Radical Transformation

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 The hospital was busy the next morning. The doctors and nurses all had something to do, and all the staff had heard of the quadruplets that had been brought in last night. It was quite rare to encounter four teenage boys who look exactly the same.

One female doctor, by the name of Dr Hera, took their safety into her own hands, along with her fellow doctor friend, Dr Bruine. He was her good friend, and last night when the boys had been brought in by the police, he had helped patch up two, as the kids needed help pretty urgently.

The report was that they had been knocked down by a truck. That certainly looked to be the case. Dr Hera noticed a bloodied graze on one of the boy's forehead; another had suffered a blow to the temple; a third had a nasty gnash down his arm, and the last one had a deep long slice down his leg. The thing that made Hera suspicious was that all four boys had come in naked, wearing nothing except colored bandannas around their foreheads. Dr Bruine had fetched a spare load of clothes from the hospital laundry basket, and clothed them.

Now evening in the day after the accident, Dr Hera walked down the corridor, having just had her lunch. The quads hadn't woken once since they'd been there, and Dr Hera was a little unsure whether the one with the blow to the temple had suffered concussion. She walked round the Third Floor corridor and into the room holding her four patients. Dr Bruine was already inside, checking the hydration IV on one of the boys.

"Hey," she said, greeting her friend. "Found anything yet?"

Bruine shook his shorthaired head. "Nope. No one has reported four missing quadruplets, and the kids have no ID on them."

Dr Hera walked over to the nearest bed and checked her patient. "Hopefully someone will notice they're gone, or word'll get around from the hospital that there are quadruplets here. There're a lotta loud mouths in the hospital, gossip spreads."

Bruine chuckled and unhooked one of the kids from the IV drip.

"How many stitches did those two take?" Bruine asked, pointing to two kids.

"Well, the arm injury needed twenty," she said while bending over the nearest bed to the door, and looking at the kid with a purple bandanna. "And the leg wound took twenty seven," she motioned with her head to the kid wearing the red bandana.

"Quads are pretty unusual," Bruine said, unwrapping the bandages on the arm injury. "Wonder where're they're from. I'm sure we might've heard something if they were from around here." He started to replace them, wincing at the inflamed tissue surrounding the stitched wound underneath.

"Yeah." Hera agreed, replacing a butterfly gauze bandage on the forehead of the nearest kid with a clean one.

They both looked up as the kid at the end or the room stirred and moaned. The doctors gave each other a look. Finally, they should be able to get some answers.

Mikey returned to the land of consciousness, and was greeted by pain, which hit him like a blow from a hammer. He didn't want to open his sore eyes, but he had to. Memories came flooding back to him of a loud noise, and sudden brightness blurring his vision. He was hit by that truck – he remembered being lifted off his feet. Where was he? Where were his brothers? Mikey slowly opened his eyelids, and a white ceiling blued into view. His sense of smell picked up a strange scent, one that smelt like disinfectant. It reminded him of hospitals, so maybe April was tending to them. She knew how to treat wounds better than he did.

"Hey," a feminine voice called out. "Hey kid, can you hear me?"

That wasn't April, she wouldn't have called Mikey 'kid', and her tone is a little softer than that. Mike frowned, still staring ahead. And their home didn't have a white ceiling.

Mikey turned his head and saw an unfamiliar woman watching him. He could see she had middle length blond hair pulled back, and average features. Definitely not April.

 She walked over to him, and for a moment Mikey didn't know what to do, whether he should bolt for the door or stay and see what she's does. It was clear to him now that he was in a hospital, from the looks of her cloths, the smell and the room. How Mike hated hospitals and the very thought of being in one. When the woman reached his bed he decided he didn't want to find out what she could do to him, and started to scuttled back like a frightened child.

"Hey, whoa, it's alright kid." Hera told him, hands held up in a peace gesture. "I wouldn't try walking just yet, you still have a healing wound on your head."

Mikey stopped and stared at her. Why wasn't she freaking out at the sight of him? Forget that, what had she done to him in the time he had been unconscious? His head throbbed painfully where he guessed he had received an injury. But why had he been transported to a hospital? Then a thought hit Mikey.

