Donnie paused and looked up at Karai. She was being nice to him, a sure sign that the situation was bad.

Before he could say anything, the door burst open again and Mikey stumbled in looking around wild-eyed.

"Alli...is Alli hurt?"

For a moment, they all just stared at him. Ultimately, it was Arcos who answered. "She's fine. She's in Karai and Leo's room with Raph and Anton." He hesitated. "Denim..."

Mikey was gone before Arcos could finish.

Looking longingly at his coffee, he stood, leaving it on the table to follow Mikey.

When he returned to Leo and Karai's room, he found his little brother seated next to Denim in the bed with Alli cuddled in his lap.

"How did you know?"

Mikey shrugged. "April called. Said it felt like something was wrong and I needed to get here."

Of course she had.

"What happened?" Mikey sounded so lost.

"She missed her injection." He'd already come to an executive decision on that. Since he had to create a self-administering protocol anyway for his mother's patients, which he admitted was necessary as publicizing the formula hadn't exactly worked out the way he'd hoped, he was going to start having her be in charge of her own meds. That and he was going to equip her with a bunch of medical monitors that he could check from his phone. Chasing her down because she didn't have the time to worry about her own health wasn't working.

"And she was attacked near her work. Some mutant we've never met."

Mikey's eyes widened. "Why?"

Donnie shook his head. "I don't know. Crazy."

Mikey turned back to Denim and stroked her cheek tracing a line down to her bandaged hand.

"She punched through a dumpster."

Mikey patted it gently. "Aww, sorry, Blue Jeans. I hate punching dumpsters. It super hurts."

Donnie frowned. "I didn't say she punched a dumpster, I said that she punched through a dumpster. A hole, clean through solid metal."

Mikey looked up at him, his jaw falling open.

"You didn't break the bathroom sink this morning, did you?"

Mikey ducked his head sheepishly. "Uh, no. Does it matter?"

Donnie clamped his jaw shut, counting to ten in his head before answering in clipped sentences leading up to a full on rant despite his calming techniques. "Yes. Yes, it matters. Mutagen is leaking into her bloodstream and it would have been nice to know that it was causing enhanced strength sooner rather than later!"

Mikey gasped. "She's a superhero now? But why is her hand hurt?"

Donnie face palmed. "I said she's strong, not invulnerable. Just because she can punch through steel doesn't mean she should."

"She starts training tomorrow."

They both turned to stare at Karai.

"But..." Donnie started to protest but she cut him off.

"She will wake up and she starts training tomorrow. I know that she's a surgeon with her guns, but that's no good in a close fight. She needs more than the rudimentary unarmed combat and knife wielding skills that the military offered her and she needs to understand and control this new strength. Training starts tomorrow. She'll fit it into her schedule one way or another."

Sucking in a ragged breath as she arched off the bed, Denim began thrashing and clawing as she scrabbled her way back against the wall. "My baby! My baby!"

TSOTCTSOTC

Splinter felt Leo waiting, he'd been there for quite some time. He finished the complicated kata, then stopped, turning to the side and tilting his head. "Yes, my son."

"Sensei," Leo's voice was careful, as it was when he was younger and he'd done something wrong. "I think you'd better see this." He held out his phone.

Splinter took it, seeing that the screen was a video, waiting to be played. He pressed the button.

"It appears that another wave of vigilantism has hit New York City, as five teenagers, all with gang affiliation, were found dead today off Sycamore Lane. The killing style is consistent with The Slingshot vigilante, their wounds including the crimped bullet shells that he uses, and the cuts at various-" He turned the phone off and stared at it, the anger he thought he'd gotten a hold of beginning to grow in his breast again.

"She doesn't have her phone on, Sensei," Leo said.

"Of course she doesn't," he growled. And knowing her, this incident was out of her mind by now. It happened hours ago according to the time stamp on the video. This behavior that his wife displayed on occasion disturbed him deeply, it always had. Not because he did not feel it was unwarranted, he never knew of an instance when she instigated a fight, but because the total lack of remorse she seemed to show afterward. He had fought in wars, he had killed without mercy, he had killed with mercy, and he had let his enemies go free in acts of mercy. But unlike The Phoenix, his killing always haunted him, accusing him in the dark of the night with his daring to play God. His wife, however, had no such qualms. She or her loved ones were in danger of dying, and so those that put her there had to be eliminated. And yet, the same woman who did that, would help any one of those same people if they simply asked.

