"Oh, Daddy," April whispered, kneeling down next to her mutated father. "Daddy, what happened?"
With a moan, her father partially extended one of his wings. The delicate membrane was in tattered shreds. The fleshy parts of his wing had been cut too.
Tears streaming from her eyes, April looked up into her dad's face. That was when she noticed a strip of fabric was stuck on one of his large teeth, and he also had some blood around his mouth. "Daddy, did you get into a fight?"
He seemed to understand the question. With a guilty expression, he hung his head.
"Holy cow."
The sound of Casey's voice snapped April back into the present. She whirled around to see him, still standing in the doorway, staring with wide eyes at the mutant on the floor.
April started crying in earnest. "Laugh if you want, Jones. Leave if you want. I don't care. You wanted to know my secrets? This is one of them."
Casey still seemed to be in shock. "Your dad is some kind of mutant monster?"
"Yes!" April shouted.
"That is…totally awesome!"
"It is not!" April sobbed. "And he's hurt. Get out of here! I need to get help for him."
"I'll help," Casey said. "I know a lot about first aid."
"For mutants?" April cried. "I don't think so. I'm telling you, get out." She grabbed her t-phone out of her bag and hit her speed dial for Donnie.
"H-h-hi, April—I mean, uh, hey…"
"Donnie! Shut up! My dad is hurt really badly! I don't know what happened!"
Donnie's voice suddenly became distant, as if he were holding the phone away from his mouth. "Leo! Turn the Shellraiser around! April's dad is hurt!" She could hear some muttering in the background, then his voice returned to full volume. "Calm down, April. We'll be there shortly. We're out on patrol and most of my med stuff is back at the lair. Until then…is he bleeding?"
"Yeah."
"Apply pressure to the site of the injury, and try to keep him warm. Keep his head above his heart, too. He isn't in shock, is he?"
April switched her t-phone to speaker and set it on the ground. "I don't think so." She set about trying to shift her dad into a safer position.
April distinctly heard Raphael's voice in the background. "Geez, Leo, are you trying to kill us?!"
"We'll be there soon," Donnie repeated.
"Hurry, Donnie," April pleaded.
"We're almost to the lair. I've got to let you go while I get my med kit. We'll be there soon, okay?"
"Okay."
The phone's screen lit up and the call ended.
"You're sure you don't need help?" Casey asked.
April wheeled around. "I told you to get out of here!"
"Like I'm leaving you when you're like this, Red! You can't move him on your own."
April paused for one moment to evaluate Casey's reaction. He acted as though there was nothing bizarre about this situation—and he seemed eager to help.
"Fine," April said. "I'm going to get a blanket. We need to get his head above his heart and apply pressure to the wound."
"I'm on it," Casey replied. Without flinching, he went over to April's dad and started to get him situated. When April returned with the blanket, she found that Casey had stretched her dad out in a standard first-aid position with his head elevated on several pillows. In response to her wondering look, he said, "I took Red Cross lifesaving training at camp this summer."
April laid the blanket over her dad. "It's going to be okay, Daddy," she said.
"I don't think your dad likes me," Casey said. "He growled at me."
"He just…doesn't like strangers," April replied.
"So…are you half mutant or something?"
"No. He got mutated…it's a long story…"
"Gotcha. So who's Donnie?"
"Well, he's…"
A loud tapping came from the window in the other room.
"…here. Keep pressure on the wound." April got up and ran to answer the window. Leo, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey all stood there with nervous expressions on their faces. "Thank goodness you guys are here!"
"Where is he?" Donnie asked.
"Living room." The five of them hurried out into the living room—and four of them stopped short and leapt back into the other room when they saw Casey. "He's here to help, guys," April said in a low voice. "I don't care if he sees you."
"What if we care?" Raph growled.
"He's already seen my dad, been attacked by Footbots and Donnie's monster."
"Timothy isn't a monster," Donnie whispered defensively.
"Are you going to help my dad or not?" April hissed.
At that, Donnie stepped out into the room and headed over to where April's dad lay on the floor. The other three lingered in the doorway, watching cautiously.
Casey looked up Donnie with surprise. "Wow, Red," he said. "How many monsters do you have running around?"
"Nice to meet you too," Donnie said curtly.
"Donnie, this is Casey. Casey, Donnie. Now can we please do something about my dad?"
Donnie immediately got down on his knees and opened up his kit. "Take it easy, Mr. O'Neil," he said. "We'll get you fixed up."
April stood back and watched with apprehension as Donnie worked. She was surprised at how he and Casey worked together so well; Casey obediently did everything Donatello asked him to do, without comment. They seemed to have forgotten about each other—and anything else. Both of them were so zeroed in on helping her dad that neither of them noticed when the other turtles ventured into the room to watch.
