This is a companion coda to "Loss". Owing to its extremely high probability of getting Jossed, I haven't decided if it's actually going to be canon to Falling yet, but it was a fun experiment to write.
Found (an interlude)
We value you because you are April O'Neil.
Splinter's words rang in her mind as she sat on her bed, her arms wrapped tightly around Titian. So much had changed lately, it had taken those words to make her realize that she wasn't even sure who April O'Neil was anymore.
Carefully setting Titian aside with a little pat to his soft plush head, April flopped down across the bed and leaned over the side, lifting up the dangling comforter to peer into the shadows underneath. Reaching past the hulking shapes of several action figures and one seriously desiccated slice of pizza – dammit, Mikey! – she hooked a finger under the lid of a shoebox and hauled it out from its nest of dust bunnies.
Carefully brushing the dust off the lid, she opened the box and stared at the contents within.
Periscope. Radio listening device. Temperature sensor. Gloves.
Bouncing off the bed, she went to her closet and tugged out the oversized hoodie, slipping it on and zipping it up before returning to shove the contents of her spy kit into its deep pockets. With a nod of sa satisfaction, she yanked the hood over her hair and picked up her Tphone, thumbing through her contacts until she found Irma's last message and typed in a quick response.
Sure, Id luv to come over tonight! Got some things 2 take care of first. BBS. 3 u.
Slipping the phone back into her pocket, she opened her window and slipped out into the night.
Her phone buzzed. Again. Skidding to a halt on the roof, she yanked the phone out and thumbed her way through the latest batch of incoming messages. Ah ha! Buried amongst the flood of messages welcoming their board moderator back into the game, one of her most reliable contacts on her neglected website had posted a single photograph. A blurry image of a hand holding three enormous metallic scales, captioned with an address. The address of the building on which she stood.
This is the right place. She shivered, stowing the phone again. The sightings all led here.
"So where are you?" she murmured.
"Hey there, princessssss."
April gasped, whirling, her hand already darting toward the tessen, but she had barely moved before thick coils wrapped around her, pinning her arms to her sides. She struggled frantically, the hood falling away from her face as the metallic scales dug into her for her troubles, but it was useless. She was stuck fast. April opened her mouth to cry out, and the coils tightened, driving what little air she had from her lungs until her cry emerged as a soft, breathless squeak.
"Ah-ah," a sibilant voice chided from above her. "Thissss is girl time. No boyssss allowed."
Oh, Karai….
She was still beautiful, in her own terrible way, though April couldn't help shivering in terror. Her mammalian hindbrain quailed beneath the stare of the cold eyes watching her, and whatever Kraang she had in her seemed to have abandoned her completely.
Thanks a lot. Stupid Kraang genes. You couldn't warn a girl?
April strained, trying to say something, anything, but all she could manage was an expression of shock and regret.
"I know, right?" Karai said, her voice ringing with defensive pride. "It's messssed up. But then, thissss kind of thing isssn't exactly new to you, issss it?"
The coils loosened just enough for April to draw a gasping breath. "What are you mmmph—" was all April managed to get out before the coils tightened again, one of Karai's serpentine arms wrapping around her face for good measure. April shivered as a forked tongue darted out to tickle her cheek.
"You know, I'm not even ssssure myssself," Karai said. She shifted, leaning down to prop herself casually on one of her own coils, like some kind of reptilian teenager at slumber party. "We go through ssso many changesss at thisss time in our livessss. Sssso many new insssstinctsss all knocking around in here." Karai tapped at her head with her free hand… snake… thing. "You can take the girl out of the ssssnake, blah blah blah. You know how it issss." She laughed, her coils tightening even more. "At firsssst, I thought maybe I sssshould eat you. You know, vengeanccce for taking my placcce and all that. Came to your housssse and everything. Who knew thissss tongue would work sssso great for tracking you by ssscent?" She patted April's hair with the smaller serpent. "Turnssss out Leo got there firssst though."
And suddenly, the flippant glibness was gone. The serpentine head tilted, Karai's tongue darting out to taste the air around April as she regarded her. "I heard what you ssaid. Did you mean it? The blood, ssweat, and tearss part?"
April's eyes widened in sudden understanding. Slowly, ever so carefully, she nodded.
"Huh," was all Karai said.
In another instant, the moment was gone, every mask slamming back into place and sealing the crack of vulnerability through which the real Karai had shone. "Well, you'll jusssst have to wait," Karai said. "I haven't deccccided what I want to do yet. I kind of like being like thissss. Nobody tellsssss me what to do anymore." She grinned, baring fangs that glistened with drops of milky venom. "But I'll keep it in mind, anyway. No telling the othersssss you've sssseen me though. I really will come back and bite you if you ruin the surprisssse. And all your little friendssss while I'm at it."
Abruptly, the coils dropped away. April fell, gasping to the rooftop, almost grateful for the sting of the gravel against her palms. As her lungs heaved, she looked up, and had a moment of smug gratification as the grin on her own face actually wiped the smirk from Karai's.
"Hey," April said, only wheezing a little. "I know how annoying it is to have maniacs with delusions of grandeur deciding your fate for you. It's about time you chose your own, right?"
Karai stared, and for just a moment, the mask slipped again as the ghost of a smile drifted across the snake-girl's face. "Right," she said. The pointed tip of her tail lashed out, flipping April's hood back over her face and momentarily blinding her. "Sssee you around, princessssss."
By the time April got the hood off her head and ran to the edge of the roof, there was no sign of Karai. None, save the silver scale gleaming on the ledge. Carefully, April picked it up, mindful of its razor edges, and slipped it into a pocket as something Leo had told her about Karai once drifted through her mind. Smiling, she zipped the hoodie up and saluted into the night.
"You're welcome."