CWC: Okay, sorry for the wait, but here is a mega-chapter to make up for it! Be sure to read the Author's note at the bottom!
XXXXXXXXXX
Arianna's POV, earlier
I sigh from my position in the shadows as Bethany and Ruby get into another argument. This must be the fifth one since Hannah left almost half an hour ago. I swear, these two could argue over the color of the sky on a sunny day! Sighing again, I jump down from on top of my pipe to land between the two combatants, who have degenerated to snarling wordlessly at each other.
"Enough," I say, fighting to keep the irritation out of my voice. They back off, still glaring, and settle for sitting on opposite sides of the couch. Donatello has been in his lab since Leader left, Splinter never emerged, and Leonardo retreated to the training room once the second yelling match started. As Bethany and Ruby start fighting again, I decide to follow Leonardo's example and follow in the absent turtle's footsteps to the dojo.
The room is dark, with only a small candle in the center. The blue-masked turtle is sitting quietly, facing the light with his back to me. I breathe silently in through my nose, detecting the faint smell of incense permeating the room as well as the wet-hide smell that I recognize as belonging to the turtles.
"Did you need something," Leo asks without moving. Amused that he was able to detect me, I pad forward on my paw-feet to sit across from him with the candle between us.
"Only a quiet place to meditate," I reply calmly, sinking into a lotus position on the padded floor. The turtle has his eyes opened and is staring at me with a measuring gaze. I meet his eyes with the cool logic that I was known for even as a Foot ninja, and he nods once before closing his eyes and resuming meditation. I take the opportunity to study him a little closer.
My eyes roam his toughened green skin, tight over muscle acquired through years of hard work. Three-fingered hands are laced with scars as they rest lightly on green knees. Taking note of the scars, I glance at the tan plastron that covers his front. Close examination reveals that it too is covered in lighter lines, the scars of battles hard fought and hard won. I eye the blue-wrapped hilts of the twin katanas that he wears that protrude over the large brown shell that covers his back. My eyes meander down from the high tips of the hilts to land on Leonardo's masked face… where two brown eyes watch me solemnly. We regard each other again, before he smiles slightly.
"See anything you like," he asks jokingly, and I feel a corner of my mouth lift slightly in a miniscule smile.
"I apologize," I say formally. "I am still new to this way of life. It is interesting to me how you and your brothers survived with no contact with the surface world." Leo shifts slightly, and his body language suddenly changes from comfortable-but-wary to uncomfortable-and-awkward.
"Well, we have had some contact," he admits reluctantly, and I cock one eyebrow. Both of us turn our heads toward the door as we hear a crash and small yelp. At the yelp, Leonardo is instantly on his feet and limping to the door. I reach it first and slide it open quickly. I blink in shock at the scene before me.
A human woman with bright red hair stands just inside the entrance to the lair, a box with several pieces of technology in it at her feet. She's gaping in shock at Bethany and Ruby, the former of whom has stood and is facing Ruby to continue their argument, while Ruby is still sitting on the couch with her head tipped completely back to see the woman almost upside down. The spell is broken as the woman says, "What the heck?!"
Ruby is instantly standing, only to be shoved back into a corner with Bethany in front of her for protection as I also get between my clan mates and this new threat. Snarling at her, I pull several throwing stars from my hip pouch and prepare to throw. The shouts of Leonardo and Donatello, who has emerged from his lab at the commotion, make me pause, but not enough to stop me from throwing. I barely register the slight hiss of the door to the lair opening for a second time, but everyone notices when a roar shakes the cavern.
I turn my head and feel the blood drain from my face. Leader, a scowl on her half-feline face, stalks ominously on all fours to stand between me and the human. Rising to her back paws, Hannah crosses her arms and, with a glare strong enough to melt steel, growls, "WHAT the PIT is going on here?!"
I slide the shaken back into my pouch as I straighten, facing my leader. "I was about to take down a potential threat," I say, wincing at the questioning tone in my voice. Hannah's eyes narrow dangerously.
"Really? Then allow me to inform you what it looked like from this angle," she says, voice going threateningly sweet. "I come back from finding us a potential base, only to find my SIC up a wall trying to protect Ruby and my TIC preparing to kill what she says is a threat when she knows full well that a human could not threaten us."
"She could be a threat," I protest. "She knows our location!"
"If she was honestly able to find her way in here on her own, without assistance from our hosts, why would a human be wandering the sewers carrying a bunch of computer parts," Hannah says, nearly shouting. I back down, looking at the floor.
