"Idiots!" Stella shouted again as she knocked her newest attacker backwards with a well-placed kick to his chest awhile later before spinning around to block the attack of yet another Purple Dragon.
Upon arriving at the warehouse complex, Splinter and the three humans had immediately found themselves besieged by hordes of angry Purple Dragons and hired guns. Apparently the turtles had stirred up a veritable hornet's nest by entering the facility.
"When I get my hands on them," Stella growled to herself under her breath as she vaulted over a low wall and scaled am unguarded fire escape leaving the other three to deal with the last of the outside guard. Moving as quickly as possible, she managed to knock open a window and gain access into the building.
If she had thought the scene outside was bad, the sight that met her upon entering the warehouse was much, much worse. Everywhere she looked, Stella saw death and devastating destruction. Her heart pounding, she began following the trail of carnage afraid of what she would find at the end. She had just turned the corner when she was knocked off her feet by an explosion that rocked the entire structure.
Opening her eyes moments later, Stella coughed and winced at the feeling of shrapnel embedded within her thigh. Swiftly taking off her belt, she fashioned a tourniquet to stem the bleeding before struggling to her feet.
Grimacing in pain, Stella continued on toward the source of the explosion knowing instinctively that her brothers would undoubtedly be wherever the explosion had just come from. As she continued deeper into the complex, the smoke became cloying and Stella soon found herself crawling along the floor over rubble and bodies, desperate for clean air. It had all almost become too much when her hand finally encountered a door at the end of the hall.
Steeling herself for what she might find, she pushed her way through the door and onto a balcony overlooking an open pit. Although the heat inside this room was awful, the smoke at least was much more dispersed in here. Squinting upward, Stella quickly determined it was probably because of the giant hole that had been blown in the ceiling. Whatever the reason, she was glad for it as she greedily sucked in lungful after lungful of breathable air for the first time in what felt like ages.
Dragging herself across the grated floor toward the ruined railing overlooking the levels below, she couldn't hold back the gasp that escaped her lips at the sight that met her. Two levels below, her brothers stood surrounded by flames looking relatively unharmed but that wasn't what had shocked her most. No, standing with her brothers were four female turtles. Well three were standing. One appeared to be injured or maybe unconscious. Whatever the reason, she was being currently being carried by a battered looking Raphael.
"We've got to get out of here!" Stella heard Donatello shout over the roar of the flames that were quickly licking up the side of the ruined building toward where she had collapsed. "Once these flames reach the power grid this whole place is going to blow!"
Turning her head, Stella saw what he was talking about and began to panic. There was no way she would be able to make it out of the building in time, not with the amount of blood she had lost.
"Mi- Mikey!" she called out as loudly as she could to the nearest turtle as the others rushed toward the exit.
"Guys wait," Michelangelo called out as he stopped dead in his tracks. "Did you hear that? It sounded like Stella."
"Ya probably hit your head Mikey. She's not here," Raphael retorted angrily as he shifted the unconscious female turtle in his arms. "Come on, ya heard Donny. This place is gonna blow. Now let's go."
"No," the smallest female turtle stopped alongside Michelangelo and looked around, "I heard it too."
"What eva'," Raphael yelled back over his shoulder, "you two get yourselves blown up! I'm gettin' outta here!"
Scanning the room and finding nothing, Michelangelo was about to discount the mystery voice and follow the rest of the turtles to safety when he felt something hit his face. "What the shell?" He muttered as he wiped his face, "Uh blood!"
"Gross," the female agreed before looking up, "but where is it coming from? Oh, up there!" She shouted pointing toward the balcony where Stella had collapsed.
"Stel!" Mikey shouted quickly jumping into action and scaling the metal scaffolding toward where his older sister lay nearly unconscious from blood loss and smoke inhalation. "Crap, crap, crap," he muttered as he surveyed the amount of blood surrounding her.
"Mikey?" Stella coughed through the dark haze that threatened to overwhelm her.
"You know her?" The female asked.
Carefully, Mikey gathered Stella's small form into his arms. "Yeah, she's my older sister," he explained before turning his attention back to Stella, "Come on, stay with me Stel," he urged.
