A/N: chapter twenty-one. Shell yeah! Thanks for coming back for more

Sorry for the delay, guys. College work's been getting really intense lately so I haven't had much time to write, but it's supposed to calm back down soon. However, in return for your patience, I have not only the next one-shot but I've decided to add more to the previous one

Also, sorry if the ending here feels rushed but I REALLY wanted to get it posted tonight. The second one-shot will be up soon under the title Casey's Sister

Shiego627: Come on Leo you have to protect your girlfriend (even if she can totally whoop your butt)
Mistystar123: I know, I know, I'm a horrible person… and I'm not sorry, either
Memmek10k: Thanks! The others know Karai is related to Shredder but Donnie's just figured out something bad is about to happen
Tmntlover2013: Thank you!
The potatoe one: Tin-Grin's always up to no good. Thanks, by the way. The tinfoil thing is a college/office prank I found somewhere on the internet, though, so I shouldn't get too much credit for that one. Yeah, sometimes characters have their own thing in mind, but this idea isn't changing because I've had it for a long time
ljkarai1403: I'm glad you think so. Heh, MikeyxAngel is turning into my OTP (which is weird because I started writing this story for the Apritello oops)
Thor-Born: Spoilers, sorry, you'll have to read on to find that out. Thank God for that; I was actually kind of worried I might be jumping around too much. Yeah, I figured that's pretty much how their relationships would go; glad I got that one right. Actually you're the second person who's asked my about the play; unfortunately it isn't the main focus of this chapter. Thanks so much; I know I'm not exactly great at writing fight-scenes, but I was hoping writing this story would help me fix that. Apparently it's working
Mary: Like I've said, I've had a lot of college work that's been getting in the way of my writing
Juanita27: Thanks so much! Here's the net chapter!
Goodtrey: Thank you
Blanko101girl: Yeah, sorry about that. College work's had me bogged down for a while
Rachel Lyse Brook: Haha, sorry. Glad you're enjoying it!
Sad: I'm trying, but college has had me weighed down with work lately
Vballplyr16: Yeah, sorry. The intense college work lasted longer than I expected

Enough of my ramblings though, guys. On with the show!

Chapter Twenty-One: Changes

He was turned to steel
In the great magnetic field
When he travelled time
For the future of mankind
~ Iron Man by Black Sabbath

The wings on either side of (and behind) were dark and you had to keep quiet or everyone in the audience would be able to hear you; something about the way sounds echoed on the walls and floor. And only one of the side ones was really a wing: the other two were corridors, one leading to the drama classroom and the other leading to the outside of the building. The door to the outside always had to be locked with a sign on it when there were performances going on, because it could be guaranteed at least one stupid person would try to go through… and then knock and shout when they found out the door was locked.

The sad part was that it was mostly adults doing that. Adults could think what they wanted about the intelligence of kids, Leo decided, but that didn't mean they were so much smarter all the time. Sometimes they were less intelligent.

Like when they tried to get through the frosted-glass door when it was so obvious that there was a show going on.

Leo sighed, relieved to know someone else would have to deal with it. He and the rest off his group waited in the wings. From where they stood they could hear the ongoing play, but they couldn't see it too well because they had to make sure they weren't seen by anyone in the audience. That was alright, though. They'd seen it earlier.

The group who were already on had agreed to help them swap sets over while the curtains were drawn and the drama teacher made some kind of introduction like he had with all the other groups, so now they just had to wait. He played nervously with the fasteners on the front of his costume.

Leo's costume had come in three main parts, if you ignored the ridiculously high-quality army boots. He was playing a high-class spaceship captain and as such, wore a formal, authoritative navy jacket; a pair of black pants, sharply creased, which would later be adjusted to look more informal (a trick added by whoever Karai went to for the costumes); and a khaki tank top, hidden by the jacket and designed to look flattering on him. His hair had been slicked back and a press-on tattoo added to his left arm at the deltoid.

Karai's character was a space-age mercenary: she wore army-camo shorts, a black shirt with a halter neckline, a denim jacket with the left sleeve torn off at the elbow, fingerless leather gloves and knee-high boots. She wasn't wearing the makeup Leo had gotten used to now: it was minimal and designed to make her face look darker; dirtier. The lack of makeup made her look almost like an adult, just like it had last year. Brownish lipstick and brown eye-shadow and brown blusher, with a long silvery wig. Not grey. Silver. Almost white, in fact.