"Am I . . ." he raised both his hands and stared at the backs of them. " . . . human?"

Hera frowned, but a smile played on her lips. "Yes you are," she said slowly, turning to Bruine and giving him a look. She looked back at Mike. "You may be a little disorientated after your accident."

"Who are you?" Mikey asked, running his hand through his hair and studying his feet. He looked down at himself and noticed the white hospital garments, which he plucked experimentally.

"I'm Dr Hera. "This is Dr Bruine –" she gestured to the male doctor, who Mikey saw for the first time. "You're in hospital," Hera told him. "Can you remember what happened?"

Mikey frowned. What happened? This was all too strange for him, his brain was trying to concentrate of the wild fact that he was human. But he did remember what had happened last night.

"Yeah . . ." he said slowly. "I was running across the street with my brothers . . . and we didn't see the truck . . . It hit us and that's when I blacked out." He looked to his left at his brothers, who were still laid on their backs, unconscious. "Are they alright?" Mikey asked in a whisper, he was shocked to see three identical teenagers on the beds next to his. Mikey couldn't believe it.

"Yes. Your brothers will be just fine. Though we expected you to wake up last," Bruine said.

"What are your names?" Hera asked, finding it a nice relief to get some answers.

Mikey hesitated. "I'm Mikey . . . he's, er –" he looked at the very end bed and saw the familiar blue bandana. "He's Leo, he's Ra – Donny, and he's Raph."

Hera took a mental note of the names and looked at them suspiciously. She had heard those names before, but where she couldn't remember where.

"Do you have any family we can contact?" Bruine asked.

But Mikey didn't answer as Donny and Raph were waking. They both stirred, and Raph grunted as he turned his head and opened his eyes.

"Whoa!" Raph saw Mikey, then Hera and Bruine. He jumped out of bed, but still weak and dozy from the accident, fell onto the floor, grunting in pain as he landed on his leg.

"No, Raph, it's okay," Mikey said quickly, as Hera rushed over to help him up.

He allowed her to, but his expression showed the confusion and bewilderment Mikey felt.

Donny groaned and propped himself up on his elbows, looking at the situation. He saw Mikey, then Raph.

"What the . . .?" Donny asked. His arm killed with pain, so he took his weight off it and looked at the bandaged covering his whole upper arm.

"It's okay, guys," Mikey said. "We're in hospital after we were knocked down by that truck."

Raph, who was back in bed and wincing, frowned and studied his brothers. Donny studied himself too, checking out the material that clothed him.

It was at that point when Leo awoke with an involuntary sigh, and opened his eyes. He stared at the ceiling for a second or two, before deciding it wasn't a home ceiling, and turned his head. He saw three triplets looking at themselves, and frowned. Mikey saw him mouth the words, 'what the hell?'

"Okay, you're all awake now," Hera said, drawing all of their attention to her. "So can you tell me why you were running? The police seem to think you were making a noise and disturbing the surrounding buildings."

All four brothers stared at each other for a long time, totally confused and unready to start thinking too deeply.

"Well?" Hera asked.

"There were these other people making the noise . . ." Leo said slowly, throwing uncertain looks at his brothers. "They were . . . threatening us, so we hid, and ran when the police came . . ."

His brothers began to nod, though their eyes flickered from the doctor to the brother as though afraid she wouldn't believe them.

"Oh. Okay, I'll tell the police that. They were going to stay, but had to leave. Do you have any family we can contact? No one has reported you missing yet."

Leo, Donny, Raph and Mikey all looked at each other. They couldn't say Master Splinter. That wouldn't be wise. Instead Donny looked back at Hera and spoke.

"April O'Neil," he said.

"The news lady?" Hera looked at them, raising her eyebrows slightly. "Are you sure?"

They all nodded.

"Fine, I'll contact her then." Hera walked to and opened the door. "You lot get some rest, and don't go anywhere." Then she exited.

"How long have we been here?" Donny asked Bruine, who was jotting something down on one of the bed clipboards.

