Chapter 3:Snake (Snakeweed)

Donnie tucked and rolled as a large vine was shot at his face, narrowly avoiding crashing into the wall of the alley. The turtles had succeeded in finding Snakeweed, but reasoning with him was proving to be a lot harder. "Please, calm down! We're not here to fight you, I swear!" pleaded the brainy turtle as he had to dodge another attack.

"Um, Donnie" yelled Raph as he impaled an attacking vine, ripping it off with a squelch,
"In case you haven't noticed, talking isn't working! Let's just spray him already and go home!"

"Yeah!" agreed Mikey as he attempted to wrap a chain around the flailing mutant, "I don't think he wants to stay a walking salad".

Donnie shifted uncomfortably, still holding his bo out in a defense position, and considered. "I'd really like another moment to either get consent, or verify that he's incapable of giving it".

"Donnie", reasoned Leo in as level a voice he could manage, "He hasn't said a coherent word the whole time we've been here, and he went straight into attacking us as soon as we showed up. I don't think he's thinking the most clearly right now".

A squealing shriek from the plant mutant reinforced Leo's argument, and made Donnie feel guilty that his brother was probably right. Even if Snake had been a criminal, he couldn't help but feel bad that they caused him to lose his mind. Steadying his nerves, Donnie got serious, taking out the sprayer of retro-mutagen and popping the safety cap off. His brothers all sighed in relief that the fight would be over soon. (Not that fighting Snakeweed was normally that difficult, but it was when you had strict orders to not completely cream him.)

"Ok, Snake, I'm going to ask one last time to be sure. I have the cure for your mutation right here, should I use it?" Snakeweed gave no indication that he heard or understood the question, and continued to whip vines around, which all of the turtles had to dodge.

"Good enough answer for ya, Donnie?" asked Raph testily.

Deciding once and for all that Snakeweed was irrational, Donnie aimed the retro-mutagen and sprayed. Fortunately, Snakeweed was a pretty large target, so that made him hard to miss. It was nice to have an easy one for once, just spray in the general direction and that's it.

When the shot hit its mark, Snakeweed flailed more erratically, a harsh scream coming from the giant plant. Little by little, starting at the head and going downwards, the plant flesh turned a deadish white-gray, and fell to the ground in clumps. Soon, a hand emerged from the pile of leaves and stem, and was soon followed by the head and torso of a raggedy tan-skinned man. Snake blinked, and stared forward dazedly, before bringing his hand in front of his face, wiggling his fingers in wonder.

Clearing his throat awkwardly, Donnie moved to offer his hand to help the recently cured human up, saying, "Um, Mr Snake, sir-" Snake's head snapped up, and for a moment his features warred between relieved joy and anger, before settling on anger.

"You turtles!" he screamed, rage winning over his continued wonder at having his normal voice back, "Get away from me!" he scrambled backwards through the remains of his old body.

Leo, a more assertive negotiator than the gentle Donnie, stepped up to calm the situation, "It's ok, Snake, it's all over, my brother cured you".

"You're welcome for that by the way" cut in Raph brusquely, not forgetting that they met Snake when he was kidnapping people.

"Yeah, well, it's you freaks' faults I was a mutant in the first place!"

Both Raph and Leo had a response for that, when surprisingly Donnie stepped up, looking down at the human sternly, "Don't give us that. You were kidnapping people. We just did what we had to do to rescue your victims".

"You know what they say about karma" chirped Raph sassily with a smirk.

"Yeah!" added Mikey, feeling somewhat left out. In an aside to Leo, he asked, "Wait, what do they say?"

Amusedly rolling his eyes at his innocent little brother, Leo turned back to Snake, who despite his anger had not moved. "Look, Snake, you did something bad and got turned into a plant because of it. But now you're human again. Consider it a second chance".

The leader turned back to his team, their mission finished, "C'mon guys, let's go".

Raph gave a sassy wave to the thoughtful/angry Snake, snarking, "See ya, but not really", before turning and following Leo back up to the rooftops. Donnie gave the ex-mutant a meaningful look, before he too climbed up the nearest fire-escape, his little brother in tow.

Back on the roofs of New York, the turtles all watched as Snake stared after them with an unreadable expression from where they were, then shakily got to his feet and walked away, not looking back at the remains of what had he had been.

"Do you think he'll take this second chance to heart?" Donnie couldn't help but wonder out loud.

"Pssh, doubt it. Criminals don't change" answered Raph, already turning away and ready to go home.

"I don't know, dude" answered Mikey more thoughtfully, "I mean, I kinda hope so. Anyone can change, right?"

Donnie looked at his brother in surprise, but then turned thoughtful as well. "I guess so, Mikey". With that one more wrong righted, the turtles turned towards home.

know this isn't the super duper interesting or emotional stuff yet, but I promise, we're building up to that. I just really want to cure some people, or, well, all the people. R&R, until next chapter.