They hadn't come up with a fantastic plot. But while other plays had gone for the typical forbidden-love scenarios, they had created a story about a scruffy, common-as-dirt mercenary who loved her job and a high-class captain who hated his; a sci-fi, of course. Leo's character had been made to prepare for the job his entire life by his parents, while Karai's character had taken off at a young age to do her own thing. At some point along the way, Leo's character was forced to go underground after a failed attempt to arrest Karai's character led to him being wrongly accused of murder, and the two teamed up. The other half of the group were side-characters with more basic costumes consisting of black pants and t-shirts; and behind the set pieces were hidden an assortment of hats, jackets and wigs for them to change into.

Oh, and Karai's character died at the end… this had, unexpectedly, been thought up by Amy (because "If we can't have any romance in this, we at least need Feels").

The lights went down onstage and the curtains were drawn, indicating the end of the previous show. Leo's group whispered a quick "Good luck" to one another and hurried on to swap the set pieces over.

Ordinarily, telling Oroku Saki that his daughter was working with the enemy, even in the context of a classroom setting, would have resulted in bad things happening… to put it nicely. But this would almost certainly be his last chance to show Karai any fatherly support in such trivial things as school events. There were more important things to be done afterwards. This could be a send-off, of sorts, to her school life.

So, for just a few hours, he would put to one side his knowledge that the… the thing playing Karai's good friend on-stage was the adopted child of Hamato Yoshi. She would most probably not be returning to school after today. It would be a shame to ruin her final day in formal education by killing one of the people she was to perform with.

He was aware that Karai was an excellent actor, but now he knew she was better than he realised. The chemistry she had with Leonardo, if not for the knowledge that they were enemies in reality, was extremely believable. Saki rarely felt things such as pride – his mind was often filled with things such as revenge, and taking out Hamato Yoshi and his mutant clan – but pride was certainly something he felt now.

Should he regret his decision? Change his plans? He'd been working on them with Stockman and Chaplin for months now, and it would be a waste and a pity to scrap the plans outright, but he could always push them back. Certainly Chaplin would not mind. Saki was aware that Chaplin had some form of feelings for Karai, and when asked the day Chaplin began working for him, Saki had said that if Karai expressed a returned interest in Chaplin then he would not make active efforts to put a stop to the relationship. Karai seemed disinterested, but Saki was sure Chaplin would appreciate the extra time to try to earn her interest.

But, no. These plans were for the good of the Foot Clan, and it was imperative that they be undertaken as soon as possible. It had to happen tonight.

April knew she was supposed to be concentrating on the show, but she couldn't exactly focus when she was getting more and more frustrated with each passing minute. She had no idea what was going on with the text Donnie had sent, Donnie looked like his mind was going a mile a minute, and she couldn't exactly interrupt what was happening on-stage to ask him what it was. She should probably wait until afterwards, but it looked like an emergency. She just wished she could figure it out.

And no matter how hard she tried, April just couldn't figure out what Donnie was thinking. She'd done it before, hadn't she? She'd been able to tell what was going through his mind. For a while she'd thought that maybe it was because they were close; they were on the same level or something. But Donnie wasn't the only one she'd managed it on. What about that time she tried to figure out what Leo was thinking the morning after he scored his first date with Karai, and she'd seen what had happened?

It was almost like… she didn't know. Like mind-reading, maybe. It seemed like such a long shot, but what if she could do it again? It probably wouldn't work, but maybe if she concentrated, really concentrated –

April had read Carrie last school year, and when Carrie had use her telekinesis, something in her mind would flex. Well, April wasn't using telekinesis, so her brain didn't flex. It was closer to a click. Similar to the click of a seatbelt, but it was something more to do with Donnie's mind in this case. Something mental.

Oh God I hope Leo got that text this is bad this is really really bad Karai's in trouble the snake research the mutagen testing why didn't I figure it out before Shredder's going to mutate someone probably Karai oh God I need to

The thought came across in Donnie's voice, but it wasn't in the coherent sentence-structure April had seen in stories before; the way thoughts were in hindsight. It was closer to how thoughts came across in a Stephen King novel… damn, he got a lot of things right.

Donnie's train of thought was fresh and just-formed, happening in real time, and not only was it awful, but there was a sense of invasion that came with it – like accidentally walking in on someone while they're taking a shower. It was loud, too, and underneath there were more things. He was worried about how Leo would take it if Karai got mutated. He was aware that April was staring at him. He could sense some sort of invasion in his head.

A pounding headache came on as April forced her mind out of Donnie's with another click and let out a gasp of surprise (and a little pain), drawing his attention and concern. How had she done that!?