"Oh don't worry, you were only knocked out yesterday night." He answered. "Can I ask why you were out in the street with no clothes on?"

They all looked at each other quickly, but before they could answer, someone popped their head through the door.

"Hey, Bruine, could I talk to you?" The man asked.

"Sure," Bruine said. He put the clipboard back and left the four brothers to themselves.

As soon as the door closed, they all looked back at each other again, staring and examining their brothers' faces.

"This is just . . . too weird . . ." Donny said softly, looking at himself in the mirror on the back of the door Bruine had taken. There was a touch of fascination in his voice.

"What the hell happened to us?" Raph said quietly, amazed. He looked at the bandage wrapped around his wounded leg, wondering how much damage had been done to it.

"Me . . ." Mikey whispered, staring at the bed covers at the bottom of his bed. "I wished . . . I wished for us to be human . . ."

They all fell silence and stared at Mikey. Raph shook his head.

"Wishes come true in fairytales, this is real life. How could your wish have come true?" He demanded.

"I have no idea how, but I know that it's come true, and we're human." Donny stated, staring at the white walls.

"Can he wish us back?" Leo asked, blinking against the throbbing ache in his head.

"Probably not," Donny said. "I mean, it's always like that in the movies. It turns out that the wishes you make by mistake come true, but the ones you say deliberately don't. Maybe Mikey only had that one time . . ."

Leo lowered his eyes to the floor in thought.

"Even if I could," Mikey said. "Would you want to?" He wasn't smiling, but there was a small trace of hope in his voice.

Before Leo or his brothers could answer, the door was opened by Hera. She walked in and over to the end of Leo's bed.

"Okay, I called Miss O'Neil, I said you were here and she's on her way," Hera told them. "She sounded very worried.

They looked at each other nervously. How would April react to their current appearance? They were still getting over the shock themselves.

"Thanks," Leo murmured weakly.

"Where are you guys from?" Hera asked, leaning on Leo's bed. "I mean, I would have heard it if there were quadruplets in this part of town. You from around here?" The fact that they were quads didn't help their situation. Four identical boys were bound to attract some attention, and that's one thing they didn't want.

"Er . . . no," Mikey said, glancing at his brothers. "Are you?" Mikey asked to take her away from asking them, again, where they came from.

Hera smiled. "'Course I am, I work here."

Mikey managed a small smile. It was the first any of them had made, and somehow it actually looked like a Mikey smile.

"Hey, d' we get TV up here?" Mikey noticed the television set in the corner of the room, sitting on a bracket on the wall.

"Yeah, most of the rooms up here do," Hera said. She walked over to the TV, and pulled down the remote that was on the top, she tossed it to Mikey, and he put the TV on.

"How long do we have to stay here for?" Donny asked as sound filled the room from the small television set.

"Well, you seem to be recovering fast, and I would have kept you in for another day so we can properly clean and redress your injuries."

"Aw c'mon," Mikey turned from the screen. "We're fine. We've put up with worse injuries than this before. I mean, Raph got knocked through a skylight once -" He shut up at Leo's expression.

"A skylight?" Hera looked at him, then at Leo.

"He's joking," Leo lied. "He's a prankster. The joker of the group"

Hera smiled and folded her arms. "And you're the . . . Big Brother figure?"

 Leo paused for a second before he allowed himself a smile. "Yeah."

Hear returned the smile. Why had he seemed hesitant? It was as if she had just caught on to a secret. These kids sure were acting a little strange. Hera looked at the other two kids.

"And you are . . . what of the group?" She asked Donny.

"He's the brain," Mikey said, giving Don a small smirk. "The smarts of us tu – er – quads."

"Oh Yeah?" Hera asked, sounding interested. "What things are you smart at, Donny?"

Don glanced at Mike, with a small, almost grim smile on his face. "When he says smart, he means smarter than him, which isn't exactly a genius." He didn't feel like boasting. In fact he felt a little sick. He gave his brother another look, before blinking and turning his gaze to the TV. Mike glanced at Leo with an identical smile to that of Don's, though his for another reason. They were just too confused about this.