"Come," he waved for Leo to stand up. "Let us go home. It would appear there is more to discuss than just Karai's impulsiveness at our family gathering tonight."

TSOTCTSOTC

Medusa would have liked, for once, to be picked up at her house, taken in a car to a spot to eat, and let out. Like a real lady. But that seemed to not be her destiny, tonight or any other. She'd met Horace at a park, where he said he had a surprise for dinner for her. He had met her there, and then walked her down streets, much too fancy for either of them to really be walking, and then stopped at the door of La Marque.

"I got us reservations," he gestured to the building.

Medusa's face dropped. Either he was a trust fund baby, or he'd saved up a lot to take her here. "Horace, I can't go in there," she said quietly.

"Why not?" he asked.

"They won't have anywhere to ssseat me," her voice was a mere assibilation. As it was, it looked like she would barely be able to get through the door. An effective way to have a no mutant policy without having to post it. If you were too big to get in, you weren't eating there.

Horace grinned. "Don't worry, I reserved three tables on the terrace, so that they can just pull a couple aside when we're seated. I was thinking ahead."

This was going to end badly.

He pushed the door open and she could see the expression of the maître d sour at the sight of Horace. All humans generally struck her as tiny and frail, compared to the delicate, little man at the podium, a full foot and a half shorter than Horace, her date looked positively imposing.

Although Horace wore his usual collection of artistic piercings and elaborate make up, he'd forgone his usual attire for something a bit fancier, which should have been her first clue that the night was headed for disaster. Normally favoring outfits that appeared to be a mashup of punk rock and the 1980's vision of the future, tonight he'd gone more for the vampire aristocrat look, even tying back his long, multi-colored dreds back with a black, silk ribbon, like a pirate lord, as romanticized in early cinema. The maître d was not impressed.

"Reservation for Barden."

Whatever snooty put-down the smaller man had planned died in his throat as he caught sight of her beyond the threshold of the open door. The blood drained from his face and he staggered backwards. "Get away!"

Horace frowned. "This is my date for the evening."

The maître d's eyes widened and he looked back at Horace as though he were insane.

Maybe he was. Medusa had never met anyone quite like the optimistic, little goth. Although thinking that he could bring her to La Marque for a meal was a stretch, even for him.

"Stay back or I'll call the police for assault!" The huffy little man threatened.

Horace cocked his head to one side. "What? We aren't doing anything but requesting to be seated. You can't assault someone by existing."

Medusa let out a hissing sigh. "Apparently we can. He'sss not going to ssseat usss and I'd rather not dine at a place that'sss likely to ssspit in our food. Let'sss go." Without giving him a chance to respond, she turned and slithered away from the building.

TSOTCTSOTC

When Denim gasped to consciousness, at first Raph was relieved, and a collective exhale washed over the room, but when she recoiled against the wall screaming for her baby... Everything snapped to clarity, for him at least.

His first instinct was to fix it somehow, but there was next to nothing he could do beyond hunt down the mutant that hurt her and pound him to within an inch of his life- or end it. What if he tried that insane shit again?

At a loss for a fraction of a second, another thought occurred to him.

Alli and Anton didn't need to see this.

He stood up quick, plucked Alli straight from a gaping Michelangelo's arms and barked at Anton, "Kitchen. Now."

"But-" Anton hesitated, his eyes glued on his hysterical and still-screaming aunt.

"Antonello, kitchen, now." Five years of parenting taught him a few things, well reinforced shit he already knew really, like when you need a kid to move quick and they ask questions, you just snatch them up. He put a firm hand on Anton's shoulder guiding him right past Donnie and Karai.

"Uncle Raph," Alli tugged on his shirt, big tears in her eyes.

Raph's heart clenched at the child's fear. "Yeah, kiddo?"

Alli wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him as tight as she could and Raph wanted to make it all right for her as bad as he wanted the shit going on at their school to stop. "Is my mommy gonna be okay?"

He sighed as he parked both kids at the table, where Arcos had Yuuta eating a bowl of ice cream. Raph looked at the triple scoop sundae and shook his head. "Desperate times-"

Arcos stood, then made his way to the cupboard. "I'll get the bowls."

TSOTCTSOTC

Mikey's first joyous thought of 'she's awake' quickly gave way to an endless loop of 'not ok.' Watching her panicked attempt to flee, he barely noticed Alli disappearing from his lap. She was scared. He had to fix it.