"I am sorry, Leader," I say after a minute of silence. "I was not thinking logically; that will not happen again." Hannah nods before, finally, turning to face the human woman who started all of this.
XXXXXXXXXX
Hannah's POV
"I apologize for the rash actions of my Third in Command," I say diplomatically. The human makes several strangled attempts at speech before managing a strange smile.
"That's okay," she says. "I was surprised, too." At this point, Leonardo takes over.
"Girls, this is April, one of our human friends," he says, looking to the woman, who waves slightly as the rest of the clan falls into place behind me.
"My name is Hannah, and this is my clan," I say, gesturing to my friends. "This is Satomi, my medical officer, Ruby, my weapons master, Arianna, Third in Command and strategist, and Bethany, Second in Command."
April nods nervously, responding with a shaky, "Nice to meet you." Turning slightly, I give Satomi a look. She responds instantly.
"Beth, Ruby, Arianna, you're not going to believe the place we found," she starts, the over enthusiastic gushing only slightly forced. Satomi drags the three cats over to another area of the cave and starts to describe the hotel. Breathing a sigh of relief, I jump over the back of the couch and sit down, slumping against the worn fabric. My big ears catch whispers of April talking to the turtles, but I ignore it in favor of turning on the TV and flicking through the channels.
Settling on the local news, I'm shocked when April walks around the side of the couch and sits down on the opposite side. I glance at the out of the corner of my eye without turning my head away from the TV. She's trying to looking interested in the news, but is constantly sneaking glances at me that are laced with curiosity and nervousness.
"You don't have to be scared of us," I comment, not turning my head. "Arianna only attacked you because she thought you were a threat; everyone makes mistakes every now and then."
"I'm not scared," April replies almost immediately. "I'm just curious. I didn't know there were any mutants other than the turtles and Leatherhead." I turn to look at her now, allowing one eyebrow to cock upwards in confusion.
"Leatherhead," I ask. "They haven't mentioned him." April shrugs.
"You probably didn't ask. So, if you don't mind me asking, what's your story? I mean, did you start out as kittens, or what," she asks, relaxing slightly. I chuckle slightly.
"Not exactly," I answer, smiling wryly. "Do you know of the Foot clan?" I take note of how April stiffens and grimaces with disgust at the name.
"Of course. You can't know the turtles and not know about the Foot."
"You know how they sometimes did genetic experiments?"
"Yesss…," April says slowly. She must know where this is going.
"Well, not all of the test subjects were random people off the street; sometimes those who failed their missions were given the honor of furthering said endeavors," I say, carefully gauging her reaction. Her expression is funny to watch, quickly switching from confusion to realization, to horror, to anger, to sadness.
"Well that sucks," she says bluntly, startling a laugh out of me. "So why do you have tiger stripes and none of the others do," April asks, and I freeze. I stare at her, eyes wide.
"What tiger stripes," I ask, voice quiet. April frowns.
"You know, your stripes; they're all over your face. They look pretty cool if that's what you're worried about," she replies, as if stating the obvious. April starts to say something else, but I'm already standing and dashing to the bathroom. I stop dead in front of the mirror, and stare.
"SATOMI…," I give a strangled cry as I look at my reflection. Tiger stripes run up and down my face, and a quick check reveals that they are also on my arms, legs, and tail. The others come rushing in and blink in surprise at my new appearance. I turn to Satomi.
"Satomi," I say calmly, forcing the panic from my voice. "What is happening?" Satomi babbles incoherently for a few seconds before managing to speak.
"The feline DNA that the scientists gave us must still be bonding with our human DNA; it's still changing," she answers, a note of awe in her voice. I take a few deep breaths and look back up.
"So we're all gonna get stripes," Bethany asks, eyeing my new accessories. Satomi bites her lip thoughtfully as she stares at my markings.
"It would depend on what feline DNA they grafted into us," she replies finally. "If they only used tiger DNA, then yes, we will all end up with strips, but if they used the DNA of other large cats, we could all end up differently."
"I guess we will see soon enough," Arianna says logically. I rub my hand back over my head, spiking my fur slightly, and sigh.
"Is there any way of predicting which route the mutations will take," I ask, closing my eyes and leaning back against the stone wall. Satomi shakes her head.
"The one thing about mutations is that nobody knows which direction they'll take. I could probably figure out which type of DNA they mixed in with ours with some of the equipment in Donny's lab and a blood sample," she explains, ending on a positive note. I nod and look at the others.
