that the rat man held. Humanoid … Turtle .. she supposed, if the shells on their backs was anything to go on, utterly fascinating. "Do you mind if I have a look at him? I'm a going for my license to be a vet at the University. I'm in my third year. Maybe I can help him?" Angelica tried to sound as sweet as possible to set the rat man at ease. "My names Angelica, what's yours?"
Splinter looked at this person as if she was a God send. Did he hear her right, was this woman really a vet. Was his luck really that great? "Yes, I mean please if you would look at my son I would be very grateful. And maybe, if it not too much trouble, my other son," he motioned to the young one in his arms that had the crack in his shell, "He had a gash on his shoulder it seems to be healed but still … If you wouldn't mind looking at it. Thank you. My name is Splinter," Splinter rushed out the words as if Angelica's offer was only available in the next minute or she would kick them out.
Angelica laughed, a sweet innocent laugh. "It's no problem at all Splinter, please sit. Would you like anything to drink, eat? What about your sons?" She asked as she motioned toward the couch.
Splinter moved toward the couch and sat, placing his sons next to him. "I would not like to intrude more than we have…" Splinter began.
"It's no bother at all." Angelica said as she went to the kitchen to grab a pitcher of water, some glasses and some crackers, fruit and cheese. Returning she placed it all on her coffee table for Splinter, only later realizing her mistake that the young ones might be too young to eat these foods. "Oh, sorry, the babies, I didn't think." Angelica said going to go get something else. Splinter grabbed her hand before she made it far.
"Do not worry about it," Splinter emphasized. He reached around himself and pulled out some baby formula and a single glass bottle from a messenger bag that Angelica had failed to see prior. "Do you mind if I use your microwave?"
"Of course not, please feel free. Do you mind if I start examining your children while you do that?" Angelica asked motioning to the children besides him. Splinter looked upon his son's for a very long while as he contemplated if he should leave his son's with the strange woman. In the end he decided if she wished them harm she would have done it already. Nodding his head, Splinter agreed as he got up to use the microwave to heat up his son's food.
Angelica got to work. She first looked over the obviously sick baby first. It was quickly evident to her that the poor thing had a bad ear infection. As the poor turtle would need surgery she quickly gave the young one some Tylenol for now and looked over the one with the crack in his shell. She was surprised that this particular young one wasn't worse off, the gashed looked like a few days ago it was a real problem. While there was nothing life threatening about the wound Angelica cleaned and disinfected the area and wrapped the wound. Running to her room Angelica brought out a small kit with a few medical supplies in it. To help the smallest turtle she would have to surgically remove the puss that had, obviously to her trained eyes, built up in the small ones aural.
Angelica set up a small area to attend to the small turtle and gave the small one a a piece os sedative to swallow when Splinter entered the room with a full bottle. He eyed Angelica and what she was doing before speaking up. "How are they?"
"The one with the chip on his shoulder is fine, I just disinfected and cleaned the area, the wrapping might have been unnecessary but I need to practice it and it doesn't hurt." Angelica said with a smile as she looked up to Splinter, it then fell as she continued to speak. "This one on the other hand," Angelica motioned to the smallest turtle that she held with a sigh. "He seems to have an ear infection."
"Turtles can get ear infections?"
"Unfortunately, yes. Not to say you're not trying you hardest Splinter, but unclean living conditions, inadequate diets, and inappropriate temperatures can lead to serious bacterial infections in normal turtles. Seeing as these little ones are mutant's, I would be a tad surprised that these same things need to be as regulated as a normal turtle as they are part human and I would kinda expect them to be a bit more resilient, but I guess they are still turtles. Baby turtles at that, so I also guess it shouldn't be too much of a surprise."
Splinter sat with a sigh, "I guess you must be right, but I also wouldn't be surprised if that young one hadn't already had the beginnings of an ear infection when I bought him." Splinter moved to start feeding one of his charges who where all behaving exceptionally well around Angelica, sitting on her couch cooing at each other.
"I would love to hear the story of how the five of you ended up like this, maybe you could tell me as I do the surgery on this one?"
