Chapter One:
Bismuth

"adaption, calmness"

Disclaimer: I do not own the series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Like, at all. It and all its respectable characters are © to Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, and ViacomCBS and Nickelodeon. However, all writing contents and semi-plots here are © to me, unless it is stated otherwise. All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I do not own them.

Summary: Life had been simple. Shay had moved out of LA to Montana's deep northwestern woods with her kids. She had a ranch and house. It wasn't perfect, but it was better than LA. Shay, however, hadn't planned on hosting a bunch of mutant turtles that stemmed from old comics, movies, or shows. Just how far will she and her kids go to protect them from their tight knit community?

Notes: Thank you for giving my story a chance, if you've made it this far. I'm always grateful to my readers, and especially towards those who reach out to me. Please don't hesitate to do so; I don't bite—not unless someone wants me to.

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"When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, 'till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn."
-Harriet Beecher Stowe

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It took nearly a half hour of awkward pauses, faltered words exchanged, ominous glaring, polite coughs, and shuffling feet for the party of five to shift their impromptu meeting to the living room. They had managed to get past introductions, with her ringing in at dead last. After that, Shay took leave of them when she chose to offer up beverages. When she broke away and out of sight, she could wipe the proverbial sweat from her brow and begin to wrap her head anew around what was going on.

I have four giant mutant walking and talking turtles in my house. The literal TMNT crew. Holy shit.

That was the singular cyclical thought that kept rolling through her head like a hamster in its wheel: it kept on running even when it was going nowhere at all. She finally managed to break the wheel after several dizzying minutes of wandering aimlessly through her kitchen. She opened cabinets, stared into them, closed them up, and wandered off only to repeat the same routine all over again elsewhere. She finally managed to pull down cups and dove into the fridge for the offered beverages, her focus slowly coming back into play.

Okay. Okay, play it cool. Just…figure out what the hell is going on and—fuck, who am I kidding? This has sci-fi portal-to-another-'Verse shenanigans written all over it. It was like an episode of Doctor Who, but without the Doctor and instead it was with four giant mutant walking and talking turtles.

Shay clutched the multitude of drinks against her chest and walked slowly back to the living room. Her four new house guests perked into alertness at her reentry.

Michelangelo shuffled forward, hands outstretched to help relieve her of her liquid burdens, offering a perky grin. He took his and Raphael's drinks in each hand.

"Thanks, sweet cheeks, appreciate it!"

She couldn't fight off the smile that tugged at her lips even if she wanted to. His positive energy was simply infectious, and she nodded back at him. She handed off the last two to Leonardo and Donatello, and then retreated back to where she had been sitting earlier. Picking up her glass, she sipped and winced. The soda was nearly flat and syrupy, overpowering the taste of the Jack Daniels mixed in.

She continued taking another sip regardless of the taste. She tucked the glass close to her, pinning it against her belly and upon her lap.

"So…you guys are definitely not from around here."

"Tch. What gave us away? Our charmin' sensibilities or strikin' fashion sense?"

Shay's eyes strayed toward the originator of the biting comment, landing upon Raphael. He was the only one to refuse to take a seat on the other couch in the living room, choosing to stand behind it instead with his arms crossed defensively over his chest. His drink was placed on the coffee table, untouched.

"Judging by your particular accent, I'd say East Coast somewhere."

"Not a bad guess, actually," Donatello remarked over the rim of his glass after he finished taking a sip. Raphael snorted, eyes rolling upward.

"We're from New York City," Leonardo confirmed. "And we realize that we're a long way from home. This is…North Dakota?"

"Montana," Shay corrected at the same time as Donatello. She let out a soft laugh at the glance he gave her. "Close to Whitefish, actually. We're about an hour or two away from the Canadian border. So, my little Dorothys, you are certainly far from home and then some. Definitely not the Land of Oz, though, so no good or bad witches to meet and greet."

"I think it's actually safe to say that there's more to it than that," added Donatello. He cleared his throat, setting his glass down and stood. Shay sat up a little straighter as his brothers turned their attentions to him as well.

"We're not only far from home and then some," he began, shooting a stray side-eyed glance Shay's way. "But we're not exactly…in our home dimension. Meaning—"

"—you're proof that there's a proven multi-verse situation going on here? As in, there's a multitude of universes running parallel to one another?"

Shay clamped her mouth shut as soon as she realized what she'd just blurted. Excitement buzzed within her veins, making everything inside practically vibrate.

