They had to be kidding.
She had been home for two weeks, they had broken her out of Shredder's lair just two weeks ago and things were only now starting to feel like some semblance of a normal life. So of course it was now that Karai's world decided to achieve a whole new level of complicated.
They had come to a supposedly abandoned warehouse tonight because it was recently purchased by TCRI, a.k.a. the Kraang. Sure enough the aliens were there and were experimenting with a machine, something that was supposed to isolate a strand of DNA in mutants and remove everything else, in simple terms it was a lazar with the effects of retro mutagen. The turtles and Karai were watching from the ceiling rafters of the building, debating whether or not to even stop their foes.
"Leo if this thing works it could turn anybody whose been mutated back to normal" Donnie said, he was more amazed than anybody by the machine.
"And it could turn us human!" Mikey speculated
"But why do the Kraang even have it? Why would they want to undo their own experiments?" Raph questioned
"Probably because every time they screw up they end up with another mutant who wants nothing more than to rip them to pieces. This way they can keep using the same test subject over and over again until they get the results they want." Karai theorized and Raph turned to Leo.
"What do you think fearless? Should we leave the thing intact?" He questioned their leader who hadn't peeled his eyes from the scene below where two Kraangdriods were pushing a rather large and loud object with a sheet over it into the center of the room.
"Let's see what happens," he answered; the object was most likely a cage containing a frightened mutant, because the noise was multiple screams of bloody murder.
Not even a minute later one of the robots removed the sheet to reveal that the object was in fact a cage and inside was none other than Justin.
"It's Justin!" Mikey exclaimed and Karai looked over at him, amused.
"Justin? That's what you called it?" She questioned, she knew all about Mikey's obsession with naming mutants even before she returned home, but Justin?
"You try thinking of a name for a giant octo-monster" The youngest turtle defended but Karai only rolled her eyes.
"Would you two be quiet!" Donnie snapped at his siblings in a loud whisper
"Why don't you?" Karai shot back considering Donnie was being louder than either her or Mikey.
"All three of you should can it!" Raph interrupted and before he could be argued with he pointed a Sai down at the scene below.
The three bickering siblings followed it with their eyes and saw that the Kraang were taking aim on Justin, announcing that they were isolating his human DNA in order to use him as a spy. Then they fired.
The monster screamed, he screamed as though his body were on fire. The machine caused a blinding light but when it was over Justin was still screaming, but he didn't sound like a monster. The screams had turned to high-pitched wails, and the five spies on the rafters looked at the cage to find it not containing a monster, but a human baby.
"Well he was only created a year ago" Donnie reasoned.
"What happened?" One of the Kraang below demanded of the one who had fired the machine.
"Kraang is unaware of what caused the one known as the mutant to turn into what is known as an infant" the robot defended himself.
"Are they seriously that stupid?" Raph asked, sure he was confused at first too but after a second of thought it made perfect sense.
"Kraang must now dispose of the one known as the child" one of the robots decided.
"That's our cue" Leo said and with that the five of them leapt down from their hiding place and the fight began.
A three on five fight against the Kraang was a cakewalk and over in thirty seconds flat, though the machine was destroyed in the crossfire, which left both Mikey and Donnie upset.
"It's not fair! We could've been human." The orange-banded turtle pouted after the fight.
"Mikey I think we have bigger problems" Karai said to him, cocking her head over at the cage which still held baby Justin.
The five of them approached the cage cautiously and Donnie opened it, but aside from that they did nothing. The little boy was sitting and wailing like a siren, completely unaware of the four mutants and one human girl staring at him.
"Uh he needs some clothes" Raph finally commented
"Yeah cause he's gonna let one of us get close enough put clothes on him" Karai shot back at her brother.
"Oh, I think there's a blanket in the Shellraiser!" Mikey exclaimed before hurrying out of the warehouse.
While he was gone the remaining four continued to just stare at the baby, silently wondering which one was going to be brave enough and approach it. Soon Justin appeared to notice that the Kraang were gone and, though he was still sobbing, noticed the four teenagers starring at him.
"A…mmmmm….mm….ma…ma" he appeared to be trying to stutter something through his tears, though not very successfully.
"It sounds like he's trying to say mama" Leo commented just as Mikey returned with a small, white blanket.
"To bad he doesn't have one" Karai muttered but Mikey looked at her confused.
"What about you?" He suggested and everyone's eyes fell on him. "Well you did create him, doesn't that make you his mom?" The youngest continued and now the stares turned to Karai.
For a moment she considered the idea, but then her face hardened again.
"I'm not his mother Mikey" she insisted
"But we do need to get out of here" Leo said, placing a hand on Karai's shoulder from where he stood behind her. "So if Justin will let you get near him, then go," he instructed her, though she could tell he would let her refuse. But she snatched the blanket from Mikey and with a deep breath entered the cage.
She approached him cautiously, having absolutely no experience with children Karai was depending on absolute instinct here.