"Surgery!" Splinter stood taking a step toward the young lady while holding his small child he was still feeding, as much as Angelica found the visual funny she also knew it was no laughing matter, "You never said anything about surgery."
"I'm sorry Splinter, I should have explained. Look at your son's see how the youngest has small bulges near his neck? That is a build up of puss. Turtles have non visible ears. They are not like humans where you can look at them and any build up would hopeful leak out. In turtles, the build up is all compacted behind his skin, creating these bulges," Angelica motioned to what she was talking about on the small turtle she still held as she talked to Splinter. "The only way I can help him is to get the puss out, the only way I can do that is to make a small incision and remove the puss surgically. It's a very minor surgery, I already gave the poor one a small sedative to make sure he's not in distress, and I have all the tools here to make sure he is well treated. I promise no harm will come to him."
As Angelica finished she held her breath hoping that Splinter had not become too mad with the knowledge that she had started the process with out his consent.
"I see," Splinter looked over the small one in Angelica arms as he thought about what he was just told. "I will be watching you, but please help my son." With that Splinter set the child he was feeding on the couch an went to make a new bottle. Angelica let out a sigh of relief, for a second she thought Splinter would have attacked her, but was glad he saw reason. Turning back Angelica started to get started on the smallest ones surgery.
When Splinter returned he noticed one of his sons had moved closer to Angelica and was watching what she was doing. Angelica seemed to have noticed the small one and was talking to him through the process as if he could understand. Leaving them to it Splinter decided to feed his child who was not distracted by the woman.
"So are you going to tell me how you all ended up mutated? I'm sure it's an interesting story and it would probably be a good way to pass the time." Angelica questioned as she focused on helping the one under her care.
Seeing as he had already gone so far in gaining help from the young woman with no real way to pay her back, Splinter felt telling their story wouldn't hurt. Besides who would believe her? Thus, Splinter started from the beginning.
By the time Angelica was finished Splinter had fed all his children and the conversation had turned from their mutations to Angelica giving him a book on renaissance painters saying that it has great baby names, something Splinter chuckled over as he reluctantly accepted the gift, and eventually turned into some of the harder questions.
"So what do you plan to do?" Angelica inquired.
"I am not sure what you mean." Splinter said yawning.
"I was just wondering if you had any idea where you where going to stay with the young ones?" Angelica emphasized. Splinter shook his head.
"I am afraid I do not have the courtesy too look that far in the future my dear," Splinter said solemnly. "I am just trying to get by each day. I hope to find a secure and safe place soon though."
"Stay here." Angelica offered earnestly.
"I greatly appreciate you hospitality, miss. But my honor will not allow me to intrude further." Splinter stated shaking his head.
"Forgive me Splinter, but you should forget about honor at this stage in your life. The young ones, they need someplace warm and safe. Here they can have that." Angelica said placing her hand on Splinters knee. "Here you can all be safe, I promise."
Splinter saw that this young woman honestly believed her words, and yet he still shook his head. "I am sorry, but you cannot make such a promise. What happens when others become suspicious? No, I think that will not work in anyones favor." Splinter said lightly patting the back of her hand. He then let out a yawn, showing that the nights events had started to get to him.
Angelica sighed as she left go of Splinters knee. "You need rest. You should sleep. I have class at 6 am. I will try not to wake you or the babes in the morning. If you decide to stay I will be happy to see you tomorrow. If you do not, please at least take the med kit I have here," Angelica said pointing to the small kit she brought from her room. "It has everything you would need to care for the little ones, plus some things the smallest one needs. He need plenty of vitamin A, I have some pills in the case luckily. I can always get another, they come with the classes, and I'm using my old one from the previous year. I'm over due for a new one. Please, if nothing else take that. It could save your lives." With that Angelica got up and went to her room.
The next morning at 8:15 a.m. there was a knock on the door. "This is the Police, open up! We know your in there! The neighbors called us in, open the door with your hands up!"
That was the day Splinter knew it was foolish to think that he could trust the humans. If not for his own families safety, than for the safety of those that tried to help them.