"Satomi, get permission from Donatello to use his laboratory; Arianna, help her; Ruby and Beth, go to the rooms we used and start gathering our things. The place we went to investigate will be our new base. We'll be moving out shortly," I order, looking at each of my clan mates in turn. They nod in affirmation before slipping quietly out of the bathroom. Ruby is the last to leave. She bites her lip and hesitates.
"We don't have to leave without saying good bye, do we," she asks, pleading in her wide red eyes. I smile at her.
"No, we'll be sure to say good bye. We'll probably come back and see them again," I assure her, putting a hand on her shoulder. The younger cat looks up at me gratefully before following the others out. Taking another deep breath, I glance at my new stripes in the mirror one last time and smile. At least they look cool. I step out of the bathroom and immediately confronted by concerned turtles.
"Hannah, what-," Leonardo stops short when he catches sight of my face. I give him a glum look and wait for the reaction. Mikey steps forward and leans in close, getting in my face. I fight the urge to step back and straighten, looking down at the shorter turtle with what little pride I have. Mikey stares at me, brown eyes calculating, before breaking out into a wide grin.
"Dude, those are so cool," he says, ignoring my look of surprise. I quickly wipe it off my face and replace it with a smile.
"Thanks," I say before crouching slightly and jumping over their heads. Turning back around, I look back at their shocked expressions. "I have some things I must discuss with your Master; is he busy," I ask politely. Leonardo shakes his head.
"No, he normally meditates in his room around now. Sometimes I join him, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind talking to you," the blue-masked turtle elaborates. I nod at him gratefully before dropping to all fours and walking to the room that Leo had pointed out earlier as belonging to his Master. Cautiously, I get back on my hind legs and open the paper and wood door a crack.
"Master Splinter," I ask quietly, peeking in. The old rat is sitting cross-legged in the center of the room with a candle in front of him.
"Come in, dear girl," he responds, raising one grey-furred paw to beckon me forward. I comply, closing the door behind me before sitting down across from him. "I trust your exploration went well," Splinter inquires, eyes closed as he meditates. I breathe a silent sigh of relief at the calm air the old Master puts out.
"Yes; in fact, it went better than expected. The hotel is an ideal location, and Satomi has already transferred ownership to us, though a false name, of course. We will be leaving within the day," I say blandly, as if giving a report to one of my superiors, who would either nod and flap a hand to send me away or snarl and slap me for my failure. Splinter does neither, instead opening his eyes and giving me a measuring look.
"You do not have to leave if you do not wish to; it is good for my boys to have company, and you are no hardship on us," he comments. I shake my head.
"Thank you for your offer, but we must learn to survive on our own. Not that you will be able to get rid of us entirely," I add with a small smile. "Ruby and Michelangelo have become fast friends; I doubt she would allow me to ignore your family." My expression grows somber. "There is another reason we must leave. No doubt you've noticed my new…accessories?" I gesture to the stripes on my face and flick my tail around until it lies across my lap to display the pattern there as well. Splinter nods slowly.
"They are the result of the continuing mutation forced upon us by those in the Foot clan. We are unsure what route the mutations will take as they continue; if we stay, we may become a threat to your family. At least on our own we will not put anyone else in danger," I explain darkly.
For a moment I drop my head to gaze at the floor mat and allow the darkness of my fears to consume me. What had we done to deserve this? I never asked for this, or even to be the leader! Why couldn't I go back to being mindless?! I'm shaken out of my dark thoughts by a hand on my shoulder. The sensation is a strange one, skin-on-shirt-on-fur, and I look up into Master Splinter's wise brown eyes.
"All will be well, young one," he says comfortingly. I wipe my face, suddenly aware of the tears streaking down my fur, and clear my throat.
"Of course it will," I say with more confidence than I feel, shaking off the feeling of despair. That wouldn't help the others, and neither would feeling sorry for myself. I stand abruptly, my tail moving back behind me as I look down on the old rat and do the one thing that, when I first discovered this new freedom we had, would never do again. Placing my hands flat on the sides of my thighs, I bow deeply from the waist to Master Splinter before straightening and leaving the room. Moving silently around the perimeter of the common room, I join the others in Donatello's laboratory.
My clan mates are all gathered around a machine, Arianna back a bit to allow Satomi room to roll in her chair between the machine and computer connected to it while Bethany is sitting on one of the counters and Ruby is staring at the strange machine, tail twitching as she watches it light up with wide eyes. I tilt my head and give a lopsided smile at the sight.
