Chapter 4
Endgame
With Mona Lisa tied up and locked away in the broom closet, Shredder and his two mutants continued their work on the super fuel, connecting the various barrels to a large machine that would mix the chemicals into the super fuel they were after. But as one would imagine, things didn't go as planned.
"You incomplete imbeciles!" Shredder yelled so loud that even Mona Lisa could hear him without any difficulties. "This isn't the right chemical! You took the wrong barrel!"
"Gee, sorry, boss." said Rocksteady, as he and Bebop cowered slightly.
"Yeah, sorry, boss, but we ain't no science-doctors."
"Scientists, you flea-brain! And darn strait you aren't! Now we have to go back and get the chemical we need. The right one this time!"
"What do we do with this one?" Rocksteady asked.
"Put it in the corner with the other chemicals that were already here, we don't want to mix in the wrong stuff in the super fuel."
'Super fuel? So that's what they are after.' Mona Lisa thought as she listened to them talk and eventually leave the lab. 'If I only could get free, I could warn the turtles. Ugh… but why do I feel so sick?'
No matter how hard she tried, she could get out of the ropes, they were just tied too tightly and she couldn't reach the knot either, with it being on her back. But through some effort, she managed to get back on her knees after so rudely being tossed inside the closet, but it only seemed to worsen the feeling of nausea.
Feeling like she was going to throw up, Mona Lisa still didn't give up, there was too much at stake, but then she was overcome by a burning pain in her entire body. It wasn't a really strong pain, but it was pulsing throughout her body, making her feel even more sick. She had no idea of what was wrong with her, and then the changes started.
She could feel how her body transformed, her skin turning into scales, human traits regressing and leaving her without ears and nose among other things, webbing growing between her fingers as her pinkies and ring fingers merged as well. All her toes also merged together, leaving her with two toes on each foot, then a long tail grew from her lower back, and within only a few moments, she had reverted to her mutant self.
Once the pain faded, Mona Lisa had tears in her eyes, not from the pain, but from her mutating again. Looking up, she saw her reflection on the metal door, a bit blurred but still clear enough for her to see the truth. She wasn't human.
She cried for several minutes, but she forced herself to stop.
"Pull yourself together, Mona Lisa, the turtles must know what Shredder is planning before it's too late." she said to get herself to focus. Taking a short moment to reflect on her situation, she got an idea and tried using her tail to untie the knot. It took a little while, but in the end she managed to get free. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she carefully checked the door, and to her luck, it wasn't locked, allowing her to easily escape her prison.
'At least something good came of this.' she thought, taking a little comfort in that her mutant abilities came in handy.
With the lab to herself, she walked over to the mixing machine and investigated it and the barrels attached to it, followed by the other barrels that had apparently already been in the building when the crooks first arrived.
'So many chemicals, I wonder if I could do something with them.'
As Mona Lisa thought about it, she noticed something in the corner of her eye. Tossed aside on a workbench lay her purse and all its contents, including the turtle-communicator. Hurrying over, she picked up her communicator and immediately called the turtles. She prayed that it hadn't been damaged.
"Raphael speaking." the red-masked turtle answered as he appeared on the display.
"Oh thank goodness I got through to you."
"Mona Lisa?! What happened to you? You're a-"
"A mutant again, yes, but that's not important right now. I need help, and fast."
"Where are you?"
"The renovated laboratory in the industrial district five blocks south of April's apartment. Shredder and his goons are using it to create a super fuel for the Technodrome, I heard them say that when they captured me not long ago."
"So that's what the three stooges have been up to. Don't worry, Mona Lisa, we'll be there as fast as we can, I promise."
"Thank you, Raphael, I knew I could depend on you."
"Time to hit the surface, guys, Mona Lisa needs our help." Raphael said, having just hung up and was getting his brothers.
"What's going on, Raphael?" Leonardo asked.
"Yeah, is something wrong with Mona Lisa?" asked Donatello.
"I'll give you a flashback on the way, but it involves old Shred-head."
Back at the laboratory, the three villains returned, now with the correct barrel of chemicals.