More importantly, was Karai going to be okay?

Wow. April hadn't expected, when she first got herself into all of this, to be getting worried about Karai's wellbeing. Then again, she hadn't expected to be asked for ideas on what Leo might want to do for a date, and Karai had done that.

Huh. Weird.

The show actually went better than expected, and Leo's group high-fived one another backstage before heading to the changing rooms to collect their things and go home. They had exchanged Christmas cards earlier and now couldn't wait to get home and just take a break. Well, for the most part in Leo and Karai's case. They still had ninja duties to deal with, but at least the workload had now lessened some.

Leo wasn't in the habit of checking his t-Phone unless it went off (Raph and Donnie often chastised him for that), but as he left the changing rooms he suddenly got the feeling he should check it anyway. He looked up as he searched his bag with one hand and saw Karai leaving with Oroku Saki. Then he found his phone and discovered Donnie had texted him.

Geez, what couldn't wait until after the show?

He opened the text, scanned it, glanced up and realised he couldn't see Karai anymore.

… oh crap.

Oh crap, this was bad. Donnie generally didn't text in the middle of school unless there was an emergency or severely bad news anyway, and the warning not to let Karai go home with the Shredder was top of the list of bad news and emergencies. And he hadn't got the text in time to stop Karai.

Oh crap.

Next thing Leo knew, Donnie had pushed his way through the crowd and was at his side, looking hassled.

"Where's Karai?" he demanded.

Leo shook his head. "I got the message too late; she's already gone home. Donnie, what's going on? Why can't she go home with Shred-Head?"

Donnie groaned. "You know what? Just try and convince her to leave ASAP. In the meantime, I need to get back to my lab immediately. That's all we can do to help at this point."

April and the others had appeared at some point and she said, "I'll text Karai too. If there's two of us trying to get her to leave before anything bad happens, she might take it more seriously."

Leo blinked at them both. Wasn't he supposed to be the leader?

"Do any of you want to actually tell me what's happening?"

"Shredder's been working on a mutagen to turn someone into a snake, and I think he might be planning to mutate Karai," Donnie explained, speaking in Japanese so nobody would overhear by accident. Then, in English, he said, "Raph, I need a ride on your bike."

"I thought you said I ride like a maniac."

"I know –" uh oh. If Donnie was getting frustrated, bad things were probably going to happen – "but I need to get to my lab as soon as I can. I want to go through those files and see if I can create a retromutagen. We have to undo whatever happens as fast as possible, because if whoever gets mutated finds Master Splinter –"

He cut himself off, but the others got the message. The Shredder planned to mutate someone – and they thought that someone was Karai – into an animal whose natural instinct was to hunt and kill rats. And if Splinter was found, the Foot would know where they lived, and the whole lot of them were as good as dead.

Raph and Donnie took off on the Shell-Cycle and the others practically had to carry Leo back to the house. They walked fast, not running only because April was there, although she tried to insist they go on ahead so she could catch up. Splinter said that it would most probably not make a difference how fast they returned, but April wanted to believe they could stop it if they got home faster.

April sent her a text and prayed Karai was better at checking her phone than Leo was, unsure whether she wanted to yell or punch something. Maybe both. Was this how Raph felt most of the time?

It was more than fair to say Karai was feeling suspicious; in fact, that might even be an understatement. Her father had come along to the performance alone and then congratulated on it afterwards. Of course that shouldn't be suspect – all parents did that sort of thing – but it was out of character for him.

In the ride home, the way he spoke made her uncomfortable, too. He didn't mention Hamato Yoshi or the Turtles once, and when he mentioned Leo (in regards to the show) he spoke as though Leo was just another person she went to school with. Although, truth be told, she was momentarily distracted from her suspicion by amusement when Saki mentioned the convincing acting in regards to her chemistry with Leo… uh, yeah, 'acting'. Sure.

Just yesterday he hadn't been able to shut up about how he was finally going to defeat them once and for all, and how she wouldn't have to be working with 'that freak' anymore. The change from that was weird.

In fact, it was making her more than a little uncomfortable.

"The workload was interfering with my duties to the Foot clan," Karai said when asked about how much work had gone into the production. "It would not have been so bad if my Math teacher didn't keep giving us more work out of a self-confessed spite for Christmas."

"Not to worry, Karai," Saki said; Karai glanced at him. "You will not be returning after the holidays."

Karai's heart leaped… in a bad way. "Am I to be transferred, father? Or home-schooled?"

"I will explain after dinner. Come; I assume you are hungry."