The silence that filled in the wake of her comment took her several seconds to register and she cleared her throat. "Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt, it's just…I think I've watched one too many shows and movies that dealt with the idea of multiverse shenanigans occurring as a central theme of the story's plots."

She did not appreciate the thinned lips and narrowed eyes sent her way as she was stared down by both Leonardo and Raphael at once.

Donatello, bless him, came to her aide on the matter.

"She's not half-wrong. Modern media is enamored with the idea of parallel dimensions and alternate universes where the course of history has played out differently—"

"—Rick and Morty, the Marvel universe, the Dragon Ball series, Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse, Doctor Who, Future Man—"

"—yes, thank you, Mikey." Donatello sighed as he faced his brothers, his shell facing Shay now. She found her interest drawn to the various devices and tech-baubles he had slung there, momentarily distracted. "Scientists have been working towards proving the existence of other universes, and it's as our host just mentioned, uh…we're proof to her, and she's proof to us. Plus," Donatello paused for effect, pointing a finger in the air. "Do I have to remind you about our last big encounter with a certain commander from a few years back? Parallel dimensions."

He gave a quarter turn of the heel to look back at Shay and motioned to her. "Her layman's terms, while simple and crude, aren't too far off from the long answer of it all."

Shay allowed that to sink in and it almost made her glow at the appraisal given to her. She had to stuff down any feelings of affirmation she began to grow and pressed on to the more important matters at hand.

"Does this mean you know how y'all got here and how to get back to your home 'Verse, then?"

Donatello's pride seemed to take a hit at the inquiry. His shoulders slumped slightly, and every gadget on him sank as well. He expelled a loud and long breath through his nostrils as he gave a cursory glance at his three brothers and her.

"That…I'm still working on. I've picked up on traces of energy readings that don't appear to be a natural part of, well, anything—but it's so faded, I don't think I can get a full reading on it all."

"What, does it have a half-life that lasts only, like, a couple hours or days at best before it disappears completely?" Shay remarked, eyebrows beetling together. Donatello shot her a surprised look, if the raised brow ridges were anything to go by.

"Um…actually, yes. That's pretty spot on, actually. The energy readings appear to be a far cry from the activated components utilized in our…transportation here, but they're all I can go off on. The area that had yielded the most energy readings has degraded almost to nothing."

"Oh, my god. There's two of them. She speaks Donnie," Michelangelo stage-whispered to the other two. Raphael snorted, a ghost of a smile threatening to turn into a full-on grin. Leonardo's expression remained reserved and modest, but Shay detected a hint of a smile plucking at one corner of his lips. It vanished when Leonardo returned his intense stare back to Donnie.

"What does that mean, exactly, Donnie? Do you have any idea on how we're getting back?"

"I…" Whatever Donatello had to say, it died on his lips and his shoulders slumped once more. "I'm not even sure how we got here, honestly. Do you guys remember…anything? Anything, at all?"

Michelangelo's smile faded completely and melted into earnest confusion and perplexity. His eyes flicked back and forth on a particular section of the ground, as though searching for answers there. Raphael's jaw clicked into a tighter position, arms flexing as he gave his shoulders a small roll or two. He shook his head, shuffling on his spot behind the couch. Leonardo's gaze remained intense and solemn, but there was a hint of a melancholic veneer behind it all.

Slowly, each of them gave shakes of the head, mumbling their answers to Donatello.

He sighed. "Just as well. We never get the simple and easy way out, do we?"

"No, Donnie, we don't, because that would be too convenient for us." Leonardo remarked, rolling to his feet. He turned his attention to Shay and gave a curt nod her way. "We appreciate your hospitality for the time you had us here, and we apologize for breaking and entering."

"Uh…sure. I mean, it's not a problem. I mean, if you guys were using up my internet, I guess it was for a good cause, so…yeah. And again, sorry for the gun earlier. Can't be too careful these days, especially with all the weird crap that's been going on around here lately."

Leonardo seemed to accept this answer, and easily moved on with the next item on his agenda.

"It's time we get out of here. Donnie, keep working out how we got here, and see if you can't reverse it so we can get back home. Mikey, Raph, let's move out."

A jolt struck down Shay's spine like a bolt out of the blue. Klaxons rang out in her skull, loud and precipitous, as they drowned out all other thoughts. She threw herself to her feet, following after the four turtles.

"Hey, whoa—wait a minute! That's it? You're just gonna go fuck off in the forest?"

"No, we're going back home. You know, t' th' big city we mentioned living in earlier? Ring any bells in that little head of yours? Or is all the metal in your ears messing with yer hearing?" Raphael growled, pointing at her. Shay ground herself to halt, keeping her distance, and had to stop herself from reaching up to fiddle with the piercings in her ears.