"Okay, it's all plugged in, boss!" Rocksteady reported.
"Finally. I'm starting the mixing machine now, whatever you two do, do not touch it! If it's damaged, the mixture could explode, taking entire Manhattan with it, and us too!"
With a vibrating hum, the machine started working, drawing in the specified amounts of the various chemicals and gently mixing them. Once it had enough of the final product, it would fill an empty barrel that was connected to the machine with it, sealing the barrel tightly once done.
"It's working! Soon we will have the means to fully recharge the Technodrome!" Shredder half-cheered menacing. "Now we will use that girl to lure the turtles into a deadly trap!"
Mona Lisa watched everything from behind another piece of machinery, but as she was about to move, she accidentally bumped into a workbench and knocked over a glass beaker, breaking it.
"What was that?! Bebop! Rocksteady! Check that out, we might have another intruder!" Shredder yelled.
With the two mutant henchmen rushing to investigate, Mona Lisa was forced to hide somewhere else, but as she tried to avoid them, she ran into Bebop, who had taken another path around to the area where she had been hiding.
"Got you!" the warthog said as he blocked Mona Lisa's way, and as she tried to go another way, Shredder and Rocksteady had already surrounded her.
"Uh-oh."
"Look, boss, she has the same taste in clothes as that little lady you found." said Rocksteady.
"Same taste, nothing! She is the same girl we captured! But she has mutated somehow. What did you two clowns do to her?!"
"Uh, I don't know, boss, how many guesses do we get?" asked Bebop.
"Oh, oh! Maybe it is a multi choice question." said Rocksteady.
"I give up..." Shredder groaned. "Just get her!"
With that command, the two mutants both charged at Mona Lisa, but she easily avoided them, using her powerful legs to jump over them, grabbing on to an air-vent as the two fools ran into each other, basically knocking themselves out.
"It's like watching a bad rerun..." Shredder sighed, rubbing his nose bridge in utter annoyance. "Get up, you fools!"
With a good swing from the air-vent, and a couple of quick jumps, Mona Lisa managed to put some distance between herself and the villains, but with the two mutants already back on their feet, she hadn't won more than a few precious seconds.
"There is no escape for you, girl!" Shredder yelled as he and his henchmen once again cornered her, but this time, things went a little different.
"Now, who needs to escape, when she got back up?" Raphael asked right after the turtles had kicked down the doors.
"It's the blasted turtles!" Shredder exclaimed.
"Correctumundo, bucket head!" said Michelangelo.
"Get them! Crush them! Kill them! Do something violent to them!"
Bebop and Rocksteady instantly drew their laser rifles and aimed them at the turtles.
"Not that! Not that! A stray shot will blow us all up!"
"I really wish he would make up his mind." Bebop said to Rocksteady.
"Yeah, me too. But, what do we do now?"
"How about..." Leonardo said, dashing up to the duo and slicing their guns apart with a pair of well placed slashes of his katana. "… that you don't shoot?"
"I think the turtle's got a point." said Rocksteady, as he looked at his former weapon.
"And here's another one!" said Donatello, as he did a pole-jump and delivered a flying kick to the rhino's chest, knocking him onto his back. That caught Bebop by surprise, and allowed Mona Lisa to run up to him and strike him across his chest with her tail, upsetting his balance.
Michelangelo saw this coming, and quickly positioned himself on all four behind the warthog, making him trip and fall over.
"Timber!" the orange-masked shouted, as Bebop fell just like a tree, a flailing tree.
"I've had enough of you troublesome reptiles! Taste my blades!" Shredder roared as he charged at the mutant reptiles.
"Not so fast, shred-head! This is a no shredding-zone." Raphael countered as he caught Shredder's claws with his sais. With such an opening, Mona Lisa once again took the opportunity and did a jump-kick at Shredder's chest, knocking him over just as his minions.
"Thanks, Mona Lisa."
"My pleasure. I'm glad that you all got here just in time."
As Shredder just barely got up from the floor, the mixing machine gave off a series of soft beeps, indicating that it had filled the barrel with the finished super fuel.