Arianna is the first to notice me, meeting my green eyes with her hazel ones before twitching her fingers, two towards a bank of computers, one at a table, and another straight up. I glance at each place, nodding. Bethany sees me next and moves to stand up before I motion for her to stay where she is. She smiles and leans back to watch the show. Satomi catches sight of me as I come closer and nods before turning back to her work with distracted eyes behind her yellow mask. I move soundlessly up behind Ruby and lean over until I'm almost breathing right in her cupped blue ear.
"See anything interesting," I whisper and dart back. Ruby jumps, red eyes wide as she flails and stops, facing out and breathing hard. Bethany bursts out laughing, nearly falling off the table as she leans back and roars, Arianna offers a quiet chuckle, and even Satomi looks up from her computer work long enough to grin. Ruby giggles as she gets the joke.
"All right," Satomi states as she types one last line on the computer. "Now I need the blood samples and we can get some answers." Arianna offers a five-pointed shaken, shaped like a star, and each of us make a small incision using a different point. Satomi gathers the blood on small cards and feeds them to the machine, which lights up red, green, and purple before releasing an ominous whirring sound. The computer begins to keen, and Satomi rolls over to the printer. She collects the papers that have come spitting out and starts to shuffle through them, blue eyes quickly scanning each piece before moving on. We all wait in stiff silence while she reads. Finally she sighs and looks up at us with a smile.
"Okay, here's how it stands," she begins, standing up like she's about to give a speech. "Hannah's DNA was blended with that of a tiger, obviously, probably for its strength and endurance. Ruby, your extra DNA came from an African Wild cat, known for its jumping abilities. Arianna, your donor was a Jaguar, notable for its stealth. Bethany, you have become half lion, respected for its strength. I appear to be part cheetah, known, of course, for its speed. It appears as if the Foot wanted to see how the DNA of each of these cats would enhance our already impressive skills. Because we can only assume that all of the DNA was blended to our own in the same way, then presumably we will all follow the same basic pattern. Based on Hannah's recent transformation, the changes will start small. I've examined the DNA and how it is advancing on our own; it doesn't look like it will ever turn us completely into cats."
Everyone breathes a sigh of relief at that. "It may seem that the DNA is advancing, but it is really only finishing the bonding to our original DNA. This means that we will keep the same body structure, but change in smaller ways. To put it simply, gaining all these," Satomi gestures to her ears, legs, and tail. "Gaining all these was the major step. Everything else is just finishing up what changing our bodies started." I lift a hand to my chin and lower my head, closing my eyes as I consider the new information.
"So we do not need to worry about turning into blue cats or losing our minds," I ask pointedly.
"None whatsoever," Satomi assures me. My new ears easily catch the other three sighing with relief. I nod.
"Good. Satomi, we will be moving into the hotel immediately. Do you have the title in our name yet?"
"Yes. As of twenty minutes ago, the Wolf Hotel was bought by the Panther People," she answers with a smirk.
"Even better. Bethany, Arianna, Ruby, are we all packed?"
"All of our belongings are packed," Arianna replies. "We can exit the premises in approximately five minutes and be unpacked in about ten."
"Great. We'll spend the night here and tomorrow morning, we'll head out to our new home," I decide, opening my eyes and looking at my clan. Bethany and Arianna nod with acceptance, Satomi is still a little distracted by the charts in her hand, but Ruby looks slightly apprehensive. She raises her hand nervously. I chuckle.
"We're not in school, Rubes, you don't have to raise your hand," I tease, getting a smile out of her.
"We won't leave without saying good bye, right," Ruby asks anyway.
"I promised before, remember? I never break my promises. And we have the whole rest of the day to spend with them," I comfort her. Bethany breaks in.
"Besides," she says, supporting her upper body by leaning back on one hand while she gestures with the other and swings her legs off the edge of the counter she sits on. "It's not like we'll never see them again."
"The odds of never again encountering our reptilian friends are astronomically small," Arianna says, and smirks when Ruby smiles after taking a second to decode what she said. My lips quirk in a half smile as I regain control.
"Alright, let's get out there and make this afternoon count! Satomi, that means you too; no hiding out in here and building an atomic bomb," I add, eyeing my medic with a smile.
"Aww," Satomi fakes looking disappointed, though a smile twitches at the corners of her mouth.