"Hey, Blue Jeans, it's Mikey. Shh, you're home and safe." As he spoke he crawled across the bed towards where she was pressing herself against the wall.

Seeming to sense that someone was approaching her, she began to strike out blindly.

"Whoa!" He yelped as years of dodging well-deserved shots from his brothers had him evading the blows reflexively. One just barely grazed his cheek, the force traveling around the punch striking him as it slipped past. Hadn't Donnie said something about her punching a hole in a steel dumpster?

Sucking in a quick breath, he dove forward, agilely twisting his way through the barrage of her attacks to wrap himself around her torso. "It's ok. You're safe now. I promise."

He squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the shell-cracking blows to start raining down on him.

TSOTCTSOTC

Zoe stood up faster than she could think about what she was doing, something white burning at the edges of her mind even as her eyes filled. "So what, because I look human my life is easier? Is that it? I don't have it as hard as the rest of you? I could never understand? And Anton should never have the opportunity to make friends, or get a formal education outside of our family? I should just keep him locked away, and me along with him? For how long? Please, tell me because it feels like forever."

She didn't give him a chance to respond, instead continuing her rant.

"And what, you think being a parent is easy? I can barely make decisions for myself, let alone Anton! You think making the decision to send him to school was easy? You really think being me is easy? You try being created and conditioned solely to kill, then containing yourself all the time so you don't snap and slaughter everyone in a three block radius. And all the while, I'm trying to be a good example for another living being; then tell me that I've got it easy, because I can blend in." She huffed and Aries opened his mouth but she held up a hand stopping him.

There was a tightness in her chest, like someone was crushing her, her mind racing with a dozen questions all of them about who she was, what she was, and what that meant for her son. If she wasn't his mother he'd be able to go to school, beacon or not. Because yes, he'd look different, but no one would actively be hunting his mother and, in turn, him.

A trembling hand flew to her mouth as her eyes rushed hot. "Oh gods, Aries, I'm so sorry." She plopped down next to him, staring bleary-eyed at the puddle of soda beside her drink. "You were trying to tell me exactly what I already know." Her voice dropped. "It's not just because he's a mutant, it's because he's my son."

She rubbed her face as her voice grew hoarse. "I thought I could hide him in plain sight, maybe? I thought he shouldn't have to hide or suffer on account of me? I thought for a second I could get away with letting him do something normal? I don't know. I don't know what I was thinking."

She threw her hands up. "I don't know what the fuck I'm doing half the time when it comes to this shit. I'm the last person on this planet who should be making important decisions for anyone. Hell, everything I know about acting human I was taught by mutants, and I don't know jack shit about being a mother, because before Phoenix I never had one!"

Her breath hitched, as a few droplets slipped by her. She took a few sips of her drink and tried to wash the lump in her throat away.

But it didn't work.

"If I fuck up anything, anything, it puts him at risk. If sending him to school was the wrong decision-" she shook her head and closed her eyes.

Was it? Had she made a terrible mistake? Should she pull him out?

Aries leaned forward, exhaling from his big, round nostrils in a huff as he did, so that Zoe's hair blew. "Don't ever tell her this," he said quietly, his muzzle close to her cheek. "But The Phoenix is a shitty mother." He laughed at the look on Zoe's face. "But Phoebe? She was a really good one. And we were in hiding our whole lives." His golden eyes, with his horizontally slit pupils looked away for a moment, before coming back to his sister. "And I don't know if you noticed, while you were 'blending in'," he made air quote with the two fingers on each hand, "that Arcos, Medusa, and I aren't so easy to hide."

He leaned back, his face soft, like his white wool. "I had a good childhood, Zoe. Despite everything that happened, it was a good one. Better than a lot of humans get. I'd go back to that life." He nodded, his ears flopping slightly as he did, making the sage look on his face seem out of place. "Living in hiding isn't that bad, you did it before the war." His gaze drifted to another woman, this one barely twenty, who walked by, obviously dressed to go home with someone at La Vida Loca once it opened. "But living out in the open is nice, too," he winked at Zoe once again. "I never said you had to act like a human to be out and about." He laughed outright, a bahhh-ing sound accompanied with a wag of his tail. "I don't. I think I do fine."