The turtle female gave him a strange look but didn't comment. "Alright well let's get her out of here. Those flames aren't getting any smaller."
Moving swiftly, the two turtles jumped back down to the bottom level of the warehouse before rushing toward the exit while Stella struggled to remain calm as the shrapnel tore deeper into her flesh with every move Michelangelo made.
Unencumbered, the female ran ahead of them, clearing the way while Michelangelo struggled to keep up. They had almost made it out the door and into the fresh air when they felt themselves being lifted off their feet by the force of the explosion behind them.
Without a thought for his own safety, Michelangelo wrapped his body tightly around Stella as they were thrown across the large concrete shipping yard and slammed into the side of a nearby building rendering both the orange clad turtle and the woman in his arms instantly unconscious.
"Ugh," Stella groaned as the world around her came into focus so sharply that she turned her head and vomited immediately into a trashcan which seemed to have magically appeared just in time. Collapsing back onto her back, she was surprised to find herself laying not outside a burning warehouse but rather in her own bed. "What the hell?" She muttered as she struggled to sit up.
"Ssh, my daughter," Master Splinter urged as he pushed her gently back down onto the bed.
"Dad?" she wheezed, confused as squinted, looking around her room for some sign of the large turtle who always kept a close vigil by her bed whenever she was sick or injured and finding only her father smiling gently down at her.
"You'll need to stay still until your transfusion has finished," Splinter continued as he gestured toward the bag of blood currently hanging off an IV tower next to her bed. "You lost a large amount of blood between the explosion and when we pulled you and Michelangelo from amongst the rubble. You were very lucky," he explained gravely.
"Oh god! The explosion is everyone alright? Where's Mikey?" she demanded worried about the well-being of the younger brother who had saved her life.
"Michelangelo is fine," he assured her. "You'll find he has almost made a full recovery. In fact, Donatello has only just managed to send him away to fetch something to eat as he has refused to leave your side since you were brought in yesterday."
"Donny and Leo?" she pressed feeling quite sleepy all of a sudden.
"They're fine," her father reassured her. "Everyone is fine. Although you've kept Donatello quite busy, both he and Leonardo escaped the blast with only a few bumps and bruises. They've been quite busy seeing to the needs of our new guests."
"Oh right, the female turtles," she mumbled as she struggled to keep her eyes open.
"Rest now Stella," Splinter urged as he patted her head affectionately the way he had when she was a young child and had struggled to fall asleep.
"Wait," she protested feebly. "Where's Raphie?" she asked as she began to slip back into oblivion. "Is he alright?"
Splinter winced slightly, "Raphael is, unharmed," he assured her choosing not to answer her first question. "Come now Stella, sleep. We'll talk more when you wake again."
"I want Raphie Daddy," she mumbled as she sank back into the darkness.
When Stella woke again several hours later it was to the familiar snores of her little brother. Shifting slightly in her bed, she found him draped across her legs.
"He's been like that for hours," a voice remarked from the corner of the room.
Squinting slightly, Stella focused on the source of the voice and found herself face to face with the nameless female turtle who had helped her brother rescue her. "I'm sorry if I startled you," she apologized sweetly, "I was just coming in to check on Mikey. I'm Artemis," she offered stepping closer to the bed.
"Stella."
"Oh I know," Artemis gushed grinning widely. "Mikey has talked about you nonstop, I feel like I know you already!"
"Uh, that's great," Stella replied noncommittally as she visually scanned the room for some sign of the turtle she wished most to see.
"I can't wait until you're feeling better," Artemis continued to babble happily as she bounced gleefully from one foot to the other, "Mikey promised to show me your store and your apartment, it sounds completely awesome! I'm so jealous that he has a human sister. I mean I have sisters but none of them are human."
"Oh, um hum, right, human," Stella agreed absentmindedly.
"I'm sorry, are you missing something?" Artemis asked as she realized Stella wasn't nearly as into their conversation as she was.
