Thank you all for your feedback! ^^

BubblyShell22 was confused that Fishface needed to be in a pool, although he has a breathing apparatus on him. Well, actually, just like his robotic legs, his breathing apparatus isn't working any longer. That's why he has to stay close to the water.

As for thegilwholived's suggestion of doing a chapter in April's point of view, there is more April in this chapter. And a lot of Karai for that matter. ;)

"Your time as a leader is over, Karai," Rahzar said, the amusement clearly hearable in his voice as the kunoichi, whose hands he was holding in a tight grip above her head, kept struggling and trying to kick him although they both knew it was of no use. "It's time for you to step down."

"You gotta kill me first!" Karai spat.

Rahzar chuckled. "I was so hoping you were gonna say that!"

And with that his free hand moved to her armor, tearing the metal plates apart as if they were made of papier-mâché until the bits of her armor landed on the ground with a clank.

And then he moved his hand back to her body, his claws moving over the black fabric of her jumpsuit almost gently, before he let his claws sink into the fabric, slowly pushing them deeper until they were digging into the flesh of her body.

Karai awoke with a start. Her one hand immediately moved to her belly where she could still feel the ridged, ugly scars under the fabric of her long-sleeved nightshirt.

In an attempt to calm down her pounding heart she looked around the room, trying to confess herself that this had just been a nightmare. Again.

Karai looked over to the window and realized it was dawning anyway. She could just as well get up then. This was in any case better than trying to fall asleep again and take the risk of having another nightmare.

And with that thought she pushed the blankets aside, got up and scuffled to the bathroom. Her hand moved to the faucet. If she was lucky, today, there would be water. She turned it on, and with a gurgling sound the water started running.

Karai smiled before she splashed her face with a few handfuls of water. At least a little bit of luck seemed to come her way. Better than nothing.

She then lifted her head, dried her face with the sleeve of her nightshirt and went back into the main room after that. For a moment she thought about turning on the lights in the living room, but then she decided to better not push her luck. So she went over to the window and pulled the curtains aside. It was still this slight morning light before sunrise which made everything look so pale. She opened the window and took a deep breath of fresh air. Well, as fresh as the air could be here in Area M. And wearing no face mask was okay at this early hour, although Karai remembered that there hadn't been any warnings about mutated pollination today. So this was the freshest air Area M had to offer.

Karai took another deep breath and then walked over to her bedside table and got a little pocket mirror out of the drawer together with a little piece of black eyeliner. This eyeliner was the only piece of make-up she had been able to keep over all these years. No-one really cared about proper make-up here. But for someone who had really loved her make-up she had at least tried to keep a little bit of it up. And when she had found this piece of eyeliner on the streets it really had made her day.

So she sat down on the floor and looked into the mirror. The mirror showed her a pale, thin face. Her hair had grown longer now and was falling down her back to her shoulder blades. And it was all black. Dying the hair at the back of her head blonde had become too difficult in Area M, because hair dye had become really, really short. So she had dropped it one day. Nothing was left from the fancy haircut she had worn four years ago. But she still had bangs, but now cut them herself with the kitchen scissors when she had the feeling they had grown too long. And she kept the strands before her ears the same length they had been when she had still worn her hair short. So this was the closest she could look now to what she had looked four years ago. Well, except for one.

She moved the kajal to her one eye and encircled it with black, then the other as well, and then she examined the result in the mirror again.

For a moment an image of the old Karai flashed in the mirror, the Karai with the stunning make-up and the awesome haircut.

With a sigh Karai squeezed her eyes shut for a moment and then looked into the mirror again that now showed her real face.

A slight smile appeared on her face when she did so. Well, this was the closest she could look to the Karai from four years ago, and it was something she could live with.

It was afternoon when Karai left the apartment building, wearing jeans, a black longsleeve, boots, and a leather jacket that was at least three sizes too big, but who cared? Clothes had to keep you warm, not make you look beautiful here in Area M.

Karai turned into a side street and entered a run-down, stuffy pub, the cigarette smoke blowing into her direction when she opened the door took her breath away for a moment, but she recovered almost immediately and went over to the counter. She climbed a bar chair and looked at the bulky bartender.

"The usual, Harmony?" the bartender asked, and Karai answered with a nod.

"Do I need to ask you if you can pay?" he asked with a raised brow, and Karai took a white pill out of her pocket and shoved it over to him. It was one of these Shark Tooth-pills Karai had mugged from one Purple Dragon-dealer two days ago. In consideration of how many of these pills the Purple Dragon had had with him, she would be flush for the next days, but this didn't mean she would sit around lazily. She would need a new job sooner or later, if not for the payment, then for killing time.

So when the bartender placed her glass of booze in front of her, Karai took a quick sip and turned to him again.