"At least not until we get to the new place," I relent, smiling as Satomi's face breaks into a grin, mind no doubt spinning with ideas for a new lab. Reluctantly she puts the papers with our bags, which are piled by the door to the lab, and allows herself to be dragged out by an overenthusiastic Ruby, who is babbling about challenging Mikey to a video game war. Chuckling lightly, Arianna helps Bethany off the counter and out of the room, leaving me alone in the lab full of blinking, beeping machines.
Smirking, I raise my voice slightly. "You can come out now," I say, and my smirk grows wider as Mikey and Donny emerge, blushing sheepishly, from behind two machines. Raphael grumbles as he clambers out from under a table, and Leonardo drops silently from the ceiling with an unhappy look on his face.
"How'd you know we were there," Mikey beats him to the punch, looking at me confused.
"Arianna told me," I shrug off the question, moving on to more important matters. "You heard everything," I ask, meeting Leonardo's brown eyes. He nods. I smile. "Then you better get out there; Ruby is going to be looking for a video game war," I say before turning my back on them and walking out of the lab. I see their confused faces as I exit the lab and smile wider. I love being unpredictable.
XXXXXXXXXX
I'm relaxing on the chair, watching Mikey, Ruby, and surprisingly Arianna and Raphael have a four-way video game war on one of the larger televisions when I glance at the clock and think about making supper. Making sure that nobody notices my absence, I make my way to the kitchen, startling April, who apparently has had the same idea as me.
"You scared me," the human says with a smile, picking up her dropped knife. She's chopping peppers, onions, and mushrooms, as well as what looks like some kind of sausage.
"I'll make rice," I offer, seeing that she intends to make a stir-fry. April grins.
"Sure thing," she replies, and the kitchen falls into an easy silence as I pull a box of the white grains from a cabinet and start to cook. I'm aware of April's eyes on me as I move skillfully around the kitchen, sure of what I'm doing.
"You look like you've cooked before," she mentions as she puts the pan on the stove to heat, throwing a pat of butter in and moving it around to grease the pan.
"In the Foot, every ninja had their own bedroom, to avoid seeing each other's faces, as well as table and chairs. There was, however, a common kitchen. It was customary to make your food in the kitchen and take it to your room to eat," I say, ignoring the stab at my heart from thinking back to my life as a tool. April looks at me thoughtfully as she dumps about half of the cut vegetables in the pan and stirs lightly before adding a lid.
"So what do you do," I ask, stirring the rice and putting the finished product into a bowl. Deciding that it isn't enough, I start to make another box.
"I'm the owner of an old antique shop called Two-time antiques," April says proudly. I drop my spoon and gape at her for a second before starting to laugh until I can't breathe.
"What," April asks, looking at me, concerned. I hold up a hand in the universal 'give me a second' gesture while I recover and quickly stir the rice before it can burn.
"Just a coincidence. Did the turtles tell you how we met," I ask, smiling at her as she takes her own turn stirring the meat and vegetables.
"No, they just said that you helped them out of a tight spot and your friend Bethany got hurt in a fight with the Foot," April elaborates, dumping the first batch of stir fry into a bowl before adding the last of it to the pan.
I think for a minute as I do the same with the rice, considering the almost full bowl before deciding that it's enough and move to the cabinet.
"You know how we used to be Foot ninja," I ask, eyeing the woman, who nods. "We ran into Leo a short time after we first escaped. The nut was injured and trying to take down a squad of ninjas on his own. We interfered, and ended up treating his wounds as best we could. Satomi suggested returning him to wherever he came from, and he asked to call his brothers when he woke up. We arranged a pick up point, intending to make sure he was returned safely before moving on, but the Foot attacked Leo and we ended up having a battle royal on the roof of one Two-Time Antiques."
April gasps, and then laughs, getting the irony. I chuckle.
"Yeah, tell me about it. So then Bethany was injured protecting Leonardo and the turtles brought us back here. We've found a new base, though, so we'll be leaving tomorrow. That's partly why I'm in here; I wanted to make tonight special for my girls," I explain, grabbing the stack of plates from the cupboard and starting to set them out on the table. April tosses the last of the stir fry into the huge bowl and comes to help, getting out forks and knives.
"Casey thought he heard noises on the roof the other night," she comments as we finish up the table and move the food to the right spots.
"Who's Casey," I ask curiously. April blushes slightly.
"He's just my friend. Casey met the turtles right after I did; he ran into Raph during one of his stints as a hockey-mask wearing vigilante."
"That sounds interesting," I remark, choosing some cups and drinks from the fridge. I pause as the rest of her statement catches up to my brain.
"Wait, did you say hockey mask," I question, looking over my shoulder at the red-haired woman.