"Oh what? No," Stella lied as she realized that Raphael was still conspicuously absent from her room. "I was just uh," she stalled trying to think of something to cover her lack of interest in the overly friendly female turtle who was frankly beginning to grate on her nerves a bit with her cheery attitude, "looking for something to drink. That's it," she nodded pleased with her excuse. "I was just hoping for something to drink. The smoke did a real number on my lungs." It wasn't actually a lie, she reasoned, her throat did feel quite raw from inhaling so much smoke and she was pretty thirsty.
"Oh right!" Artemis chirped as she bounced energetically toward the door. "I'll go get you something, be right back!" she promised cheerfully, "Don't go anywhere!"
"Don't worry, I won't," Stella replied with a smile that disappeared as soon as Artemis was out of sight. "Fucking nightmare I'm living in," she mumbled unhappily. Her throat hurt, the bandages around her leg felt itchy, and she wanted Raphael dammit, not some super cutesy female imitation of her little brother.
A few minutes later, Stella was relieved when it was Donatello who strode into her room with a glass of water rather than Artemis. "Oh thank fuck," Stella exclaimed as she reached for the proffered glass.
He laughed knowingly as he passed her the glass. "I thought Artemis might be a bit much for you right now seeing as how you're not much of a morning person." Stella rolled her eyes but didn't argue with the brainy turtle as she pressed the glass to her chapped lips and began to drink the cool liquid. "Slowly Stel," Donny reminded her as she sipped at the water, relishing the cooling sensation that coated her raw throat. As she continued slowly sipping on the water, she allowed Donatello to check her vitals and watched intently as he checked her bandages.
"So, what's the damage Doc?" She asked him finally as he began cleaning and redressing the nasty looking wound on her thigh.
"You mean other than smoke inhalation, a nasty concussion, and the gash on your leg that could have killed you?" he replied dryly. "Well other than those things you're fine. I managed to remove the shrapnel without too much trouble but you still needed a transfusion and twelve stitches. I also administered a full course of antibiotics, just to be safe. You should be up and moving around by tomorrow but no training for at least a month," he warned.
"A month?" Stella gasped horrified, there was no way she could just sit around for a month.
"Okay no heavy training for a month," he relented. "You can begin stretching and light weapons practice in two weeks, but no sparring! I mean it Stella! I'm going to be really pissed if you pop your stitches again."
Stella raised her hand in a three fingered salute, "Scouts honor."
Donatello snorted. "I happen to know for a fact that you were never a scout," he chuckled.
"S'not my fault," Stella pouted playfully as Leonardo knocked politely on her door before sticking his head inside.
"Stella," he said happily as he strode over to her bedside, stepping over Mikey's still sleeping form to come and stand by her head. "I heard you were awake. Master Splinter's on his way. Are you feeling better?"
She nodded. "Much, although I'd feel a lot better if Donny wasn't planning on making me sit out of training forever."
Leonardo raised his eye ridges in surprise before turning his attention toward his brainy younger brother. "Forever?" He asked sounding appalled at the very idea.
Donatello pursed his lips and shook his head. "Not forever, just for a few weeks, until the stitches come out," he explained.
Leo looked relieved "Oh well, that's alright then," he agreed.
"Ah Stella, I am glad to see you are awake again," Splinter greeted as he entered the room. Donatello moved toward the end of the bed so that his father could stand by his sister's head. "How are you feeling my child?"
"I've felt better," Stella joked with a wry smile. "My throat is sore and my stiches itch but Donny says I'll live."
Splinter rewarded her with a small smile. "Thank heavens for that child. Well I should return to our guests, I'm sure you have some questions for your brothers as they have much to tell you," he said cryptically before leaning down to place a small kiss on her forehead before leaving the room once again.
After their father was gone, Stella turned her gaze expectantly toward her brothers and waited for them to begin speaking. Leo opened his mouth to begin when he was interrupted by a loud snore. "Oh for the love of Pete," he mumbled. "Mikey. Mikey," he hissed as he gently kicked the sleeping form of his youngest brother.
"Wha, what is it? " Mikey asked sleepily. "Is it Stella? Is she okay?"