Aries's laugh never failed to make her smile and his personal experience gave her plenty to think about. He'd been in hiding and still felt his childhood was a good one. Being out in the open did have its perks, but maybe the only way to keep Anton safe was to hide. The EDF would never let her go. They'd see her either reformed or dead. Two options she couldn't live with. Two options that would hurt Anton worse than a life of hiding.

But something else her brother said had her wondering...

"Is there any of Phoebe left in Phoenix?"

The server, a buxom redhead, dropped their food off, seemingly oblivious to Zoe as she took away their order-number-flag and winked, letting her cleavage hover in Aries line of sight.

One of Aries's ears flapped as he waggled his eye ridges at the server. As she walked away, he picked up a gyro, unwrapping it thoughtfully. "I don't know," he answered. "Nobody even calls her that anymore. Even Splinter does it only occasionally. Maybe." He turned his golden eyes back to Zoe. "Maybe when she's alone with Yuuta? Or doing clinic, by herself. Phoebe was human." His face clouded over, as if he were remembering something very unpleasant. "She wasn't famous. She wasn't some sort of super-person who was expected to heal everything. She hadn't fought in a war. She hadn't seen her daughter hacked to shreds." His long ears pointed backward and he frowned. "Maybe she's in there somewhere. I hope so. For Yuuta. Because Phoebe was pretty cool."

He watched the server exit the truck again to serve another set of customers. He clucked his tongue. "Too bad she's a red head. No offense, Z," he said quickly. "It's just too close to home. I'm not one of Splinter's boys, after all."

Zoe wanted to know more about Phoebe. About what she was like, but Aries was changing the subject. She could bring it up again later if the opportunity presented itself.

She snickered at his poke at redheads, nudging him with her elbow. "That blonde at the table to our left has been staring at you, but it could also be the brunette across from her." Zoe glanced at the women and smiled.

The brunette blushed and bit her lip. Zoe's gaze shifted to the blonde and she read her lips. "Go talk to her, and get his number while you're at it."

"Oh boy," Zoe murmured as the brunette sassed her friend with a 'fine' and stood up. "For fucks sake, Aries, I can't go anywhere with you."

"What?" he asked defensively, a broad smile donning his muzzle as the brunette came to the table.

She blushed furiously, "Uh, hi." Her eyes darted from Zoe to Aries. "My friend and I," she indicated the blonde at the table, who waved when they both looked her way, "we've seen you around before."

"Yeah?" Zoe asked, raising an eyebrow.

Aries leaned forward.

"I was wondering if you'd like to skip the club tonight," the brunette said to Zoe, her face turning a deeper shade of red. "My apartment is really quiet." She shot a peek at the blonde behind her, "and my friend thinks your boyfriend is really hot."

Zoe's insides heated until a blush spread across her cheeks. "You're a beautiful woman and I'm flattered, but I'm also bonded to my turtle mutant other half."

She motioned to Aries. "As you can see he's not a turtle, therefore not my mate, but he is my brother." Zoe leaned toward the red-faced brunette. "If you're interested, I'm pretty sure he'll take good care of both you and your friend." Zoe stood and clapped her brother hard on the back. "Isn't that right, Lambs Ear?"

He shot Zoe a nasty glance at his nickname, but stood up, towering over all of them. He bent down, so his muzzle was closer to the brunette's ear. "You know," he said softly, "I work at the club. I'm busy tonight, but the club has slow times. If you and," he glanced over at the blonde, smiling broadly, "your friend want to hang around, we can...get to know each other. And then I can take good care of both of you tomorrow night." He stuffed the rest of his food in his mouth, took a few bites, and swallowed. "Tonight, though, I gotta work."

The brunette looked at Zoe longingly for a moment, her cheeks still bright red.

"Why don't you introduce me," Aries said. "I'm Aries Hamato. And you are...?" He walked away with the woman, putting his arm around her in a camaraderie that neither one of them had enough time to feel. The brunette, however, didn't seem to mind. The ram turned, calling, "See ya after work, Z!"

Zoe waved him off with a knowing grin, to answer her ringing phone. "What's up, Big Guy?"

"Where the hell are you, Zoe? I got to go to work and-" Raph's voice fell to a hush. "Shits going on here. Mom's MIA, Denim got attacked, and just- just get here okay?"

Zoe's mind went blank then rebooted with a thousand questions. "What do you mean Denim was attacked? By who? Is she okay? Is the baby okay? You know what, never mind I'm on my way."