Well, yes, that was true. Karai hadn't had anything substantial to eat since lunch; just a few snacks while her group was eating their feelings to get rid of stage fright. Karai dumped the wig and school bag in her room and headed downstairs for dinner without bothering to change. She left her phone, too, because Shredder didn't approve of phones at the table, and anyway who was going to call her right now?

It was just a pity April and Leo's texts would arrive while she was having dinner.

Dinner was strangely informal in comparison to usual. Saki was more chatty than he had been for a while and didn't even bug Karai about the fact that she was still wearing most of her costume and basically looked like a mess. Especially since some of the 'makeup' dirt on her face and hands had been scooped up straight from the school flowerbeds.

Something strange was going on. It felt like something was up. Almost like Saki was compensating for something. Karai didn't know what was going on but it was making her nervous. Hell, she wasn't even totally sure she wanted to know what 'it' was.

She wasn't looking forward to finding out.

When dinner was over, Saki stood and said, "Come with me, Karai. There is something important I must discuss with you."

Okay. Here we go. Karai steeled herself and followed him to the laboratories. Wary of the fact that the lights were off, she cautiously asked, "What's going on, father?"

"Your loyalty to the Foot clan has not once wavered," Saki said, in the voice he used when bestowing a high honour or a promotion on someone. Karai let a pokerface expression fall across her features. "You have always done what is required of you for the good of the clan. I trust this will not change now."

Karai didn't answer verbally; instead she gave a small, curt nod.

"Good. Karai, today was your final day at that school."

Karai tried to figure out what he meant, but nothing clicked yet. "Am I to be home schooled?" she asked again, feigning ignorance. It had to be something more important than that.

"In a way," Saki told her. "You will be removed from public education so you can take your rightful place in the ranks of the Foot Clan. From now on, you will learn to be a leader of the Foot Clan."

"I see. Thank you, father." Alright, things were starting to add up a little more. But why were they in the labs?

Saki switched the lights on. Oh.

Oh shit. Was that mutagen? The stuff that had mutated Leo and his brothers? And Raphael's girlfriend?

Now it was coming together: either Shredder planned to have the Hamatos mutated further to somehow get rid of them, or someone was going to be mutated and would then be required to hunt them down.

And it wasn't very likely that he had them all lined up, ready to be mutated.

Then something else hit her: Chaplin was in on it. He knew that if Karai was promoted she wouldn't be interested in going out with him; it wouldn't even be a possibility. And if this plan was pulled off successfully there would be no time for such things anyway. There would be her duties to the Foot Clan and a secret resentment towards Saki which would build up and cause her to try to kill him if first she wasn't taken over by an inescapable depression because she didn't save Leo and his family and –

No. There must be another option.

Of course there was. She could undergo the mutation herself. But then what?

She would run away. Act like her instincts were out of control and leave this place. She'd have to get to her room on the way out. She wished she had time to text Leo – tell him something cheesy, tell him she was going to need help, anything – but it would probably be too late by then. She'd probably have to smash her cell phone on the way out, just in case anyone used it to track her.

Oh God. There was no way this was really happening. The world took on a surreal, dreamlike quality all of a sudden; everything felt as though it wasn't really happening.

Yes. That was the only way. Hopefully this was the only mutagen they had and if that was the case, she could save the Hamato family by putting herself through a transformation she had never considered wanting to undergo.

But there was no going back once it happened. There was hiding out somewhere out of sight and hoping she was strong enough to retain a human form – some weren't, she had been told one – and knowing she had betrayed her own clan, and for what?

For the sake of people who genuinely cared about her and who she had learned to care about. People who didn't deserve to be hunted down in this way; who just wanted to keep the city safe. People who didn't want to use her as a weapon.

That was the deciding point. It was irrational but she was a teenager, and as such she had to make at least one dumb decision at some point, right?

"Father?" she asked, still feigning ignorance.

"Hamato Yoshi and his Turtles have been a thorn in the side of the Foot clan for far too long," Saki – no; he was just the Shredder now – said. "They must be stopped, and it may be possible to do that by attacking them at their home. For that, they must be –"

"Hunted down," Karai said quietly.

"Yes," Shredder said, "and I am leaving it to you to choose the most suitable candidate for the mission. This is the only mutagen we were successfully able to create, so you must choose carefully."

Karai's mind was already made up. This was the point her life in the Foot clan had come to?

So be it. She wasn't going along with it anymore. This ended tonight.

"Me," she said, her voice devoid of all emotion.