"You got anything you want Mr. S to know, Frank?" she asked.

Frank leaned forward a bit and lowered his voice.

"Well, I heard that Gonzales has problems with one of his junk dealers," Frank explained. "It's the one with the 'Second Chance'-shop. I heard he refuses to pay his dues and that Gonzales would pay if someone taught that guy a lesson."

"And what kind of lesson have you heard he has in mind?" Karai asked matter-of-factly. "One where he could still pay his dues or something more permanent?"

"I heard Gonzales would like to settle for the still paying-option."

Karai nodded. "I'll see what Mr. S says to this little story of yours," she said. "And if he agrees you might hear an interesting story of what has happened to that junk dealer tomorrow."

"You have an idea what Mr. S would do to him?"

Karai shrugged. "You know, Mr. S and I have this division of work," she explained and downed the rest of her drink in one gulp. "I do the legwork, he does the dirty work."

"This guy sure is a mystery," Frank declared. "No-one has ever seen him, even those of his victims who are still alive can't tell anything about him. If he wouldn't do such awesome work, I would doubt he exists."

Karai looked at the bartender with a smirk. "Well, you know, Frank," she said as she got up from the bar chair, "'S' could stand for shadow."

"And no-one knows for sure, huh?" Frank asked.

Karai shrugged. "I guess." And with that she left the pub.

At the same time another kunoichi was sitting on her bed and reading a book. They had a free afternoon and she had finished checking the security system readings half an hour ago.

Raph, Leo, and Mikey had left to help Casey with selling his groceries. Times were tough in Area M, and getting mugged was an all-time-possibility, especially when you had food with you. So having three ninja turtles as your bodyguards wasn't a bad idea.

They had asked April to join them as well, but after the party that usually followed Casey's arrival when they had finished dinner with the food he had brought, April was glad to have a little peace and quiet.

She knew that Donnie was in the dojo right now, together with Splinter, catching up on his training. The purple-masked turtle refused to let anyone else than Splinter see how much he had rusted over the years. He still was a deadly, highly trained ninja. After all, he had trained in the past years. He just wasn't in as good shape as his brothers were. And April knew this was embarrassing for him.

Under normal circumstances she would have comforted him, but things were a bit tense between them. She still wasn't sure where that anger deep inside her whenever he was near really came from, and she sure didn't want to find out. She just hoped it would fade away the more she got used to having Donnie around again. But for now, she needed a bit distance.
It was that moment when there was a silent knock on her door, and after she had asked him in, the door opened and Donnie popped his head in.

Speaking of distance…

"Sorry to bother you, April," he said quickly, his voice sounding a bit uneasy. "But I can't find my old toolbox, and Leo told me you were in charge of keeping my lab in order, so do you know where it could be?"

"Sure, Donnie," she replied. "It's in the drawer in the back of the lab where we keep all the other stuff we don't use on a regular basis."

"Ah, okay, thanks, April!"

"You're welcome!"

But before Donnie left he quickly glanced around April's room, something he hadn't been able to do when he had tried to comfort her when she had been crying after his arrival, and a deep frown appeared on his face when he saw Casey's old hockey mask on the wall next to April's bookshelf.

Why did April have Casey's hockey mask? Hadn't Casey lost it? Okay, that was something he had made up in his mind, that Casey had lost his mask. It had been the most logical explanation to him. But seeing it here in April's room in one piece sure messed up his neat theory.

"Something else I can help you with, Donnie?" April looked at him with a raised brow.

"No, no, everything's fine!" Donnie replied. "Thanks again!" And with that he quickly closed the door behind him.

April had seen the confusion in his eyes, but wasn't sure what could have caused that. It must have something to do with her weird behavior towards him, and it was moments like this that she hoped she knew for sure why she was angry at him and that things between them could be back to normal.

But she was angry at him. She did her best to hide it, and sometimes the relief and happiness that Donnie was back in once piece was outshining her anger, but there were times when her anger got the best of her.

Was she angry because he came back without a cure? No, that couldn't be the reason. She had always known that the chances of finding a cure had been thin, even with Donnie's knowledge and dedication.

No, it was something else. And she sure had been glad when she had seen him at the lair at the day of his arrival. But when he had mentioned her father, it had felt like her world had crumbled to pieces again.

Her father…

An image of her father before his mutation, her real father, the father she had been able to talk to and to hug, appeared before her inner eye, but quickly was replaced by an image of his mutant form. And then she saw him lying on the ground again, motionless, covered in blood.

But before her mind could go any deeper into what she had experienced back then, she fiercely shook her head, thus fighting these saddening images into the back of her mind again. At least for now.