"I'm fine Mikey," Stella assured him.
"Stella!" he exclaimed, jumping up and throwing his arms around his older sister happily. "I'm so glad you're awake, I was like, totally worried about you."
"Thanks Mikey," she replied as she hugged him back, "I owe you one. You really saved my butt back there. You were awesome, like a superhero or something." Michelangelo blushed at the compliment and managed to look humble.
"You know," Leonardo interrupted in what Stella always called his 'big brother voice', "normally I would take this opportunity to tell you how stupid it was for you to go busting into that warehouse on your own but I think I'll save the lecture for another time."
"Why Fearless, that's so gracious of you," Stella snarked earning chuckles from both Donny and Mikey. "Anyway, who's Artemis and what the hell is going on around here?"
"Language," Leonardo remarked automatically causing his siblings to roll their eyes. He had to remind Stella and Raphael to watch their language so often that he had begun sounding like a bad recording.
"Artemis is actually one of four female turtles who came through the trans-dimensional transporter the other night," Donatello explained. "She and her sisters were pulled through into our dimension when Mikey messed up Stockman's calculations. We're still not sure what he was actually after but you can bet it wasn't them."
Stella furrowed her brow in confusion. "So they're from a dimension full of, female turtles?" She asked skeptically.
"Uh no," Leonardo rubbed the back of his head, "it's just them. It seems that they're actually, us, kind of, well kind of like our female counterparts anyway," he explained awkwardly. "Everyone there is sort of the opposite of themselves here."
Stella just stared at him for a moment before looking toward the door and back to her brothers several times as she tried to process this unexpected information. "So you're telling me that the chick who was just in here is the female version of one of you?" She was quiet for a moment. "She's Mikey isn't she? You all let me wake up to a girly version of Mikey bopping around my bed. Do you hate me?" She whined dramatically earning a small indignant protest from Michelangelo before she fixed him with a knowing look and he shrugged sheepishly.
"Alright, fair enough," he allowed. "But you have to admit that at least I know to tone it down when you've just woken up. I'm sure Artemis was just really excited to meet you. She's been waiting around just to talk to you. She couldn't believe it when I told her we actually have a human sister."
"Why is that so weird? Doesn't she have a human brother?" Stella reasoned. "I mean if everyone is just flipped shouldn't there be a guy version of me somewhere?"
The three turtles exchanged a meaningful look. "That's actually the weirdest thing," Donatello answered finally, "I mean other than them being the girl versions of us. They seem to have their own April, even female versions of Master Splinter and Casey but they uh, they don't seem to have anyone in their lives even remotely like you."
"Not even remotely like," Stella sputtered indignantly as she struggled to process this mind blowing information. "What the hell? Alright that's it, I'm calling bullshit! This is nonsense!" She threw her arms into the air. "How can they not have a me? I'm awesome! They have to have one of me, I'm like, important. I mean where do they get their weapons, and their groceries? And who is their Raph's twin? Huh?" She demanded looking at her brother's stunned expressions. "And speaking of Raph, where the hell is he? Why isn't he here standing vigil by my sickbed? Where the fuck am I? What the fuck is going on?"
"Dudes," Michelangelo muttered looking slightly frightened and taking a step back.
"Stella, Stella, you need to calm down. Your blood pressure is getting too high," Leonardo urged looking slightly panicked himself. "Raph is, well he's occupied."
"He's occupied." Stella snorted disbelievingly. "Well you had better tell him to get unoccupied real fuckin' quick because this is bullshit and I want answers!" She shouted angrily as she began throwing her blankets off, fully intending on climbing out of bed and getting answers herself if need be. "I want Raphael and I want him now!"
"Donny, do something," Leo muttered between clenched teeth as he watched Stella becoming more agitated as she struggled to remove her IV.
"I'm on it," Donny sighed unhappily, pulling out a small needle, "On the count of three guys one, two, three."
On three, Mikey and Leonardo jumped in to restrain Stella who began to thrash against them as she continued to demand to see Raphael while Donatello injected her with a mild sedative.