Once the bleeding had slowed and the major injuries dressed, Casey looked up at Donnie. "I don't know much about mutant medicine," Casey said, "but that wing looks pretty wrecked."
Donnie sighed. "I might be able to culture a skin graft," he said. "But it will be pretty tricky. Once he stops bleeding, April, I'll have to get him back to my lab."
"You have a lab?" Casey cried, once again getting the fanatic look on his face. "Freakin' sweet! It's like I've walked into some crazy monster movie!"
"Ease up on the word 'monster,' why don't you," Raphael growled angrily.
Casey looked up at the three other turtles standing a few paces away. "Dude! There's more of you. You're like…some kind of teenage mutant ninja turtles or something!"
"Or something," muttered Donatello as he put the finishing touches on Mr. O'Neil's bandages. "April, your dad needs to rest, okay? We are going to move him onto his bed."
"It will be the first time he's used it for a while," April said. "He normally just hangs from the rafters."
Casey laughed.
"Hey!" shouted Raph.
"Yeah, show some respect!" Leo snapped.
"Not cool," Mikey added.
"Sorry," Casey said, still smiling. "It's a bit hard to process. You need help carrying him?"
"We got it, thanks," Donnie said coldly. The four turtles gently carried April's dad into the other room, leaving Casey and April momentarily alone.
"So…are these those friends you were on the outs with?" Casey asked.
April was dumbfounded. "None of this disturbs you even a little tiny bit?"
"Are you kidding? This is super awesome! Your life is so interesting!"
"I wish it were a little more boring," April sighed.
"Dude, you have giant turtles for friends. I wish I had giant turtles for friends."
April couldn't stop herself from laughing. The tension was finally winding down. She started to feel like everything was going to be okay. "Well," she said, "maybe I can arrange that."
Atsuko sat naked in her bathtub, pouring hydrogen peroxide over the bite wound on her shoulder.
Once, when she was a little girl, she had been bitten by a neighbor's dog and thought it was excruciating. Now, she thought she knew what it might feel like to be attacked by a tiger. The fangs had punctured deep into her flesh; the skin around the wound was purpling into a hideous bruise.
Her mind was reeling. What was that thing? When it heard her scream it screeched and swooped down on her. It had tried to lift her up into the air, but her reflexes and her sai made it drop her. Once injured, the beast seemed to have gone completely mad. That was when it had sunk its vicious fangs into her shoulder.
But Satou Atsuko had fangs, too—her sai had flashed in the sunset, striking the creature repeatedly until it released her. It had crawled, moaning, back up the fire escape and into the apartment above.
Atsuko had simply lain dazed on the fire escape, dripping blood onto the ground below, clutching at her wound, and praying that she would just wake up from this nightmare.
But years of nightmares had taught her the difference between dreams and waking. Finally, she got up and stumbled into the bathroom, grabbed her first aid kit, stripped naked, and climbed into the bathtub so that she wouldn't get blood everywhere.
Hydrogen peroxide was the first step. Miraculously, the fangs didn't seem to have torn through any of her muscles. Though it was excruciatingly painful, she still had full motility of her shoulder. She cringed as she watch the peroxide bubble and hiss as it made contact with the wound; after waiting a minute, she gently washed the bite with soap and water, then treated it with more hydrogen peroxide.
She took a towel and wrapped it around the bite, applying pressure as much as she could. She took a hint of satisfaction in knowing that she had dealt the creature far more damage than it had given her. Still, she was worried about diseases. She had recently had a tetanus shot, but the thing did seem mammalian. What if it had rabies? Should she go to the emergency room?
What would she even tell the triage nurse? That she got bitten by a giant bearded bat thing?
She also thought about calling the police to report the animal. Again, what would she tell them? That April girl could be in danger—but then Atsuko realized that this animal was what had been making the noise all week long. Obviously the girl was keeping the animal as a pet of some kind.
But when Atsuko thought of the poor motherless teen she couldn't bring herself to send the police in. If the animal was April's pet, she had nearly killed it, nearly taken away what was probably the poor girl's only comfort. Why make it worse by calling the police?
Atsuko hated the feelings of empathy that surged through her. These idiotic feelings kept her from thinking straight. Feelings were what made her weak. They were what had made her vulnerable to him. It wasn't until she had shut down all emotion that she was able to escape months and months of torment at his hands…
Abruptly, she slapped herself across the face. Don't think about that, she said to herself. Not now. It's just the physical pain. Just breathe. Breathe and go get vaccinated.
But all that Atsuko could do was sit in the tub; naked, shivering, trembling, and paralyzed by fear, she whimpered softly as she watched the nightmarish vision before her waking eyes.
Her husband, dead. Her sons, dead.
And then him.
"In your darkest hour, remember that Hamato Yoshi did this to you."
Then, tears streaming down her face, Satou Atsuko lost consciousness and fell into dreams of rape and torment.
