"Ok why is Mikey asking me if Splinter ever told me I was supposed to set an example for you guys?" Karai questioned Donnie the next morning when she arrived to pick up her son and instead was met with the strange questions from her youngest brother.
"Don't ask," Donnie said from his seat, he was in his lab going over some upgrades to the ultrasound machine, though considering Karai can go see an actual doctor he's not sure he'll even need the upgrades.
"Alright then, hey did you ever take a look at the other files on that flash drive?" She asked
"Not really, why?" Donnie questioned, momentarily pausing his work as his sister stepped deeper into the lab.
She gave a sigh, as if she didn't really believe what she was about to say, maybe she didn't. "A few weeks ago you guys said Angel wasn't quite herself?" She asked more than stated and Donnie simply nodded. "Last night, Damian slapped Mickey clean across the face, and she said that he didn't look like he regretted it for a second." She confessed and Donnie couldn't help but gasp.
"Karai that's awful," he said, when she and Casey left last night they had told them there was an emergency with one of their friends; but Donnie never would've guessed it was that.
"But that isn't like Damian!" Karai nearly shouted before she lowered her voice, fully aware of her unintended outburst and choosing to blame it on pregnancy hormones. "Angel fights the Kraang on a daily basis and Damian has more or less been hunting them since high school. Do you think it's possible that the Kraang got them and maybe they were, I don't know, brainwashed or something?" She suggested and while she thought Donnie would outright reject the idea, he actually seemed to consider it.
"That would explain Angel's suddenly enhanced strength and skill, and from the things you've told me over the years Damian isn't typically the violent type." He said; he was currently sitting in his chair with the wheels on the bottom, the one that Mikey and Justin are no longer allowed to touch. So he wheeled himself over from the ultrasound machine to his desk where he grabbed the flash drive and then wheeled over to the computer where he began to comb through the files. "It's a little hard to tell since they're only labeled in Kraang language," he commented as Karai came to stand over his shoulder. "But… THERE!" He suddenly exclaimed
"What?" Karai asked
"That's Angel's DNA pattern," Donnie replied in shock, off the top of his head he normally wouldn't be able to recognize Angel's DNA as anything more than familiar but it was much easier considering he could see that the only other sets of DNA on this flash drive he should recognize belonged to Karai and Casey, and the file he was looking at was that of a fourteen year old girl.
"Give it up," a very annoyed twenty-one year old prisoner said to her much younger cellmate after the girl nearly broke her shoulder trying to break down the metallic door that kept them contained.
"No," Angel huffed as she got back to her feet, "No," she said again but her legs buckled underneath her and sent her collapsing back to the ground.
The older woman stared at the girl with sympathy before getting down next to her.
"Angel you need to stop," she said seriously but Angel shook her head.
"No, I can't." She said as she tried to catch her breath, she had been trying to break down that door for over half an hour now and had made no progress. "I saw their plans." She confessed and at that the eyes of her cellmate widened. "Those clones of us they send back to the surface, they only look like us. On the inside they're like these super soldiers." She began to explain, beginning to feel as though she had somehow found herself trapped in a comic book. "They're supposed to be indestructible, and strong enough to lift a truck. Once the Kraang have enough they're going to reveal the clones for what they are, and bye-bye earth."
"Yeah, that's about the same reaction I had." Raph laughed, he, Casey, and Leo were currently standing around the table/counter in the kitchen and Casey had just asked Leo his opinion on asking Karai to marry him.
Leo had reacted similarly to the way Raph had, his jaw hung slightly open, his eyes bulged out, and unlike Raph he was unfortunate enough to be holding a plate, which he dropped and shattered upon hearing what Casey had to say.
"So is that a no?" Casey asked as Leo gathered up the shattered remains of his plate.
"No, I mean that's not a no. Just, you're sure this is what you want to do?" The leader asked from the ground.
"Yes I'm sure, Leo I've been with her for four years, if I was gonna leave I would've done it by now." He said, his voice maybe a little too defensive. But that wasn't on purpose, he's just getting kind of sick of feeling like he has to justify his decision because the guys might think he's only asking her because she's pregnant, well he's not! "Look Leo," he said in a much calmer tone, "I love Karai, I've been in love with her for the past four years. I know this is some pretty awkward timing, but I swear I was thinking about this months ago." He said, watching Leo closely as he dumped the plate scraps into the trash bin.
"Did you get a ring yet?" The oldest turtle asked and Casey shook his head.
"I wanted to talk to you guys first," He replied and for the first time since this conversation began Leo cracked a smile.
"Did you honestly think we were going to tell you no?" He asked and at the sound of that Casey's smile grew wider than Leo's.
"You're serious?" He asked, honestly no, he hadn't expected the turtles to say no. But the fear had still been there, especially under the circumstances.
Leo clasped a hand onto his friend's shoulder, his grin still in place. "Casey not only do I know that you love Karai but I give you a lot of respect for talking to us about this." The leader said but Casey only looked at him confused.
"Leo you're her brothers, I had to talk to at least one of you." He said and before anything else could be said Mikey came hurrying into the room.
"Casey, I got a question for you!" The youngest turtle exclaimed, dead set on asking his friend if he had grown up being told he was supposed to set an example for his sister.