TSOTCTSOTC

Horace watched forlornly as Medusa left. Nothing was going as planned. He turned back to the terrified maître d. "Don't expect a good Yelp review." Then he moved to follow his date out to the curb in front of the restaurant where she'd coiled up, waiting for him.

Disappointed, he dropped down onto the curb beside her. He'd been saving up to make tonight special, hoping to turn their series of dates into a formal relationship. His little specialty shop, while holding its own, wasn't exactly a font of riches. Though he had a few regulars, dedicated to the lifestyle of the gothic occult, his business was mostly kept afloat by angsty tweens looking for ways to rebel against put-upon parents whose allowances were funding his night out.

"Trust me that could have gone a lot worse."

He looked over at Medusa, whose angled eye ridges and upturned mouth corners revealed a smile. Over the past several dates, he'd learned to read the unique facial queues of her expressions, far different from most other people's.

When he'd first seen her, she'd looked like an Old World goddess brought to life and he'd been positively fascinated, but, in the succession of weeks he'd spent courting her since that initial meeting, he'd discovered her sharp wit, intelligence, and pragmatic worldview that he suspected masked a romantic soul. She was a person. One he liked. A lot. And his grand plan to shore up things with her had been completely derailed.

"I suppose. A meteor could have hit us, though I kind of think the restaurant has it coming, or the zombie apocalypse could have started."

Medusa let out a hissing laugh. "Thiss kind of thing happenss. Hard to believe, but you get ussed to people being afraid."

He smiled. "Yeah, I know. Doesn't make it not suck though."

When she cocked her head questioningly at him, he was struck by the realization that she had no idea what he was talking about. It was so ridiculous he almost laughed.

"How would you know?"

He stifled the laughter, knowing that she was actually curious. Taking a breath to consider how to explain, the subject matter dampened his mirth. "Mutants might be the popular new fad for people to have a stick up their butts about, but there are older prejudices. Suffice to say, people would take one look at me and assume I meant them harm. I suppose it didn't help that I was large, even as a teenager." He glanced at her. "Large relative to other humans."

"And they were afraid of you?" The disbelief in her voice was actually kind of refreshing.

"Yup. It got a little easier when I gave up trying to fit in and chose to be true to myself. At least then, people stared for different reasons. Mostly."

She shook her head. "Sstill doessn't make any ssensse."

He smiled. "Pretty sure it's not supposed to."

A thought suddenly occurred to him, one that could save the date. Tonight didn't have to be a total loss after all. He jumped to his feet and gestured for her to follow. "The night is young."

TSOTCTSOTC

Denim's heart rammed against her ribcage like it could burst through and explode. Where was she? Was the baby hurt? What had been done to her since she blacked out? Why couldn't she see anything?

And what was that noise? She could barely hear, between the shrieking and her tsunami of a migraine. Her skull was on fire, but she couldn't stop crying, even though it compounded the horrific pressure. Who was screaming?

One thing was for certain, the surface she knelt on was moving, someone or something was inching closer by the second.

She swiped blindly, just nicking flesh, but not making solid impact. Blind or not, she wouldn't go down without a fight. Her stomach rolled and clenched as his voice repeated itself, his forked tongue flicking in her ear.

"I want to see it."

Over her dead body.

Arms enveloped her torso and she flailed while sobbing.

A familiar scent rushed to her throbbing head as the arms wrapping around her held firm, but did not restrain her. The body against hers clung to her the way Alli would, the way one did when they loved someone and ached for them to feel it too.

"It's ok. You're safe now. I promise."

Mikey.

He lowered his head against her collarbone, talking to her in his sweet, soothing voice. It was a perfect sound that she felt, like the sun's warmth on her face, and she'd never been more relieved to hear it. He repeated it to her, and she wanted him to say it again and again until she could convince herself it was true, that he was real and their baby was unharmed.

"It's ok. You're safe now. I promise."

His plastron rose on his inhale, then sunk on a surrendering exhale. She could feel his intent deep within her, as if he'd put it to words. "Do your worst. I'm right here and I can take it."

Then the screaming stopped.

Denim stared into the nothingness that surrounded her, wading through the darkness that brought her to the safety of his arms in that moment. She slumped against him, breaths shuddering, still blind, shivering and exhausted. "Don't let go. Please, don't let go."