"Bebop! Rocksteady! Forget the turtles and get the fuel! We're done here!" he shouted, and the two mutants quickly got back on their feet and ran over to the machine to get the barrel. At the same time, Shredder used his communicator to call for an exit.
"Krang! We got the fuel! Open the portal!"
With the turtles and Mona Lisa right behind them, Shredder and his minions ran as fast as they could, then the portal from the Technodrome opened in front of them. Before the reptiles could catch up, the villainous trio vanished through the portal, and it closed instantly after.
"They got away! And with the super fuel! What a major bummer." said Michelangelo.
"Now they will be able to power up the Technodrome again." said Leonardo.
"I wouldn't worry so much about that." said Mona Lisa with a smile. "After I called Raphael, before they got back, I swapped out some of the chemicals. Physics may be my best subject, but I'm not too bad at chemistry."
"Great work, Mona Lisa. But what kind of mix did they get then?" Donatello wondered.
"A nasty one, as they will soon find out I think."
Back in Dimension X, the 'super fuel' had just been poured into a giant, empty fuel tank.
"Not bad, Shredder. It seems that even you can do something right once in a while." Krang half-taunted, half-praised. "Now, even with this small amount, we can return to Earth and claim all fuel sources there are. Start the engines!"
The engines began rumbling loudly after being inactive for quite some time, but then they started screeching and smoking fiercely as the entire Technodrome shook violently.
"What?!" Krang yelled, and quickly turned of the engines, checking the computer scan of them.
"It seems I was greatly mistaken, you did nothing right as usual!" Krang yelled.
"We got the stuff you told us, and mixed them in that lab, also just as you told us!" Shredder defended.
"Then how do you explain that the engines are filled with hardened super glue?!"
"Glue?!" Shredder, Bebop and Rocksteady said in unison.
"It will take weeks to clean out and repair the engines! Looks like your work schedule will be very busy for a while."
A while later, Mona Lisa and the turtles had returned home, and in good spirits after hearing what Shredder and goons had really gotten. Though Donatello wasn't as happy as the others.
"I'm really sorry that the retro-mutagen didn't work, Mona Lisa." he said apologetic. "I'll make a new, better retro-mutagen, I promise."
"Thank you, Donatello, but it really isn't worth all the hassle."
"Are you sure?" Leonardo asked.
"I am. It was really nice to be human again, but at the same time, it didn't feel like me any more. I an a mutant now, and I guess that's how it's supposed to be then."
"But what about your family, little dudette?"
"We will meet one day, I am sure of it, just not right now. And I have a new family as well, and that's you guys."
"We're glad that you think so." said Raphael.
"And we all owe you a lot," said Leonardo. "if it hadn't been for you, Shredder would have gotten the super fuel. You saved the world today, and we're thankful to you."
Mona Lisa blushed slightly from all the praise, even though it was well deserved. And a short time later, once everything had calmed down, she sought out Raphael.
"Raphael?"
"Hey, Mona Lisa. What's up?"
"I just wanted to thank you, really thank you, for saving me earlier." she said and gave Raphael a kiss on the cheek, making him blush.
"Gee, Mona Lisa, you don't have to do that."
"But I want to. You have been such a good friend to me ever since we met, and… I'd like us to be more than just friends… if you feel the same."
Raphael didn't say anything, and Mona Lisa was afraid that her affection wasn't mutual. But Raphael placed his hands on her cheeks and gently pulled her closer, kissing her forehead, and her heart skipped a beat.
"I do feel the same, Mona Lisa, and I'm really happy to know that you feel that way too. Would you like to be my girlfriend?"
Rather than answering with words, Mona Lisa threw her arms around Raphael, hugging him closely and looking him in the eyes.
"I would like nothing else, Raphael, than for us to be together."
The two mutants' lips met in a soft kiss, and for the first time in a very long time, Mona Lisa felt that she truly was happy.
And thus ends this little story, I hope you have all enjoyed it.
Now I'll go back to my regular stories, be seeing you. :)