Hera noticed this, and watched them. They certainly were acting strange, as though something had happened recently and they hadn't, or wouldn't, let it go, nor did they want to share it. They also gave her the impression they were holding a great burden inside that was perhaps too big for them, but had no choice than to take it.

Bruine walked in at that moment with a tray in hand, breaking the silence that had fallen over them. The tray held food, and a look at this made the guys realize they were famished.

"Here ya go, guys," Bruine said. He set it down on Donny's bed, then turned to Hera as the quads stared at the tray. None felt like eating, but their stomachs were now aching with hunger.

"There's a woman here who's just arrived, said you called her about four teenagers," Bruine smiled. The quads looked up at him. "She seemed very worried."

"Okay, thanks, Bruine." Hera said and made her way to the door. "I'll be right back," and then she disappeared through the door.

"You can eat you know," Bruine said to the four boys, who had stared at the departure of the doctor.

"Not hungry," Raph muttered. His expression alone told his brother he too felt sick.

"C'mon, you haven't eaten since yesterday," Bruine frowned at them. "You're got to eat, doctors orders. Recovery takes strength, and you've gotta get that back somehow."

Leo and Donny took a slice of melon from the tray, and after a few seconds hesitation, Raph caught the apple Leo tossed to him.

A few minutes later, in which little conversation took place, the door was pushed open again and Hera walked in, followed by April O'Neil.

"Here they are," Hera said, smiling around Bruine who was leaving, and motioning to the quads. They stopped eating at once and stared.

April glanced at them with a growing frown, then turned back to Hera.

"Sorry, you said you had my nephews?" She asked.

The four boys looked at each other quickly, thinking fast. She hadn't even looked at them properly to notice their bandanas.

"April," Leo spoke up, and she turned around. He looked into her face, praying she would at least notice his eyes or bandana. She merely stared back with no change of expression. ". . . Hi . . ." Leo said, smiling timidly.

April frowned at the familiar voice. Her eyes raked every detail of his face until they reached his eyes, where they stopped. Those blue eyes were Leo's; she knew his eyes. But what were they doing on this kid? Her gaze noticed the blue bandanna just above them. April felt her lips part as her mouth opened. She gawked.

"Leo . . .?" She asked in a loud whisper.

He half smiled half grimaced, feeling a little embarrassed under the stare. His brothers were glancing from him to April.

"Surprise," Mikey said softly, and April's eyes turned to him.

She stared. They all looked the same, yet different slightly. Everything about them was different, except their eyes. Their bandannas were tied around their foreheads, half buried under messy, sandy colored hair. April couldn't believe it. Were these kids really her best friends?

"Is there something wrong?"

Hera's voice snapped her out of her trance. She looked up at the doctor behind her, who was frowning at her strange reaction.

"Oh, no, no" She said, shaking her head and adopting a different expression. "I just haven't seen them in so long, I was, heh, expecting them to look different. They've always been . . . chunky." April nodded.

Hera smiled at her, but there was the smallest trace of suspicion in her eyes. "Well, I can definitely say that they are pretty healthy, and in, um, good shape."

The boys cast glances down at their teenage muscular arms, and side-looked each other.

A beeping sound caught everyone's attention, and Hera reached down to her belt and exposed a little pager to view. "I have to disappear for a few minutes." She told them, and exited.

"What . . . happened to you guys?" April said slowly, sitting down on Mikey's bed, and staring at his face.

"We don't know," Leo said, frowning at the floor.

"Well, when did this happen?" April asked, turning to him.

"Last night."

"And, how did you get here?" April continued her questions in a slightly higher volume.

"Yo, April, chill, we'll explain," Mikey said softly.

"Sorry, guys," She apologized. "It's just pretty . . . miraculous."

"Yeah," Leo muttered. He was more worried than he was excited.

As Leo began explaining what happened last night, he noticed April's eyes scanning his face, and glancing at his brothers'. He knew she was trying to find something from their features that might distinguish them from each other. But apart from their eyes, nothing looked different; that was, if you didn't stare too long. Leo had barely noticed Raph had freckles flecked over his face.

When he had finished explaining, he sat back with a yawn as April watched him.