"Hey" she said in a whisper as she drew closer, "hey it's alright" she said gently, now getting to her knees in front of Justin. He was still crying so she reached out and gently placed the blanket around his shoulders, he noticed this and quieted his tears to look at her. "See?" Karai asked with a sweet smile. "Everything's ok" she assured him.
As he calmed Karai took the opportunity to wrap him tighter in the blanket and when she was done, though Justin was still whimpering, she lifted him into her arms and turned back to the guys. They were starring at her almost in shock, as if not even one of them had an ounce of faith in her being gentle towards the child.
"Let's get going," she said, ignoring their stares.
By the time they reached the lair Justin was nearly asleep, but he was still awake enough to start crying when Karai tried handing him over to Donnie so he could run some tests.
"I'll come with him," Karai conceded, following Donnie into his lab with Justin still in her arms.
She closed the door behind her before noticing Donnie rummaging through a box underneath his desk.
"I keep some diapers around here somewhere, they make great temporary patches when there's a leak in the pipes" he explained and Karai couldn't help but smirk, leave it to Donnie to have accidently prepared for something like this. "Found one," he said triumphantly, pulling out a diaper with the image of Elmo on it. He flung it like a Frisbee to Karai who caught it with her free hand.
While Donne was setting up whatever he needed for his tests, Karai tried to put the diaper on Justin. However this was not an easy task as Justin tightened his grip around her neck when she tried to lay him down on a chair.
"Come on Justin" Karai groaned while trying to unlock the little boy's arms. Eventually she did get him to let go, and only when he realized that she wasn't leaving him did he stop fussing.
Once she had the diaper secured Karai wrapped Justin in the blanket again and lifted him back into her arms before turning to Donnie who was preparing a needle for a blood sample. The only thoughts presently running through the Kunoichi's head were ones focusing on how much she hated her little brother right now. But she sat down without protest and held Justin in her lap as Donnie took his arm.
"Well he's letting me touch him" the turtle said, somewhat proud of his small victory.
"Take his blood and that won't last" Karai commented but Donnie continued on.
He wiped some alcohol onto the baby's arm before administering the small needle and drawing a small amount of blood, trying to ignore how loudly the boy was now crying.
Donnie gave Justin a Band-Aid and began analyzing the sample while Karai paced around the lab, gently rocking the screaming baby in her arms in order to calm him down. Eventually he quieted and settled with his head on her shoulder, though Karai couldn't tell if he was awake or not.
"Ok so for a human child of his age of about one year and six months, he's perfectly fine." Donnie announced
"So the Kraang's machine worked?" Karai asked skeptically but Donnie nodded.
"I don't see any problems, the only thing is that most children know how to walk by this age but considering he probably doesn't even remember anything about having been a mutant I think you're going to have to teach him that one, and I would do it soon if I were you." The genius turtle explained but his explanation earned him a glare from his older sister.
"What do you mean me? We've been through this, I'm not his mother." She insisted but Donnie didn't look convinced.
"So what do you suppose we do with him them? Leave him in an alley?" He questioned rhetorically.
"I don't know, what are you asking me for? Leo's the leader, if anything it's his call!" Karai exclaimed and so with a roll of his eyes Donnie turned his attention back to his computer and began scanning through Justin's DNA, what he saw shocked him.
"It can't…" Donnie said in awe as he looked through the baby's DNA patterns.
"Is something wrong?" Karai asked, her previously denial filled voice now nothing but concern.
"I've, I've seen some of these patterns before" Donnie declared, opening another file on his computer. Ever since they discovered April was part Kraang he began keeping a file on the DNA of everyone they knew in case anything were to ever happen.
"What? That's impossible, isn't all DNA different?" Karai questioned while Donnie looked over at her and fixed his eyes on Justin.
He noticed that the boy had dark black hair just like Karai, but at his angle he couldn't see the baby's face and was trying to remember if he had Karai's Asian features; he didn't think he did. Then he remembered where Justin's DNA came from in the first place, the worldwide genome project, where April's school sent their DNA samples. Then, on a hunch, he opened a third file; and his theory was confirmed.
He turned in his seat with a sheepish grin as he faced his sister, suddenly thankful the baby wouldn't allow her to put him down because that prevented her from using her hands to wring his neck.
"Uh Karai, do you remember standing on top of the mutagen vat the night Justin was created?" He asked and she nodded
"Why?" She asked him
"Well, you see some of the patterns I recognized were ones I've seen before, in your DNA." He told her and she just stared blankly at him, she understood but she didn't want to. "I think a piece of your hair must have fallen into the mutagen" Donnie continued to theorize but when she still didn't speak he continued. "Some of the patterns I recognized however, weren't yours" he confessed and that got her to say something.
"Then who's-" she started but she was abruptly cut off by the sound of Casey shouting through the lair.
"Yo Leo! Why did you need me to bring over some of my old baby clothes?" His voice asked, clearly confused by Leo's odd request.
Karai saw Donnie's face pale and her own eyes grew wide as she whipped around and looked at the closed lab door, then turned back to Donnie with a questioning look of disbelief and in response he gave a barely detectable nod.
Justin's human DNA, his only remaining DNA, had come from two people, Karai and Casey.