"Yup, and he has this weird blue hair that he swears is natural," she continues.
"I've heard of him before," I muse, straightening up with the drinks in my arms. My tail coils around the fridge handle and shuts the door behind me while I move towards the table. Suddenly my eyes widen in recognition.
"Your Casey wouldn't happen to be Casey Jones, would he," I ask, eyeing April, who nods. I chuckle. "Oh, Shredder would love to get his claws on your boy," I say with a laugh. "That lunatic almost dented his helmet one time with a baseball bat."
April laughs with me, and my ears twitch as I pick something up. "Yeah, he's a little crazy, but I love him anyway."
She slaps her hand over her mouth, eyes wide, and I cock one eyebrow. "That wasn't supposed to come out," April mourns, slumping down into a seat and lightly whacking her forehead against the table. I smile.
"So you love him. What's the big deal? Does he have someone else or something," I ask, continuing to set up the table for supper. Finishing up, I sit down next to April who's holding her head in her hands and running her fingers through her hair.
"No, nothing like that," she replies. "He's just such a hothead, and stubborn, and brash, and over-protective, and sweet, and funny, and how would a guy like him, who runs around rooftops and hangs around with mutant turtles and beats up bad guys for fun, even consider a girl like me?" I frown at her, and then smile when someone else breaks in.
"Why wouldn't I consider someone strong enough to kick my butt on a daily basis, brave enough to tell me when I'm bein' an idiot, beautiful enough to make any guy take a second look, kind enough to give me a chance, weird enough to put up with me goin' out at all hours, strange enough to accept giant mutant turtles, and now cats, it looks like, and down-right crazy enough to see what I do on a regular basis and still, for some reason, stick around," a rough male voice with a Brooklyn accent almost as thick as Raph's asks redundantly from behind April.
I smirk as she jumps up, spinning, to see the tall, strong man with long blue hair, clad in blue jeans, work boots, and a red tank top, leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed over his chest. He straightens, uncrossing his arms, as Aprils stutters out, "Casey."
She doesn't get the chance to say anything else before Casey has crossed the kitchen, taken April in his arms, and is kissing her deeply. I smirk and quietly move past them into the common room. Raph, Mikey, and Ruby are all sulking on the couch, watching the news, while Arianna is relaxing smugly in a nearby chair. Satomi has joined Donatello at his more public workstation and seems to be involved in repairing some strange gadget. I wander over to the TV watching group.
"What's wrong with you three," I ask as I claim another chair. Raph glares at me and the other two continue to sulk.
"They appear to be distressed because I was victorious in their game," Arianna says happily. I turn to the group on the couch, one eyebrow raised.
"Translation please," I ask.
"She beat us all at every game we played," Ruby replies.
"Every game?"
"Mario Kart, Halo, checkers, chess (we all got creamed on that one), bowling, boxing, Dance Dance Revolution, Frogger, and any racing game you care to name. You name it, we played it and she won it with a new high score," Mikey responds with less sadness and something closer to awe. Raph grunts. Arianna smiles smugly and shrugs as I turn back to her.
"It's all simple strategy and hand eye coordination," she explains, and I shrug back.
"Let this be a lesson to you," I say to the losers. "Don't challenge the logistics expert to a video game war." Raphael chuckles at my comment as Casey and a blushing April to emerge from the kitchen, Casey's arm around April's waist.
"Dinner's ready," she says, and Mikey whoops as everyone makes a bee line for the kitchen.
"It's about time," Raphael teases as he passes the couple, and laughs when Casey's face reddens.
"Shut up," he grumbles, punching the red-masked turtle in the shoulder. Rolling my eyes, I follow the group as they gather around the table and sit down.
After Master Splinter takes his seat at the head of the table, we all dig in to mounds of fluffy white rice covered with mushrooms, onions, peppers, and cubes of beef. Casey and April sit beside each other, and I notice that they're holding hands under the table. Raphael is on the other side of Casey, with Bethany beside him. Satomi is sandwiched between Beth and Donny, talking with the scientifically-inclined turtle using jargon far over my head. Mikey sits beside his brother chatting happily with Ruby, who is beside me with Master Splinter to my left. I frown.
Where is Arianna? Excusing myself, I leave the bright kitchen in search of my absent clan mate.