"Wa-wait, just wait. Look, if you're going to leave, you've got limited options, considering well…you know," she said, gesturing to all of them. "The closest airport is about thirty minutes away, yeah, sure. But they're all small aircraft, no big commercial airliners come through here. And no offense, but big guy? You're what, three-hundred, three-fifty on your own?"

"Three-forty-five," Raphael grunted back, arms crossing over his chest. "What's yer point?"

"My point is, those small planes and their crew might notice the extra weight dragging them down. If you want to drive, you'd have to risk stealing and around here, we're a pretty close-knit community. Everyone knows everyone, and well…someone's gonna notice a vehicle getting jacked around here. A-and, if you're registering those energy readings somewhere out close by here, then wouldn't it make more sense to stay close by it until you figure things out? Look—I'm isolated enough. I'm not exactly that far from town, but I'm also not that close either. I've got thirty acres of land that you guys can hide out on."

"You're offering to let us stay here?" Donnie remarked, astonishment colouring his tone as clear as day.

"Why?" Leonardo pressed, stepping forward toward Shay. "You seem awfully eager to keep us here. What's in it for you?"

"Leo, bruh, relax. She's just being a good Samaritan, helping us out in our time of need," Michelangelo inputted, casting her a cheeky grin in the process.

"No. No, I'm not buying it. What exactly are your real intentions in helping us? I'm not exactly sold on the whole 'goodness from the bottom of your heart' act."

"For once, Leo, I agree wit' ya. What're you planning, huh? Sellin' us out t' th' government? Sic th' local yokel nuts on us? There's gotta be a catch, there's always a catch." Raphael said, striding closer to stand just behind and to the side of Leonardo.

Shay almost allowed herself to buckle under the weight of their combined intense glares. She could see the indecisiveness painted across Donatello's visage, eyes flicking back and forth between his brothers and her. Mikey appeared worried more than anything else, shooting her an apologetic gaze from behind his two older brothers.

Shay swallowed down the flush of trepidation and hints of fear that threatened to overwhelm her. Instead, she dug deep for a steel spine and clung to that false bravado, trying to embody the familiar adage, 'fake it 'til you make it'. It wasn't that difficult for her to fall back on.

Her jaw was clenched so tightly, it made her teeth creak and ache in protest, hints of annoyance and bitter ire bubbling to the surface. She dug in deep for that anger, letting it wrap around her like a shield so that she could make it through these next few minutes.

Just open up your mouth and let the bullshit fly out. You're good at that.

"Boy, you better back it up, and quit with the goddamn posturing, because honey? You don't impress me that damn much."

Leonardo blinked, clearly taken aback by her abruptly sharp and cutting tone and change in tune. Raphael shifted his weight on his feet, eyes narrowing to regard her more carefully. Michelangelo sat a little straighter and Donatello perked up. The two of them exchanged a look that lasted only seconds, but it was enough to convey unspoken words. Michelangelo was the first to let a smirk draw across his face as he returned his attention back on Shay.

"Now you listen to me and you listen good. I'm giving y'all my word here and now: as long as you're on my property, you're safe. Y'all're protected so long as you're here. I won't let anyone untoward come around to sniff about or to try and take y'all away. And I sure as hell ain't gonna be the one to rat y'all out to some government flat-footed stooge, y'hear me? Snitches get stitches and I ain't a motherfucking snitch. If anybody finds out about you, they gonna have to get through me and my rifles, and I'm a damn good shot."

Her nose crinkled up into a slight snarl, lips peeling back into an irate snarl. Shay crossed her arms over her chest, shoulders pulled back so she stood a little straighter. Her height wasn't that impressive—she only being four-foot-eleven—but she knew better than to cower or lower her eyes when setting a challenge.

Confidence, after all, could have the power of altering perceptions and making one so small seem like they were ten feet tall.

Shay alternated her gaze between them all, chest straining against the rapid and crazy pace her heart was beating at. Oppressive silence settled between them all, growing larger and more uncomfortable as the seconds ticked by. Her confidence was beginning to wane when nothing was said.

Leonardo was the first to move. It was with a dip of his head in acknowledgement first. His posture relaxed by several margins. As if by proxy, the others appeared to breathe easy as well. It suddenly didn't feel like a struggle to follow suite. Shay held her position for several moments longer and only relented when she conceded that she no longer needed to be on the defensive.