"Actually Mikey, I think Casey has a question for you." Raph said, ever since his conversation with Mikey last night the younger turtle was almost hell bent on proving that his older brothers hadn't grown up the way they had, and he was sick of it.
Taking the hint, Casey turned his attention to the youngest turtle.
"What do you think about me asking Karai to marry me?" He asked and while Mikey's face lite up Casey's attention was turned to the sight of his son entering the room, and hearing the question. "What do you think buddy?" He asked, he didn't know what he expected Justin to say, but he certainly didn't expect him to run.
But that's what he did. He stood frozen for a second, starring at his father, unable to believe what he had just heard, then he ran. He bolted from the room, from the lair, and down the sewer. He kept running, even after he heard the voices of his parents coming after him.
Karai and Donnie were still in the lab when they heard someone go running by, Justin by the sounds of it. At first they didn't think anything of it, figured he was probably playing some game, until they heard Casey chasing after him.
"What the-?" Karai began but she stopped herself when she heard the turnstiles, then she raced out after them.
The instant she was in the subway tunnels she could see Casey, and Justin far ahead of him.
"Justin!" She shouted, along with Casey as she ran after her son. "Justin!" She shouted again, far ahead of her Casey wasn't having better luck and before either of them knew it their son was climbing the ladder to the surface.
Justin knew he shouldn't have done this, but he needed to get away. He doesn't belong here, not anymore. His mom and dad, or maybe he should say Karai and Casey, want to get married. Karai is going to have a baby; they're going to be a family. A family that he doesn't have a place in. So he ran, he ran up to the surface and down the sidewalk. He ran into an alley so that he would lose his pursuers, and he hid behind the dumpster in that alley without realizing that he wasn't alone.
"You ok?" A voice came from the fire escape above him, causing Justin to jump.
"AH!" He exclaimed before he realized that looking down at him was none other than Madeline Fitzgerald. "Oh, it's just you." He breathed in relief; Madeline then proceeded to jump down from the fire escape, barely cushioning her landing with her hands.
"Did you run away or something?" She asked and he nodded, so she drew closer. "Why?" She asked as she sat down in front of him, for a minute he only gave a sigh before responding.
"I don't think my mom and dad want me anymore," he huffed but she only looked confused.
"Why not?" She asked
"Because my mom's having a baby!" Justin exclaimed like it was obvious
"But why don't they want you anymore?" Madeline questioned.
Justin opened his mouth to reply but no words came out, he couldn't tell her. He had sworn he'd never tell anyone. As if reading his mind Madeline placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled at him.
"Don't worry about it," she said and then she leaned in to give him a hug. Her arms clung tightly around his neck, really tightly in fact. The next thing Justin knew he was struggling for air, and then his whole world went black.
Casey and Karai made it to the surface, Karai having caught up with her boyfriend, but there was no sign of Justin. They ran down the sidewalk, for the most part crashing into people as they went, but they didn't care.
"Oh no," Casey finally said as he skidded to a stop, Karai stopping along with him.
"What?" She questioned but he didn't need to answer, his eyes were locked on a TCRI van driving down the street.
"Come on!" She said urgently, with every intention of chasing down the van, but Casey grabbing her wrist stopped her.
"What are you doing?"
"Are you insane?"
They both demanded of each other at the same time.
"Am I insane?!" Karai asked incredulously, "The Kraang just drove by us and there's a good chance they have our son!" She shouted at him, somehow the surrounding New Yorkers were oblivious to the two young adults arguing about the Kraang in the middle of the sidewalk.
"Karai go back to the lair and tell the guys to meet me at TCRI," Casey ordered in a warning tone.
"Like hell I will!" She snapped, "I'll call them and tell them to meet us there," she attempted to compromise but Casey growled only in frustration.
"Karai you can't go!" He all but shouted
"Why not?" She demanded; he was still holding her left wrist so she placed her other hand on her hip. Casey just glared at her in response, and she got the message. "Casey the baby will be fine!" She snapped, trying to keep her voice at a civil volume.
"Karai we've already got one kid in danger, the last thing we need is you putting the other one in danger." Casey said but in response Karai finally yanked her wrist free of his grasp.
For a moment she was tempted to listen to him, their last encounter with the Kraang had been one of the scariest experiences of her life. Finding out she had been raised by a murder had been terrifying, finding out she was a mother the first time around had been extremely scary, opening her heart up to Casey had been just as bad, finding out she was pregnant had completely petrified her, but thinking that her baby had died before it even saw the light of day; that had taken the cake. So obviously she could understand why Casey's so worried; there is so much out in the field that they can't control, anything that can seriously hurt her could probably kill their child. Her better judgment told her to listen to Casey and go back to the lair, let the boys handle this. Unfortunately her pride almost never agrees with her better judgment, and Karai has a history of listening to her pride.
Author's Note: Hey guys! Ok first off i want to thank everyone for the great reviews that are being left, i'm so glad you like this story! Second, to answer jasmine v's question, no we fanfic author's do not make money doing this, we do it because it's fun and we love to write! Lastly i just want to you guys to know that i've had a pretty bad case of writer's block lately and i'm not entirely sure what to include in the next couple chapters (i have some things planned but not nearly enough) so please let me know if there's anything specific that you want to see and i'll try to find a place for it!