"Arianna," I call quietly, dropping to all fours as I stalk the halls of the lair. A small burst of electronic music catches my attention, and I follow it into Mikey's room on the second level, next to where I was told my clan spent the night. Poking my head into the room, I see my third in command stretched out on the floor, the light from the game device in her hand casting her face in an eerie light. Using all my skill, I creep across the mine-field that is Mikey's floor to stand beside Arianna.
"Pokemon," I say, shocked disbelief evident in my voice. Arianna jolts, though not as violently as Ruby did, and, pausing her game, looks up at me guiltily.
"Errrrrr," she says, glancing between me and the game boy in her hand. "I have an explanation." I smile.
"I'm sure you do, but for now let's go eat some supper, okay," I say, offering a hand to help pull her up. She considers it for a second, before smiling, the first real smile I've seen out of her, and, flicking the game off and tossing it gently on the bed, takes my paw in her own and pulls herself up.
"What did you and April make," she asks as we exit the room.
"Stir fry with rice; it turned out really well," I answer. The kitchen quiets slightly as I enter with Arianna, until Master Splinter says, "Glad you two could join us," and turns back to his food. Everything goes back to normal as Arianna takes a seat between Ruby and I. As I look around the kitchen, taking in how everything I know has changed in the past week, I smile and look to the old rat on my right, who smiles back at me.
"Thank you," I say, looking directly into his eyes.
"For everything." Splinter only nods.
"Hannah, tell this guy that Unicron could totally kick Galactus' purple butt," Ruby's voice distracts me, and, rolling my eyes, I turn back to the conversation.
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I yawn and wipe the sleep from my eyes, glaring sleepily at the glowing alarm clock next to my head, which is screeching at me to get up. Whacking the clock, I drag myself up and glance around. Ruby has once again managed to curl up next to me in her sleep, and has already rolled over to curl up in the warm spot I left in the blankets. Arianna and Bethany were sleeping next to the door, but are now awake and glaring questioningly at me.
"Time to leave," I explain to them. Arianna only nods while Bethany groans as they get to their feet. Reacting to some unspoken signal, Arianna goes over to our small pile of belongings and begins sorting them into five even smaller piles. Bethany makes her sore way over to Ruby and nudges her awake with her foot. Ruby groans for a second before stretching out on her back, extending her arms straight into the air, and sitting up straight with another moan.
"Good morning, Frankenstein," I try to tell her, but it comes out mangled as I yawn again in the middle of the sentence. Ruby giggles and stands up, still holding out her arms as she groans and does a zombie impression, lurching toward Bethany with a drawn out, "Braaaaaaaiiiiinnnnssss…"
"Wrong direction, Ruby," Satomi deadpans as she sits up from her position on the other side of the room.
"Hey," Bethany objects when Ruby breaks off the attack, laughing.
"Suggestion: Silence. Our hosts may still be asleep," Arianna states calmly, shouldering her pack. "Or not," she amends as Michelangelo sticks his green he through the doorway.
"You dudes up yet? The sun is about to rise," he asks. I nod at him.
"We're ready," I respond, grabbing my own bag from the pile next to Arianna. The rest of my clan takes their packs and follow me out into the main area of the lair. Splinter and the other turtles are waiting for us.
"We'll go with you as far as the surface," Leonardo states, voice kind but firm. I nod again and turn to Master Splinter.
"Thank you for your hospitality in allowing us to stay here," I say formally. "I hope we meet again, though perhaps under better circumstances."
"As do I, dear girl. You and your family are welcome here any time," Splinter answers, reaching up and putting one paw on my shoulder. I smile down at the old rat before turning to my clan.
"Formation alpha," I order and step back as they fall into position behind me. "Let's go," I say, and we drop to all fours, leaping out into the sewers. Our paws pound the cement paths, sometimes splashing as they come into contact with puddles of unpleasant liquids. The turtles follow close behind in a straight line between Ruby and Satomi at the back of our formation. We move like shadows through the tunnels, dodging pipes, chasms filled with sewage, and even workers coming in extremely early as we get closer to the surface. Finally we stop under an abandoned manhole. Turning to the turtles, we say our good-byes quickly, the sun threatening to come up and trap us in the sewers for another day.
"You will come see us again, right," Mikey asks as Ruby, the last of us, starts to climb up the ladder to the surface.
"Of course, we still have to tag-team Arianna and Raph. Maybe you can even come over once we get the hotel all set up," Ruby responds, tail flicking happily at the thought.
"Ruby, let's go," Bethany calls from her position topside.