"But . . . it's just so strange," she said at last, after the long seconds' silence.

"Tell me about it," Leo said. He felt exhausted all of a sudden, as though he hadn't had any sleep in days. "We have to -" he stifled another yawn, "- get back to Master Splinter . . . he'll be worrying sick about us . . . and he'll have a shock when he sees us . . ."

"But you can't go anywhere," April said. "At least not today. I can phone him, I'll just tell him you guys are recovering at my apartment." She paused and glanced at them all. "And, guys? Another problem has come up," she added.

They all looked at her, waiting for her to continue.

"There's been a problem with a pipe line, and most of the manholes around the lair have been blocked off because of the work that's being done on them. I don't think Splinter will have water for a while either."

They all groaned. Leo laid back down, looking totally wiped out. It was only Mikey who seemed just as tired as he was from the looks of his drooping eyelids.

The door opened, snatching everyone's attention, and Dr Hera came back in. Following her was a police officer, with black hair and a short goatee.

"Hi again," Hera said, closing the door too after the man. "This is Officer Wood. He wanted to ask you about the people who were threatening you."

The guys all looked at the face of the cop, feeling an urge to run. Cops were easy to outrun if ever they had to do so, but right now there was no way out.

"Did any of you get a description of the people who attacked you?" The cop asked, as he glanced at them all, raising an eyebrow.

"Not really, they were all dressed in black," Leo said carefully. "We couldn't see anything else."

"Do you know why they attacked you? You don't know anyone who threatens you?" the cop pressed.

The boy shook their heads, hoping the cop would just leave. Unfortunately he remained where he was standing, and continued to ask them questions. The answered short and quick, praying he'd leave. April glanced about giving them nervous frowns.

Finally Wood turned to the door, about to leave, but turned back. "I'd like to take down your contact details in case I might want to question you further." He brought out a small notepad from his inside jacket pocket, and a pen. "Address?" He asked, looking at the nearest kid.

Leo stared back.

"You know, the place where you live," the cop said.

Again he was given a blank look from all of them.

April stepped forward. "They're staying with me. They're visiting from LA as their - er - foster parents are on work time for a few months. They're my nephews." April walked over to Wood and gave the cop her address.

"What's you're school address?" The man asked.

"Er . . . school? Erm, what, you want the one back in LA?. . ." Leo said quietly.

"You're not attending any school here? Well, sorry, but you don't get months off just because you're parents are working. You'll still need to carry out your education here. I'll get you checked in to the nearest school to your aunt's home. You'll attend it until you leave here, understood?"

"What?" Mikey choked.

"If you're staying here for as long as a few months, you still have to attend school. Unless you're the kind who skive. You look it you know, with the bandannas. Well, I'll make sure you can get placed in the high school near here. You'll attend that until you go back home. Months are a long time to miss out on precious school time, kids." He looked up to April. "I'll drop in to give you information about the school, it's good. They should start in a few days, if they're well enough." With that, he and Hera left the room.

Leo, Donny, Raph and Mikey all turned and stared, mouths open, at each other.

"Go to school?!" Raph said. "School? Human school?! Work school?! What is he, crazy?!"

"He doesn't know about us Raph," Leo reminded his brother. "But this is bad. We can't go to school! I mean, he's practically forcing us to go!"

"It's the law, Leo," April said. "All kids have to go to school."

"But, can't we get back down to the sewers?" Mikey asked.

"No, you can't be risked seen going down the manholes." April shook her head. "I looked up on the problem, and there's also an extra bit: The police seem to think that these people have been using the sewers to escape from crime scenes and using it as their hideout. There has been a lot of robbery in the last week. The police will be keeping an eye on all manholes, and with the men working on it you'll never get down there without being seen."

They all looked so forlorn.

"I hope Splinter'll be alright . . ." Mikey said miserably. But it wasn't true misery in his voice. April knew he was thrilled to be in the form he was in now. But they had no idea about what happened. They could turn back at any time, or maybe they won't . . . April didn't think about that. But she had a horrible feeling that she wouldn't be able to keep the guys from being force to go to school . . .

~