"Okay then. It's late. Take your time to unwind. Relax, do whatever it is you need to do, just make sure it's quiet-like. The head's around the corner there," Shay motioned to a hallway abreast the kitchen. "Kitchen's around that corner. I'll go set up the guest room. It's a bit cramped, but if someone doesn't mind sleeping on the couch down here, then there's more room for everyone else upstairs."

With that said, she took her leave.

The stairs leading to the bedrooms were unusually steep to her directly after, as though she was climbing Everest. She was almost expecting a Sherpa to reveal themselves, a ladder in hand and an ice canyon ahead that needed traversing across.

Cold sweat had gathered under her pits and along the length of her spine, and on the palms of her hands. Her legs shook and she stopped to rest against the wall and take a breather, the entire last few minutes running wildly through her head.

Did I just do that? Did I just low-key threaten them? Or help to threaten others against them? Oh, sweet baby Jesus, I'm really going over the edge these days, aren't I? Am I drunk? I must be drunk, because I done lost my mind down there.

Gulping deeply one last time and gathering her nerve once more, Shay pushed back upright from the wall and continued down the hallway. She paused at both Korra and Castiel's rooms, peeking inside to check up on them. She could see them through the glow of their lava lamps in both their rooms. They slept soundly, unaware of the drama that had just unfolded downstairs.

That was a relief. She wasn't sure how she was going to unpack all of this for them just yet.

"That is a problem for tomorrow me," Shay muttered to herself as she closed up Castiel's bedroom door. A few steps further down, Shay swung open the linen closet and began dragging out extra blankets and pillows until they were piled into her arms. She kicked the door closed and sidestepped toward the guest room, nudging that open with her foot.

An orange blur scampered out, low to the ground and quiet.

"Hey, Freckle. Sorry to scare you, boo-boo."

A plaintive meow answered her back from the dark hallway as she stepped inside and gently nudged the light switch on with her elbow.

The room was a bit cluttered with overflow from Shay and the kids' rooms. Mostly fandom swag, primarily from video games or comics or movies that didn't fit in the room downstairs. Shay carefully stretched out each sleeping place, including the bed. Someone was going to sleep there, no doubt about that, but that wasn't going to be up to her to choose.

"That is something they can resolve themselves," she said under her breath, and hoped it was a quiet contest between the four of them.

Several minutes later, she had the room passably habitable for guests, the sleeping linens laid out and ready. She pitter-pattered her way downstairs on socked feet, finding two out of the four turtles scattered throughout the living room.

Leonardo was overlooking Shay's hunting trophies and various awards mounted on the walls. Michelangelo was already flopped on the couch and looking quite content, a game controller in his hands as he surfed through her PlayStation collection. When he noticed Shay watching, he pointed to the television with an unabashed grin. "Mind if I play a few things?"

"Have at it, hoss. Just don't erase my game data if there's only one save file."

"Got it."

Shay passed through and headed toward the kitchen, alerted by the sounds of clattering form within. Suffice to say, she wished she could say she was surprised to see another turtle browsing through the fridge. When they closed the door and rose, she saw that it was Raphael. He spotted her and scoffed as he lifted a Pyrex up that had leftover homemade lasagna inside.

"Ya said t' relax. An' we were out in those woods fer, like, three days, I'm hungry."

"No judgement. I'd be hungry too," Shay replied with a hint of sympathy. She could only imagine what long hours in the forest could do to a person with little to no food. She shuffled inside and ducked into the fridge herself, clucking her tongue softly, then closed it and checked her watch. It read one-forty-two in the morning.

"Good thing it's my day off today, I have to go grocery shopping, anyways. If you guys have any requests besides food, I'd make a list and have it ready for later. I'll have to go to Kalispell for it all. Just saying."

"What's Kalispell?"

"The biggest town closest to us."

"No cities?"

There was, dare she say it, a faint hint of apprehension in Raphael's voice. His attention was raptly on her now, unflinching as he waited. She glanced back at him, seeing his brow puzzling together. His gaze was so sharp, she was surprised it hadn't punctured through her yet.

"Nope, sorry. This is the upper Midwest, remember? We're like the Wild West out here. Small towns and big towns, but nothing that screams "really big city energy" like Chicago or Milwaukee, dude. You are a really long way from anything that resembles it." She paused, thinking, and added as an afterthought, "If you drove eight hours west, you'd eventually hit Seattle. Six or seven hours down south, you'll be at Yellowstone National Park. Canada's about an hour or so north of us. Bozeman and Billings are the biggest cities in Montana, though, and they're about half a day's drive or so to the southeast of us. If any of that helps with a point of reference, I mean."