In the meantime Karai had arrived back home. She was kneeling in front of her bed and removing some of the floor plates. When she was done she retrieved a box from the void underneath and placed it on the bed. She put the floor plates back in place and then sat on her bed, opening the box and spreading its content on her bed. There was a black jumpsuit, black boots, several knives, black gloves, and a sword.

When she held the sword in her hands, she hesitated. It was a shikomizue, closely resembling the one she had owned four years ago. She slowly unsheathed it and watched how the light was reflected on its blade.

Four years…

She had been going through a lot in this time, and her original plan had been to keep a low profile, live as normal a life as was possible in Area M, and so she had chosen the name 'Harmony' and pretended to be a normal young woman that had to fight through her day like all the others did in Area M. A young woman, though, that could deal out blows when she had to, but nothing more. No ninjitsu, no being a kunoichi, no lurking in the shadows. Just getting through the day and waiting till it was time for her revenge.

But it had turned that to take revenge you needed money. And it had also turned out that after all these years of being a kunoichi, of learning the art of ninjitsu, it had been simply impossible for her to get the kunoichi out of her completely.
That was the reason why she had decided to be Harmony during the day and Karai at nights. Well, not really Karai, but Mr. S, a cover name she had made up, so her enemies would never find out Mr. S really was a woman. No-one had ever seen Mr. S before. Those she was sent out to kill would never be able to tell anyone who she really was, and those who she just needed to teach a lesson, never caught a glimpse of her. She attacked them from the shadows, from behind, injured as much as it was necessary to get her employer what he wanted.

Ambush them, attack them, disappear – all in the blink of an eye. This was the usual proceeding. But sometimes she needed a bit more fun. She then attacked them from behind pulled a paper bag over their head and bound them, and thus have more time to have some fun. Her knowledge on killing and torture methods sure had increased in the past years – on the one hand due to the fact that weapons were short in Are M and if you wanted to do a good job, you needed to be creative sometimes, and on the other hand she really enjoyed it.

And she always left a card when she was done with her victim.

The card told them what they were supposed to do – and who had hit them. Well, when she was supposed to keep them alive. For the others, it just said who had killed them. This card had become Mr. S' trademark. And it had always worked. No-one knew who Mr. S was, no-one knew Harmony actually was a highly trained kunoichi. This was Karai's plan of surviving. And it had turned out pretty well so far. Soon she would have her revenge.

But first, she thought as she sheathed the sword again and put it down on the sheets, it's time for Mr. S to strike again. Tonight.

April was still in her room reading her book when there was another knock on her door. She rolled her eyes. Couldn't she spend one afternoon alone?

"Come in!" she called out, but when Casey popped his head in, she was a bit surprised. She had expected that it was Donnie or Mikey.

"Oh, hi, Casey," she greeted him.

"Hi, April," the young man said. "Leo asked me to tell you that dinner's ready in twenty minutes."

"Ah, okay," April replied. "Thanks, Casey."

"You're welcome." He hesitated a bit but then entered her room.

He pointed at his mask on the wall. "You still keep that, huh?"

April followed his gaze.

"Well, of course," she said. "It was a gift."

"A gift to remember me, yes," Casey clarified. He went over to her room and sat down on the edge of her bed.

"April," he started hesitantly. "My offer from four years ago still stands. And I still think it would be best that you live with me and my family." April raised a brow. "I don't have any expectations on you!" Casey added quickly. "It just would be safer, you know."

"Casey," April said. "You know that I can't do that."

"Why not?" Casey asked, his voice sounding a bit angry. "I got it that you didn't want to come with me four years ago because of your father. But he is gone for a while now. I gave you time to mourn, but now you should face the truth. It is safer for you to stay with me and my family."

April squeezed her eyes shut for a moment when Casey mentioned her father, but then she looked at him again and slowly shook her head.

"Casey, I can't," she said. "My place is here. With my family."

Casey lowered his eyes for a moment.

"And what are you and me?" he mumbled.

"We're friends," April replied. "You know that."

Casey nodded, his lips pressed into a thin line. He took a deep breath before he spoke up again.

"You know, there was a time when I thought we were more than that," he said.

"Yes, Casey," April said, her voice soundless. "Me too."

That night Karai stood in front of a shaking old man lying on the dirty ground of a side street, her head covered by a black shawl. Only her eyes were visible. She had pulled a paper bag over the man's head to block his view and his hands were tied. He was breathing heavily, afraid that his last hour has come.

Karai placed a paper card on his chest and then cut his bonds with a knife, and the next moment she had disappeared.
She was making her way over the roof-tops, self-satisfied with what she had achieved tonight. She had no idea why she had decided for the paper bag tonight, but it sure had been fun. And it felt like she had needed that tonight. Yes, sometimes it was great to be a kunoichi.