"See ya later," Ruby says before darting forward, kissing Michelangelo on the cheek, and leaping out of the sewers, slamming the lid down behind her. Listening closely we hear Mikey's surprised yelp and a splash as he falls back into the water. Giggling, Ruby joins us on the rooftops. We fall back into formation and start to run, racing the sun to our new home. The hotel appears on the skyline just as the sun begins to rise, the old neon lights slowly being overwhelmed.
"Whoa…" Ruby breathes in slight awe. I glance at her, surprised, before I remember that only Satomi and I have seen the hotel before.
"Just wait until you get inside," Satomi says, smiling at Beth and Arianna's expressions. We stop on top of the hotel and enter through the roof the same way Satomi and I had when we came the other night with the turtles.
I watch my clans reactions closely. Arianna is looking the place over with a critical eye, obviously calculating the number of exits, entrances, escape routes, hiding spots, and security risks. Pleased, she immediately opens a door on the top floor, turns to us, and says, "Mine," before ducking inside and closing the door behind her.
"Well all right then," Satomi says, choosing a door across from Arianna's room. "This will be mine," she states once she's seen that the room is relatively clean.
Ruby has already bounded ahead and claimed a room at the end of the hall, while Bethany selects the room two doors down from Arianna's room. I take the room across from her and, closing the door, lean back into it with a sigh. My eyes roam the standard hotel room, resting on each piece of furniture for a second before moving on.
Straightening slowly, I pace over to the bed, sit down, and stand up again, unable to keep still. I'm broken out of my reverie by a scraping sound from the hallway. Darting to the door, I open it quickly and can't help but chuckle at what I see.
Ruby, standing right outside her door, has taken one claw and carved an 'R' into the wood, marking the room as hers.
"Not a bad idea," Bethany, who has also come out, remarks, and promptly begins to carve her own letter into the door. Satomi, Arianna, and I copy Ruby as well, and soon the five doors are marked with the letters 'S', 'A', 'B', 'H', and 'R'.
The rest of the day is spent exploring the hotel, discovering new things, and claiming 'territory' within our new home. Satomi immediately grabs the area the used to serve as the records room, where she wastes no time setting it up for internet access and security systems. The arcade area, of course, goes to Ruby, who sets to trying to get the many games up and running. Bethany grabs the gym, narrowly beating Arianna, who reluctantly takes the pool room. I don't claim and particular area, preferring to wander around the hotel at my leisure and take whatever is left. The day-light hours are spent cleaning up the hotel and removing any garbage that may have been thrown here.
By the time night falls the inside of the place, at least the sections we expect to be using, sparkle like new, while the outside continues to inform the world that this place is old and abandoned. That night we spend setting up security in the hotel, along with the computers and gathering food and money. The day after, we sleep, and the night after that we feast.
The clan gathers in the main ball room for supper, my special stir-fry and rice, then we move to the now name 'rec room,' where Arianna kicks all of our butts with ease. The night ends with a Harry Potter movie marathon. Even Bethany, who had never read the books, agrees that it's pretty cool. By the time the ending credits of the last movie begin to scroll down the screen, my friends are all asleep, sprawled about like, well, kittens.
Ruby and Bethany are leaning against each other, snoring lightly, and Satomi is flat on her back on some cushions, her head dangling off the end so that the tips of her ears brush the ground, he mouth gaping slightly. Arianna is the only one in a remotely dignified position, slumped against the wall some distance from everyone else. Dignified, that is, if it wasn't for the stuffed Pikachu toy currently being cuddled to her chest. I am sprawled closest to the TV with Ruby using my stomach as a pillow, so I grab the remote and switch it off.
Before sleep claims me, one last thought crosses my mind.
For the first time that I can remember, modified DNA or not, I have a family. And my family is something I never want to lose.
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CWC: Okay, I'm sorry if that seemed be a little rushed, but I'm going to be completely honest with you-my plot bunny for this story is dead. It has been for a while.
I'm really grateful to you guys who bothered to stick with me for this long, and especially to those who reviewed and favorited this story. This is, however, for all intents and purposes, the end. Unless the plot bunny comes back as a zombie and tortures me to do a sequel, then it shall remain as is. If there are any questions concerning plot/descriptions/anything else, feel free to PM or email me.
If you are a fan of the Transformers, keep an eye on my profile; I am already working on the story connected to 'Barricade Trailer'. Once again, sorry if the ending is abrupt, thank you to you all for reading and reviewing, I never could have lasted this long without you, and I hope you will come back to take a look at some of the other stories I have in the works.
'Til All Are One
-CrazywithaComputer and Prowl-muse