"What the hell?" She snarled angrily at her brothers who continued to pin her to the bed as the sedative took hold.
Donny and Mikey refused to meet her gaze but Leonardo managed to look contrite. "We couldn't have you tearing your stitches," he explained. "You need to calm down Stella. We'll talk more when you wake up."
"Yeah well fuck you too Leo," Stella mumbled as she slipped unwillingly back into unconsciousness.
For the next few days every time Stella woke up she ended up being sedated soon after as she just seemed to wake up even angrier than each time previous. Every time she demanded Raphael's presence to no avail. It was only after the fourth time she had been forcibly sedated that she woke up with only her father in the room who, as far as she was concerned, was the only family member she had left who hadn't completely betrayed her.
"Stella," Splinter coaxed as he watched her eyes flutter open.
At the sound of her father's tired voice Stella felt her anger drain out of her leaving only the unimaginable feeling of hurt behind. "Dad," Stella pleaded turning her expressive brown eyes to him. "Why don't they have one of me?" she asked in a small, strangled voice.
"My daughter," Splinter replied with a shake of his head as he gathered her into a reassuring hug as she began to tremble in his arms.
It was then that Stella allowed herself to cry. She cried because it was obvious to her that she was a mistake, she had obviously never been meant to be a part of the only real family she had ever know. She cried over being left behind because she knew without ever having stepped out of her room that her brothers had found their matches and she had been replaced as the most important female in their lives. And she cried hardest of all because no matter how many times she had pleaded, how loudly or how forcefully she had demanded him, Raphael had never come when she needed him most and oddly, she found that that hurt most of all.
"Hush now my child," Splinter urged as he rocked her gently. "It will be all right," he assured her.
"I- I'd like to go now," Stella mumbled into his shoulder after she had run out of tears.
"Of course," Splinter agreed, "I'm sure it would be best for you to get up and moving again as soon as-"
Stella shook her head. "No Dad. I mean I want to go. I need to leave to clear my head, to figure out just what I'm fighting for. I want to go on my trip, now. I- I think it would be good for me, for everyone, if I leave for a while. Please Daddy."
Splinter regarded her quietly for a few minutes before slowly nodding his head in agreement. "Yes, yes I think that might be best. You may go as soon as you are fit enough to walk. I'll see if Miss O'Neil is willing to help you get moving before booking your flight and taking you to the airport."
"Thank you Daddy," she replied with a hug.
April arrived later that day to help Stella get up on her crutches and begin moving around her room. She had already packed her a bag full of necessities and had even taken it upon herself to book her a last minute flight to Japan for early the next morning.
After bidding April good night, Stella had paced uneasily back and forth in her small room until she heard the last of the lair's occupants head to bed. She hadn't been out of her room since before the battle and while she was leaving the next day, she wasn't eager to encounter any of her brothers or the girls who's names she still didn't know, having not actually spoken to anyone other than her father and April since she had been forcibly sedated the first time.
Venturing warily out her door, Stella made her way carefully toward the dojo where she planned to leave the letters she had written her brothers for them to find in the morning, after she had already left.
She was surprised when she heard a familiar voice coming from inside the dojo and suddenly the reason for Raphael's absence became clear.
"Tha's great Atty," Raphael's voice rumbled deeply from inside. "You're a real natural with those Kama. You sure you never done this before?" He chuckled.
"Raphie," a new voice scolded, giggling playfully. "You know I haven't."
"Well you's a natural babe," Raphael replied, using the same husky tone of voice Stella remembered him using the last time they had gotten drunk together, the night he had told her she was beautiful.
Suddenly feeling sick and not wanting to hear anymore, Stella quickly dropped her letters on the kitchen table before turning back around and snatching one of the letters back and stuffing it into her pocket. Then, with as much grace as she could muster on her crutches, she headed back into her room and gathered up her things.
She'd be damned if she was going to spend another minute in this prison. She decided she would just take a cab to the airport and wait around for her flight rather than wait for April.
Shouldering the small bag April had packed for her, Stella walked out the front door and into the night without a glance back toward the husky laughter that followed her into the darkness.