The Shredder hesitated. "Karai –"

"I will do it. No-one better comes to mind. I shall do what I must." To protect Leo, she added in her mind. Would this make her a loyal friend, or a traitor to her own clan? It probably didn't matter. Maybe she was both. That didn't seem so bad as just the latter.

Besides, if she let someone else do it, she would want to make sure Leonardo and the others were okay. And if she tried to help them, the Shredder would undoubtedly discover her involvement with Leo. If that happened, she wasn't sure what would be done to her, but chances were good that being mutated was the preferable option.

"My daughter," Shredder said, "are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Very well." Was that regret in his voice? But it didn't matter. If he wanted to stop her, it was too late. Karai grabbed the canister of mutagen, held it above her head and emptied it over herself in two swift movements.

Karai had never asked anyone what it was like to be mutated. She'd braced herself to be fighting off pain, but it didn't come. Instead there was discomfort all over her body, stretching and pressing and pulling and squeezing, especially on her head and her legs.

Maybe the bracing she'd given herself did something, because when the mutation was over, it took a moment or two to realise she wasn't a snake.

That was when she genuinely did panic. Not because she hadn't transformed, but because she could feel her body wanting to transform. It felt like something was trying to drag her body into a different shape, trying to harden her skin and stretch her teeth.

So she ran. She ran up to her room, faster than she had run before and with the Shredder calling after her, trying to get her to come back, and she grabbed her sword and her phone. There were texts on it from Leo and April O'Neil, but she ignored them. Instead she opened her contacts list as she kicked through her window – she wanted to waste as little time as possible – stuck her sword into the wall above her window and swung herself onto the roof, removing her sword as she went.

April's was the first name on the list she reached, and she didn't know how long she could hold off the transformation, so that was the number she called. It didn't take O'Neil long to pick up. She sounded worried.

"Karai? Oh thank God! Are you okay?"

"Help me," Karai said into the phone. Her voice was rough and strained and frightened.

Great. She was Karai Oroku. She wasn't supposed to show weakness.

"Jesus. Where are you? We'll send someone out to get you."

"Just tell Leo to meet me. Quick. He knows where."

After that, Karai rang off and threw the phone as far as she could. It bounced off a building, fell to the street and smashed. There. Now, if there was a tracking device in the phone, the Foot clan wouldn't be able to trace her.

She reached the rooftop she had always met Leo on this year and sat with her knees pulled up to her chest and staved off the transformation as best she could. The more time went by, the more effort it took to stay human.

April had told Leo to go as soon as Karai rang off, and immediately he headed off to the roof he always met Karai on, transforming just as he went out the door. There was a small leaping feeling in both his chest and his gut, and he didn't know if it was good or bad. Knowing the way his luck ran, it would be the latter.

Leo reached the roof in record time, and Karai was still human, but Leo's heart sank anyway. Her eyes were different. They were completely green, even the parts that should have been white, and her pupils were vertical slits now. Her teeth looked a little sharper, too.

Oh God. I was too late.

"Karai!" he exclaimed, and ran over to her.

"Leo!" her voice was strained. She looked up. She'd been concentrating hard on something. "Help me!"

Leo dropped to one knee and threw one of Karai's arms over his shoulder. "Karai, are you alright? I'm gonna take you back to my house, and Donnie can –"

"No!" Karai flinched as though to withdraw her arm, but Leo had a firm hold on her wrist and she didn't get too far. "Too dangerous. Just hide me."

Leo froze for a second. There was a hint of a hiss in her voice. That was right; Donnie had said the mutagen would be mixed with snake DNA. Yes, it would be too dangerous to bring her home, especially if Karai lost control of her instincts and went after Master Splinter. In that case, there was only one place to bring her.

"I'll take you to our old lair," he said. "You can hide out there. Would that be okay by you?"

Karai nodded. She seemed to be saving all her energy – maybe she was using it to focus on not transforming. Leo led her down to street-level and got on the phone to his brothers to inform them of the situation. They agreed to meet him at the Lair, although Karai told him not to let Splinter down there. Leo relayed the message, rang off and asked her what had happened.

"Shredder wanted me to pick someone to mutate," Karai answered. The strain in her voice was becoming more and more evident, like in a movie where someone is injured. "I volunteered. I'm trying not to change but –" she stopped talking for a minute, apparently trying to gather more strength, before saying – "but it's getting difficult."

"It'll be okay," Leo said, trying to reassure himself as much as Karai. "We just need to get you underground. You can change then, without being seen."

"Good. Thanks."