With that all said, she took her leave, feeling his gaze burning into her back as she retreated from sight.

A disappointed cry from Michelangelo gained her attention as she left the kitchen. She could see a game title buffering from the home screen on the television.

"Donnie's in that other room connecting to the Internet, Mikey. Might not get to play anything for a while," Leonardo called over his shoulder as he assessed a taxidermized mountain lion laying across a high ceiling shelf above the kitchen entrance. He motioned toward it with a finger and looked back at her. "You didn't shoot this one, did you?"

"What, Peaches?" Shay snorted, smirking. "No. No, no. Not Peaches. I bought her at an antique shop out in Whitefish, actually. Besides, I eat what I hunt. Deer, rabbit, turkey, elk. As long as it's legal to hunt and in season, I'll bag it. And I don't hunt the predators, not if I can help it. Prey animals need more population control, not the predators. They're more endangered."

She offered a thin smile, electrified by a temporary boost in energy. It began to fade almost as quickly as it had come while she cleared her throat.

"I'll leave the guest room door open upstairs. The closed doors are off limits, as those are my kids' rooms and they're sleeping. Please keep it down, they have school in the morning. If you need anything else, don't bother waking me, I'll be like the dead until my alarm goes off because any drama after this is between you and whatever god you believe in—unless someone is dying or dead. Then you can come get me. We good? Okay? Super. Take care, now. Bye-bye, then."

She gave a jaunty little wave over her shoulder as she swiveled on her heel and strolled away. Michelangelo was still struggling to get a game up and running. She could instantly sympathize with his pain and paused behind the couch he sat on.

"Yeah, sorry, the internet sucks out here. We're stuck between mountains and reception isn't all that great. You might have an easier time watching something on Netflix at this point. Sorry, dude."

"Aw, man. I've been wanting to play this game for a while now."

"Try again in the morning when things aren't so slow. Just keep it down like I asked, okay? Kids are asleep in this house," she remarked, patted the back of the couch in finality, and headed back toward the stairs.

Behind her, she could just barely make out the belated yet surprised shrieking remark of, "Wait, did she just say she had kids?!"

That brought a drowsy grin to her face as she mounted the stairs.

Just as quickly, however, another thought popped into her head as she did so, and over her shoulder, she called out, "And don't fucking jack off on my sheets! I don't need that gooey-ass shit drying them up 'til they break like goddamn crackers!"

A chorus of protests floated up to her as she ascended and it brought a sleepy smile to her lips, and a giddiness welled up inside her core. It didn't last for very long, unfortunately. Every step grew heavier as she climbed her way up to the second floor. Her eyes grew just as heavy and her limbs were already lead weights. All she could think about was crawling into bed, slithering under the covers and clocking out.

Maybe everything will return to normal when I wake up. I think I definitely had too much to drink and my stupid brain got too deep in the imagination bin. Again.

Then again, her brain—while broken and depressed and lacking in the happy juices—didn't go full on hallucination she could hear, touch, feel. As far as she knew, there were no mental illnesses in her family histories that branched into schizophrenia, psychosis, or any other similar disorders.

Even with all that sluggishly crawling through her head, she still hoped for the best that she was dreaming while awake, or hallucinating, or whatever. Deep down, that nagging little voice in her head was cackling its proverbial ass off while calling her an idiot for trying to believe in all that.

Shay pushed the door to her bedroom open and heard the clink of dog tags striking one another. Two heads popped up from amorphous lumps lying on her bed, the pale light of her own lava lamp reflecting Chief and Evergreen's silhouettes.

"You both are lazy bags of bones. Did neither of you know we have guests?" Shay muttered with a shake of the head as she stumbled toward the bed. She paused, leaning on the side of the mattress and tugged one sock off and then the other from her feet and slid under the covers. Chief groaned and flopped back over. Evergreen crawled her way over to Shay and pressed up against her before gusting out a long sigh.

Evergreen's head shifted slightly to press against Shay's ribcage in earnest affection as her tail thumped every few seconds on the mattress.

"You two are the worst guard dogs in the world. But I still love you both," Shay continued, failing to suppress a yawn as she settled into her pillow. She rolled over onto her side, cupping Evergreen's head in her arms to her chest and giving her a chaste kiss on the brow. "G'night, babies…"

Her words slurred past her lips as her eyelids drooped shut and her body relaxed for the first time the entire day. Sleep was, mercifully that night, quick to overtake her.

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