Even though it was incredibly forward for him, Leo picked Karai up and carried her to the nearest manhole. She had a grip on his shoulder so tight it was almost painful but he kept going. Once they dropped into the sewers, he lowered Karai back to her feet. She dropped to her hands and knees.

Leo turned his head, to allow her the privacy of her first change. He, Splinter, his brothers and Joy had changed forms in front of one another before, but the initial mutation was something Leo had always felt should be private. He could hear Karai's groans of discomfort and her clothing being torn as she changed; then when the change ended, the only sound from her was heavy breathing. He turned to face her.

Karai had been mutated into a snake: that much was obvious right from the start. Like with Joy, her colouration reflected how she had looked before the change: there were markings in the shape of her makeup, and black and bleach-blonde where her hair had been. Her body and face were long and elegant but at the same time awful to have to look at, and Leo wasn't sure why. Maybe he felt guilty that he hadn't checked his phone earlier; hadn't done more to stop this from happening. Her dark shirt had stayed mostly in-tact, although it had torn a little at the seams.

"How bad is it?" Karai asked. Her voice was a quiet, low hiss, barely a whisper. She had caught her breath again.

That broke Leo, somehow. He threw his arms around Karai and buried his face in her shoulder. He didn't know what was wrong but he just needed to hold her for a moment.

"Leo… this isn't very reassuring."

Leo stood back and muttered an awkward apology before saying, "I guess it could've been worse. At least you've still got arms."

"Hilarious. How do I move like this?"

"You'll figure it out," Leo said, trying his best to reassure her. He ducked under one of Karai's arms and looped a hand around her waist so he could help her walk – or slither or whatever, since she didn't have legs anymore – the rest of the way to the old Lair.

It unsettled Leo that they were the same temperature now. It meant she had semi-cold blood, too. Leo didn't like that; didn't want her to have to experience what it was like. There were times when being a mutant really sucked. It was harder to keep warm in the winter. If the animal part of your mutation was one with certain sensory disadvantages, chances were you got those too: Leo and his brothers couldn't hear some high frequencies in their turtle forms. Not to mention, when you switched forms, you had to compensate for the change. In Leo's case it meant changing his centre of balance to make up for the gain or loss of his shell. In Karai's case it would mean figuring out how to move without legs.

"Why'd you do it?" he asked.

"To protect you… and your family," Karai said. Then she let out a bitter laugh. "God, I'm stupid. I've just betrayed my Clan for teenage hormones. I can't believe I thought I had honour."

"If you want to start a pity party," Leo said, "what about me? Donnie texted me not to let you go home with the Shredder but I didn't check my phone in time. And if I'd called you instead of texting, if I'd done it sooner, you'd –"

"I'd still be human and you'd be hunted down by a snake-mutant who had no reason to go against the Shredder."

"Exactly. And I can't think of anything off the top of my head, but I'm sure Splinter would have something to say about how honourable it is to do the right thing."

"I guess."

Well, it was better than nothing. After a while, Karai asked how to change back.

"You – you think about it, I guess." It was hard to explain when you'd been doing it for two-thirds of your life. "But don't. Not just yet. Save your strength. It takes up a lot of energy if you try to do too much too quickly. And it won't last long at first."

Karai huffed and fell silent. As they continued – slowly at first, with Karai setting the pace – her movements became easier as she adjusted to her new form. Soon they were able to pick up the pace.

Raph, Donnie and Mikey caught up to them not far from the old Lair.

"Woah…" Mikey said. "Dude, what happened to Karai?"

Raph smacked him over the back of the head.

"Let's just get her into the Lair," Leo said. "Donnie, where's April?"

"Up top," Donnie said. "Why?"

"See if she can bring some spare clothes for Karai."

"What?" Karai asked.

"Trust me, when you turn back you'll want them."

"Uh, guys?" Mikey asked. "Are you sure the Lair's a good hiding place for Karai? I mean, it would be easier for Donnie to make the retromutagen for her if –"

Leo shook his head. "Mikey, what do snakes hunt?"

"Rats?"

"And what animal was Master Splinter mutated with?"

"A ra – oh."

Raph shook his head in a resigned way. It didn't matter if you wanted to think Mikey was stupid with moments of clarity or smarter than he was given credit for with moments of stupidity; that right there was not one of his bright moments.

"Still," Donnie said, "it's Christmas. Seems kind of unfair to leave someone alone down here."

"Uh, that might actually not be such a problem, guys…"

Four pairs of eyes turned to Mikey and Raph said menacingly:

"What did you do?"